Lawyers play a critical role in designing, implementing, and advancing models by which economic and social activities are conducted globally. The Grunin Center administers the award of an annual Grunin Prize for Law and Social Entrepreneurship to recognize lawyers’ participation in the ways in which business is increasingly advancing the goals of sustainability and human development.
The Grunin Prize aims to reward the innovation, potential impact, and replicability and/or scalability of projects and solutions developed by lawyers to advance the fields of social entrepreneurship and impact investing.
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 Jay and Linda Grunin Foundation. Jay and Linda have dedicated their philanthropic endeavors to investing in innovative projects that have measurable impacts creating meaningful, transformative change.
The 2025 Grunin Prize
The 2025 Grunin Prize will be awarded at a special ceremony on June 3, 2025, at NYU Law. This ceremony will take place as part of the Annual Conference on Legal Issues in Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing—in the US and Beyond, which is co-hosted at NYU School of Law by the Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship and the Impact Investing Legal Working Group.
Now in its eighth year of being awarded, the Grunin Prize has attracted numerous nominations from across the globe, which are representative of the extraordinary legal community of practice that is emerging in these fields. Learn more about our prior finalists and winners here.
2025 Grunin Prize Finalists
California Wildfire Innovation Fund I, LP: Blue Forest Asset Management
Nominated Legal Team:
From Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe:
- Perry Teicher
- Andrew Vogeler
- John Narducci
- Ramon Galvan
- Elizabeth Damaskos
The Project:
Catastrophic wildfire is immensely costly to the state of California and its neighbors, decimating communities, placing millions of homes at risk, threatening public health, and emitting more carbon in some years than the state’s entire transportation sector. Landscape-scale forest restoration–the use of manual interventions to remove hazardous fuels, maintain forest structure, and restore forests to a more resilient state–is a proven way to reduce the risk of wildfire and its intensity when it does occur.
By investing in private businesses that play a part in the forest restoration system, CWIF aims to move the needle on the pace and scale of forest restoration in the state. This includes companies performing restoration work on the ground, companies utilizing and up-valuing the byproducts (often referred to as ‘forest biomass’), and everything in between. The Fund is a novel model of mobilizing capital to meet this need, aligning a private insurance company in CSAA (motivated by the opportunity to invest its balance sheet in a way that stands to demonstrably reduce its risk exposure) and a California state instrumentality in IBank (motivated by public policy goals to catalyze private investment capital toward the wildfire challenge).
IFC and Amartha: Women Focused Social Financing Solution
Nominated Legal Team:
IFC Legal (IFC’s in-house legal team):
- Feng Lin
- Siqi Liu
Pinsent Masons (IFC’s external counsel, English and Singapore law):
- Martin Bishop
- Olivia Wang
- Darell Pang
- Scott Palmer
Jardin Legal (IFC’s external counsel, Indonesian law)
- Jardin Bahar
- Riki Rakhmani
- Petra Sabrina
Trilexica (Amartha’s external counsel, Indonesian law):
- Safita Narthfilda
- Anggia Rukmasari
- Sofia Averilliana
The Project:
International Finance Corporation (“IFC”) and PT Amartha Mikro Finance (“Amartha”) launched an innovative financing solution (the “Facility”) to provide micro-finance loans to under-served female micro entrepreneurs in rural Indonesia.
The Facility’s structure uses many features of the loan book securitisation markets to create a bankable structure for the financing of a recycling portfolio of micro-loan receivables originated on Amatha’s P2P lending platform. With this structure, Amartha can tap financing, including from offshore impact investors, that could be scaled up to $206 million.
- The key features of the structure include the following:
- the borrower is established as a special purpose vehicle in Singapore created specifically for the transaction.
- the borrower is maintained and operated by a professional corporate services provider based in Singapore for the benefit of the investors.
- the proceeds of the Facility will be used to finance micro-loans originated by Amartha in Indonesia through its P2P lending platform.
- the security for the Facility is the micro-loans and the related receivables.
- the Facility is not guaranteed by Amartha and recourse to Amartha is limited to the proceeds of the eligible micro-loan receivables.
