Open Society Foundations Fellowship in Nonprofit Law
The fourth Open Society Foundations Fellowship in Nonprofit Law was awarded to Matt McConnell. Matt graduated from Stanford Law School in 2018. While at Stanford, Matt worked extensively with the International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic and Stanford Human Rights Center. Matt also founded the Stanford Law School Democratic Socialists, for the work of which, he was awarded the 2018 Deborah L. Rhode Public Interest Award. During law school, Matt worked as a legal intern for Accountability Counsel and Human Rights Watch. Matt received a Stanford Law School International Postgraduate Fellowship, and since graduating from law school, has worked as a research fellow for Human Rights Watch’s Business & Human Rights Division and US Program, for which he produced a report on workers’ rights in US meat and poultry plants. Prior to law school, Matt worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley.
The third Open Society Foundations Fellowship in Nonprofit Law was awarded to Noah Marks. Noah graduated from Harvard Law School cum laude in 2016. While at Harvard, Noah was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law & Policy Review and was involved in the Law and Social Change Program of Study. He also helped develop the HarvardX course on Bioethics, participated in the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, and was a pre-law tutor at Cabot House to Harvard undergraduates. During law school, Noah worked as a Summer Legal Intern for the Appellate Staff of the Civil Division in the Department of Justice, as a Constitutional Litigation Fellow at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, as a summer associate at Jenner & Block, and as a Rappaport Fellow in Law and Public Policy, placed at the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. Since graduating from law school, Noah clerked for Judge Cormac Carney on the Central District of California and then for Judge Kim Wardlaw on the Ninth Circuit. Prior to law school, Noah received a master’s degree in biblical interpretation from the Jewish Theological Seminary and bachelors’ degrees in engineering and religion from Swarthmore College.
The second Open Society Foundations Fellowship in Nonprofit Law was awarded to Evan Glover Alston.
The first Open Society Foundations Fellowship in Nonprofit Law was awarded to Shereen Griffith. Shereen graduated from Stanford Law School with Highest Distinction in pro bono service in 2016. While at Stanford, Shereen was a Senior Editor of the Stanford Law Review and was involved in the Rule of Law Program, the International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic, and co-led the Guardianship pro bono project. In the Rule of Law Program, Shereen served as a member and as co-director of the Afghanistan Legal Education Project, a legal education reform project supporting the Law Department at the American University of Afghanistan, and further worked as a member of the Cambodia Legal Education Project. Shereen was a summer law fellow at Accountability Counsel, a summer associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and a summer legal intern at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Prior to law school, Shereen graduated from U.C. Berkeley with High Distinction in 2009 with a B.A. in International Political Economy and worked for four years in consulting in San Francisco.