Each year NCVLI recognizes a Volunteer of the Year.  This award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated a deep commitment to victims’ rights and has provided significant contributions to NCVLI’s work on behalf of victims.  Volunteers play an invaluable role in NCVLI’s work protecting, enforcing, and advancing victims’ rights and we are proud to honor a Volunteer of the Year.  This year’s recipient was honored at the 11th Annual Crime Victim Law Conference.

About Matthew Merryman

Matthew is currently a third-year law student at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon. As a law student, Matthew focuses on the different sides of criminal law having interned for the National Crime Victim Law Institute and the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office in Kansas City, Missouri. As a native of Kansas City, he will be moving back to his hometown this July with his wife, where he will commence an externship with the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.

Matthew is also a trained victims’ advocate for the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office Rape Victim Advocate Program and a Disaster Service Volunteer for the Red Cross. Matthew became interested in victims’ rights while working as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) with children of parents going through divorce and while acting as a legal observer for voter protection through the People for the American Way. Prior to attending law school, Matthew worked as a District Executive for the Boy Scouts of America in New Orleans, Louisiana where he facilitated a number of community and civic oriented programs for local youth.