Degrees

PhD 2009, Queen Mary University of London (expected December 2009); J.D. University of Southern California (Order of the Coif); B.A. 1999, University of California, Irvine.

Short Bio

JoAnne Sweeny is currently completing her PhD in law at Queen Mary, University of London. She graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Psychology and a B.A. in Criminology from the University of California at Irvine. 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 venturing further into academia. While at Queen Mary, Professor Sweeny taught British constitutional law and legal writing skills to first year law students.

She has published in the area of wage and hour employment law and her current scholarly pursuits include comparative constitutional law and legal history. Her past articles have focused on emerging wage and hour problems that result from the practical problems of modern working situations. More specifically, in Filling in the Gaps: The Scope of Administrative Agencies’ Power to Enact Regulations, 27 WHITTIER L. R. 621 (2006), she analyzed how meal periods should be “provided” by employers under California Employment Code Section 512. A more recent article, The FLSA in the Virtual Office: How to Employers Can Ensure They Have Fully Compensated Their Non-exempt Employees in the Age of the Blackberry, XXVII CORPORATE COUNSEL R. 2 (2008), written with Jessica Linehan, examines how the use of blackberries or other PDAs can affect the “hours worked” by employees for the calculation of overtime. These are widespread employment law problems that are, as yet, unresolved.

Professor Sweeny’s PhD dissertation, entitled The Rationality of Constitutional Change: Combining Rational Choice Theory with Culture to Explain the Creation and Implementation of the United Kingdom's Human Rights Act 1998, focuses on the United Kingdom’s Human Rights Act 1998, the historical and political circumstances that led to its enactment and how the three government branches have responded to its constitutional implications. These analyses are accomplished using both Rational Choice Theory and the United Kingdom’s unique historical and political culture.