John Christopher Belcher Attorney at Law

Specialties

Criminal Defense (Federal & State, MD & DC)

Family Law (Divorce, Custody, Property, & Domestic Violence)

Civil Rights (Employment Discrimination & Police Misconduct)

Tort Law (Personal Injury, Defamation, & Civil Fraud)

Appeals (Criminal, Civil, & Domestic; MD & DC)

Business Consulting (Contract Review & Litigation Support)

Estate Planning (Simple Wills, POA, & Health Care Directives)

Estate Administration (Simple Estates & Will Contests)

History

Established in 1996.

After graduating from Tulane Law School in 1984, I served with the United States Department of Justice from 1984 through 1994 as a Trial Attorney and Senior Trial Attorney. In September 1996, I opened the doors of my solo private practice in Oxon Hill, Maryland, and I have been practicing from the same office since that date.

I currently have two staff members, Mia Ben, a native of Morocco, who is fluent in French and Arabic, and Heba Eid, a native of Egypt, who is fluent in Arabic. Mia in normally in the office from 8:00 a.m. through 4:30 p.m. daily and handles most of my initial intake.

Normally, I have only two appointments each weekday, at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., but in selected cases I can make special arrangements for evening hours and weekends. I do not charge for initial consultations of up to one hour.

Meet the Business Owner

John Christopher B.

Business Owner

I was born in Tallahassee, Florida in 1951, and lived for several years thereafter in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where my father taught as what is now called Oklahoma State University but was then called Oklahoma A&M. My family moved to Athens, Georgia, when I was four or five years old, and my father taught sociology at the University of Georgia for the next 35 years or so.

After graduating from Athens High School in 1968, I attended a total of five universities over the next 16 years, eventually receiving an A.B. summa cum laude from the University of Georgia, a J.D. from Tulane University in 1984, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of New Mexico, although I completed my comprehensive exams in 1977 and taught for four years before starting law school, and then defended my dissertation after finishing law school, while working for the U.S. Department of Justice.

For additional biographical information, with a focus on my legal background, please see my website.