2013 WINNERS

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1st PLACE WINNER

Matthew S. Smith

Washington College of Law, American University, Class Of 2014

Matthew is a Public Interest/Public Service Scholar at the Washington College of Law, where he is also a Student Attorney in the Disability Rights Law Clinic, Senior Staff for the American University International Law Review, Co-Director of the Disability Law Society, as well as recipient of the Morris & Claire Krauthamer Prize in Disabilities Law. During law school, he has interned at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Disability Rights Section of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division in addition to conducting summer legal research projects in Argentina and Mexico. His Argentinian research has recently appeared in the Nordic Journal of Human Rights. Matthew currently directs the Harvard Law School Project on Disability’s Bangladesh Program, where he began working after volunteering with Indian and Bangladeshi disability organizations during a yearlong postgraduate fellowship from Harvard University (’08). Originally from Mountainside, NJ, Matthew has also worked for TIME magazine and attended Regis High School (’04). He owes his interest in disability rights work to his younger sister.
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2nd PLACE WINNER

David Knoespel

Washington and Lee University, School of Law, Class Of 2014

At Washington & Lee, David works in the Black Lung Legal Clinic and serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Civil Rights & Social Justice. He is interested in employment law, health law, and civil litigation.