Danielle D. Basdekis
JD Student, Class of 2026
Francis King Carey School of Law
Ms. Basdekis has distinguished herself as a student, scholar, and leader at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, with her contributions significantly enriching the law school and advancing UMB’s mission.
Basdekis entered Maryland Carey Law in 2023 after graduating from Florida State University with a double major of political science and women’s studies. She joined the Student Bar Association (SBA) Executive Council, which acts as the student government for the school, and played a key part in organizing events associated with her class.
In Year 2, she served as SBA’s executive vice president and is currently the executive president, presiding over the Executive Council, helping to interpret the SBA constitution and bylaws, and setting the agenda for the group’s meetings.
Basdekis is a member of the board of the Maryland Public Interest Law Project, a student-run nonprofit that provides summer funding for students who want to engage in unpaid public interest internships. She has been the group’s public relations chair and president and is serving as treasurer in the 2025-26 academic year.
Last spring, she worked as a graduate student consultant with the Center for Public Research and Leadership at Columbia Law School in New York, engaging in coursework focused on education law and a project supporting citywide initiatives for a multilingualism program.
Over the past two years, she has served as an intern for the Baltimore firm Nathans & Ripke; the Baltimore City Public Schools’ Office of the Legal Counsel; Judge Kathryn Grill Graeff of the Appellate Court of Maryland; and FreeState Justice, a Baltimore nonprofit that provides legal services to low-income LGBTQ+ Marylanders.
Basdekis also has been an editor for the Maryland Law Review and a research assistant to Paula Monopoli, JD, contributing to the Distinguished University Professor’s scholarship on constitutional law and feminist theories. She also received a Rose Zetzer Fellowship, which is awarded to students who demonstrate a strong intellectual interest and commitment to women and leadership issues.
After graduating next spring, Basdekis will be a clerk for Justice Angela Eaves on the Supreme Court of Maryland.
