Judge Dan Friedman is on the Nov. 3, 2026, general election ballot for a retention vote on the Appellate Court of Maryland.

The race is nonpartisan. Voters across Maryland, including those in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, will decide whether to retain Friedman as an at-large judge on the court. Friedman was appointed to the bench, then called the Court of Special Appeals, by Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley on Sept. 23, 2014, according to Wikipedia's entry on the Appellate Court of Maryland. He is certified for the ballot, according to BallotReady election data.

Candidate information

  • Name: Dan Friedman
  • Race: Maryland Appeals Court Judge - At Large (Retain Friedman?)
  • Party: Nonpartisan
  • Birthplace: Panorama City, California
  • Education: Bachelor's degree in government and politics, University of Maryland (1988); juris doctor, University of Maryland (1994)
  • Notable publication: Author of The Maryland State Constitution: A Reference Guide, originally published by Greenwood Press in 2005 and republished by Oxford University Press in 2011, according to the Maryland State Archives
  • Award: Maryland Leadership in Law Award from the Daily Record (2009), according to the Maryland State Archives

Experience and public service

Friedman has spent most of his career in Maryland law and government. He began as a legislative aide to Delegate Paul G. Pinsky in the Maryland General Assembly from 1988 to 1989, according to BallotReady.

After earning his law degree, he clerked for Judge John Carroll Byrnes at the Circuit Court for Baltimore City from 1994 to 1995. He then clerked for Judge Robert L. Karwacki at the Court of Appeals of Maryland from 1995 to 1996, according to the Maryland State Archives.

Friedman worked as an attorney at Miles & Stockbridge P.C. from 1996 to 2000, according to BallotReady. He served as chief of litigation for Baltimore City from 2000 to 2002. He then joined Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP as special counsel from 2002 to 2008.

From 2008 to 2014, Friedman served as counsel to the Maryland General Assembly in the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland, according to BallotReady. He has also been an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland School of Law, a role listed from 1998, according to the Maryland State Archives.

Since joining the bench in 2014, Friedman has served on the Judicial Council's Court Technology Committee (2015–16) and the Legislative Committee (2017), according to the Maryland State Archives. He has chaired the Rules Review Subcommittee of the Equal Justice Committee since 2020.

This profile was compiled from publicly available sources, including the Maryland State Archives, BallotReady and Wikipedia.