The Aon Law & Compliance team was recently honored by Business Insurance with the 2021 U.S. Insurance Awards for Community Outreach Project of the Year, recognizing its work on the Jim Crow Juries Project.

The Jim Crow Juries Project was designed to help Louisiana heal from the injustices and injuries caused by non-unanimous jury convictions in the state, which disproportionately impacted the Black community. The right to a unanimous jury is now a constitutional right in federal criminal trials and required in all but two states. 

“Diversity, equity and inclusion, and using our skills to serve the communities in which we live and work, are foundational to who we are as a law & compliance department and as a firm,” said Peter Banick, Global Law & Compliance Leader, Reinsurance Solutions, who served as the leader for the project. “As we better understood the effects of the non-unanimous jury, we knew we had to do our part to ensure racial equity and social justice in the legal system.”

Nine Aon colleagues worked on the Jim Crow Juries Project, with many working on individual representation cases. “Congratulations and thank you to everyone involved,” said Darren Zeidel, General Counsel, Aon. “The team has applied their skills as corporate law and compliance professionals to do such incredible work on such an important and impactful project, which is a strong example of Aon’s purpose to protect and enrich the lives of people around the world.”

View the full acceptance speech from the virtual award ceremony, delivered on behalf of Aon by Susan Haery, Assistant General Counsel, Peter Banick, Global Law & Compliance Leader, Reinsurance, Neal Desai, Senior Counsel, and Wynette Head, Senior Counsel. Read more in Business Insurance.