Laura LeeMatt Suzor, JD, was nervous about making connections when he arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, in spring 2025 for his final semester of law school. On his first full night in the eclectic Observatory neighborhood, he ventured into a local bar for a burger and beer, overhearing a group of men his age discussing soccer.
“I kind of sheepishly flagged them down, put down my book, and said, ‘Hey guys, I’m sorry, I started to overhear your conversation, but I just moved here. I don’t know anybody yet, but I do love soccer,’ ” Suzor recalled. “ ‘And I was wondering, do you guys play?’ ”
Their “remarkably friendly” response exemplified the warmth he would experience throughout his three-and-a-half months in South Africa. “They told me join them whenever I could,” Suzor said, and so every Sunday for the remainder of his stay, he played soccer with those men, who became his core social network in a foreign country.
Suzor, who graduated from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law in May 2025, spent that final semester working at the Legal Resources Centre in Cape Town as a recipient of the Eric E. Garvin ’10 Student Exploration Fellowship. That fellowship carries a profound legacy — honoring the life of Eric Garvin and continuing the spirit of global engagement, service, and justice that he modeled.
A Passion for Justice and Travel
Eric Garvin, a 2010 Maryland Carey Law graduate, was murdered by gang members while traveling in Santiago, Chile, on Jan. 14, 2023. Those who knew him describe a life defined by compassion, courage, and a commitment to improving communities both at home and abroad. Eric loved international travel and pursued opportunities to understand and uplift disadvantaged communities.
Eric’s father, Col. Eric Garvin (retired), described his son as someone who “epitomized the philosophy of believing in something bigger than himself.” His mother, Anna Garvin, added, “He was an extremely giving person. He was loving to everybody.”
At Maryland Carey Law, Eric was a member of the moot court team and participated in the school’s international externships and study abroad programs, traveling to 13 countries during a semester in London. After graduation, he worked in New York City’s Office of Criminal Justice under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, focusing on reducing violent crime in neighborhoods including Brownsville, Brooklyn — where his father had grown up.
“Eric was a vital part of the anti-violence movement of New York City,” his father said. “One of the terrible ironies is that he would be killed by the very thing that he fought so much against.”
Eric’s passion for travel remained constant throughout his life. He visited more than 40 countries, driven by curiosity about different cultures and people.
“Travel was a true passion for Eric,” Colonel Garvin said. “He was constantly on the move. He was intent on exploring as much of the world as possible.”
Building a Legacy
The Garvin family, while still pursuing justice through the Chilean legal system, established the fellowship to ensure Eric’s memory would inspire future law students to travel and work to improve the global community. Andrew Altshuler, executive director of development at Maryland Carey Law, connected with the family in September 2023 soon after the fifth Black Law Alumni reunion.
“I think it really is an example of how philanthropy can take many different forms, a lot of different shapes, and can impact people in a lot of different ways,” Altshuler said of the fellowship. “I don’t think it was ever the intent of the Garvins to establish this fund. By no stretch did they think this would be the road that they would have taken.”
The fellowship provides financial support to students participating in international externships and study abroad programs at Maryland Carey Law. The Garvin family’s goal is to reach a $250,000 endowment, which would provide approximately $10,000 annually to be divided among recipients. Currently, the fellowship stands at approximately $150,000 thanks to the support of more than 100 donors, including classmates, friends, and family.
“This endowment has given us life,” Colonel Garvin said. “Where there’s so much darkness, this gives us life and light. The fact that this is going to live in perpetuity, long after my wife and I are gone, our son’s memory will still be there with the University of Maryland. It’s a big deal for us.”
Following in Eric’s Footsteps
Suzor’s path to South Africa began with a relationship he built with Peter Danchin, JD, director of the International and Comparative Law Program at Maryland Carey Law. After taking Danchin’s international law course during his first year, Suzor remained connected to him, eventually enrolling in a course co-taught with the University of Malawi.
Danchin, who grew up in South Africa, maintains a long-standing relationship with the Legal Resources Centre, a nonprofit founded by lawyers who represented Nelson Mandela. When Suzor expressed interest in the South Africa externship, their conversation quickly evolved from exploratory to concrete.
“We quickly went from a conversation that started with, ‘Oh, you know, I’d like to look more into this,’ to by the end, Professor Danchin was telling me, ‘OK, here’s where you can live,’” Suzor said. “I was excited from the get-go.”
Crystal Edwards, JD, associate dean for legal studies, then introduced Suzor to the Garvin fellowship opportunity. Reading about Eric Garvin’s story resonated deeply with him.
