Maria Makar

Partner & Head of Prisoners' Rights

Maria Makar joined Hale & Monico in 2026. She leads the firm’s Prisoners’ Rights Practice, which focuses on protecting the rights of incarcerated people nationwide. Maria is a trial attorney and has helped her clients secure multi-million dollar jury verdicts.

Maria began her legal career at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York, NY. She clerked for the Honorable Jill A. Otake of the District of Hawaii and then for the Honorable Kenneth K. Lee of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Maria received a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.S. from University of Iowa. Maria also speaks Arabic and is a certified crisis interventionist and suicide first aid respondent.