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Joseph M. Hanna Honored for Diversity Efforts with Rick Palmore LCLD Alumni Award

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Joseph M. Hanna Honored for Diversity Efforts with Rick Palmore LCLD Alumni Award

June 10, 2020
Joseph M. Hanna

The Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) announced the winners of its Sixth Annual Rick Palmore LCLD Alumni Award: Goldberg Segalla’s Joseph M. Hanna and Nationwide’s Marilyn McClure-Demers.

Named for Rick Palmore, whose career-long commitment to diversity in the legal profession led to the founding of LCLD in 2009, this award is the highest honor given by a growing community of more than 2,600 LCLD Alumni.

Winners are selected each year from nominees submitted by members of the LCLD community and chosen by a committee of their peers. The award recognizes the outstanding achievements, commitment, and leadership of the alumni of LCLD’s Fellows and Pathfinder programs, who continue to advance LCLD’s mission to create a legal profession that reflects the diversity of the nation it serves.

“I have had the pleasure of getting to know both Joe and Marilyn since they were nominated as Fellows, and I can honestly say that the LCLD community would not be where it is today without their participation,” said Robert Grey, President of LCLD. “They have both shown an incredible personal dedication to building a more inclusive profession. As one of their nominators phrased it, they truly display an ‘extra-mile commitment’ in everything they do.”

A 2014 LCLD Fellow, Joe founded Goldberg Segalla’s Diversity Task Force in 2005 and is now the youngest person on the firm’s Facilitation (Management) Committee, where he uses his position to advance diversity within the firm.

Committed to promoting inclusion in his community, Hanna also served as President of the Minority Bar Association of Western New York, where he created a diversity-focused internship program in collaboration with the University of Buffalo Law School that has since placed more than 200 students in clerkships in area courts and roles at both law firms and corporations, and launched Success in the City, an initiative that brings together community leaders to undo the effects of segregation on the business community and quality of life in Buffalo.

He also founded Bunkers in Baghdad, a non-profit organization that collects and sends new and used golf equipment to American troops and veterans around the world.

Hanna’s extensive contributions to the LCLD network include serving as the New York City Lead for LCLD’s Success in Law School Mentoring Program since 2017, serving on the LCLD Alumni Executive Council as Chair of the Outreach Committee, and organizing and leading many LCLD panel discussions, often co-hosting with large companies.

“During these troubling times, the spotlight on diversity and on organizations like LCLD is of paramount importance,” Joe said. “The issues that are always at the forefront for us—diversity, inclusion, openness, and opportunity—have now captured the attention of the entire country and much of the world.”

Rick Palmore will present Joe and Marilyn with their awards at the 2020 LCLD Alumni Virtual Leadership Symposium on Friday, June 12, 2020.