Speaker Bios

Julia Allison is a narrative strategist. The firm she founded, Reimagine Media, advises socially responsible organizations on crafting and communicating their stories and missions for maximum impact.

A Georgetown graduate in government, Julia served on Capitol Hill as the youngest full time legislative staffer in the 107th Congress. She then became a journalist, earning bylines in the New York Times, New York Magazine, Newsweek, and The Guardian. She was a regular columnist for Time Out New York and ELLE and wrote a syndicated column on technology and social media for Tribune Media. She also appeared hundreds of times as a commentator on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, MTV, and E, and had her own TV show on Bravo.

As social media rose, Julia began to merge her print and television media presence with viral presence on the new medium via strategic posts, video content, and sponsorships. In the words of Rolling Stone, in these years “she invented being an influencer” before there was a word for the role. At the age of 27, she was featured on the cover of WIRED magazine as a prototype for a new kind of media role. She has since been written about in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Slate, New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, Forbes and dozens of other publications.

Sensing the emergent category, Julia co-founded a startup aimed at managing emerging social media talent. Ahead of its time, the company sunset. That experience led Julia into a sabbatical of self-exploration. Realizing that she would be fulfilled only by using what she had learned to promote meaningful social change, she founded Reimagine Media. After four years, she took time off at mid-career to pursue her MPA (the public-good MBA) at the Harvard Kennedy School. She graduates in May 2025.

Today, when she isn’t studying, Julia continues to teach and speak about narrative strategy to clients oriented towards social change.

Raised on the shores of Lake Michigan (just north of Chicago), she has lived in (and learned the cultures of) New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC, and Ubud, Bali. She resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her fiancé (soon husband), Noah Feldman.

Jill Anderson is a Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where teaches Contracts, Insurance Law, Law and Cognition, and Evidence. Prior to teaching, she worked as a Skadden Fellow and staff attorney at Western Massachusetts Legal Services, representing low-income disabled individuals challenging discriminatory housing and insurance practices. She earned her J.D. at Columbia Law School, where she was a Lowenstein Public Interest Fellow, and she studied linguistics in graduate programs at Stanford and the University of Copenhagen. Prior to law school, she spent four years developing anti-discrimination interventions at a law firm that monitored consent decrees in the aftermath of civil rights litigation. Professor Anderson is known for her innovative scholarship on language and law. Her linguistic training informs her articles on statutory interpretation, which have appeared in the Yale Law Journal and Harvard Law Review, and which reach substantive areas as diverse as disability discrimination, white collar crime, intellectual property, and genocide law. Her favorite way to share her work is to discuss its practical payoff with legal professionals at judicial and practitioner conferences.

Justice Jeff Bivins took office as a member of the Tennessee Supreme Court on July 16, 2014. He was appointed to this position by Governor Bill Haslam. He was elected to the remainder of the full term in August 2016. Effective September 1, 2016, his colleagues elected him to the position of Chief Justice. He served as Chief Justice from 2016 to 2021. Justice Bivins served on the Board of Directors of the Conference of Chief Justices from 2019 to 2021. He served as the chairman of the CCJ Government Affairs Committee in 2020 and 2021. In 2020, Justice Bivins received the Tennessee Bar Association Justice Frank F. Drowota III Judicial Service Award. He is a graduate of Leadership Tennessee. Prior to his appointment to the Tennessee Supreme Court, Justice Bivins was a judge on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals from August 2011 until July 2014. Previously, Justice Bivins also served as a Circuit Court Judge for the 21st Judicial District of Tennessee, covering Williamson, Hickman, Lewis, and Perry Counties. He was appointed to the trial court position in March 2005. Justice Bivins was elected to a full eight-year term in 2006. He also previously served in a circuit judge position from July 1999 through August 2000. Justice Bivins has served as a senior lecturing fellow at Regent Law School. He is a 1986 graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law. He received a B.A. Degree, magna cum laude, in 1982 from East Tennessee State University, with a major in political science and a minor in criminal justice.

Justice Bivins is a past President of the Tennessee Judicial Conference. Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Bivins served on the Board of Judicial Conduct and its predecessor, the Court of the Judiciary. Justice Bivins also previously served on the Tennessee Judicial Evaluation Commission. He is a member of the Harry Phillips American Inn of Court. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the Tennessee Bar Association. He also is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, the Tennessee Bar Foundation, and the Nashville Bar Foundation. Justice Bivins was a founding board member of the Education Foundation of Williamson County. He also has served on the board of the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature. He is a former member of the Williamson County Commission. Prior to his appointment to the trial bench, Justice Bivins practiced law with the firm of Boult, Cummings, Conners & Berry PLC in Nashville, Tennessee. He also served as Assistant Commissioner and General Counsel for the Tennessee Department of Personnel.

Chris Browning is a partner with Troutman Pepper in Raleigh, NC, where he focuses on appellate practice and complex commercial litigation. Chris served for seven years as the first solicitor general for the State of North Carolina.

Chris has argued five times before the U.S. Supreme Court and has argued an additional 35 times before the Fourth Circuit, Eleventh Circuit, the North Carolina Supreme Court, and the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

As North Carolina’s first solicitor general, Chris established the policies and procedures for that office and the process for the Solicitor General’s management of all civil appeals involving the State of North Carolina. In addition, he served as an adviser to the North Carolina Attorney General with respect to appellate issues and other policy matters. He also has extensive trial experience, including the defense of a war crimes proceeding before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Chris recently obtained a verdict of $524 million on behalf of a client in a contractual dispute.

Chris is certified as an appellate practice specialist by the North Carolina State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. He is a past Chair of the Appellate Rules Committee for the North Carolina Bar Association and served as North Carolina’s representative to the Fourth Circuit’s Advisory Committee on Rules and Procedures.

Chris has served as Chair of the American Bar Association’s Judicial Division and on the Executive Committee of the Section Officers Conference. He currently is a Vice President of the Board of Governors of the North Carolina Bar Association.

Chris has taught appellate practice at Duke University School of Law as a senior lecturing fellow. He is a frequent speaker before bar associations and other organizations on issues relating to appellate practice, complex litigation, and original actions before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kimberly S. Budd became the 38th Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court on December 1, 2020 when she was sworn in by Governor Charlie Baker. She was appointed as an Associate Justice on the Court on August 24, 2016.

Chief Justice Budd earned her Bachelor’s degree in English from Georgetown University and a law degree from Harvard Law School.

She began her legal career as a law clerk to Chief Justice Joseph P. Warner of the Massachusetts Appeals Court. She was a litigation associate at Mintz Levin, before serving as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts in the Major Crimes and Drug Units. After that, she was a University Attorney for Harvard University in the General Counsel’s Office. She later served as Director of the Community Values program at Harvard Business School.

Chief Justice Budd was appointed as an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court by Governor Deval Patrick in 2009. In 2016 she served as the Regional Administrative Justice for Middlesex Criminal Business.

Chief Justice Budd teaches in MCLE and Bar Association programs, is a former adjunct instructor at New England Law, and has taught trial advocacy at Harvard Law School. She is married with two sons.

