Partner Christopher Stracco received the Legal Services of New Jersey Debevoise-Eakeley Award for his work in connection with the Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Fund of the Bar of New Jersey, which promotes access to justice for New Jersey residents living in poverty. The award was presented to him at the 2019 Equal Justice Awards Reception at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ.
In 2014, Stracco was appointed by the Supreme Court of New Jersey to serve a five-year term on the Board of Trustees of the IOLTA Fund of the Bar of New Jersey. He served a one-year term as Treasurer, and then in early 2019, completed an unusual two-year term as Chair. As noted by Legal Services of New Jersey, "He led the IOLTA program through a critical transition, as it successfully identified a worthy successor to its previous executive director of nearly two decades, Ellen Ferrise. During his years as chair, he constantly sought ways to increase the resources of the IOLTA program, and thereby expand free civil legal assistance in New Jersey. Mr. Stracco's overlapping and essentially continuous service on Supreme Court and Bar committees through most of his career bespeaks a deep commitment to public services, precisely the kind of dedication epitomized by both Dickinson Debevoise and Douglas Eakeley."
Also honored at the awards reception were State Senators Declan J. O'Scanlon, Jr. and Sandra B. Cunningham; former Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court Robert N. Wilentz (posthumously); Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman; former New Jersey Attorney General Robert Del Tufo (posthumously); and New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg.