Former Diversity Fellow Returns to City Bar to Lead Diversity Efforts

The New York City Bar Association has named James Alexander Lewis, V to be the next Executive Director of its Office for Diversity & Inclusion.

Mr. Lewis joins the City Bar from Chasan Lamparello Mallon & Cappuzzo, PC in Secaucus, NJ, where he is a partner and the Director of Diversity. He is currently Chair of the Diversity Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association and has served on the committee for over 10 years. He is also Treasurer of the Garden State Bar Association, New Jersey’s largest and oldest professional organization for African-American lawyers, judges and law students. Mr. Lewis is a graduate of Hofstra University School of Law, where he was President of the Black Law Students Association. Mr. Lewis clerked in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and the Ocean County Superior Court of New Jersey. He is a graduate of Rutgers University (cum laude).

Mr. Lewis is a former City Bar Diversity Fellow, having participated in a program the City Bar has run since 1991 for more than 600 first-year law students who spend the summer in a law firm or corporate/government legal department.

“I am excited and humbled to join the New York City Bar Association as we march forward toward a more equitable and inclusive legal profession,” said Mr. Lewis. “As a first-year New York law student more than a dozen years ago, my first role in the legal profession was being selected for the City Bar’s prestigious Diversity Fellowship. Since that time, the Association has continued to be resilient and innovative, including during challenging times. I welcome and celebrate the opportunity to lead and to learn while serving the Association’s ongoing commitment to increasing diversity in the legal profession.”

“James’s unwavering commitment to increasing diversity, equity and inclusion is an inspiration,” said City Bar President Sheila S. Boston. “We are so proud that one of our former Diversity Fellows has returned to lead the Office for Diversity & Inclusion in its efforts to promote accountability and progress in diversifying the legal profession.”

“The City Bar Fund will benefit immensely from James’ impressive experience and his leadership,” said David Levine, Board Chair of the City Bar Fund, which includes the Office for Diversity and Inclusion. “The Board of Directors is excited to support him as he expands the boundaries of the Office for Diversity & Inclusion’s work, and enhances the existing initiatives that make ODI a force for good in the legal profession.”

“We are excited to have James joining our senior leadership team, as those who know him extol his collaborative skills,” said City Bar Executive Director Bret Parker. “In the midst of the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on communities of color and the racial-justice issues with which we’ve been reckoning, James is uniquely qualified to bring law firms, in-house legal departments, and government- and public-interest lawyers together to work boldly to achieve the diversity we all know we need.”