“It’s a remarkable story, the tragedy that befell Eric and the amount of work that his parents have put in, both in terms of the fund, which is amazing in itself and in their continued efforts to try to bring the people who murdered him to justice,” Suzor said.
The fellowship made his South Africa experience financially feasible and helped him focus his intentions before departure.
“The application process was great. The award was amazing,” said Suzor, who now works at Miller Shah, a full-service firm in Philadelphia specializing in whistleblower cases and fiduciary mismanagement. “It got me thinking very directly what I wanted to get out of this experience.”
At the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), Suzor worked primarily on the land reform team, addressing policies lingering from apartheid. His projects included work to hold the Johannesburg government accountable for water rights and developing litigation strategies for the LRC’s food justice initiative.
One significant project focused on creating liability protections and tax incentives for food donation, provisions that exist in most countries but not in South Africa.
“South Africa has in their Constitution the right to adequate food,” Suzor explained. “We understood that and then partnered with some local organizations to try to bring a claim to the Constitutional Court about trying to put in place more modernized tax and liability provisions, which ideally would help incentivize broader food donations.”
The work aligned closely with Eric Garvin’s commitment to serving disadvantaged populations.
“After we met Matt, I told people that he is a reincarnation of my son,” Colonel Garvin said. “The work he was doing and the way he was approaching going to South Africa – you just can’t help but see how he embodied Eric’s values.”
Suzor’s South Africa experience was part of a broader international focus during law school. He traveled to Malawi through the school’s environmental justice and human rights course and to Costa Rica through a grant from the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Center for Global Engagement to research plastic-free initiatives in the Central American country.
The Value of International Experience
Danchin emphasizes the transformative nature of international experiences for law students.
“For students to have the opportunity to travel to different parts of the world to see how other societies, other legal systems, deal with similar problems is absolutely critical to having perspective on one’s own legal system,” Danchin said. “You start to see things that you didn’t see previously. So, it has this wonderful effect on students that broadens their vision.”
Suzor agreed saying his international experiences fundamentally shaped his career trajectory.
“I learned as much, if not more, working with the Legal Resources Centre for that semester than I did during my immense workload of 1L,” he said. “You learn that America’s legal system isn’t flawless, and you learn more how through those shortcomings you can advocate for people in different ways.”
Anna Garvin hopes the fellowship inspires similar transformations in future recipients.
“I want them to experience and enjoy the love of travel and not just travel to the usual places that tourists go, but to go into what we call the native culture,” she said. “What do they do? What do they eat? What is their livelihood like? Just to carry that forward in their lives, to keep traveling.”
A Growing Impact
Since its establishment in 2023, the fellowship has supported four students. Class of 2025 graduates Brandon Hernandez, JD, and Samuel McCormack, JD, were the inaugural fellows in fall 2024. Both traveled to Santiago, Chile, where they studied at the University of Chile. Colonel Garvin arranged for them to meet with the U.S. ambassador to Chile and the Chilean law firm assisting his family’s pursuit of justice.
“It was 100 percent coincidence that they were going to Chile,” Altshuler said. “All of this worked out just incredibly for the very first fellows.”
Emily Hurley, JD ’25, traveled to Taiwan that same semester, while Suzor received the fellowship for spring 2025 to work in South Africa.
The Garvins stay in contact with the fellows. Colonel Garvin recently sent Suzor a book about Nelson Mandela, continuing conversations about justice and public service.
For the Garvin family, each fellow represents a continuation of their son’s values and passions.
“It is so wonderful hearing their stories and how this endowment has impacted them,” noted Anna Garvin. Colonel Garvin agreed, adding, “Mark Twain said travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness. These students are seeing what my son saw in international travel — that it opens up your eyes and apertures to other cultures and broadens your perspective on life.”
Suzor, now working on cases involving pharmaceutical fraud and fiduciary mismanagement, credits his international experiences — particularly his time in South Africa — with shaping his commitment to plaintiff advocacy. He believes one day he will work in public interest law but in the meantime will devote his pro bono practice toward advocating for others.
“South Africa was certainly the most influential,” he said. “The work that I did at the Legal Resources Centre and the people that I met there were wholly inspirational.”
Students interested in applying for the fellowship should visit the Eric E. Garvin ’10 Student Exploration Fellowship page on the Maryland Carey Law website. More information and donation opportunities are available at law.umaryland.edu/GarvinFund.