- the Facility is, from Amartha’s perspective, an off-balance sheet transaction, and from the Investor’s perspective, provides protection of bankruptcy remoteness.
To establish the Facility, IFC has committed funds from its own account as a cornerstone investor and has mobilized the balance from reputed international investors. By boosting access to finance for microenterprises, part of Indonesia's micro, small and medium sized (“MSME”) sector, IFC and Amartha will be supporting businesses that collectively employ tens of millions of people and make a key contribution to Indonesia's economy. The project has the potential to deepen Indonesia's capital markets by providing a demonstration effect that could spur similar investments, and to be replicated in some other jurisdictions in the future.
Justice Catalyst Access Fund: The Justice Note
Nominated Legal Team:
- Jacob Lipton, Justice Catalyst Access Fund
- Joshua Gewolb, Harter Secrest & Emery LLP
- Anthony Sebok, Cardozo School of Law
- Michael P. Kelley, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP
The Project:
JCAF is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that provides flexible, no-risk financial support to social impact litigators at scale. JCAF uses a unique financing contract template called the “Justice Note” that allows litigators at nonprofits and law firms to sustainably grow their public interest practices. The Justice Note is an innovative blended legal structure that fills the gap between philanthropic grant agreements and commercial litigation finance agreements in order to support the expansion of mission-driven public interest litigation.
A distinctive, replicable, financially sustainable model, JCAF is highly scalable and poised for adoption across the U.S. and, eventually, worldwide. Public interest litigation is essential to enforcing accountability for wrongdoers and delivering justice for victims of civil legal rights violations. However, the demand for legal services far outweighs the available supply of nonprofit and public interest litigators and available funding. The social impact litigation sector has traditionally relied on one-way grant dollars for funding. Meanwhile the terms and business model of commercial litigation finance prices out the vast majority of public interest litigation. As a result, the social impact litigation sector has failed to leverage the robust potential of revenue-generating models from fee awards – thereby preventing public interest litigators from achieving the sector's potential for systemic impact that advances economic and social justice.
The Justice Note is the first financing agreement designed specifically to address this need and to finance public interest litigation at scale at both nonprofit organizations and firms by applying the tools of litigation finance in a structure appropriate for social impact litigation. Already deployed within an evergreen fund to support hundreds of cases via portfolios at over two dozen organizations, the Justice Note is enabling philanthropic foundations and impact investors to support social impact litigation at scale, thereby empowering public interest litigators to carry out their vital missions.
New Majority Capital Fund: Leveraging Innovative Finance to Scale Inclusive Entrepreneurship
Nominated Legal Team:
From RPCK Rastegar Panchal LLP:
- Chintan Panchal
- Joshua Teitelbaum
- Aaron Bourke
The Project:
The New Majority Capital Fund (NMC Fund) is a first-of-its-kind impact investment vehicle designed to empower historically underrepresented entrepreneurs—particularly Black, Latinx, and women business owners—by providing them with access to non-extractive impact capital and business acquisition opportunities, coupled with mentorship and an entrepreneurial support community.
The fund addresses a critical gap in the market: while minority-owned businesses are a key driver of economic growth, historic and systemic barriers prevent many from acquiring or scaling businesses. The NMC Fund utilizes an innovative fund and capital deployment structure that integrates equity, debt, and catalytic capital as well as revenue based financing to finance the transition of small businesses to new, diverse ownership.
From a legal perspective, this required a complex, multi-tiered structuring approach to blend different forms of capital while aligning risk-return expectations for investors. The fund incorporates mission-aligned governance, impact-linked financial incentives, and regulatory compliance strategies that enhance its scalability. By tackling racial and gender wealth gaps through business ownership, the NMC Fund is a pioneering model for impact-driven capital deployment. We hope the legal framework behind it sets a precedent for future funds aiming to use private equity and alternative financing structures for inclusive economic growth.
