Angeli Rios, J.D.
Diversity Advocate and Immediate Past President, National Association of Law Students With Disabilities (NALSWD) (Washington, DC)
Angeli Rios is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and the Immediate Past President of the National Association of Law Students With Disabilities (NALSWD), a coalition of law students dedicated to disability inclusion in legal education and the legal profession. She discovered her passion for the law while an undergraduate student at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, where she earned her degree in Mathematics and minored in Neuroscience and Political Science.
During her first year of law school, Angeli was diagnosed with a chronic neuromuscular disorder as well as ADHD, which made her law school experience uniquely challenging. However, her perseverance and renewed sense of purpose helped her to successfully fulfill her calling to the legal profession. Angeli believes that her time as President of NALSWD has afforded her an invaluable opportunity to give back to the law school community by enabling her to provide mentorship and support to fellow law students with disabilities across the country.
Angeli previously worked at the Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education, a law firm that advocates for public school students with disabilities to be integrated into their neighborhood schools with their non-disabled peers. She has interned at the Maryland Disability Law Center, where she worked on various projects to advocate for the rights of children with mental health issues and nursing facility residents. She has also interned for the Honorable James A. Kenney, III at the Maryland Court of Special Appeals as well as for the Honorable Toni E. Clarke at Prince George’s County Circuit Court in Maryland.
As part of her law school’s mediation clinic, Angeli has mediated several cases pending at the Baltimore City District Court. She was also the co-creator, co-coordinator, and mediator for the Barstow Elementary School Student Mediation Program, which provides mediation services for elementary students to resolve interpersonal conflicts between classmates in a voluntary, neutral, and confidential process. Angeli currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Barstow Acres Children’s Center, a treatment center that provides mental health services as well as developmental and enrichment programs for at-risk children, adults, and families. She is also a current member of the National Association of Attorneys with Disabilities (NAAD). After she passes the Maryland Bar, Angeli plans to practice disability law and child advocacy, with a concentration on children’s mental health.