Maitri “Mike” Klinkosum was born in Winston-Salem, NC on March 18, 1970 and grew up in the town of Wilkesboro, NC. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1992 with a B.A. in Political Science and History. Mike attended the University of Miami School of Law and was awarded his J.D. degree in May 1995. While at Miami, he represented the School of Law on the school’s national mock trial team and was selected for inclusion in the 14th Edition of Who’s Who Among American Law Students.

Mike began his career as an Assistant Public Defender in St. Charles, Illinois and continued his career at the Office of the Cook County Public Defender in Chicago, Illinois. In 1998, Mike returned to North Carolina and entered private practice in Wilkesboro in the areas of insurance defense, plaintiff’s litigation, family law and criminal defense and appeals. Mike’s practice ranged from misdemeanors to capital murders and he handled appeals in all courts of North Carolina as well as the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2002, Mike joined the Office of the NC Capital Defender and worked in both the Forsyth and Durham County offices, where his work focused exclusively on defending indigent clients charged with first-degree murder and often facing the death penalty.

In 2007, Mike joined the Office of the Wake County Public Defender in Raleigh, NC where he worked as an Assistant Public Defender in the felony unit. During his tenure with that office, Mike was assigned to handle serious felony cases at the trial level. Mike joined Cheshire, Parker, Schneider & Bryan in June 2010.

Mike is certified in State Criminal Law by the NC State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. In 2007, he received certification in Criminal Trial Advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Mike is the author of the North Carolina Criminal Defense Motions Manual published by LEXIS and the North Carolina Advocates for Justice and he has also published several articles for legal periodicals including: Piercing the Rape Shield: The Confrontation Clause and Rule 412 in Sex Offense Cases (published in TRIAL BRIEFS, June 2003); Discovery in Criminal Cases: A Need for Reform (published in TRIAL BRIEFS in December 2003); Advocating For Those Left Behind: The Need for Discovery Reform in Non-Capital Post-conviction Cases (co-authored with Bradley J. Bannon, published in TRIAL BRIEFS, February 2005); and Brady v. Maryland and Its Legacy—Forging a Path To Disclosure (co-authored with Bradley J. Bannon, published in The North Carolina State Bar Journal – Summer 2006, Volume 11, No. 2).

Mike is a member and leader in the NC Advocates for Justice (formerly the NC Academy of Trial Lawyers) having served two terms as Chair of the NCAJ Criminal Defense Section (2004 – 2006) and having served as a member of the Board of Governors from 2004 to 2007. In 2010, Mike was asked by the President of NCAJ to chair the organization’s SBI Crime Lab Task Force, which acts as a liaison between the NCAJ and the Office of the Attorney General of NC concerning the ongoing review of the NC State Bureau of Investigation crime lab. In 2005, in recognition of his extensive work for and commitment to NCAJ, Mike was presented with the organization’s “Ebbie” Award. Mike has served on the faculty of the UNC School of Government’s NC Defender Trial School and its New Felony Defender Program, the National Institute for Trial Advocacy’s Southeastern Regional Trial Skills program, and he has given presentations at numerous seminars throughout the State of North Carolina on topics relating to criminal defense and criminal trials. He is also a Vice-Chair of the Committee on Law Enforcement/Prosecutorial Misconduct of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

In February of 2008, Mike, along with co-counsel Kelley DeAngelus were awarded the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Award, given in recognition of outstanding contributions to advancing civil liberties in North Carolina and for their four year legal battle to win the freedom of Floyd Brown, a mentally retarded man from Wadesboro, NC who was wrongfully charged with murder in 1993 and held without a trial on the charges in a state mental hospital for 14 years. In 2008, Mike was also presented with the Kellie Crabtree Award from the North Carolina Advocates for Justice in recognition of legal representation that helped to protect the rights of ordinary citizens.

In February 2010, Mike and his partner Joseph B. Cheshire V, along with Christine Mumma, won a declaration of innocence for their client, Gregory F. Taylor, who had been wrongfully convicted of murder and imprisoned for 16 years. The three judge panel’s ruling is the first time in U.S. legal history that a court of law has declared a person “innocent” of the crimes with which he/she has been previously charged and convicted.

In June 2010, Mike was again awarded the Kellie Crabtree Award for his work in the Taylor case. In being awarded the Kellie Crabtree Award for his work in the Taylor case, Mike has achieved the distinction of being the only attorney to have received the Kellie Crabtree Award more than once.

Mike’s practice focuses on all aspects of criminal trial practice, post conviction practice and appeals.