The Reinvesting in Nursing Education and Workforce Fund: ReNEW Fund
Nominated Legal Team:
From Social Finance, Inc.:
- Leslie Cornell
- Chiara Apici
- Tyler Lewis
The Project:
The Reinvesting in Nursing Education and Workforce Fund (ReNEW Fund) is an initiative created by our organization, Social Finance, Inc., a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and Western Governors University (WGU) to address the healthcare talent crisis facing the United States. Seeded with an initial $10 million investment from WGU, ReNEW Fund is designed to support aspiring nurses—particularly those from historically underserved communities—by offering students enrolled in WGU’s nursing pre-licensure program 0% interest private education loans (Loans) to make the WGU nursing program accessible to those who otherwise would be unable to afford it. A key feature of the Loans is their unique repayment structure, designed to be both student-friendly and aligned with graduate financial success. Student borrowers must repay their Loans only when they are earning a yearly income above $60,000, ensuring that repayments are manageable and tied to the individual’s ability to translate training into higher earnings.
One of the unique and most impactful aspects of ReNEW Fund is its employer repayment model. ReNEW Fund employs a model under which it receives fee-based compensation directly from employers (similar to a placement agent) for graduates who have been placed with such employers, and applies the payments to the Loan obligations for those who have them and gives direct payments to graduates who have not received the Loan. These employer contributions not only reduce student debt or increase direct cash to employees but, because employers make both hiring and retention payments, also serve as a financial incentive for employees to remain employed with specific employers. By linking Loan repayment or cash disbursement to continued employment, the program enhances employee retention – a key challenge in the healthcare industry, where turnover rates are high and the demand for skilled nurses is ever-growing. Finally, ReNEW Fund has a recycling mechanism that amplifies the impact of both philanthropic capital and employer repayments. When students and employers make Loan payments, those funds flow back into the fund and directly support students in future cohorts. This recycling ensures that the initiative is sustainable and can continue to grow over time, increasing the program’s reach and charitable impact. With this structure, ReNEW Fund addresses the immediate needs of today’s students and creates a long-term solution to the nation’s nursing workforce shortage.
Judging Panel
The final judging panel is composed of NYU Law representatives and industry experts who will select the Grunin Prize winner based on the submission materials, references, and a final interview.
Meet the 2025 Judging Panel below:
Deborah K. Burand
Deborah Burand is a Professor of Law at NYU Law, where she directs the International Transactions Clinic and is Faculty Director of the Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship. She writes and lectures on issues related to international finance, microfinance and microfranchise, impact investing, and social finance innovations such as social impact bonds, social entrepreneurship, and developing sustainable businesses at the base of the economic pyramid.
During 2010-2011, Burand served as general counsel to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the development finance institution of the United States. Earlier in her career, she worked in the environmental sector (Conservation International), microfinance sector (FINCA International and Grameen Foundation), and US government (Federal Reserve Board and Department of the Treasury). She also has worked in private practice at a global law firm, where, among other things, she supported, on a pro bono basis, the development of the world’s first debt-for-nature swap.
Burand is a member of the board and Investment Committee of the MicroBuild Fund, an impact investment fund sponsored by Habitat for Humanity International. She is an advisor to the Linked Foundation and Social Sector Franchise Initiative. She co-founded the Impact Investing Legal Working Group (IILWG) and Women Advancing Microfinance (WAM) International.
Burand received her BA from DePauw University cum laude, and a joint degree, JD/MSFS with honors, from Georgetown University.
Jay Grunin
Jay Grunin is Co-Founder and Chairman, Jay & Linda Grunin Foundation. Jay graduated from Brooklyn College (with honors) in 1964, and from NYU School of Law in 1967, where he was an Editor of the Law Review and where he met his future wife and business partner. After a brief exposure to academia – as Research Assistant to an NYU Law professor teaching a seminar on legislative history – as well as a brief stint in Big Law in New York, followed by a one year Appellate Division clerkship in New Jersey, Jay, who would never have to rue about the road not taken, opted to then take the advice of his lawyer-wife who implored him to “go south young man, go south.” And so Jay and Linda “hitched on to the second wagon train” and landed in a then small town on the Central Jersey Shore called Toms River.
After a few years, Jay and Linda decided to open up their own small “mom and pop” law firm. In the 1970s, as Ocean County became one of the fastest growing counties in the entire United States, Jay and Linda’s law practice flourished. At the same time, Jay and Linda expanded their business interests to include real estate and other investments.
