The Calvert County Board of County Commissioners has hired Bradley J. Neitzel, a veteran government lawyer, as the county’s new attorney. The appointment fills a post that has been open since last winter.
The commissioners appointed Neitzel on Sept. 29 after what the county called a competitive recruitment process. He is currently chief of litigation for the Baltimore County Office of Law in Towson and starts in Calvert on Oct. 19.
“We are extremely pleased and fortunate to have such a qualified and experienced attorney joining Calvert County Government,” Commissioner President Todd Ireland said. “Neitzel brings with him decades of legal experience serving the citizens of Maryland.”
Filling a 10-month vacancy
Neitzel succeeds John B. Norris III, who served as Calvert’s county attorney for 14 years. Norris left in December 2025 to become St. Mary’s County’s director of public works and transportation. Norris had been St. Mary’s county attorney from 2001 to 2006 before joining Calvert in 2011.
The county advertised the job at a salary range of $175,000 to $210,000. Under the posting, the county attorney reports to the county administrator, supervises the office’s attorneys and staff, and runs the county’s legislative agenda. The county did not say what Neitzel will be paid.
His background
Neitzel has been an assistant county attorney in Baltimore County since 2021 and now leads that office’s litigation work. Before that, he was a senior assistant county attorney in Harford County from 2016 to 2021. He also worked in the Maryland Office of the Attorney General as an assistant attorney general and senior counsel for litigation.
He has Southern Maryland experience. He was an assistant state’s attorney in the St. Mary’s County State’s Attorney’s Office from 2007 to 2008.
Neitzel earned his law degree from the University of Illinois in 1998. He also holds a master’s degree in biblical studies from Union Theological Seminary (1995) and a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from the University of Virginia (1993).
What the county attorney does
The Office of the County Attorney is Calvert County government’s in-house law firm. It serves the commissioners, the county administrator, county departments, and advisory boards and commissions when the commissioners direct it. The office:
- gives legal advice
- reviews deeds, bonds, contracts and other legal documents
- handles civil lawsuits involving the county, its officers and employees
- advises commissioners during meetings
- drafts local and state legislation
- maintains the county code
That meeting advice has drawn attention this year. The state Open Meetings Compliance Board has issued opinions against the commissioners in August and again in September.
A board in transition
The appointment comes near the end of the current board’s term. Ireland, Vice President Mark C. Cox Sr. and Commissioner Earl F. “Buddy” Hance lost their Republican primaries in June amid a backlash over data center development. A new board will be elected Nov. 3. Neitzel will be advising that new board from its first day.
