University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law Professor Richard Boldt has been named a University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) Distinguished University Professor. The designation is the highest appointment bestowed on a faculty member at UMB and recognizes both excellence and the recipient’s contributions to their field.
Boldt was honored at UMB’s fall convocation on September 12 where he received the Distinguished University Professor medal from UMB President Bruce Jarrell. UMB Provost and Executive Vice President Roger Ward introduced Boldt, calling him a “true legal luminary.”
“Congratulations to Professor Boldt on this well-deserved honor,” said Maryland Carey Law Dean Renée Hutchins Laurent. “His work as a compassionate educator and impactful scholar makes us deeply proud. We are all better because he is part of our community.”
Boldt has been a passionate and dedicated legal educator for more than three decades. He joined the faculty in 1989, was promoted to professor of law in 1999, and was appointed the T. Carroll Brown Professor of Law in 2016. He served as associate dean from 2002 to 2006 and again in 2017.
He teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, criminal law, mental disability law, and torts and has written extensively on drug treatment courts and other problem-solving courts.
During his time at Maryland Carey Law, Boldt has received numerous teaching awards and is widely recognized by current and former colleagues, students, and peers at other law schools as one of the best legal educators and scholars in the country.
Boldt’s teaching abilities and command of diverse areas of law have touched virtually every aspect of the Maryland Carey Law curriculum. He has taught core first-year subjects such as criminal law, torts, and constitutional law, plus a wide range of upper-level courses and seminars including federal jurisdiction, criminal procedure, constitutional interpretation, and mental disability law.
His work has been published in leading law journals including the Maryland Law Review, Journal of Health Care Law & Policy, Washington University Law Quarterly, Criminal Justice Ethics, Michigan Law Review, and University of Pennsylvania Law Review.
Boldt received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia College and earned his law degree from Yale Law School, where he served as an editor of the Yale Law and Policy Review. After practicing at the Legal Action Center, a public interest law firm in New York, he began his academic career at Northern Illinois University College of Law. He also held a faculty position at City University of New York Law School and was a visiting professor at Brooklyn Law School.
In 2022, Boldt was recognized as the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Educator of the Year.