Mala Malhotra-Ortiz

Mala Malhotra-Ortiz

Adjunct Professor of Law

Location: Carlisle

Univ. of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
500 West Baltimore Street
Baltimore, MD 20201

Email   mxm2425@psu.edu

Phone  410-258-5720

About Malhotra-Ortiz

Mala Malhotra-Ortiz, Esq. is an employee relations consultant, coach/mediator and adjunct law professor. She is an expert in strategic organizational solutions, difficult discussions and pedagogy. Malhotra-Ortiz is an alternative dispute resolution advisor for FEMA General Counsel, a founding Director of dispute resolution at the Maryland Court of Special Appeals and directed dispute resolution programs for the U.S. Air Force.

Malhotra-Ortiz was owner and managing attorney of a solo practice specializing in small businesses, immigration and family law. She is past chair of the Maryland State Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, a roster mediator for the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, board member of Free State Justice (2015-current), and past president of the LGBT Bar Association of Maryland where she chaired the judicial nomination committee. Malhotra-Ortiz has mediated over 1,800 disputes including business, domestic relations, estates, multiple-party environmental conflicts, products liability, real property, tax, worker’s compensation and zoning.  She has served as counsel in over 200 matters in both state and federal forums.

Malhotra-Ortiz earned her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law (2004); is a cum laude graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park; and studied at the American School of International Business in Vevey, Switzerland and the University of North London, U.K. She served in the U.S. Peace Corps (1996-1999) and AmeriCorps VISTA (1999-2000), and is fluent in Guarani, Hindi, Punjabi, and Spanish.


Penn State Dickinson Law and Penn State Law are reunifying to operate as Penn State University’s single law school, which will be known as Penn State Dickinson Law. While ABA approval for the reunification is pending, both schools are currently fully accredited. We submitted an application for acquiescence to operate as a single law school in July 2024 and plan to enroll a unified class in Fall 2025. Once reunification is complete, the separate faculties of each school will be members of the reunified Penn State Dickinson Law faculty.