Robert M. Bell

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The Honorable Robert M. Bell, Chief Judge.

Robert Mack Bell (born July 6, 1943) is an American lawyer and jurist from Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Since 1991 he has been a judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, the highest court in Maryland, and its Chief Judge since 1996.

Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, his parents soon moved to Baltimore, Maryland. While attending Dunbar High School there in 1960, Bell had his first experiences with the judicial system. He joined a group of students in a sit-in protest at a segregated restaurant. He was arrested, convicted of trespassing, and fined $10. His appeals went as far as the U.S. Supreme Court where he was represented by Thurgood Marshall and Jack Greenberg. While the case was returned to state courts, his conviction was ultimately reversed in 1965.

Bell graduated with a BA in history from Morgan State University in Baltimore in 1966 and while there became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega. He went on to Harvard Law School where he earned his JD in 1969. That same year he was admitted to the bar and began his practice in Baltimore. In 1975 he first became a judge in the Maryland District Court in Baltimore. Since then he has served at every level of the state court system.