Biography
Professor JoAnne Sweeny is Associate Dean of Intellectual Life and Wyatt Tarrant Combs Professor of Law at Brandeis Law. She teaches lawyering skills, writing for practice, constitutional law and human rights. Her scholarship focuses on freedom of expression, feminist jurisprudence and comparative constitutional law, with recent work exploring the legal implications of the #MeToo movement, rape myths in the criminal justice system and the intersection of free speech and technology.
Professor Sweeny earned her J.D. from the University of Southern California Law School, graduating Order of the Coif, and clerked for Judge Ferdinand F. Fernandez of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She later practiced as an employment litigator with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP before returning to academia.
She completed her Ph.D. in law at Queen Mary, University of London, where she also taught British constitutional law and legal writing. Before joining Brandeis Law, she served as a Westerfield Fellow at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, teaching legal research, writing and comparative constitutional law.
Her comparative research has examined the United Kingdom’s Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights. More broadly, her work investigates constitutional protections, gender and human rights in both U.S. and international contexts.
Research Interests
Professor Sweeny's rearch interests include global legal skills, feminist jurisprudence, freedom of expression (particularly incitement and defamation), legal history, and comparative constitutional law.
Degrees and Certifications
Queen Mary University of London, London, , -
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, , -
University of California, Irvine, Irvine, , -
University of California, Irvine, Irvine, , -