On January 18, 2023, Andrea Joy Campbell was sworn in to be the 45th Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, pledging to build economic prosperity and stability for all residents, prioritize the mental health and well-being of children, stop cycles of incarceration and violence and ensure the people across the state have access to the AG’s Office regardless of their zip code, language or ability.

Growing up in Roxbury, Andrea’s life was filled with instability. When Andrea was eight months old, she lost her mother to a car accident while going to visit her father in prison. She and her brothers bounced around – living with relatives and sometimes in foster care – until her father got out of prison when she was eight years old, and she met him for the first time.

Andrea and her family relied on public housing and food assistance while her grandmother struggled with alcoholism. Her two brothers sadly cycled in and out of the prison system. She lost her twin brother Andre, when he passed away while in the custody of the Department of Corrections as a pre-trial detainee.

Through all of this, Andrea persevered. Thanks to loving relatives, community support and a network of teachers who encouraged her, she turned pain into purpose. She graduated from Boston Latin School and then worked her way through college with the help of grants and student loans, graduating from Princeton University and UCLA Law School.

After earning her law degree, she worked as a legal services attorney for the EdLaw project, defending the rights of children and their families — particularly those with disabilities.

Andrea also practiced law at Proskauer LLP as an employment attorney, and ultimately left to serve the public as General Counsel at the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, working across 101 cities and towns to address regional challenges like health care access, transportation, affordable housing, and climate change.

Andrea served as legal counsel to Governor Deval Patrick, working to improve our education and transportation systems and move forward an agenda of equity across the state.

In 2015, Andrea successfully ran for the Boston City Council becoming the first woman to represent District 4 on the Council. Her first piece of legislation was the Community Preservation Act, which still generates over $20 million annually for new affordable housing, historical preservation, and parks and open space. In 2018, she was unanimously elected City Council President – the first Black woman to hold the title.

Justice Luz Elena D. Chapa was elected to serve on the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals effective January 1, 2013, and when elected, she was the youngest appellate judge in the state of Texas. She was re-elected in 2018 and is currently serving her second term. Prior to her election, Justice Chapa practiced on both sides of the civil docket in counties across Texas, with a concentration in products liability litigation.

Justice Chapa was raised in El Paso, Texas and pursued her secondary education in San Antonio at St. Mary’s University, where she received both her Bachelor of Arts in English and her Juris Doctor. Between college and law school, she headed to Capitol Hill, where she interned for US Congressman Lloyd Doggett and worked for the late US Congressman Frank Tejeda. During law school, Justice Chapa interned for Chief Justice (Ret.) Alma L. López, and upon graduating,

Justice Chapa began her legal career in El Paso, working with the law firm Oaxaca, Bernal & Associates. She later moved to Corpus Christi in 2001, where she joined the law firm Hartline, Dacus, Barger & Dreyer, LLP before returning to San Antonio in 2005 and working with Chapa Law Group.

Starting in 2005, Justice Chapa firmly planted her roots in San Antonio, where she has raised her three children. At the age of 42, she made history again when her youngest child was born, a first for a sitting Fourth Court justice.

Justice Chapa is a proud American Bar Foundation Fellow, a Texas Bar Foundation Life Fellow, a San Antonio Bar Foundation Fellow, a 2014 Inductee to the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame and is a member of numerous organizations. She serves on the boards of the ABA Appellate Judges Conference (Board Director and Diversity Chair) and the Appellate Judges Education Institute (Board Director and Education Committee). Justice Chapa also serves on the American Bar Association’s Judicial Division’s Standing Committee on Judicial Diversity.

In addition to her responsibilities to her family, the Fourth Court, and the legal profession, Justice Chapa is a long-standing mental health advocate. She has served on the board of Clarity Child Guidance Center since 2014. Clarity is the only mental health treatment center in South Texas dedicated to treating children ages three to seventeen. Her past board service includes serving: Guardian House (Board Chair), Healy Murphy Center (Board Vice President), St. Mary’s Law Alumni Association, St. Mary’s Hispanic Law Alumni Association, and The Children’s Ballet of San Antonio.

Erwin Chemerinsky became the 13th Dean of Berkeley Law on July 1, 2017, when he joined the faculty as the Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law.

Prior to assuming this position, from 2008-2017, he was the founding Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law, and Raymond Pryke Professor of First Amendment Law, at University of California, Irvine School of Law. Before that he was the Alston and Bird Professor of Law and Political Science at Duke University from 2004-2008, and from 1983-2004 was a professor at the University of Southern California Law School, including as the Sydney M. Irmas Professor of Public Interest Law, Legal Ethics, and Political Science. From 1980-1983, he was an assistant professor at DePaul College of Law.

He is the author of nineteen books, including leading casebooks and treatises about constitutional law, criminal procedure, and federal jurisdiction. His most recent major books are Worse than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism (2022) and Presumed Guilty: How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights (2021).

He also is the author of more than 200 law review articles. He is a contributing writer for the Opinion section of the Los Angeles Times, and writes regular columns for the Sacramento Bee, the ABA Journal and the Daily Journal, and frequent op-eds in newspapers across the country. He frequently argues appellate cases, including in the United States Supreme Court.

In 2016, he was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2024, National Jurist magazine again named Dean Chemerinsky as the most influential person in legal education in the United States. In 2022, he was the President of the Association of American Law Schools. He received his B.S. at Northwestern University and his J.D. at Harvard Law School.

Judge J. Michelle Childs was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in July 2022. She holds her undergraduate degree in Management from the University of South Florida Honors College, a law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law, a Masters in Personnel and Employment Relations from the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business, a Masters of Judicial Studies from Duke University School of Law, and an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Public Service from the University of South Carolina.

From 1992 to 2000, Judge Childs worked at Nexsen Pruet, ultimately serving as partner. From 2000 to 2002, Judge Childs was appointed to serve as the Deputy Director for the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation’s Division of Labor. From 2002 to 2006, Judge Childs received another gubernatorial appointment to serve as a commissioner on the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission. In 2006, the South Carolina General Assembly appointed her as a state circuit court judge. During that time, Judge Childs served as chief administrative judge for the General Sessions, which is South Carolina’s criminal court, and as chief administrative judge for the state’s business court. In 2010, she was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina until her appointment to the D.C. Circuit.

Judge Childs is active with various local, state, and national bar organizations, as well as community organizations. She is the President of the Federal Judges Association. Within the American Bar Association, she is a member of the Administrative Law Council, a fellow in the Litigation Section, and a member of the Committee on the American Judicial System. Formerly, she was the Chair of the American Bar Association’s Judicial Division and the Secretary of the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section. She is also a member of the American Law Institute and its Council, having served as an Advisor to the Restatement (Third) of Employment Law. And she recently joined the 2022 class of Rodel Judicial Fellows.

Hon. Jennifer Choe-Groves is an Article III federal judge on the United States Court of International Trade in New York, New York. 

