{"id":244077,"date":"2026-05-26T17:06:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T17:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/244077\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T17:06:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T17:06:18","slug":"metropolitan-black-bar-association-hosts-42nd-anniversary-awards-gala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/244077\/","title":{"rendered":"Metropolitan Black Bar Association hosts 42nd anniversary awards gala"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Metropolitan Black Bar Association (MBBA) celebrated its 42nd Anniversary Awards Gala on May 15 at Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

The event brought together legal professionals, advocates, and community leaders under the theme \u201cAmplifying Our Legacy: Strengthening Our Network, Leadership, and Advocacy to Advance Justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the largest unified association of Black legal professionals in New York, the MBBA remains dedicated to heightening the impact of Black lawyers throughout the Big Apple. The organization says it is committed to helping its members achieve their personal and professional goals while addressing the legal issues that affect Black communities across the state.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s gala honored an outstanding group of legal luminaries.\n<\/p>\n

Hon. Dianne T. Renwick, presiding justice of the Appellate Division, First Department, received the Jurist of the Year Award. Robert Grey, Esq., president of LCLD and past American Bar Association (ABA) president, was honored as Trailblazer of the Year, alongside organizational honoree LCLD \u2014an organization with more than 300 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners dedicated to promoting equal opportunity within society and the legal profession.<\/p>\n

Kermitt Brooks, Esq., chief legal officer of Guardian, received the Corporate Counsel of the Year Award. Janai Nelson, Esq., president & director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, was recognized as Public Servant of the Year.<\/p>\n

Deborah Enix-Ross, Esq., senior advisor at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and ABA past president, was named Private Practitioner of the Year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The MBBA Board of Directors was also celebrated at the ceremony. They include President Nicole Lester Arrindell, President-elect Justina K. Rivera, Treasurer Natalie Cox, Secretary Madjeen Garcon Bonneau, Vice President of Finance Reginald Greene, Vice President of CLE and Professional Development Sabrina Smith, Vice President of Programs Evette C. Ennis, Vice President of Membership Sonica Dixon, andDirectors at large Tanya N. Blocker, Luwick Francois, Jomaire Crawford, Hon. Claudia Daniels-DePayster, Jennifer L. Taiwo, Jenesha Tai, Monsurat M. Adebanjo, Phillip C. Hamilton, Hon. Inga O\u2019Neale, Lola Oguntunde-Waterman, Ernestine Mings, Casilda E. Simpson, Denisse Mira, Carl Forbes, Jr., Christopher Dor, Dwayne Andrews, Shekera Algarin and Shakera Thompson.<\/p>\n

For more information, visit mbbanyc.org.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\"\"Robert Grey, Esq. and Nicole Lester Arrindell, Esq.Photo by Rowena Husbands\/courtesy of Metropolitan Black Bar Association \"ManhattanManhattan District Attorney Alvin T. Bragg, Hon. Darcell Clark and Darrell S. Gay, EsqPhoto by Rowena Husbands\/courtesy of Metropolitan Black Bar Association \"\"Nicole Lester Arrinell, Esq. and Robert Grey Esq.Photo by Rowena Husbands\/courtesy of Metropolitan Black Bar Association \"NicoleNicole Lester Arrindell, Esq., MBBA\u2019s 23rd President, Hon. Dianne T. Renwick, Presiding Justice, Appellate DivisionPhoto by Rowena Husbands\/courtesy of Metropolitan Black Bar Association \"\"Nicole Lester Arrindell, Esq. and Lisa Arrindell \u2013 Mistress of CeremoniesPhoto by Rowena Husbands\/courtesy of Metropolitan Black Bar Association \"\"Lisaann R. London, Esq. \u2013 MBBA\u2019s Member of the Year Award Recipient and Nicole Lester Arrindell, Esq.Photo by Rowena Husbands\/courtesy of Metropolitan Black Bar Association \"\"Lisa Arrindell, Justina K. Rivera, Esq. \u2013 MBBA President-Elect and Nicole Lester Arrindell, Esq.Photo by Rowena Husbands\/courtesy of Metropolitan Black Bar Association \"\"Kermitt Brooks, Esq, and Nicole Lester Arrindell, Esq.Photo by Rowena Husbands\/courtesy of Metropolitan Black Bar Association \"\"Janai S. Nelson, Esq. and Nicole Lester ArrindellPhoto by Rowena Husbands\/courtesy of Metropolitan Black Bar Association \"TheThe full MBBA Board of DirectorsPhoto by Rowena Husbands\/courtesy of Metropolitan Black Bar Association \"\"Deborah Enix-Ross, Esq., and Nicole Lester Arrindell, Esq.Photo by Rowena Husbands\/courtesy of Metropolitan Black Bar Association \"\"Robert Grey, Esq.Photo by Rowena Husbands\/courtesy of Metropolitan Black Bar Association \"\"Nexus Sea, Esq., Nicole Lester Arrindell, Esq. Justina K. Rivera, Esq. and Paula Edgar, Esq. \u2013 Past MBBA PresidentPhoto by Rowena Husbands\/courtesy of Metropolitan Black Bar Association<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Metropolitan Black Bar Association (MBBA) celebrated its 42nd Anniversary Awards Gala on May 15 at Pier Sixty,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[95316,95317,95318,95319,95320,95321,95322,95323,24374,95324,75,84,83,95325,70360,95326,9,24,95327,63,95328],"class_list":["post-244077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-black-legal-professionals","tag-chelsea-piers-event","tag-deborah-enix-ross","tag-dianne-renwick","tag-diversity-in-law","tag-janai-nelson","tag-kermitt-brooks","tag-leadership-council-on-legal-diversity","tag-legal-advocacy","tag-legal-awards","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-mbba-gala","tag-metropolitan-black-bar-association","tag-naacp-legal-defense-fund","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-legal-community","tag-nyc","tag-robert-grey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}