Diane E. Citrino, Esq.
ADVOCATE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS FOR WOMEN AND MINORITIES
Diane Citrino has dedicated her professional career advocating for those without a voice. She has been a staunch supporter of civil rights for women and minorities, for equality in the workplace and for fair housing issues. Her career in law spans nonprofit, government and private practice.
Citrino was born and raised in Nutley, as were her father, Judge Robert J. Citrino Jr. and her grandfather Dr. Robert J. Citrino Sr. She is the oldest daughter of Robert and Jean Citrino, and has three sisters and a brother.
After graduating from Nutley High School in 1975, Citrino received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Brown University and her law degree from the Berkeley School of Law. She joined a prominent Chicago law firm and later the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago. There, she prevailed representing 1,400 Spanish-speaking beauty school students who had been promised, but not given an education in Spanish. Using civil RICO for the fraudulent use of federal grant funds, she proved early in her career that she was a pioneer of solutions
In 1994, Citrino became a Senior Attorney at Housing Advocates, Inc. (HA) in Cleveland, where she directed complex fair housing litigation. In her fair housing work, Citrino has prevailed in a number of high profile cases, earning an exceptional national reputation. She considers herself “lucky because I have represented people for whom justice was improbable. I have been inspired by the courage of my clients.”
In 2003, Citrino became Regional Director of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC), Akron Region, where she supervised and directed fourteen county agencies charged with enforcing Ohio anti-discrimination laws. Here she distinguished herself as both a practitioner and a community advocate. When she left OCRC, Citrino was approached by various companies about conducting investigations and providing consultation towards changes in their culture.
Among her many awards are the Rosa Parks Congressional Medal and the feather quill, presented to her after she represented a client before the U.S. Supreme Court, a tradition that dates back to the 1800s, which was an unforgettable experience…
Today, Citrino is a nationally recognized attorney at the woman-owned firm of Giffen & Kaminski in Cleveland. Her rich practice history benefits the companies that hire her to investigate matters related to employee conduct, as well as the outside lawyers to whom she acts as special council and colleges and universities seeking assistance, counsel, and improvement with their Title IX policies and procedures.
Citrino is also a member of the Workplace Investigation Group, a nationwide network of employment attorneys who conduct impartial investigations into allegations of workplace misconduct, such as harassment, discrimination and retaliation. Citrino currently resides in Cleveland and enjoys reading, gardening, painting and pottery making. She sees herself as “creating beauty along with creating justice.”