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2026 Award-Winning Criminal Defense Attorneys
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Award-Winning Defense
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Attorney Matthew T. Marin founded Marin & Murphy Law Firm in 2008 and has spent 17 years building one of Rhode Island's most recognized criminal defense practices — carrying 460 five-star Google reviews and a 5.0 rating across all firm locations. He successfully challenged Rhode Island's DUI Rights for Motorists form in State v. Zimmerman, forcing the Attorney General's Office to revise it statewide. In State v. Corcoran, his suppression argument at the Superior Court level became the foundation for a Rhode Island Supreme Court ruling that established statewide Miranda precedent for DUI investigations across Rhode Island. He has been recognized by Super Lawyers for 11 consecutive years and named to the National Trial Lawyers Top 100.
Attorney Matthew T. Marin founded this firm in 2008 with a single conviction: that effective criminal defense requires understanding how the prosecution thinks. Before entering private practice, he worked at the Rhode Island Department of Attorney General as a Rule 9 student attorney — representing the State in probation and bail violation hearings and prosecuting breathalyzer refusal cases at the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal. He has been on both sides of the courtroom.
That prosecution background shaped everything that followed. Where other defense attorneys work backwards from a charge, Attorney Marin starts by asking how a prosecutor would build the case — then identifies where the constitutional vulnerabilities lie. That approach produced two of the most significant DUI legal victories in Rhode Island's recent history: the Zimmerman form challenge and the Corcoran Miranda precedent. It also earned him 11 consecutive Super Lawyers recognitions — peer acknowledgment sustained across an entire career, not a single year.
Over 17 years, Attorney Marin expanded the firm from a solo DUI defense practice to a five-office, multi-attorney operation handling the full spectrum of Rhode Island criminal defense — from first-offense DUI in District Court to felony and federal charges in Superior Court and U.S. District Court. The firm now carries 460 five-star Google reviews and is rated 5.0 across all locations.
Attorney Marin continues to lead the firm's strategic operations and oversees its most complex criminal matters. He has been selected as a speaker at the Mass Torts Made Perfect Conference in 2024 and 2025 and holds bar admission in four states and U.S. District Court — a range that reflects both the depth of his Rhode Island practice and the breadth of his litigation experience.
Two of Attorney Marin's cases produced outcomes that extended beyond his individual clients — changing the law that governs DUI proceedings for every Rhode Islander.
Super Lawyers is a peer-nomination and independent research process through Thomson Reuters. Fewer than 5% of attorneys in any state receive the designation. Attorney Marin has been selected every year since 2014 — first through the Rising Star designation for attorneys under 40 or within their first 10 years of practice, then through full Super Lawyers selection from 2019 forward. Eleven consecutive years of recognition places him in a small category of Rhode Island criminal defense attorneys with sustained peer acknowledgment throughout their careers.
Gold years = Super Lawyers · Muted years = Rising Star designation
Attorney Marin has been quoted and featured across multiple years in both Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly and the Providence Journal on DUI constitutional law, criminal procedure, and appellate decisions. He has also presented at the Rhode Island District Court Prosecutors Association on marijuana decriminalization and probable cause standards.
Attorney Marin holds degrees in law, business administration, and business management — a combination that shaped both his approach to criminal defense strategy and his ability to build and operate a multi-office law firm.
Prior to founding Marin & Murphy Law Firm, Attorney Matthew T. Marin served as a Rule 9 student attorney at the Rhode Island Department of Attorney General — the state's primary prosecutorial authority. Rule 9 of the Rhode Island Supreme Court Rules authorizes supervised law students to appear and practice before Rhode Island courts, and Attorney Marin exercised that authorization representing the State of Rhode Island in active proceedings.
In that capacity, he appeared in probation violation hearings and bail violation hearings on behalf of the State, arguing for the prosecution in matters where defendants' liberty interests were directly at stake. He also prosecuted breathalyzer refusal cases at the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal — the administrative court that adjudicates DUI-related civil license suspension proceedings — handling cases on the same side of the table as the prosecutors he would later face in private practice.
This early experience inside the prosecutorial function — understanding how charging decisions are made, how the State evaluates evidentiary strength, and which arguments move prosecutors versus which ones don't — became the operational foundation of his criminal defense practice. Attorney Marin approaches every Rhode Island DUI defense, domestic violence case, and felony criminal matter by first reconstructing the prosecution's theory of the case, then identifying the constitutional and evidentiary vulnerabilities the State has not yet addressed. That methodology is a direct product of the time he spent building cases for the State rather than defending against them.
Attorney Marin sponsors the East Greenwich Youth Soccer Association, supporting youth athletic programs in the community where the firm's flagship office has operated since 2018. The firm's commitment to the East Greenwich community extends from legal advocacy to active local investment.
View community sponsorship →Free, confidential consultations available 24 hours a day. When you call, you speak with an attorney — not an intake coordinator or a call center.
When the stakes are your freedom, your record, and your future, you need attorneys who know Rhode Island’s courts — and bring focused federal defense experience to every case. Marin & Murphy Law Firm has been serving Rhode Island since 2008. 460 five-star Google reviews as of October 2026. Attorneys admitted in Rhode Island and the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
Available 24/7 for DUI arrests, domestic violence charges, drug offenses, federal investigations, and every other criminal matter Rhode Island prosecutes. Early intervention is when defense strategy matters most. Get your free, confidential consultation today:
(401) 269-3381
mm@matthewtmarin.com
You will speak directly with an attorney — not intake staff, not a paralegal. Results vary; this is not legal advice — see our privacy policy for details.
Available 24/7 for criminal matters.