Judge Choe-Groves began her professional career serving as an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. She served in the Executive Office of the President of the United States as Senior Director for Intellectual Property and Innovation and as Chair of the Special 301 Committee for the Office of the United States Trade Representative USTR. Prior to her appointment to the United States Court of International Trade, Judge Choe-Groves was in private practice specializing in intellectual property, litigation, and international trade. She is Chair of the National Tang Moot Court Competition of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Law Foundation.  She received an A.B. from Princeton University, a J.D. from Rutgers School of Law-Newark, and a LL.M. from Columbia Law School.  Prior to college, she also studied piano at the Juilliard School.

David Cole is the National Legal Director of the ACLU, and the Hon. George J. Mitchell Professor in Law and Public Policy at Georgetown University Law Center. He writes regularly for the New York Review of Books and is legal affairs correspondent for The Nation. He has published many books, including No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System, and Engines of Liberty: How Citizen Movements Succeed.

David has litigated many constitutional cases in the Supreme Court, including Texas v. Johnson and United States v. Eichman, which extended First Amendment protection to flag burning; Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, in which the ACLU represented a gay couple refused service by a bakery because they sought a cake to celebrate their wedding; and Bostock v. Clayton County, which established that Title VII bans discrimination on the basis of transgender status and sexual orientation. In March, he represented the National Rifle Association before the Supreme Court in a First Amendment challenge to a New York financial regulator’s campaign to pressure banks and insurance companies to blacklist the organization for its gun rights advocacy.

Beth Colgan is Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law. She is one of the country’s leading experts on constitutional and policy issues related to the use of economic sanctions (fines, fees and surcharges, restitution, and forfeitures) as punishment and particularly on the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause. Her recent scholarship has appeared or is forthcoming in the California Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Iowa Law Review, New York Law Review Online, North Carolina Law Review, UCLA Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Vanderbilt Law Review, William and Mary Law Review, and the Yale Law Journal Forum, among others. Her scholarship is routinely cited by state and federal courts and two of her articles have been selected as “must read” by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Professor Colgan earned her B.A. from Stanford University and her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law. After law school, she worked as an associate for Perkins Coie LLP (2000-05), litigating a variety of matters in federal and state court and engaging in extensive pro bono work focusing primarily on access to competent indigent defense counsel and post-conviction representation of juveniles tried in adult criminal courts. From 2006-2011, Professor Colgan served as the Managing Attorney of the Institutions Project at Columbia Legal Services, representing juveniles and adults confined in prisons, jails, and mental health facilities in civil rights litigation, collateral appeals, and legislative advocacy. From 2011-2014, she was a Thomas C. Grey Fellow and Lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School. Professor Colgan continues to serve as a consultant on issues related to the use of economic sanctions to local, state, and federal government lawmakers and agencies, think tanks, and civil rights and criminal justice advocates. She has also served as amici in the United States Supreme Court, California Supreme Court, California Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. She has been recognized for her service, including as the recipient of the Washington State Bar Association Thomas Neville Pro Bono Award, the Northwestern University Children & Family Justice Center Alumni Award, and the Stanford Law School Pro Bono Distinction Award. Professor Colgan also received UCLA’s Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching (2019) and the 2019 graduating class selected her as Professor of the Year.

Elizabeth Coppock is a full professor in Boston University’s Department of Linguistics, where she specializes in semantics, the study of linguistic meaning. Among the courses she has taught are two of special interest to the legal field: one simply titled “Truth,” as well as Language, Society and Law. In the subfield of formal semantics, she has made foundational contributions to our understanding of a range of phenomena, such as reference, subjectivity, and measurement. Languages she has worked on include Hungarian, Swedish, Kathmandu Newari, Turoyo, and Mandinka; she also led a 100-language fieldwork project funded by the Swedish Research Council. Professor Coppock has published numerous articles in major journals, including Language, Natural Language Semantics, Journal of Semantics, Linguistics and Philosophy, Semantics and Pragmatics, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, and has made prolific contributions to edited volumes. She also served for eight years as Associate Editor for Semantics and Pragmatics. In addition to presenting her semantic research widely to international audiences, Professor Coppock has been collaborating with legal scholars in the interest of bringing linguistic rigor to the analysis of legal language.

Sarah Cravens has been Visiting Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University School of Law since 2023. In January 2025, she will join the faculty of the University of Arkansas School of Law (Fayetteville) as Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development. Professor Cravens previously served as C. Blake McDowell, Jr. Professor of Law at the University of Akron School of Law, where she also held various senior administrative roles in the law school, honors college, and provost’s office.

She teaches Torts, Professional Responsibility, Judicial Ethics, Conflict of Laws, Constitutional Law, Remedies, and various international law courses. Her areas of scholarly interest include the judicial role, legal ethics, and theology & law. Her recent and forthcoming publications address artificial intelligence in the courts, issues relating to private discipline, resignation in lieu of discipline, and international and comparative approaches to the regulation of the judiciary.

In addition to her work as a law faculty member and administrator at these and other schools, she has served as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, as an associate at Arnold & Porter LLP in Washington, D.C., and as general counsel both in academia and in private industry. Prof. Cravens received her A.B. from Princeton University, her M.Phil. from Cambridge University, and her J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law.

Steven David is with Church, Church, Hittle + Antrim, a full-service Indiana law firm. He specializes in Mediation, Arbitration, and other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution in addition to Litigation and Appellate work.  Many of you may know him as Justice David of the Indiana Supreme Court. He retired in 2022 after 28 years as a Judicial Officer, 16 years as a trial judge and 12 years as a Supreme Court Justice. He stepped down from the Supreme Court when his wife, Catheryne, a Navy Officer, was recalled to active duty for a two-year assignment in as the Forces Judge Advocate in Norfolk, VA.

Even though he is back in private practice, he is also Senior Judging in the Indiana Trial courts. He is a former Chair of the Appellate Judges Conference, the Appellate Judges Education Institute, and a former Chair of one of our Summits.

He is also a Distinguished Military Graduate and a retired Army Colonel.

He currently serves as a committee member for Indiana’s Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program (JLAP), one of the premier such programs in the US. In addition, he serves as the Seventh Circuit’s representative on the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. He is a frequent speaker and panelist across the nation on a number of different topics. He and his wife Catheryne, now a Navy Captain, climbed to Mount Everest Base camp this past May. They also compete in IRONMAN triathlons. Steve’s motto is “Work Hard. Do Good. Be Proud. Have Fun. Do what is right!”  In his spare time, he is working on three different book projects.

Hon. Bernice Donald (Ret.) was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by President Obama and confirmed 96-2 by the Senate, becoming the first African American woman to serve as a judge on the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. In January 2023, Judge Donald retired from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. She currently serves as a Distinguished Jurist in Residence for Rule of Law Issues at the National Judicial College recently joined the law firm, Burch Porter & Johnson. Prior to joining the Court of Appeals, Judge Donald was appointed by President William Jefferson Clinton to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Judge Donald served as Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Tennessee from June 1988 to January 1996. She was the first African American women in the history of the United States to serve as a bankruptcy judge. In 1982, she was elected to the General Sessions Criminal Court becoming the first African American woman to serve as a judge in the history of the State of Tennessee.

