Melissa Ricke

Ms. Ricke is a career defense attorney currently employed at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender in the capacity of trainer. She is responsible for training 450 lawyers and 300 core staff at all levels of experience for the State of Maryland. In Maryland, she has served as supervising attorney at the Baltimore City Juvenile Division and Prince George’s County Juvenile Divisions, and as a trial attorney in the Cecil Circuit Court with an emphasis on juvenile and youthful adult representation and litigation strategies. Additionally, Ms. Ricke is a nationally trained attorney through Gideon’s Promise and the Gault Center and is a member of the core faculty for the Maryland chapter of Gideon. Ms. Ricke serves on the core faculty for Advanced Litigation and Trial Strategies, an elite training unit focusing on trial preparation and execution of serious criminal cases. Ms. Ricke litigated the first reconsideration case in Maryland for juvenile offenders sentenced in adult court to life without parole. Prior to working in Maryland, Ms. Ricke was the Chief Attorney for the Office of Juvenile Representation for the Mohave County Public Defender in Kingman, Arizona. In that role, Ms. Ricke held a full-time caseload representing children in delinquent and abuse/neglect matters and well as youth parents and cross over youth. Ms. Ricke created and implemented the Mohave County Teen Court as a diversion option for youth with non-serious, first offenses.