In the 1990s, the Grunins dissolved their law practice so as to concentrate full time on their greatest passions, business investments and philanthropy. In 2013 their philanthropic endeavors were formalized with the creation of the Jay and Linda Grunin Foundation.
Helen Scott
Helen Scott is a Professor of Law Emeritus at NYU School of Law. She is the founder and former co-director of the Mitchell Jacobson Leadership Program in Law and Business at New York University School of Law, as well as a co-founder and former Faculty Co-Director of the Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship at NYU Law. In that capacity, she has participated in the development of innovative Law and Business courses, including Investing in Microfinance, Law & Business of Corporate Governance, and Professional Responsibility in Law and Business. Scott oversaw the competitive Leadership Scholars program, and ran the capstone seminar for the program, Law and Business Projects. She was a member of the NYU School of Law faculty since 1982 and has taught a wide variety of business law courses, including the basic Contracts and Corporations courses.
Scott currently serves on the Board of Directors of IEX LLC, the newly launched stock exchange. From 1999 to 2004, Scott co-chaired the Listing and Hearing Review Council of the NASDAQ Stock Market, an independent advisory committee to the board of directors, with primary responsibility for formulating and recommending corporate governance and quantitative listing standards for that market.
In 2023, Scott was the first recipient of the Grunin Prize for Sustained Commitment for her extraordinary dedication to supporting law students who are intent on doing good within their transactional and business law practices. In 1997, Scott received the Legal Advocate of the Year award from the US Small Business Administration in recognition of her participation in the development of the Angel Capital Electronic Network (ACE-Net) project to increase financing available to early-stage entrepreneurial enterprises. Before joining the Law School faculty, Scott practiced law in Washington, DC, and New York.
Rachel Robbins
Rachel F. Robbins is currently senior independent director of Atlas Mara Limited, a UK-listed financial services company whose aim is to be the premier financial services company of Sub-Saharan Africa. She is also a Trustee of NYU School of Law and an Advisory Board member of the Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship. She previously served as a non-executive director of FINCA Microfinance Holding Company, a global microfinance company.
From 2008 to 2012, Robbins served as vice president and general counsel of the International Finance Corporation and as a member of its Management Group. She joined the IFC with three decades of experience in legal and financial services, including extensive experience in corporate governance and in managing global teams through periods of change. Between 2006 and 2008, she was executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary of the New York Stock Exchange and NYSE Euronext. She spent 20 years at JPMorgan & Co. and was general counsel and corporate secretary from 1996 to 2001. From 2003 to 2004, she was general counsel of Citigroup International.
Robbins holds a JD from New York University School of Law and a BA in French literature from Wellesley College.
Steve Valdes-Robles
Steve Valdes-Robles is WaterEquity's General Counsel. He brings nearly 20 years of legal experience spanning a variety of areas including corporate governance, securities and M&A, structured finance, tax exempt organizations, and US government regulations. He also has extensive cross-cultural experience, having lived and worked in Mozambique, Angola, Israel, Germany, Russia, Hong Kong and Chile, among others.
Prior to joining WaterEquity, Steve developed award winning impact investment transactions for The Nature Conservancy, served as a diplomat with the US Agency for International Development, and represented corporate and sovereign clients as a corporate associate at Cleary Gottlieb. He also lectures on Impact Investing at Rutgers Law School.
Steve holds a B.A., with honors, from the University of Notre Dame and a JD, with honors, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was a member of the Law Review.
Amélie Baudot
Amélie Baudot is the Chief Operating Officer at International Fund for Public Interest Media and the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at Bridges to Development. Previously she was the Chief Strategy and Chief Legal Officer of the Global Innovation Fund. Amélie is a qualified Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales and a Member of the Bar of the State of New York.
Half of Amélie's career has been spent in-house working for start-ups in the international development and impact investment space, building their legal and governance functions from scratch. Amélie began her career as a finance lawyer at Allen & Overy LLP. In that role, Amélie worked on bankruptcy cases, work-outs, court-sanctioned refinancings, and corporate reorganizations, including acting as the lead associate on the GBP 1.6 billion restructuring of a UK financial services company.
Amélie earned a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law, a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and a Bachelor’s Degree from Connecticut College.