Connie Smead Fellowship
Mark and Connie Smead
The Smead Family created the fellowship in honor of Connie Smead, wife of Mark Smead and mother of their four children, who passed away in April, 2004. The recipient of this special award is a lawyer whose talent in the area of human rights advocacy meets the standards Connie Smead set throughout her life through her relationship with and care for her family, and especially her four children.
Mark Smead is a former software engineer turned full-time investor. His recognition of the right of all people to be free from torture, genocide, and other international crimes has enabled HRLF to bring successful cases in Spain, Hong Kong, and the United States. This includes his support of HRLF's efforts to hold multinational corporations responsible for their facilitation of human rights abuses in China.
Recipient: Arianne Plasencia
A new and highly gifted litigator, Arianne Plasencia graduated with high honors from Harvard College (2006) and the Georgetown University Law Center (2009), where she was the Managing Editor of the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law. She is the recipient of the Connie Smead Human Rights Fellowship named after the deceased wife of Mark Smead, whose interest in human rights and the needs of others is unmatched. Arianne will be assisting with the human rights cases HRLF has filed to protect the rights of all people to be free from torture and persecution. Arianne is also helping HRLF initiate its new Justice for Women Program that will seek justice for women subjected to sex crimes and violence by holding the perpetrators of these crimes accountable for their actions, by providing legal services to female asylum seekers, and by providing referrals for counseling and self-help services.
© Human Rights Law Foundation 2010
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