PRESS RELEASE

City Bar Justice Center Receives International Award for its Pro Bono-Focused Diversity, Inclusion and Elimination of Bias Program

New York, July 29, 2020 – The Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA) has recognized the City Bar Justice Center (CBJC) with its Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Best Public Interest Category for the CBJC’s “Diversity, Inclusion, and Elimination of Bias: Practice Pointers for Pro Bono Advocacy” training program.

In March, as part of the CBJC’s mission to increase access to justice for underserved New Yorkers by mobilizing the city’s legal community to do pro bono work, and in partnership with the New York City Bar Association’s Office for Diversity & Inclusion and Pro Bono & Legal Services Committee, the CBJC provided attorneys with a “Diversity & Inclusion Skills Toolkit.”

The training, led by Kurt M. Denk, Pro Bono Counsel, and Ramona Morel, Director of the Consumer Bankruptcy Project at the CBJC, focused on the disruption of implicit biases and reinforced the obligation to be mindful of the unique issues of importance to socially and economically disadvantaged clients. The training concluded with a pro bono hypothetical in which attendees were encouraged to participate and apply what they had just learned. Breaking new ground in serving the legal community and the public interest, the program equipped attorneys with essential tools so that they could continue lending their skills and knowledge to better support underserved communities.

ACLEA members are professionals in the fields of continuing legal education and legal publishing. The organization formally presented the award – one of only 10 annual awards granted among a field of more than 300 organizations under consideration – to the City Bar Justice Center at the Annual Meeting of ACLEA held virtually on July 28, 2020.

About the City Bar Justice Center

The City Bar Justice Center (CBJC) increases access to justice by leveraging the resources of the New York City legal community. The CBJC operates the city’s largest civil legal hotline and annually provides direct legal representation, information and advocacy to over 20,000 poor and vulnerable New Yorkers in areas including immigration, veterans assistance, homelessness, trusts and estates, cancer advocacy, and elderlaw. www.citybarjusticecenter.org