C. Daniel Saunders graduated with honors from Washington College in 1968 and the University of Maryland School of Law in 1972. He has received the highest peer-reviewed rating for advocacy skills and integrity by Martindale Hubbell for over a quarter of a century. Primarily a trial lawyer, he also excels in guiding business clients in the avoidance of litigation. Complex civil litigation, criminal defense, government regulation and appellate practice constitute the majority of his practice.
Aside from the civil litigation for which he is best known, Dan has extensive experience representing criminal defendants for virtually every kind of case from DWI to capital murder. He served for six years as District Public Defender overseeing the defense of criminal cases in the five counties of the upper shore (Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's, Caroline and Talbot).
Dan’s appellate practice began in 1974 when he appeared before the Maryland Court of Appeals in the case of Saunders vs. Stradley where he succeeded in reversing a decision of the Cecil County Circuit Court and set precedents still cited today in property foreclosure cases. Since then, he has filed or defended innumerable civil and criminal appeals in the Maryland Court of Appeals and the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.
Dan believes in service to the legal profession. He has served on the Maryland State Bar Association Board of Governors executive committee, has chaired the Young Lawyers Section, is a long-standing member of the Maryland State Bar Association judicial selection committee. He is a Fellow of the Maryland Bar Foundation. He was appointed to be a founding member of the Court of Appeals Commission for Professionalism and served for many years as a member of the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission.
He has his main office in Chestertown, but provides legal service to all of the surrounding town including Rock Hall, Centreville, Denton, Stevensville, Chester, Elkton and Easton.
