Antonia Diener epitomizes what it means to be a go-getter. The MMI Preparatory School alum began her education with us in the 6th grade and made an indelible mark at our institution as a member of the National Honor Society and the president of the Class of 2012.

Antonia’s academic achievements at MMI paved the way for acceptance to her father’s alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. There, she worked at the school’s Social Justice Research Institute and served as the president of both the Underground Shakespeare Company and the Reach-a-Peer hotline before graduating magna cum laude in 2016. It all set the stage for what was to come: an admirable career in law.

Antonia spent two years at Boston College of Law before her impeccable academic record enabled her to transfer to Harvard Law School, which presently ranks as the fourth-best law school in the country. In addition to her studies, she spent her summers pursuing her passion for social justice by working as a certified legal intern at the Defender Association of Philadelphia. There, she refined her research skills for supervising attorneys and explored the impact of race on police stop-and-frisk decisions. She also interned at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) where she researched, drafted, and evaluated memoranda pertaining to improper civil immigration enforcement and eligibility, among other civil rights and liberties set forth by the state of Pennsylvania. What’s more, Antonia worked on the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project (PLAP) where she co-represented an incarcerated individual and handled matters ranging from composing and filing discovery requests to participating in disciplinary hearings.

Following her graduation from Harvard Law, Antonia passed the Colorado State Bar and has since worked for the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office in Boulder as a criminal defense public defender. In this role, she handles more than 250 criminal cases throughout their trajectories from bond setting to trials and sentencing. Two of Antonia’s main objectives are to defend the rights of impoverished people who have been accused of crimes and to shield them from the indignities and injustices found in the criminal legal system.

Where is such a promising young attorney headed in what is sure to be a storied career? Eventually back to her home state of Pennsylvania. This year, the former student attorney at Harvard Criminal Justice Institute will be admitted to the Keystone State Bar and hopes to bring her legal talents back to the place where her interest in equity all started.