The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law will hold its 2026 Hooding Ceremony on May 15. Graduates in the Juris Doctor, Master of Laws, and Master of Science in Law programs will walk the stage, receive their degrees, and be hooded by faculty members in a tradition that dates back to Medieval times.
The ceremony will feature a keynote address from United States District Judge Brendan Hurson ’05.
President Biden nominated Judge Hurson in March 2023 to fill the vacancy created when the Hon. George J. Hazel resigned as a United States District Judge. The Senate confirmed Judge Hurson’s nomination and President Biden signed his commission in October 2023. Judge Hurson is assigned to the United States Courthouse in Baltimore.
Judge Hurson graduated Order of the Coif from Maryland Carey Law in 2005. During law school, he was a member of the Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender, and Class, competed on the National Trial Team, served as president of the Student Bar Association, and was active in the Clinical Law Program. Since then, he has taught Criminal Procedure and Written and Oral Advocacy at the law school.
After graduation, he served as a law clerk to the Hon. Margaret B. Seymour of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina. He then worked as an associate at a small law firm in Baltimore where he practiced civil and criminal litigation in state and federal courts.
In 2007, he joined the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Baltimore where he defended individuals charged with felony and misdemeanor offenses in Maryland’s federal court. He was named senior litigation counsel in 2015. In 2017, he joined the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the United States Virgin Islands where he represented people charged with violating federal and territorial laws on the islands of St. John, St. Thomas, and St. Croix. Judge Hurson returned to Maryland in late 2018 to resume his service at the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Baltimore. In February 2022, Judge Hurson was sworn in as a United States Magistrate Judge.
Judge Hurson received his undergraduate degree from Providence College, where he majored in Public and Community Service Studies with a minor in Black Studies. After college, he served in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in California as an advocate for poor and marginalized communities in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. He later taught middle school at St. Thomas More School in Washington, D.C.
Judge Hurson has remained deeply connected to Maryland Carey Law and has previously addressed graduates at the Hooding Ceremony.
“Judge Hurson is a deeply inspiring person and an incredible communicator,” said Maryland Carey Law Dean Renée Laurent. "His compassionate messaging about service leadership is exactly what our graduates need to hear at this moment. We could not resist inviting him back.”
The ceremony will take place at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore on May 15. More information is available on Maryland Carey Law’s graduation page.