The New Jersey State Bar Association Diversity Committee and the NJSBA Board of Trustees have selected Carolyn V. Chang as the recipient of the 2023 Mel Narol Award.
The Mel Narol Award is presented to those individuals and entities who have spearheaded inclusion and made strides for women and diverse lawyers. Mel Narol was a charter member of the NJSBA's Task Force on Diversity and worked to make diversity efforts within the association a permanent order of business. The award celebrates his work, his collegiality and his unwavering kindness.
The award will be presented at the 2023 NJSBA Annual Meeting and Convention in Atlantic City during this year’s Diversity Luncheon on May 18.
In selecting Chang – a family lawyer in Burlington County – the Diversity Committee highlighted her work as a trailblazer for racial justice and equity in the legal profession and beyond. Members noted her service as former Mayor and Committeewoman for the Township of Westampton; her work with the Association of Black Women Lawyers (ABWL) as president and Social Justice Chair; and her numerous honors from bar associations and community organizations.
Trustees and committee members also lauded Chang’s extensive volunteerism with the NJSBA as a former member of the NJSBA’s Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee (JPAC); her tenure as an inaugural co-chair of the NJSBA’s Commission on Racial Equity in the Law; and her tireless advocacy for diversity on the bench as well as her leadership in organizing marijuana expungement clinics in her home county of Burlington.
This year’s Annual Meeting will be held from May 16-18 in Atlantic City. For more information or to register, click here.