Judge Donald received her law degree from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, where she later served as a member of the Alumni, Law Alumni, and University Foundation Boards of Directors and as an adjunct faculty member. She received a LLM from Duke University School of Law and an honorary Doctors in Law from Suffolk University. She frequently serves as faculty for the National Judicial College and the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) and served as a member of the FJC’s Board of Directors from 2003 through 2007. Judge Donald currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Appellate Judges Education Institute and is a member of the prestigious American Law Institute. Since 2013, Judge Donald has served as faculty for the National Trial Advocacy program at the University of Virginia, and in 2021, she joined the faculty of NITA. She delivered the acclaimed Justice Stevens Lecture at the University of Colorado School of Law. On October 22, 2018, Judge Donald delivered the distinguished James Madison Lecture at the New York University School of Law. She has served as a Jurist in Residence at the Universities of Cincinnati, Washington, American, and Georgia Schools of Law. Judge Donald has lectured at numerous law schools, including the University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt, University of Memphis, Yale, Fordham, Berkeley, Northwestern, Harvard, Regents, the University of Illinois and Boston University.

In 2022, Judge Donald received the National Judicial College’s Sandra Day O’Connor Award honoring her as an outstanding judge demonstrating extraordinary service and commitment to justice. In April 2023, Judge Donald received the Hortense Ward Courageous Leader Award recognizing her as an outstanding lawyer who exemplifies Ward’s tenacity, courage, and commitment in her efforts to achieve gender parity in positions of leadership, influence, and responsibility in the legal profession. Most recently, in August 2023, Judge Donald received the inaugural Constance Baker Motley Award from the National Bar Association Judicial Council.

John “Sean” Doyle is poet, psychologist and lawyer with a long record of helping individuals and groups find more meaning and purpose in life. Sean has successfully negotiated over 10,000 disputes, has held executive leadership positions in a broad range of organizations, and served as a trusted advisor to army generals, legislative leaders, and other senior executives for over 30 years. He is currently General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for a broadband and cybersecurity company.

Sean taught psychology at North Carolina State University for close to a decade, writes the Luminous Things column for Psychology Today, and has worked with army drill sergeants, Buddhist monks, federal appellate judges, recovering addicts, and others, on matters of hope, meaning and resilience. People can be effective and find meaning and contentment in life, no matter what obstacles come their way.

His book Mud and Dreams is an argument for the goodness of people, the beauty all around us and our reasons for hope. It calls us to embrace all the noise and confusion of our lives, and to find the meaning, gratefulness and cause for celebration. Ultimately, Mud and Dreams is about falling more deeply in love with life.

A husband and father of three, Sean studied philosophy at Rutgers, received his juris doctorate from Loyola-New Orleans, and his Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Carolyn A. Dubay is the Deputy Judicial Integrity Officer in the Office of Judicial Integrity (OJI) at the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. Prior to coming to the OJI, Carolyn served for over six years as the Executive Director of the North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission, the state’s judicial disciplinary and ethics advisory agency and served on the board of the national Association of Judicial Disciplinary Counsel. She is also an active member of the ABA Judicial Division, and serves as Chair of the Model Law Clerk Code of Conduct Working Group and as a member of the Ethics and Professionalism Committee. She is also a past Chair of the Lawyers Conference of the Judicial Division. Carolyn’s federal judicial service includes two years as a law clerk for the Honorable Joanna Seybert in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and later work as an attorney-advisor at the AO and a senior researcher at the Federal Judicial Center. From 2007-2008, Carolyn had the privilege of serving as a Supreme Court Fellow in the Office of the Counselor to the Chief Justice of the United States. She also practiced law as a civil litigator in North Carolina and Virginia with the firm Hunton & Williams. Carolyn received her undergraduate degree in history from Duke University and her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, where she served as an editor of the Fordham Law Review and graduated with honors. Carolyn also received a L.L.M. with distinction from Georgetown University Law Center with a focus on international and comparative law.

Robert “Bob” Edmunds received his law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Following service as a line officer in the United States Navy, he began practice as an assistant district attorney in Guilford County. He was later named an Assistant United States attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina and, in 1986, was appointed the United States Attorney for that district by President Ronald Reagan, a position he held through the administration of President George H. W. Bush. Following his federal service, he practiced criminal and appellate law with a firm in Greensboro.

In 1998, Edmunds was elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals and, in 2000, was elected to the Supreme Court of North Carolina. He was reelected in 2008. While on the Supreme Court, he earned a Master of Law in the Judicial Process from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Edmunds reentered private practice in 2017, practicing appellate law in the Greensboro office of Fox Rothschild, LLP. He is board certified as a specialist in appellate practice. He is president of the Appellate Judges Education Institute, has chaired the American Bar Association’s Appellate Judges Conference, has chaired the North Carolina Bar Association’s Judicial Independence and Integrity Committee, and is on the Academic Committee of the National Judicial College. He has served as an adjunct professor at Campbell University School of Law and Regent University School of Law and is currently Jurist in Residence and Lecturer in Legal Writing at High Point University School of Law.

Justin Elliott has been a reporter at ProPublica since 2012 covering politics and business.

His stories have run in numerous other outlets, including the New York Times and NPR, and spurred congressional investigations and changes to federal legislation.

He was one of the reporters whose series on billionaires giving Supreme Court justices free travel and other gifts won a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2024 and prompted the court to adopt its first ever code of conduct.

Previously, he was on the team of reporters documenting how the rich avoid taxes for “The Secret IRS Files” series. He co-wrote a story revealing how tech mogul Peter Thiel used the Roth IRA, a tool intended to help the middle class save for retirement, to amass a multibillion-dollar tax-free fortune.

He also wrote about the failures of the American Red Cross in its response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

His work has won numerous awards, including a George Polk Award, a Gerald Loeb Award for business journalism, and the Selden Ring Award. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in history and classics.

Noah Feldman is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law and Director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Program on Jewish and Israeli Law at Harvard Law School. He is the Chair of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University and a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also the co-chair of Harvard University’s Institutional Voice Working Group. He is a contributing writer for the Bloomberg View. He served as senior constitutional advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, and advised members of the Iraqi Governing Council on the drafting of the Transitional Administrative Law or interim constitution. He served as a law clerk to Justice David H. Souter of the U.S. Supreme Court (1998 – 1999). He received his A.B. summa cum laude in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University in 1992, finishing first in his class. Selected as a Rhodes Scholar, he earned a D. Phil. in Islamic Thought from Oxford University and a J.D. from Yale Law School, serving as Book Reviews Editor of the Yale Law Journal.

