Aarti Sidhu

Aarti Sidhu

Maryland Office of the Public Defender

Panelist & Coordinator, Empowering Futures: A Framework for Positive Youth Justice Strategy

Aarti Sidhu is dedicated to issues youth are facing in the state of Maryland and particularly Baltimore City. She is passionate about advocacy and committed to upholding the rights of youth. Aarti currently works as an Assistant Public Defender at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender in the Baltimore City Juvenile Division. Prior to working as a Public Defender, Aarti taught the Youth, Education, and Justice Clinic at the University of Maryland School of Law.

Aarti also has worked at Disability Rights Maryland as a Special Education Attorney and prior to that was an Open Society Institute-Baltimore Community Fellow. As an OSI-Baltimore Fellow, her project 'Represent Youth: Baltimore School Justice Initiative' provided legal representation to Maryland grade school students that were facing various forms of school pushout.