Edwin S. Matthews, Jr. is a corporate lawyer and distinguished human rights litigator and environmental activist. Recently retired from being Of Counsel for Baker & McKenzie in New York, Mr. Matthews was a partner of Coudert Brothers, an international law firm for over thirty years. He has championed work to resolve the Darfur conflict; advised the Sri Lanka government on civil war resolution; and helped to draft the new constitution Elections Law for Iraq. Representing 175 members of the British Parliament, he filed an Amici Curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court In Rasul v. Bush, supporting the rule of law in Guantanamo. Mr. Matthews represented pro bono Idaho death row prisoner Donald M. Paradis who was released after twenty-one years in a case that received national news media attention. Mr. Matthews earned the Thurgood Marshall Award from the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, as well as the Civil Libertarian Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington.
His environmental activism led him to found and organize the Friends of the Earth International (environmental advocacy groups now in 77 countries), where he also served as president and director. Mr. Matthews received the Environmental Conservation Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and has also been recognized by environmental groups in Connecticut for his work. He is an honorary life trustee of Earthjustice (an environmental public interest law firm) and of The Library of America, a not-for-profit published in New York.