John S. Kiernan, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, has been nominated as President of the New York City Bar Association. If elected, Mr. Kiernan will succeed Debra L. Raskin as the 67th president in the Association’s 145-year history. The election will take place at the City Bar’s annual meeting on May 17, 2016.

Mr. Kiernan, has been Co-Chair of Debevoise’s Litigation Department since 2002 and Chair of its Ethics Committee since 1994. Previous Debevoise partners who led the City Bar include Francis Taylor Pearsons Plimpton, Oscar M. Ruebhausen and Barbara Paul Robinson. Mr. Kiernan’s practice has included a wide range of commercial and quasi-commercial litigations, arbitration, risk analyses and negotiations involving private disputes, governance and fiduciary duties, intellectual property rights‎, class actions or o‎ther mass claims, and actions by and against government entities.

At the City Bar, Mr. Kiernan has served on the Executive Committee and chaired several committees, and was on the Board of Directors of the City Bar Fund. He was recently appointed by New York’s Chief Judge to serve on a Committee on Non-Lawyers and the Justice Gap. He is the Board Chair of Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York and Chair of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (“CPR”). He previously chaired the Boards of Legal Services NYC, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Volunteers of Legal Service, the Justice Resource Center and the New York City Bankruptcy Assistance Project (which he co-founded). He was the Mayor of Pelham Manor, NY, from 1999-2001 and is currently an Adjunct Professor at NYU School of Law.

The New York City Bar Association, since its founding in 1870, has been dedicated to maintaining the high ethical standards of the legal profession, promoting reform of the law and access to justice, and providing service to the profession and the public. The Association, through its 24,000 members, continues to work for political, legal and social reform, while implementing innovative means to help the disadvantaged. Protecting the public’s welfare remains one of the Association’s highest priorities.

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a premier law firm with market-leading practices, a global perspective and strong New York roots. We deliver effective solutions to our clients’ most important legal challenges, applying clear commercial judgment and a distinctively collaborative approach.