Shanta Trivedi

Shanta Trivedi, JD, is a widely published legal scholar and advocate who promotes policies and primary prevention approaches to protect children from damaging system interventions. She has testified before and worked with numerous states on improving legislation to avoid unnecessary family separation. Her insightful opinion pieces and articles have appeared in legal journals and media outlets, including The Washington Post, Ms. Magazine, and The Hill.

Shanta is an Assistant Professor and Faculty Director for the Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts at the University of Baltimore School of Law. She teaches family and child welfare law courses and is a faculty advisor for the school’s Family Law Association.

Before joining the UBalt Law faculty in 2021, Shanta spent nearly a decade in legal practice, including as a staff attorney at Brooklyn Defender Services, where she represented parents embroiled in the child welfare system. Through this work, she tackled the myriad challenges facing low-income, minority, and otherwise disadvantaged families. She also volunteered for Sanctuary for Families in New York, representing survivors of domestic violence, and served as co-chair of their Pro Bono Council LGBT committee.

As a law student, Shanta became interested in poverty and constitutional law issues while working as a research assistant for a renowned Fourth Amendment scholar, assisting with projects related to racial profiling and illegal searches and seizures. Her first job out of law school was as an associate at Winston & Strawn LLP in New York. While at the firm, she took on pro bono projects for the Innocence Project, Human Rights First, and Sanctuary for Families.

Shanta graduated from the Boston University School of Law and New York University.