Celebrating Justice Innovators | Meet Our Honoree: Judge Jonathan Lippman
At our 25th anniversary benefit on May 17, we will celebrate some of the innovators who have made our work possible.
Judge Jonathan Lippman will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at our 25th Anniversary Benefit.
The Center for Court Innovation exists thanks to the passion, commitment, and creativity of countless people, community partners, and government supporters who have worked with us to transform justice.
Judge Lippman played an essential role in helping found the Center in 1996 and supporting it during his tenures as New York State’s chief administrative judge (1996-2007) and chief judge (2009-2015).
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Throughout his more than four-decade career serving in all levels of the New York State Court system, Judge Lippman championed a wide range of reforms. He made New York a leader in the development of problem-solving courts, such as drug treatment and domestic violence courts, to improve outcomes for victims, litigants, and communities.
Judge Lippman also strengthened access to justice initiatives by, among other things, providing more funding for civil legal services and resources for self-represented litigants. Under his visionary leadership, New York became the first state to require pro bono work prior to bar admission, strengthened the criminal defense system, transformed the handling of human trafficking cases, and addressed systemic causes of wrongful convictions.
In 2008, he received the William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence, presented each year by the nation’s chief justice to a state court judge who exemplifies the highest level of judicial excellence, integrity, fairness, and professional ethics. In his current role as Of Counsel at Latham & Watkins, he has continued to advance reforms as chair of the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform, which has led the charge to close the notoriously inhumane jails on Rikers Island.