Amalea Smirniotopoulos is a Senior Policy Counsel and Co-Manager of LDF’s Equal Protection Initiative.
Prior to joining LDF, Amalea was the Legislative Director for Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, where she led a team of over a dozen legislative staffers to develop and execute the Senator’s agenda. She was previously a Judiciary Counsel, advising the Senator on criminal justice, immigration, civil rights, and national security issues. Amalea began her legal career at The Bronx Defenders, where she was a Staff Attorney, Supervising Attorney, and an Associate Legal Director in the Criminal Defense Practice. She clerked for the Honorable Jack B. Weinstein in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Amalea graduated cum laude from New York University School of Law, where she was an Arthur Garfield Hays Fellow, a Florence Allen Scholar, and the recipient of the Ann Petluck Moses Memorial Prize for her work in a year-long Civil Rights Clinic with the NYCLU. In addition to her law degree, she holds a Masters in Public Administration from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Amalea graduated summa cum laude from New York University with a BA in English Literature.
