City Bar Justice Center Honored with 2024 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Excellence Award by the American College of Bankruptcy

New York, September 27, 2024 – The American College of Bankruptcy has selected the City Bar Justice Center (the Justice Center) for its prestigious 2024 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Excellence Award. The College’s Board of Directors, following a unanimous recommendation by its Standing Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, recognized the Justice Center for leading by example and inspiring other bar associations nationwide to adopt and implement robust DEI programs within the bankruptcy field. 

Ramona Morel, Director of the Justice Center’s Consumer Bankruptcy Project, and Kurt M. Denk, now the Justice Center’s Executive Director, developed the organization’s pro bono advocacy-focused DEI programming in 2018, first presenting it to City Bar and pro bono partner law firm and corporate legal department audiences in 2019, and the program grew and gained international recognition with a 2020 ACLEA Award for Excellence. Morel and Denk later introduced a follow-up CLE focused on racial justice, and Justice Center Director of Pro Bono Initiatives Cassandra Celestin and City Bar Fund Board member Miriam Lacroix further collaborated on the programming, and this past year, Morel expanded the content to address DEI issues specific to bankruptcy. 

In their award letter, the co-chairs of the Standing Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the American College of Bankruptcy said, “Among the many worthy candidates, the Justice Center stood out based on the multidimensional nature of its efforts and its DEI advocacy in our industry. The Committee believes not only that [the] Justice Center is a more than worthy recipient of the DEI Excellence Award, but that its work communicates an important message: namely, that bar associations in other major metropolitan areas can and should successfully implement broad-based, bankruptcy-related DEI programs. In sum, we believe that the Justice Center has developed a model program.” 

Morel formally accepted the award at the College of Bankruptcy’s All Fellows Luncheon on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, at the Hyatt Regency in Seattle, Washington. 

About the City Bar Justice Center
The City Bar Justice Center furthers access to justice by addressing unmet civil legal needs of New Yorkers struggling with poverty and other systemic socioeconomic barriers, providing pro bono legal services benefiting more than 25,000 New Yorkers each year. The Justice Center mobilizes law firms, corporate legal departments, and other legal institutions to provide pro bono legal services; educates the public on pertinent legal issues; fosters strategic community relationships; and impacts public policy. www.citybarjusticecenter.org.