Edward Scott Rosenthal

Ed Rosenthal is a founding principal and managing partner of Rich Rosenthal Brincefield Manitta Dzubin & Kroeger, LLP, a firm 15 attorneys concentrating on civil and criminal  litigation based in the heart of Old Town, Alexandria, and in Reston, Virginia.  His own practice includes resolving legal problems and disputes involving federal and state criminal defense, civil liberties and constitutional law, and commercial litigation.  Although a focus on alternative dispute resolution methods results in the prompt and efficient settlement of most disputes, Mr. Rosenthal has enjoyed notable accomplishments at both the trial and appellate levels over nearly 40 years of practice. At the trial level, he has successfully defended prosecutions involving charges ranging from capital murder to drunken driving; he has obtained awards of six- and seven-figures in complex personal injury and product liability cases; he has won a writ of mandamus against a local City Manager in a police officer's pension dispute; has successfully defended multi-million-dollar claims for conspiracy; and has obtained notable jury verdicts for compensatory and punitive damages in commercial disputes.   On the appellate level, Mr. Rosenthal has successfully briefed and argued appeals including decisions establishing limits on the introduction of reputation evidence and hearsay opinion testimony under the Federal Rules of Evidence; refining the "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine under the Fourth Amendment; providing clear and definite trial court procedures for evaluating and honoring an accused's Sixth Amendment request to represent himself; and broadening the scope of charitable immunity in Virginia.  Mr. Rosenthal has testified on the constitutionality of proposed legislation before the Courts of Justice Committee of the Virginia House of Delegates and led the local bar’s effort to bring a Public Defender’s office to the Alexandria  courts.  Mr. Rosenthal is the author of “The Bill of Rights in Its 200th Year: A Casualty of the War on Drugs?” which was featured in the 1992 edition of George Mason University’s Civil Rights Law Journal. He is an occasional lecturer on the constitution and criminal law at schools and universities. He has long been active as a member of the Virginia State Bar and its Criminal Law Section; the American Bar Association (Criminal Justice and  Individual Rights Sections, 1983-present); Virginia Trial Lawyers Association and its Criminal Law Section; and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.  He continues to serve as a Master and Mentor in the George Mason University Chapter of American Inns of Court, and on the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Virginia and its Northern Virginia Chapter.  Mr. Rosenthal chairs the ACLU’s statewide Legal Panel , responsible for reviewing and recommending Virginia cases  on which the  ACLU will focus its efforts. Mr. Rosenthal received his B.A. from Amherst College in 1973 and earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1976.