Catalyst Magazine

Meet UMB’s Public Servant of the Year

MAUREEN A. SWEENEY, JD
Maureen Sweeney, JD

Maureen A. Sweeney, JD
Francis King Carey
School of Law

Professor and Director, Immigration Law Clinic

About Professor Sweeney

Sweeney, who has led the Immigration Law Clinic since joining the Carey School of Law in 2004, is highly respected for her innovative client advocacy and work on broader issues impacting immigrant communities. The Yale Law School graduate has earned numerous honors, including the 2019 University System of Maryland Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Public Service and the 2016 Maryland Legal Services Corporation Benjamin L. Cardin Distinguished Service Award.

Impact

Sweeney teaches her students to combine legal theory with practice and gives them opportunities to help poor or marginalized people through the immigration clinic. Many prospective Carey School of Law students identify the clinic as a chief reason for applying, and current and former students rave about Sweeney’s teaching methods and mentorship. She also strives to educate the UMB community and the public at-large about asylum and immigration issues.

Quotes

“I love the work of asylum and immigration law because I’m continually inspired by my clients, who are resilient, hardworking, loving, and remarkably generous people. I’m also proud that the Carey School of Law is known as a place to be well-trained as an advocate who wants to fight for justice for immigrants.”

— Sweeney

“People who lack citizenship also often lack access to legal services, courts, education, and due process. They find themselves in a system they don’t understand without the resources to adjudicate their rights. The work of Professor Sweeney and her students seeks to address these problems.”

— Donald B. Tobin, JD, dean and professor, Carey School of Law

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Lou Cortina

Lou Cortina is director of editorial services in the Office of Communications and Public Affairs at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

CATALYST magazine


Executive Board

Jennifer B. Litchman, MA
Senior Vice President for External Relations

Laura Kozak, MA
Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Associate Vice President
Communications and Public Affairs

Joanne Morrison
Senior Director of Marketing and Public Relations

Managing Editor

Jen Badie
Assistant Director of Editorial Services

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Lou Cortina
Director, Editorial Services

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Matthew D’Agostino
Lead Photographer

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Erik Neilsen
Assistant Director, Video Production

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Amir Chamsaz
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