Before joining the UNC law faculty, Professor Sabbeth taught at Georgetown University Law Center, where, as a teaching fellow in the Institute for Public Representation, she supervised clinic students handling employment discrimination, education, and open government litigation. Prior to her fellowship at Georgetown, Sabbeth clerked for the Honorable James C. Francis IV in the Southern District of New York and the Honorable Warren J. Ferguson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Sabbeth received her B.A. in Sociology from the University of Michigan, Phi Beta Kappa, and her J.D. from New York University School of Law, where she was an Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Fellow, an editor for the Review of Law and Social Change, and the recipient of the Christian Jarecki Memorial Prize for outstanding work in NYU's clinical program. During law school, she worked at civil rights organizations including the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., the New York Civil Liberties Union, and the labor and employment firm of Vladeck, Waldman, Elias and Englehard, P.C. Following graduation, she represented low-income tenants in housing litigation in Brooklyn.
Professor Sabbeth's research focuses on the societal role of lawyers, the value of work, and the status of workers.