He is the author of ten books: Arab Winter (Princeton University Press, forthcoming 2020); The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President (Random House, 2017); Cool War: The Future of Global Competition (Random House, 2013); Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices (Twelve Publishing, 2010); The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State (Princeton University Press, 2008); Divided By God: America’s Church-State Problem and What We Should Do About It (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005); What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation building (Princeton University Press, 2004); and After Jihad: America and the Struggle for Islamic Democracy (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003). He’s also the co-author of two textbooks: Constitutional Law, 21st Edition (Foundation Press, 2022) and First Amendment Law, 8th Edition (Foundation Press, 2022). His newest book, To Be A Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel and the Jewish People was released on March 5th, 2024 (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2024).

John Cannon Few was born in Anderson, South Carolina, on April 9, 1963. He grew up in Greenwood, and graduated Greenwood High School in 1981. He attended college at Duke University, where he served as Duke’s athletic mascot – the Blue Devil – during his junior year. John graduated Duke in 1985 with an A.B. in English and Economics. John went on to attend the University of South Carolina Rice School of Law, where he was a member of The Order of Wig and Robe and The Order of the Coif. He also served as Student Works Editor of the South Carolina Law Review. He received his Juris Doctor in 1988.

John began his legal career as law clerk to the late Honorable G. Ross Anderson Jr., United States District Judge. He practiced law in Greenville from 1989 until 2000, and is admitted to practice in South Carolina, the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. John served as a trial judge on the Circuit Court of South Carolina from July 2000 until February 2010. He then became the Chief Judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals, a position he held until February 2016. John was sworn in as a Justice on the Supreme Court of South Carolina on February 9, 2016.

John is a frequent public speaker. In 1996, he gave a speech entitled “Citizen Participation in the Legal System,” for which he was awarded first place in the American Bar Association’s nationwide Edward R. Finch Law Day speech contest. Since then he has given numerous speeches to bar associations and civic groups throughout the country. In December 2012, he delivered the commencement speech, entitled “What it Means to be a Lawyer,” to the graduates of the Charleston School of Law. In April 2016, he delivered the commencement speech to Lander University. He has given a speech entitled “The Courage of a Lawyer” to lawyers’ groups in California, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and, of course, South Carolina. John wrote an article based on the speech that appeared under the same name in the Winter 2013 edition of the ABA’s “Litigation” journal.

John has also been active in teaching law. He served on the faculty at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada, from 2005 to 2009. He was an Adjunct Professor of Law and later a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Charleston School of Law from 2008 to 2012. John has now served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Carolina Rice School of Law since 2012. He has also given or moderated hundreds of continuing legal education seminars in South Carolina and numerous other states.

John is a Fellow in Liberty Fellowship, and as a part of Liberty Fellowship is a member of the moderator corps at The Aspen Institute. John is also a Fellow in the inaugural class of the Rodel Leadership Institute’s Judicial Fellowship, which will be meeting between September of 2022 and Summer of 2024. John completed the Diversity Leaders Initiative through The Riley Institute at Furman University in 2010. In December 2012, the Charleston School of Law awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

John has always been active in community service, even outside of his primary employment in public service. Before becoming a judge, for example, he read to pre-school children on a weekly basis for years in the Greenville Head Start program, tutored middle-school children through Save our Sons, taught middle and high school classes as part of the Junior Achievement program, and served on the board of Friends of the Reedy River. While he was a circuit judge, John served on the 2003-04 Governor’s Water Law Review Committee. John now chairs the South Carolina Access to Justice Commission.

John has three children. His daughter Reed is a 2012 graduate of Duke University with a B.S. in Economics. Reed works at Johnson & Johnson as a Director of Data Science and External Innovation. She is married to Eric Pangraze, and they live in Durham, NC, with John’s grandson Milo Riser Pangraze and his granddaughter Evie Jane Pangraze. John’s daughter Anna is a 2016 graduate of Clemson University Honors College with a B.S. in Nursing. Anna also lives in Durham where she works as a registered nurse in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit at UNC Health in Chapel Hill. His son Cannon is a 2020 graduate of Boston College with an A.B. in English. Cannon is a recording artist performing under the name “Cannon.” He also works as a Creative Strategist at “Character,” a Performance Branding Agency in New York City. He lives in Brooklyn. John is the son of retired real estate agent Belva Beasley Few of Greenwood and the late J. Kendall Few, a trial lawyer in Greenville. After living in Greenville for over thirty years, John now lives on the Chauga River in Mountain Rest, in Oconee County, South Carolina.

Judge Jeremy Fogel became the first Executive Director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute at Berkeley Law School on September 17, 2018. Before this role, he served as Director of the Federal Judicial Center (2011-2018), a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California (1998-2011), and a judge on the Santa Clara County Superior (1986-1998) and Municipal (1981-1986) Courts.

Judge Fogel has been a faculty member for the Federal Judicial Center since 2002, a lecturer at Stanford Law School (2003-2011), and an instructor for California judicial programs from 1987 to 2010. He taught for the California Continuing Judicial Studies Program and California Judicial College from 1987 to 2010 and has served as a faculty member for legal exchanges approximately twenty foreign countries. He earned his B.A. from Stanford University in 1971 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1974.

His accolades include the President’s Award for Outstanding Service to the California Judiciary, the Vanguard Award for contributions to intellectual property law, and the Samuel E. Gates Litigation Award from the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Lisa Foster is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center. She is a retired judge, the former Director of the Office for Access to Justice at the United States Department of Justice, and an accomplished litigator. As a California Superior Court Judge in San Diego, where she served for ten years, Lisa presided over criminal, family and civil cases and served as the Presiding Judge of the Court’s Appellate Division. Lisa retired from the bench and joined the Justice Department in 2014 where she led the Department’s efforts to address fines and fees. Her collaborative work across multiple Department components resulted in two DOJ convenings, millions of dollars in funding, and the development of critical advocacy tools. With Vanita Gupta, then head of the Civil Rights Division, Lisa wrote a ten-page “Dear Colleague” to every Chief Justice and state court administrator, addressing the legal framework that governs the enforcement of fines and fees and warning that many collection practices may violate the federal Constitution and/or statutes. She and former Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason co-authored an Advisory to juvenile courts throughout the country on the civil rights implications of imposing fines and fees in juvenile justice proceedings.

Lisa began her legal career as a staff attorney at the Center for Law in the Public Interest in Los Angeles, after serving as a law clerk to United States District Court Judge Marianna Pfaelzer in the Southern District of California. She later became a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, the Executive Director of California Common Cause, and was Of Counsel to the law firm of Phillips & Cohen, representing whistleblowers under the federal False Claims Acts. Lisa also taught courses in sex discrimination, federal courts and election law as an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego School of Law.

Lisa received a B.A. with honors in American Studies from Stanford University and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School.

Christopher M. Goff was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court by Governor Eric J. Holcomb and took the oath of office as Indiana’s 110th justice on July 24, 2017. He was retained by voters in 2020.

Justice Goff was born in Wabash, Indiana in 1972. After graduating from high school there, he attended Ball State University, graduating summa cum laude in 1994. He went on to earn his law degree at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in 1996. He is a graduate of the Indiana Judicial College and the Indiana Graduate Program for Judges. He is also currently an LLM candidate at Duke University School of Law.

