Professor Matthew Boaz joined the College of Law in 2024. He teaches Criminal Law, Immigration Law, Torts, and a seminar on the intersection of criminal law and immigration law (“crimmigration”). 

Prof. Boaz's scholarship is concerned with the intersection of criminal law and immigration law, critical theory, abolition, and issues related to immigration proceedings, including detention and universal representation. His work is published or forthcoming in the North Carolina Law Review, the Tennessee Law Review, the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, the Tulane Law Review,  and the Northeastern University Law Review. He has also authored shorter pieces for the University of Oxford Border Criminologies Blog, Newsweek, the St. Louis University Law Journal, and the University of Arkansas-Little Rock Law Review. Prof. Boaz is a contributing editor to Lawfare, an online resource for accessible legal commentary on immigration issues.

His research and expertise have been discussed and quoted by the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Politifact, Al Jazeera, WEKU (a local NPR affiliate) and international outlets such as Le Devoir in Canada, Le Grand Continent in France, and Busan Morning Wave in South Korea.

Prof. Boaz was previously the Director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at Washington & Lee University School of Law where he was a professor of practice and taught Criminal Law. Prior to teaching, Prof. Boaz was a Senior Detention Attorney with the Immigrant Rights Project of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in Newark, NJ, where he represented individuals held in immigration detention centers while in removal proceedings. He started his career as an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow. He is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., with a certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies) and Texas Christian University (B.A. in Political Science with an emphasis in International Relations, summa cum laude). He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.