Campaign Legal Center Attorneys Recognized with ABA's On The Rise - Top 40 Young Lawyers Award

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WASHINGTON — Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is proud to announce that two of its attorneys have been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as recipients of the 2026 On the Rise – Top 40 Young Lawyers Award.

Jonathan Diaz, the director of voting advocacy and partnerships, and Valencia Richardson, senior legal counsel for voting rights, have both been recognized for their extraordinary commitment to the legal profession.

This national honor recognizes lawyers from across the country who exemplify high achievement, innovation, vision, leadership, and legal and community service.  

At Campaign Legal Center, Jonathan advocates for laws and policies that expand the freedom to vote for all Americans, leads CLC's work on combating election sabotage, and coordinates CLC's relationships with national, state and local voting rights partners. He has litigated voting rights and election cases in federal courts across the country and regularly provides commentary on voting rights and election law in the media. Jonathan is also an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Miami.

Valencia's work focuses on voting rights, redistricting litigation and policy advocacy in the Deep South. Valencia was a Fulbright grantee to Mexico and a student voting rights organizer for the Andrew Goodman Foundation. She is the author of the non-fiction book “Young and Disaffected,” and she is an expert on youth and student voting. Valencia is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Louisiana State University.

Campaign Legal Center is a nonpartisan legal organization dedicated to solving the wide range of challenges facing American democracy. For nearly 25 years, CLC has fought for every American’s freedom to vote and participate meaningfully in the democratic process, particularly Americans who have faced political barriers because of race, ethnicity or economic status.

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The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law. We safeguard the freedom to vote, defend voters’ right to know who is spending money to influence elections, and work to ensure public trust in our elected officials.

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