2025 Brooklyn Legal Services Champions of Justice Awards

Kermitt J. Brooks is Chief Legal Officer at Guardian. In his role, he leads legal, compliance, corporate governance, and government affairs. Kermitt’s extensive legal experience allows him to play a pivotal role in shaping the regulatory landscape of the insurance industry. Previously, Kermitt served as the Senior Executive Director and General Counsel at Equitable Life Insurance Company. Earlier in his career, Kermitt served as First Deputy Superintendent and Acting Superintendent for the New York State Insurance Department. He also served as Deputy Attorney General for Operations at the New York State Office of Attorney General.

Armen H. Merjian is the Senior Staff Attorney at Housing Works, Inc. The New York Law Journal recently named Armen “one of the nation’s leading civil rights lawyers, and likely the preeminent lawyer in the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.” For over three and a half decades, Armen has conducted impact litigation on issues involving HIV/AIDS, homelessness, public benefits, disability, gender, and housing discrimination. Armen is a co-author of the national treatise on AIDS, AIDS and the Law, an Editorial Board Member of the ABA’s Human Rights Magazine, and the author of 20 law review articles on human and civil rights, publishing in the nation’s top-ranked law journal in five different areas.

Briana Carp is the Director of Legal Information at Comprehensive Youth Development (CYD) located onsite at Manhattan Comprehensive Night & Day High School. She has served in this role since 2010. She helps connect youth ages 17 to 22 to immigration lawyers, with a focus on Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. She has reassured countless nervous youth navigating the complicated immigration system and helped hundreds of young people become legal permanent residents. She is an alum of CORO’s Immigrant Civic Leadership Program and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice’s Grace Paley Organizing Fellowship.