Education
J.D., Georgetown University Law Center
M.P.A. (Masters in Public Affairs), Princeton University
B.A., Carleton College
Biography
Keyes, an expert in immigration and asylum law, joined the UBalt Law faculty in 2012. She teaches Immigration Law, Professional Responsibility, Introduction to Lawyering Skills, and Civil Procedure. In all her teaching, she has a passion for deepening law students' analytical and lawyering skills so that they will thrive in the legal profession. She also directed UBalt Law's Immigrant Rights Clinic for 10 years. In 2023, Keyes won the University of Baltimore's President's Faculty Award, and has won both faculty and student-awarded teaching awards, among other honors.
Her scholarship focuses on the gaps in access to protection for migrants fleeing both persecution and the effects of climate change, and on the state of lawyering in the U.S. immigration system.
Prior to joining the law school faculty, Keyes was a practitioner-in-residence with the Immigrant Justice Clinic at American University Washington College of Law. Prior to teaching, she practiced at legal service organizations whose work with immigrants crossed a spectrum of legal needs and lawyering strategies, at the intersections of immigration law with employment and family law. Prior to attending law school, Keyes worked in the field of international development, with such organizations as the World Bank and Catholic Relief Services.
Keyes is admitted to the Maryland bar, is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and speaks French and Spanish. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and her Master in Public Affairs from Princeton University. She graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College with a degree in African Development Studies.
Areas of Expertise
Elizabeth Keyes, What Constitution? The Dual State Theory in Immigration Law, 79 SMU L. Rev. 129 (2026)
Elizabeth Keyes and Sabrina Balgamwalla, Clinics and Emergencies, 31 Clinical L. Rev. 1 (2024)
Elizabeth Keyes, Duress in Immigration Law, 44 Seattle U. L. Rev. 307 (2021) (reprinted in Immigr. Briefings 1 (Mar. 2021)).
Elizabeth Keyes, Hamilton’s Immigrant Story Today in Lisa Tucker (ed.), Hamilton and the Law: Reading Today’s Most Contentious Legal Issues Through the Hit Musical (Cornell Univ. Press, 2020)
Elizabeth Keyes, Environmental Refugees? Rethinking What’s in a Name, 44 N. Car. J. of Int’l L. 461 (2019).
Elizabeth Keyes, Unconventional Refugees, 67 Am. U. L. Rev. 89 (2017)
Elizabeth Keyes, Evolving Contours of Immigration Federalism: The Case of Migrant Children, 19 Harvard Latino L. Rev. 33 (2016).
Elizabeth Keyes, Deferred Action: Considering What is Lost, 55 Washburn L. J. 129 (2016).
Elizabeth Keyes, Zealous Advocacy: Pushing Against the Borders in Immigration Litigation, 45 Seton Hall L. J. 475 (2015).
Elizabeth Keyes, Immigration Reform and Race, Then and Now, 57 Howard L.J. 899 (2014).
Elizabeth Keyes, Defining American: The DREAM Act, Immigration Reform and Citizenship, 14 Nevada L. J. 101 (2014).
Elizabeth Keyes, Examining Maryland’s Views on Immigrants and Immigration, U. Balt. L. Forum (2013).
Elizabeth Keyes, Beyond Saints and Sinners: Discretion and Narrative in Immigration Law, 26 Geo. Immigr. L. J. 207 (2012).
Keyes, E. Zealousness in Immigration Practice, National Immigrant Justice Center, (2025).
Midatlantic Clinical Conference, Clinics and Emergencies, (2024).
Law and Society Annual Conference, Disrupting Borders, Decentering States (2022).
Law and Society Annual Conference, Lawyering, Legal Consciousness, and Social Mobilization (2022).
Environmental Law Society, Climate Migration, University of Maryland School of Law, (2022).
Environmental Justice Series: Climate Migration, Duke University School of Law, (2022).
Environmental Law Society, Columbia University, Climate Migration, (2022).
Our Planet, Our People: Identities Shaping Environmental Justice, Journal of Gender, Social Policy, and the Law, American University Washington College of Law, (2022).
University of Baltimore RED Talks, Climate Migration and Duty (2022).
Climate Migration, Orange County Bar Ass’n, Climate Migration (2022).
The Coming Wave: Dealing with Climate Change and Global Migration, University of Baltimore School of Law, (2021).
ImmigRacism: How Does Immigration Law Manifest Racism and Impact Immigrant Communities?, (2020).
AALS/CLEA Online Clinical Conference, "Racial Justice in Our Institutions," (2020).
AALS Annual Conference, "Immigration Control and Environmental Regulation: Toward Justice?," (2020).
Workshop on Environmental Migration (2020).