NEW YORK, December 14, 2023: The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) will honor Morgan Lewis partner Russell Franklin with its 2024 John E. Higgins Diversity Trailblazer Award, given each year to a member of the legal community for their efforts to promote the full and equal participation of diverse people throughout the legal profession.
The award recognizes Russell’s mentorship of lawyers of color both within and outside the firm. Russell serves as the diversity and inclusion (D&I) liaison to the corporate and business transactions practice, co-leads the Black Lawyer Network, and has served on Morgan Lewis’s D&I Committee. He serves on the faculty of the Black BigLaw Pipeline, which helps Black associates navigate AmLaw 100 law firms and previously served on the board and as co-chair of the Sponsorship Committee of the Sonia & Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program.
In his private practice, Russell counsels private and publicly held companies in connection with complex strategic transactions, including structuring and negotiating mergers and acquisitions, minority investments, and joint venture transactions for strategic and financial clients.
Russell will be recognized at the Diversity Awards Program during the NYSBA Annual Meeting on January 17 in New York.