After law school, Justice Goff developed a successful private practice while giving back to his community. His practice spanned a wide range of areas from criminal defense and domestic relations to personal injury and small business issues, and he was named partner at a Huntington law firm after just 18 months. He served as Huntington County Public Defender for two years. His work led to the establishment of the Huntington County Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program. Justice Goff was named Huntington County Pro Bono Attorney of the Year in 2001 and again in 2002. He also served as President of the Huntington County Police Merit Board and Vice President of the Huntington County Bar Association.

Justice Goff then left private practice to serve as Wabash Superior Court judge for twelve years. During that time, he established the Wabash County Drug Court, Wabash County Family Recovery Court, and Wabash County Reentry Court. Justice Goff served on the Board of Directors of the Indiana Judicial Conference, representing Wabash, Huntington, Wells, and Adams Counties. He also chaired the Protection Order Committee of the Indiana Judicial Conference, which provides guidance to judges, lawyers, and individuals around the state. All told during his time on the trial bench, Justice Goff disposed of over thirty thousand cases and had only one decision overturned on appeal.

Since joining the Indiana Supreme Court, Justice Goff has continued serving his fellow Hoosiers, both on and off the bench. He led a successful statewide initiative to expand Family Recovery Courts in Indiana, nearly tripling the number of programs in just two years. In May 2020, he was appointed to serve as Chair of the Indiana Justice Reinvestment Advisory Council (JRAC). He also serves or has served on the Indiana Task Force on Public Defense, as the Indiana Supreme Court Liaison to the Problem-Solving Court Committee of the Indiana Judicial Conference, as Chair of the Allen County Judicial Nominating Commission, as a member of the National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Courts’ Response to Mental Illness, as Vice Chair of the Appellate Judges Conference of the American Bar Association, as Chair of the Appellate Judges Education Institute’s 2022 Annual Summit, held in Scottsdale, Arizona, and as Secretary of the Appellate Judge’s Education Institute. He is an adjunct professor of law at the Indiana University McKinney School of Law where he teaches on problem-solving courts. He is also the author of a one-volume treatise on Indiana Criminal Law and Procedure.

Justice Goff’s efforts have been recognized by several institutions and organizations. In 2018, the Bowen Center presented him with its Centennial Award for working to establish a culture of mental health in Northeast Indiana. In that same year, Ball State University recognized him as one of its Top 50 Graduates of Distinction. In 2020, Indiana University presented him with its Bicentennial Medal in recognition of his distinguished service. In 2021, Indiana Wesleyan University presented him with an Honorary Doctorate for his work in advancing behavioral health issues. Also in 2021, he received an award from the Indiana Sheriff’s Association for his leadership and dedication during the COVID-19 emergency. In 2023 he was named a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Also in 2023, NAMI-Indiana presented him with the Gloria Goeglein award for advancing public policies to address behavioral health issues.

Justice Goff and his wife, Raquel, have been married since 1993. They have four children and five grandchildren. In his spare time, Justice Goff enjoys laughing with his family and friends. He also runs ultra-marathons.

After working in law and a variety of mental health settings Terry Harrell joined the Indiana Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program (JLAP) in 2000 and became the Executive Director in 2002. Terry is a past chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs and a founding member of the National Task Force on Lawyer Well- Being that produced the report, The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Recommendations for Positive Change. She previously chaired the ABA Working Group to Advance Well-Being in the Legal Profession where the Well-Being Pledge for Legal Employers was created. She is currently on the Advisory Board for the Institute for Well-Being in Law. Terry received the ABA CoLAP Meritorious Service Award in October 2021. Terry is a Fellow of the Indiana Bar Foundation and active with the Indiana State Bar Association’s Well-Being Committee. For her own well-being Terry likes to train with her dog, run, walk, and read. Her new favorite activity is the Indiana Supreme Court Employee Book Club. It provides both an opportunity to read books she might not have discovered and a welcome opportunity to connect with co-workers.

Gretchen Harris Sperry is a Co-Chair of the Appellate practice group and a Partner in the firm’s Chicago office. She has represented clients in numerous state and federal courts of review, including the United States Supreme Court. As a former appellate court clerk, Gretchen is highly skilled in drafting and arguing critical motions and appeals. She has also developed particular expertise as embedded appellate counsel at trial, preparing pre-trial motions, monitoring trial proceedings, and developing appellate strategy in complex commercial litigation, high-exposure catastrophic injury cases, mass torts, constitutional litigation, and labor and employment matters.

Gretchen is highly skilled at handling the sensitive and unique legal issues that arise at the intersection of law, politics, and government. She is experienced in white collar criminal matters, having represented individuals and entities in federal criminal prosecutions and investigations, as well as conducting internal investigations in anticipation of government involvement. Gretchen frequently represents government agencies and elected officials in constitutional litigation as a court-appointed Special Assistant State’s Attorney. She also represents private sector clients before various governmental, legislative, and regulatory agencies, counseling them on pending legislation and regulatory compliance matters.

Gretchen is an active member of the legal community. She was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to serve as a member of the Character and Fitness Committee of the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar. She has served as an adjunct faculty member at two Chicago law schools teaching Appellate Advocacy. She also serves as the Secretary of the ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers and is a Past President of the Illinois Appellate Lawyers Association.

Prior to joining GRSM, Gretchen was partner at a national law firm where she served as chair of the firm’s Appellate Practice Group, which was nationally recognized.  Previously, Gretchen was a Judicial Clerk to the Honorable Mary Jane Theis and the Honorable Maureen E. Connors in the Illinois Appellate Court. During her time in the Court, Gretchen assisted in researching and drafting judicial opinions and dispositional orders in all areas of the law, including insurance coverage, contract disputes, corporate and partnership formation, fiduciary duty, personal injury, professional liability, declaratory judgment actions, appellate jurisdiction, evidentiary issues, and criminal matters. In law school, she also served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Michael T. Mason, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and was a Senior Research Fellow for Dean Michael J. Kaufman.

Sherrilyn Ifill is a civil rights lawyer and scholar. She currently serves as the Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Civil Rights at Howard University School of Law. Ifill previously served as the President & Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) from 2013-2022. Her leadership was widely credited with transforming and growing the organization, elevating the visibility and importance of civil rights issues, and shaping the national conversation about race and justice. Since stepping down from LDF she has been a Ford Foundation Fellow, a Fellow of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. For more than 30 years Ifill has been at the forefront of civil rights advocacy, first as a young voting rights litigator at the LDF, and then as a professor for 20 years at University of Maryland School of Law. Ifill’s voice and scholarship, including her 2008 book, ON THE COURTHOUSE LAWN: CONFRONTING THE LEGACY OF LYNCHING IN THE 21ST CENTURY, has powerfully shaped our national narrative about race during volatile years of unrest and “racial reckoning.” Ifill is currently completing a new book entitled “Is This America?”, which will be published by Penguin Press in 2025. Ifill has been named one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” by TIME Magazine. She is a recipient of numerous honorary doctorates, and prestigious honors in the legal profession including the Radcliffe Medal, the Brandeis Medal, the Thurgood Marshall Award from the American Bar Association and the Gold Medal from the New York State Bar Association. Ifill was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2019. Ifill served on President Biden’s Supreme Court Commission, and current serves on the ABA Task Force on Democracy. She is a board member of the NYU School of Law, the Mellon Foundation, and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Prior to ascending to the bench, Judge Johnson was formerly a Visiting Professor of Law, and Director, National Security Law LL.M Program at Georgetown Law and a Visiting Fellow at Georgetown’s Center on National Security and the Law. She is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. Immediately prior to her appointment at Georgetown, she served in the Obama Administration as the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs, at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Before that, Judge Johnson was the Senior Advisor to the Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Judge Johnson retired from the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where she specialized in international and national security law. In 2002, she became the first African American female to be selected to the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army’s JAG Corps’ 227-year history. In her final assignment, she served as the Senior Military Assistant to the Department of Defense General Counsel.

