Abigail Sweeney

Represent low-income cancer patients in poverty-law matters where unsafe housing, benefit denials, and legal instability threaten health and housing security.

• Represent clients in housing conditions matters, eviction defense, Social Security disability, public benefits, advance planning, consumer debt, family law, and employment matters.
• Independently develop cases from intake through investigation, negotiation, and litigation, including eviction matters involving housing-conditions defenses and subsidized housing-compliance issues.
• Draft motions, interrogatories, responses to interrogatories, settlement proposals, mediation statements, and demand letters articulating legal claims supported by documentary and testimonial evidence.
• Integrate pro bono counsel and student advocates into ongoing litigation and advance-planning work, expanding service and enforcement capacity within an academic Medical-Legal Partnership.
• Engage, train, and mentor law, medical, and undergraduate students as part of an academic MLP preparing future health-justice advocates.
• Collaborate with and train medical partners to identify legal issues affecting patient outcomes and reduce health-harming legal needs.
• Served on the teaching and mentorship team for Georgetown University Medical Center’s Health Justice Scholars Track, supporting medical student capstone projects and advocacy training.
• Directed and trained students for Capitol Hill Advocacy Day, preparing interdisciplinary teams to meet with members of Congress and staff; hosted moot legislative meetings and advocacy practice sessions.
• Designed and led Georgetown Law’s Alternative Spring Break Pro Bono Program, training and supervising law students drafting Healthcare Powers of Attorney for community members.
• Presented and trained medical students, nurses, law students, and undergraduates on medical-legal partnerships, legal-issue spotting, housing conditions, advance planning, and health equity.

Initiated and facilitated a partnership between the Health Justice Alliance’s Perinatal LAW Project and pro bono counsel at O’Melveny & Myers, aligning firm practice areas (eviction defense, guardianship, public benefits) with unmet legal needs in DC’s maternal-health population.

Designed and implemented a two-year fellowship project expanding advance-planning legal services for cancer patients and integrating pro bono partners into MLP work.

• Provided no-cost legal assistance to cancer patients in healthcare and financial advance-planning matters.
• Represented clients in Social Security disability appeals, housing conditions, eviction defense, third-party custody, insurance denials, public benefits, employment matters, and related health-harming legal needs.
• Compiled and analyzed extensive medical records; reconstructed timelines; interviewed third-party witnesses; and identified factual inconsistencies and misapplications of legal standards in administrative proceedings.
• Counseled medical providers on applicable legal standards to strengthen affidavits and supporting documentation.
• Secured partial reversals of adverse benefits determinations following prolonged administrative litigation.

• Assisted with enforcement of a federal consent decree, reviewing extensive records and correspondence to assess institutional compliance and identify failures to implement required policy reforms in custodial and healthcare settings.
• Collaborated with Police, Corrections, and Juvenile Practice Groups on compliance analysis.

• Conducted legal research and extensive record review in support of class-action litigation involving homelessness, mental health services, and disability rights.

• Represented detained youth in disciplinary hearings before an Administrative Law Judge and assisted with appeals of adverse decisions.
• Conducted “Know Your Rights” trainings and supported client grievance filings.

• Collaborated with doctors to holistically support vulnerable client with mental-health, special education, public benefits, and housing legal needs.
• Investigated and strategized about IEP implementation and special education eligibility for client’s child. Reviewed Office of State Superintendent of Education dispute decisions to establish relevant precedent.
• Advocated with Department of Human Services, DC Healthy Families, and the DC Office of Healthcare Ombudsman to correct errors in client’s Medicaid profile. Advocated with DC Housing Authority regarding client’s urgent need for a housing voucher.

• Participated in investigations concerning institutional treatment of individuals with disabilities, including on-site reviews, document analysis, and review of security footage for compliance concerns.

• Helped individuals facing homelessness prepare testimony for DC Council Budget Hearings.