Colin Starger

Colin Starger is a Professor of Law and Director of the Legal Data & Design Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law. He has been a faculty member at UBalt since 2010, bringing expertise in legal technology, constitutional law, criminal procedure, and pretrial justice issues.

Starger received his J.D. from Columbia University and his B.A. from the University of California at Los Angeles. Prior to joining UBalt, he served as an Acting Assistant Professor of Lawyering at New York University School of Law, clerked for Magistrate Judge Michael Dolinger in the Southern District of New York, and worked as a Staff Attorney at the Innocence Project at Cardozo Law School from 2003-2007, where he was lead counsel on four DNA exonerations including one from Oklahoma's death row.

Professor Starger specializes in the intersection of law and technology, with particular focus on pretrial detention and bail reform, constitutional law, criminal procedure, civil procedure, innocence and wrongful convictions, jurisprudence, and legal rhetoric. His work combines traditional legal scholarship with innovative technological approaches to legal problems, particularly through data analysis and visualization of legal doctrine.

Starger's scholarly output demonstrates a consistent focus on Supreme Court doctrine mapping, constitutional rights, pretrial justice, and the application of technology to legal problems. His recent work addresses contemporary issues such as automated vehicles, structural racism in pretrial systems, and the constitutional implications of bail practices. His methodology often involves visual mapping of legal doctrine and the application of data analysis to legal questions.

• Jane Marks Murphy Prize (for Clinical Excellence) from Columbia University Law School
• Named to Fastcase 50 in 2014
• Recognized as an American Bar Association "Legal Rebel" in 2020

Starger directs the Legal Data & Design Clinic and co-founded the Pretrial Justice Clinic at UB School of Law in 2016 with former student Zina Makar. Through these clinics, he has mentored numerous law students in using data analysis to identify patterns of unfair detention practices in Maryland courts. His work with the SCOTUS Mapping Project has provided students with innovative tools to understand and visualize the evolution of Supreme Court doctrine. Starger has secured grants to support his clinic work and technological initiatives in legal education.