Judge Johnson is a Member of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security. She is a contributing author to the ABA’s recently published, “The U.S. Intelligence Community Law Sourcebook, 2021-2022 Edition.”

Judge Johnson obtained her J.D. from Temple University, and two LL.Ms; one from the Judge Advocate Generals’ School, and the other from the University of Virginia School of Law. She also has a M.S. in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College. In addition to her numerous military awards, Judge Johnson has been recognized by the civilian bar. She is a 1995 joint recipient of the American Bar Association’s Hodson Award for Outstanding Public Service. In 2002, she was inducted into the National Bar Association’s Military Law Section Hall of Fame. In 2005, she was selected as the American Bar Association’s Outstanding Military Service Career Judge Advocate. In recognition of her outstanding accomplishments, in 2022, she was selected for Induction into the U.S. Army Women’s Hall of Fame.

Neal Katyal is the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of Law at Georgetown University, a best-selling New York Times author, and a Partner at Hogan Lovells. He previously served as Acting Solicitor General of the United States. He has argued 51 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. In the most recent 2022-23 Term, he argued 5 separate cases (nearly 10% of the entire docket), including winning the landmark voting case Moore v. Harper, which Judge Michael Luttig described as “the most important case for American democracy in the almost two and a half centuries since America’s founding.” His cases include successfully striking down the Guantanamo military tribunals, successfully defending the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act, successfully defending the Peace Cross in Maryland, and a landmark personal jurisdiction win for Bristol Meyers Squibb. At the age of 53, he has already argued more Supreme Court cases in U.S. history than has any minority attorney, recently breaking the record held by Thurgood Marshall. His numerous distinctions include: the Edmund Randolph Award (the highest civilian award given by U.S. Department of Justice), The Litigator of the Year by American Lawyer (2017 and 2018, chosen as the sole Grand Prize Winner of all the lawyers in the United States), Named one of the 500 Leading Lawyers by LawDragon (one of 4 lawyers so named for every single year since 2005 to 2023); Appellate MVP by Law360 numerous times; winner of Financial Times Innovative Lawyer Award in two different categories (both private and public law) (2017), one of GQ’s Men of the Year (2017), 40 Most Influential Lawyers of the Last Decade Nationwide by National Law Journal (2010), and 90 Greatest Washington Lawyers Over the Last 30 Years by Legal Times (2008). Neal also won the National Law Journal’s pro bono award in 2004. He has appeared on virtually every major American news program, as well as on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show. He has also performed on Netflix’s House of Cards and Showtime’s Billions (where he played himself in both series). In 2021, Neal was named a Trustee of Dartmouth College. In 2022, he was named a Trustee of the Whitney Museum in New York City.

Hon.

Brian is currently the Vice President, Product Marketing at Thomson Reuters. Brian has 30+ years of experience in the professional information and legal technology industries holding leadership positions at Thomson Reuters in Marketing, Customer Markets, Product Development and Editorial. Brian earned a BA from Hamline University and a JD from Mitchell Hamline School of Law. He is licensed to practice law in Minnesota.

Goodwin Liu is an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court. Nominated by Governor Jerry Brown, Justice Liu was sworn into office in 2011 and retained by the electorate in 2014 and 2022. Before joining the state’s highest court, Justice Liu was Professor of Law and Associate Dean at the UC Berkeley School of Law. His primary areas of expertise are constitutional law, education law and policy, and diversity in the legal profession. Justice Liu continues to teach constitutional law as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, and Stanford Law School. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Law Institute, and the American Philosophical Society. In 2023, he was elected Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He also serves on the Council of the American Law Institute, on the Board of Directors of the James Irvine Foundation, and as President of the Yale University Council. He has previously served on the Board of Trustees of Stanford University, the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science, Technology, and Law, the Board of Directors of the National Women’s Law Center, and the California Commission on Access to Justice.

The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Justice Liu grew up in Sacramento and attended public schools. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Stanford, a masters degree in philosophy and physiology from Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, and a law degree from Yale. He clerked for Judge David Tatel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court. He has also worked in the litigation practice of O’Melveny & Myers, served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, and helped launch the AmeriCorps national service program as Senior Program Officer for Higher Education at the Corporation for National Service.

James E. Lockemy is a man of many parts.  Currently Chief Judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals, he has been both an appellate and a trial judge in South Carolina.  He served as a Captain in the United States Army, followed by a stint in the South Carolina Army National Guard.  During 43 years of military service, Chief Judge Lockemy was the recipient of seventeen awards, including The Legion of Merit. He was activated from the National Guard and served a tour of duty in war-torn Kosovo. He retired from active service as a full Colonel. He then entered the South Military Department where he retired as a Major General.

Judge Lockemy has legislative branch experience, having served as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond and also as a legal counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In 1982, he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives and served in this position until his election to the South Carolina Court of Appeals in 1989.  In addition to serving as President of the Circuit Judges’ Association, he has been active in the Judicial Division of the ABA, first as a delegate to the National Conference of State Trial Judges (and later a member of its Executive Board) and later as a delegate to the Appellate Judges’ Conference (to which he was elected Chair in 2018).  He recently served as Chair of AJEI.

His civic activities range from coaching youth baseball for many years to being an active and versatile participant in community theatre, where he has netted accolades for his acting, including the Irving Award for Best Actor by the Florence Little Theatre for his role as John Quincy Adams in The Amistad Case.  In 1989, he was chosen as Dillon County Citizen of the Year and the Dillon County Veteran of the Year in 1999.

In 2012, Judge Lockemy completed a Master’s Degree in History from The Citadel and currently is working to complete his Ph.D. in History from the University of South Carolina.  He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he currently teaches legal history as an Adjunct Professor.

