JoAnne Sweeny teaches Lawyering Skills and Writing For Practice. Prior to coming to Louisville, she was a Westerfield Fellow at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, where she taught legal research and writing as well as a seminar in comparative constitutional law.

After graduating Order of the Coif from the University of Southern California Law School, she clerked for the Honorable Ferdinand F. Fernandez at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Professor Sweeny then practiced as an employment litigator at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP before returning to academia. In 2009, she completed her PhD in law at Queen Mary, University of London. While studying at Queen Mary, Professor Sweeny taught British constitutional law and legal writing to first-year law students.

Professor Sweeny's current scholarly interests include freedom of expression, feminist jurisprudence, and comparative constitutional law. Some of Professor Sweeny's most recent research has focused on the legal considerations behind the #MeToo movement, how rape myths infiltrate the criminal justice system, and the intersection between freedom of expression and technology. Her past comparative work focuses on the United Kingdom’s Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights.