Quick Facts
Biography
Michael J. Lindner is a lawyer in the state of Virginia in the United States who was elected General District Court Judge of the 19th Judicial Circuit (Fairfax County) on February 25, 2015 by the Virginia Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates, for a 6 year term commencing July 1, 2015. His election was preceded by a selection process wherein candidates were evaluated by the Fairfax Bar Judicial Selection Committee which issued an Executive Summary on his candidacy.
Education
He received a Bachelor of Arts in history from Kenyon College in 1981. A graduate of the American University Washington College of Law, Lindner was admitted to the Virginia State Bar in 2001.
Career
Prior to entering the practice of law, Lindner was a member of the startup team and was software development manager for the computer game company Legend Entertainment, and worked as a software designer, programmer, implementer, music composer and/or engineer of computer games produced by the enterprise such as Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerers Appliance, Frederik Pohl's Gateway, Companions of Xanth, Star Control 3, and Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, among other software titles. Despite success in producing games, Lindner switched careers and launched his own law firm in Fairfax in 2001, focusing primarily on criminal and traffic litigation.
As a criminal defense attorney, he handled difficult cases such as homicide trials and representation of persons wrongly held in custody. He served as a substitute judge from 2010 to 2015 and presided over causes in General District and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District courts throughout Northern Virginia. He helped reinvigorate, and from 2012 to 2015, was Co-Chair of the Fairfax Bar Criminal Law Practice Section, serving for the first year in collaboration with David Bernhard. As a Judge, he has pioneered and promoted implementation of the model Veterans Treatment Docket program, and presided over its first graduates. The program takes a novel hybrid approach, integrating the resolution of criminal cases for criminally-involved veterans with mental health and substance abuse treatment and veteran mentorship. The program has not been without controversy, initially struggling to gain legislative support in the Virginia General Assembly. However, the Supreme Court of Virginia enacted a rule regularizing the existence of such specialty dockets. Lindner's accomplishments both in private practice and as a judge, and perseverance in nurturing the Veterans Treatment Docket, resulted in him being named a "Leader in the Law" by Virginia Lawyers Weekly in 2016.