2022 Grunin Prize

The Grunin Center administers the Grunin Prize for Law and Social Entrepreneurship to celebrate the contributions of lawyers who purposefully engage in advancing the fields of social entrepreneurship, impact investing, and sustainable development.

The Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship is made possible through a generous endowment from NYU School of Law graduates Jay Grunin ’67 and Linda Kalmanowitz Grunin ’67, and the  Grunin Foundation. Jay and Linda have dedicated their philanthropic endeavors to investing in innovative projects that have measurable impacts creating meaningful, transformative change.

Grunin Prize Winner

The Nature Conservancy - Blue Bonds for Ocean Conservation Program

Nominated Legal Team

Stephen Valdes-Robles, Senior Attorney, TNC

Supporting Legal Teams 

Antonia Stolper, Counsel to TNC, Shearman & Sterling; Cynthia Urda Kassis, Counsel to TNC, Shearman & Sterling; Andrea Hwang, Counsel to TNC, Ropes & Gray; Christina Houston, Delaware Counsel to TNC, DLA Piper; Andrew Marshalleck, Belize Counsel to TNC, Barrow & Co; Werner Ahlers, Counsel to Belize, Sullivan & Cromwell; Maurice Blanco, Counsel to Citigroup as advisor to Belize, Davis Polk & Wardwell; Jonathan Maizel, Assistant General Counsel, United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC); Jamie Head, Counsel to DFC, Hunton Andrews Kurth; Christine Steenman, Counsel to Credit Suisse, Allen & Overy; Thomas Laryea, Counsel to the Bondholders Committee, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; Wanda Ebanks, Cayman Islands Counsel, Maples & Calder.

The Project

Despite the ocean contributing an estimated US$3 trillion per year to global GDP, marine conservation is one of the most underfunded UN Sustainable Development Goals.  Tackling that challenge, in November 2021, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Government of Belize (Belize) closed the world’s largest debt refinancing for ocean conservation to date.  The US$ 364 million debt conversion reduced Belize’s debt by 12 percent of GDP, created long-term sustainable financing of approximately US$ 4 million annually for conservation, and locked in commitment to protect 30% of Belize’s ocean, in addition to a range of other conservation measures.

Grunin Prize Finalists

Learn more about the finalists below:

McDermott Will & Emery - Education Outcomes Fund (EOF)

Nominated Legal Teams

Ranajoy Basu, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP; Priya Taneja, Counsel, McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP

Supporting Legal Teams

Peter Mason, former global General Counsel, UNICEF; Maria Mkandawire, senior legal affairs specialist, UNICEF; Matt Hoisington, legal affairs specialist, UNICEF

The Project

Situations ranging from wartime destruction to the COVID-19 pandemic  interrupt children’s learning, which can lead to higher levels of illiteracy and economic deterioration. To address acute global education needs, empower educators to deliver results, and improve learning outcomes for children around the world, the Education Outcomes Fund (EOF) moved to operate as an independent trust hosted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The innovative partnership provides an ambitious new mechanism for large-scale social financing focused on children’s education. McDermott Will & Emery’s Impact Finance Practice advised EOF and UNICEF on setting up a joint structure, which involved aligning the outcomes-based model in relation to EOF’s existing educational programs in various jurisdictions and ensuring the contractual structure conformed to the fund located within UNICEF.  The partnership with McDermott Will & Emery has allowed EOF to operate as an independent trust fund hosted by UNICEF, which provides fund management, legal, procurement, and administrative services to EOF.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe - The Common Future Character-Based Lending Fund (the “CBL Fund”)

Nominated Legal Team

Walter Alarkon, Senior Associate, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; Perry Teicher, Impact Finance Counsel, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; Quinn Moss, Partner, Co-Head of Private Investment Funds & Impact Finance Steering Committee, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. 

The Project

The Common Future Character-Based Lending Fund (the “CBL Fund”) is an US$ 800,000 financing vehicle which provides financing to BIPOC entrepreneurs via three entrepreneurship support organizations (each an “ESO”), nonprofit networks which have each developed targeted character-based lending processes and underwriting criteria. These ESOs are well-embedded in their communities and are equipped to both make character-based judgements about an entrepreneur’s readiness to receive a loan and to understand the needs of local BIPOC businesses. This character-based underwriting strategy in effect reverses the traditional approach to lending – instead of a distant, abstracted financial institution allocating capital downwards based on metrics which disadvantage BIPOC communities, the CBL Fund follows a bottom-up approach, enabling trusted organizations within the community to create their own underwriting criteria and refer upward those applicants who fit the requirements. The loans themselves are unsecured, low-interest (1-3%), and have long amortization periods, making them much better fits for these communities than traditional loans. These character-based loans are intended to act as “patient capital”, focused more on cultivating social good than on generating immediate financial return, and allowing BIPOC entrepreneurs with fewer resources a chance at growth.

2022 Judging Panel

• Deborah K. Burand
• Leslie Cornell
• David A. Goldstein
• Jay Grunin
• Jonathan Ng
• Helen Scott