l-r: Monique Dixon ’96, executive director, Gibson-Banks Center for Race and the Law; Judge Andre Davis ’78; Judge Nancy Abudu, Judge Alexander Williams, Jr.; Professor Paula Monopoli, founding director, Women Leadership & Equality Program
In her first public speaking appearance as a federal jurist, Eleventh Circuit Judge Nancy Abudu joined the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law community as a Distinguished Jurist-in-Residence for two days in February. During the residency, Judge Abudu offered a community lecture, met with students, and engaged in a public conversation with retired federal judge Andre Davis ’78.
The visit was organized by the Women, Leadership & Equality Program at Maryland Carey Law with events co-sponsored by the Gibson-Banks Center for Race and the Law and the Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. Center for Education, Justice & Ethics at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Professor Paula Monopoli is the Sol & Carlyn Hubert Professor of Law and founding director of the Women, Leadership & Equality Program. She made the invitation to Judge Abudu, in part because of a keen desire to expose Maryland Carey Law students to the work of federal judges.
“Matters affecting the future of our democracy are being decided in federal courts across the country,” said Monopoli. “It is crucial for our students to understand the role and influence of these courts.”
Confirmed by the U.S. Senate in February 2023, Judge Abudu is the first Black woman to be confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which covers parts of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.
Prior to her appointment, Judge Abudu was a lawyer with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) where she served as the organization’s first-ever deputy legal director for voting rights, and then SPLC’s first director of strategic litigation. Her responsibilities included overseeing the organization’s legal programmatic work, which, in addition to voting rights, included immigrants’ rights, criminal justice reform, children’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and special litigation related to hate groups.
Judge Abudu also spent nearly 14 years with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), first as a voting rights attorney with the national office and then as the legal director for the Florida affiliate.
Judge Abudu’s telling of her career trajectory had a significant impact on students.
“As a former civil rights advocate, Judge Abudu brought an incredibly unique and powerful perspective that was an absolute pleasure to hear,” said Mark Reichart ’26, a member of Maryland Carey Law’s Moot Court Executive Board.
During the residency, Judge Abudu offered a community lecture where she discussed her research on the history of voting rights cases in the south’s former Fifth District, which included Mississippi and Alabama during the civil rights era. The old Fifth District is now covered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh District on which she sits.
The law school community was also treated to a conversation between Judge Abudu and Maryland Carey Law alum and Distinguished Jurist-in-Residence, the Honorable Andre Davis (ret.), U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The two federal judges, who are on opposite ends of their careers on the bench, shared insights on everything from how members of the judiciary prepare for court to how students can ready themselves to be judicial law clerks.
Corinne Noonan ’26, executive articles editor on the Maryland Law Review, was impressed with Judge Abudu’s humility, thoughtfulness, and community-minded approach. Noonan was also grateful for the judge’s words of wisdom.
“One piece of advice that has really stuck with me was Judge Abudu’s suggestion to find your own 'personal board of directors',” said Noonan, “made up of people in your life who know you well but who remain honest with you and help you stay true to your identity and values while navigating the legal profession.”