GW Law is proud to welcome two Richey Fellows—Brian Tronic and Angelo Mathay—to campus this spring.
The Richey Fellows Program, launched in the 2023-24 academic year, brings mid-career public interest lawyers to the GW Law campus as a resource for students considering non-profit or public sector careers. Named in honor of the Hon. Charles R. Richey of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, the program provides students with diverse perspectives about non-profit and public sector careers in a wide variety of practice areas, including criminal and civil direct legal services, law reform litigation, and public and nonprofit regulatory and policy practice.
Read more about Tronic and Mathay below.
Brian Tronic
Director, Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners - Freedom House
Tronic, who will be visiting February 10-12, is the director of the Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners at Freedom House.
He previously served as Counsel at Perseus Strategies, where he represented some of the most high-profile political prisoners in the world, including Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, former heads of state, and leading activists and opposition leaders. Tronic has over a decade of human rights experience, which includes teaching academic and clinical courses at Fordham Law School, Jindal Global Law School (India), and Georgetown University Law Center. Before attending law school, he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Kenya, where he taught Math and Physics at a small village high school. He is a graduate of Penn Law School and holds an LLM from Georgetown University Law Center and a BA (Math, Philosophy) from the University of Virginia.
Throughout his visit, students will have the opportunity to talk to Tronic about international law, human rights, political prisoners, the rule of law, working for a non-profit, government advocacy, UN advocacy, and balancing work with parenting. Students can schedule an appointment with Tronic here.
Tronic will also join Associate Dean for International and Comparative Legal Studies Rosa Celorio in a community event titled “International Law and Political Prisoners" on February 10. In the fireside chat, Tronic and Dean Celorio will discuss international law and how it relates to the issue of political prisoners.
Angelo Mathay
Administrative Judge, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Mathay, who will visit March 24-26, is an Administrative Judge at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where he adjudicates employment discrimination claims filed by federal employees across three southeastern states.
From 2021 to 2022, he served as a Trial Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. His prior work in immigration law and policy includes positions with the National Immigration Law Center, Migration Policy Institute, and The Pew Charitable Trusts. Mathay has also managed grant-making in immigration legal services and food security at the Robin Hood Foundation in New York City. He currently serves on the North Carolina Human Relations Commission and the North Carolina Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Mathay teaches Administrative Law at NC State University and taught Public Law at Wake Forest University. A graduate of UCLA and UCLA School of Law, he enjoys trying new restaurants in the Triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) and hiking and with his partner and rescue dog.
Throughout his visit, students will be able to schedule one-one-one advising appointments to discuss adjudicating employment discrimination cases at the EEOC; transitioning between immigration law and policy, philanthropy, and federal service; shifting from policy and advocacy roles into adjudication; working for a federal agency; exploring law-adjacent public service careers; teaching administrative law; pursuing post-graduate public interest fellowships; navigating a tough legal market; and transitioning a legal career from D.C. to new regions.
Mathay will be hosting an event titled "Public Service Across Sectors: From Immigration Law and Policy and Philanthropy to Federal Employment Law" on March 24.
