.jpg)
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law Professor Maureen Sweeney is a recipient of this year’s Gender Justice & Equity Impact Award from the city of Baltimore’s Office of Equity and Civil Rights.
In a letter to Sweeney announcing the award, Baltimore’s Director & Chief Equity Officer Amber Greene wrote, “Your commitment to equity, justice, and service reflects the very spirit of this year’s celebration and honors those who work tirelessly to make Baltimore a fairer, more just city for all. Through your leadership and dedication, you have made a lasting impact in your community and city and have helped advance the principles of civil and human rights that continue to strengthen our city.”
Sweeney is director of Maryland Carey Law’s Chacón Center for Immigrant Justice, which works to create a future where all Maryland families and residents are stable and secure regardless of background or immigration status, through direct representation and impact litigation on issues of asylum and the intersection of criminal and immigration law. She is also the founder of Maryland Carey Law’s Immigration Clinic, which she taught for more than 20 years.
A dedicated teacher, Sweeney offers courses including Immigration Law, the Law and Social Change Seminar, and her newly created course, Crimmigration, which explores the intersection of criminal and immigration law and the implications that each area of law has for practice and enforcement in the other.
She is faculty advisor for the student Immigration Law and Policy Association, through which she leads alternative spring break service trips for students to provide legal services for people navigating the immigration system.
Sweeney’s scholarship focuses on asylum law and the law of immigration consequences of criminal convictions. Her new book Crimmigration in a Nutshell, published by West Academic and co-authored with Emily Torstveit Ngara and Jenny Hernandez, introduces law practice at the intersection of immigration and criminal law.
Among other publications, she is also the principal author of a chart for criminal defense practitioners of the immigration consequences of criminal convictions under Maryland state law and has spoken and trained widely in the state on this topic.
A Baltimore resident, Sweeney began practicing immigration law at Catholic Charities Esperanza Center in the city. She serves on the board of directors of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild and the Annapolis Immigration Justice Network. Previously, she served on advisory committees for the ACLU of Maryland and Kids in Need of Defense in Baltimore.
She will receive formal recognition of the award at the 32nd Annual Civil Rights Week Breakfast on Oct. 17 at the Baltimore Convention Center.