Gibbons Chief Diversity Officer Robert Johnson Featured on the ROI-NJ “Influencers: People of Color” List

The firm and/or the attorneys referenced have been selected for the recognitions mentioned herein, which have been conferred by the corresponding publications and/or organizations noted. An overview of the award selection methodologies for these recognitions can be found at https://www.gibbonslaw.com/awards. Links to certain specific methodologies are embedded in individual entries. Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Robert Johnson, Chief Diversity Officer of Gibbons P.C. and a Director in the firm’s Corporate Department, has been featured on the third annual ROI-NJ “Influencers: People of Color” list, published in both the print and digital editions of the newspaper, which provides news and analysis of the business landscape throughout New Jersey.

ROI-NJ reporters and editors contacted roughly two dozen members of the state’s business community and public sector, requesting recommendations for the list. That outreach resulted in a compilation of more than 150 honorees across numerous industries who are making lasting, meaningful differences for the state’s business, academic, and broader communities.

“Rob has moved the Gibbons Diversity Initiative in new and exciting directions in his three years as the firm’s Chief Diversity Officer,” said Patrick C. Dunican Jr., Chairman and Managing Director of Gibbons. “He has introduced a number of innovative platforms for recruitment, retention, and community outreach that support diversity and inclusion and promote the ideal of equality in the workforce, workplace, and broader society.”

Mr. Johnson’s most recent significant achievements as the firm’s Chief Diversity Officer include the development and implementation of the Gibbons Clerkship to Associate Pipeline (CAP) Program, which helps highly qualified students of diverse backgrounds, selected by participating faculty and administrators of three area law schools, to prepare for post-law school employment. He and the firm’s Diversity Committee put together a wide-ranging slate of programming for Black History Month in February 2020, culminating in a firm-wide luncheon catered by a Black-owned restaurant and featuring Senator Cory Booker, who reflected on his parents’ struggle to purchase a home in the New Jersey suburbs in the 1960s, a motivating factor behind his public service. Mr. Johnson was also a driving force behind the firm’s first-ever Juneteenth observation in 2020, which included June 19 as a paid holiday for all employees and two service initiatives that reflected the Juneteenth ideal of an equal, just, and inclusive society: (1) a Juneteenth virtual fundraiser for the Fresh Air Fund, to help close the major, COVID-related funding gap faced by a charity Gibbons has long supported, which ultimately raised $40,000 for a beloved organization that sends Newark children to camp each summer; and (2) a partnership with the Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership’s “Small Businesses Need Us” Program, through which Gibbons attorneys are matched with women- and minority-owned enterprises negatively affected by the COVID-19 crisis, in order to assist, pro bono, in various legal practice areas.

Earlier this year, ROI-NJ named Mr. Johnson to its “Champions of the C-Suite” list, as a winner in the “Chief Diversity Officer/Chief Human Resources Officer Champions” category. In 2019, he was an Eastern Region Honoree on the inaugural Lawyers of Color “Nation’s Best” list.

Mr. Johnson’s legal practice concentrates on mergers and acquisitions, securities regulations, corporate governance, public finance, cross-border transactions, and various other corporate transactional matters. He represents public and private companies, commercial banks, and governmental agencies and helps his business clients to expand their markets and establish significant presence throughout the region. He has previously been included on the New Jersey Law Journal “New Leaders of the Bar”.

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No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. A description of the selection process methodology for the awards referenced is available at gibbonslaw.com/awards/.