Joyce Lee Malcolm is an historian focusing on individual rights and legal history. She is Patrick Henry Professor of Constitutional Law and the Second Amendment, emer. at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University. In addition to numerous articles, she is the author of nine books, the latest, The Times that Try Men’s Souls, explores the lives of families divided at the American Revolution. To Keep and Bear Arms: The Origins of an Anglo-American Right, published by Harvard University Press, tracks the origins of the right to be armed and was cited in the landmark Supreme Court cases District of Columbia versus Heller and McDonald versus City of Chicago. A second book, Guns and Violence: The English Experience, examines the impact of firearms and policy on crime and violence in England. The Tragedy of Benedict Arnold was praised in The Washington Post as “a fine biography, the best in recent memory.” Peter’s War: A New England Slave Boy and the American Revolution, tells the story of Peter, sold as a toddler in Massachusetts, who fought for the patriot cause. Her essays have appeared in leading newspapers, and she has been a guest on numerous radio and TV programs. Malcolm has been awarded research grants from, among others, Harvard Law School, the American Bar Association, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Judge McKeown was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1998. She graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and holds an honorary doctorate from Georgetown University. Before her appointment, Judge McKeown was the first female partner at Perkins Coie in Seattle and Washington, D.C., and served as a White House Fellow. Judge McKeown chairs the Ninth Circuit Workplace Environment Committee and is a member of the National Workplace Conduct Working Group and the Judicial Conference United States Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability. She served as president of the Federal Judges Association, chair of the Judicial Conference United States Codes of Conduct Committee (ethics), and chair of the ABA Commission on the 19th Amendment. She serves on the boards of the World Justice Project and the Teton Science Schools and is on the Council of the American Law Institute, the Judicial Advisory Board of the American Society of International Law, and the editorial board of Litigation magazine.

Judge McKeown is immediate past chair of the ABA Rule of Law Initiative and a current special advisor. She has lectured throughout the world on international law, human rights law, intellectual property, litigation, ethics, judicial administration, and constitutional law and has participated in numerous rule of law initiatives with judges and lawyers. Judge McKeown is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She received the ABA Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement award, the ABA John Marshall Award, and the Girl Scouts Cool Woman Award, among others. Judge McKeown is the author of Citizen Justice: The Environmental Legacy of William O. Douglas—Public Advocate and Conservation Champion (2022).

In November of 2012, Justice Laurie McKinnon was elected to the Montana Supreme Court as Associate Justice. In 2020, she was reelected to a second eight year term on the Court. Prior to her election to the Montana Supreme Court, Justice McKinnon was a general jurisdiction trial judge for six years in northern Montana in a judicial district which included four counties and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

Justice McKinnon was Chair of the Appellate Judges Conference of the ABA’s Judicial Division from August 2023 through August 2024, and has served on the Education Committee of the Appellate Judges Education Institute since 2018. In 2016, she received her master’s degree in Judicial Studies from the University of Nevada, Reno. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in Judicial Studies. Justice McKinnon regularly participates in forums, both nationally and in Montana, that educate judges, lawyers, and the public about the judiciary and the rule of law.

Justice McKinnon is a graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law and began practicing law in 1987. Her experience prior to becoming a judge includes ten years as a prosecutor in Montana and the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office in Maryland. Justice McKinnon has also been a criminal defense attorney at both the trial and appellate levels.

Raffi has broad experience in both trial and appellate matters nationwide. He has briefed and argued dozens of appeals in federal and state courts of appeals around the United States. Raffi also maintains an active practice in the United States Supreme Court, including both merits and amicus briefs. In 2019, Raffi briefed and argued Fort Bend v. Davis, where his client prevailed in a 9-0 decision written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The Firm later successfully represented Ms. Davis in her jury trial on remand.

An elected member of the prestigious American Law Institute, Raffi is widely experienced. To take only a few examples, he has handled appeals in securities fraud litigation, corporate governance litigation, employment litigation, antitrust class actions, products liability class actions, insurance coverage disputes, partnership disputes, and intellectual property litigation. Raffi regularly litigates the most difficult and complex appellate cases.

Raffi tweets about appellate practice at @RMFifthcircuit. As Social Media Chair and council member of the State Bar of Texas’s Appellate Practice Section, he helps administer the Section’s twitter account @TexAppOrg. He is also the Chair-Elect of the Houston Bar Association’s Federal Practice Section. Raffi regularly speaks and writes about appeals in forums across Texas and the United States.

Hired by Thurgood Marshall, Michael Meltsner was first assistant counsel to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in the 1960s, where he handled major cases before the federal courts. Among his clients were the North Carolina doctors and dentists who ended Southern hospital racial segregation, Mohammad Ali, and numerous death row inmates. He argued and won a capital case before the Supreme Court in 1963 when he was 26 years old and may have been the youngest lawyer ever to argue a capital case before the Court—which he won. After co-founding the clinical program at Columbia Law School, he served as dean of Northeastern University School of Law from 1979 until 1984. His latest book is Mosaic: Who Paid for the Bullet? a novel about a forgotten civil rights era murder. Randall Kennedy called it a “gripping who-done-it, accompanied by brilliant insights into racial neuroses of all varieties.” His memoir, The Making of a Civil Rights Lawyer, was published in 2006. Among his other writings are: Cruel and Unusual: The Supreme Court and Capital Punishment; Public Interest Advocacy and Reflections on Clinical Legal Education (with Philip Schrag) Short Takes, a novel, and With Passion which tells of growing up in New York and his struggle to make sense of coming of age during a turbulent era. His 2011 play about Guantanamo, “In Our Name: A Play of the Torture Years,” has been performed in New York and Boston to great acclaim.

In 1977, Professor Meltsner, who is also a marriage and family therapist, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. He has served as a consultant to the US Department of Justice, the Ford Foundation and the Legal Action Center and has lectured in Canada, Egypt, Germany, India, the Netherlands and South Africa. In 2000, he was named a fellow of the American Academy in Berlin. He returned to Northeastern in 2005 after five years as a visiting professor and director of the First-Year Lawyering Program at Harvard Law School. In 2010, he received the Hugo Bedau Award for excellence in death penalty scholarship. In 2012, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by John Jay College (CUNY) and described as the “principal architect of the death penalty abolition movement” in the United States. In September, 2017 he was selected to deliver the prestigious Alfange Lecture at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is currently a Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Law/Northeastern Univ. School of Law Emeritus.

Shelley Merkin is Lead Counsel, Appellate Litigation, at Ford Motor Company where she manages the Company’s appellate docket for all litigation in the U.S. She has been at Ford since 2014 and previously managed the Company’s product liability and toxic tort complex litigation dockets. Prior to joining Ford, Shelley was a litigation associate with a national law firm, handling federal and state litigation at the trial and appellate levels. She received her J.D. from University of Michigan Law School and her bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis.

Brian Miller is Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and he has been selected for inclusion in the Texas Edition of Super Lawyers magazine for each year since 2014.

Mr. Miller’s practice is focused on prosecuting and defending appeals, advising and representing businesses on employment-law matters, and defending local government entities and officials in civil litigation. His experience also includes commercial disputes, industrial and oilfield accidents, administrative law, and maritime law. He has participated in over 125 appeals, many of which have resulted in important clarifications of Texas and federal law. Mr. Miller has also served as trial counsel in several cases.

In 2021, Mr. Miller concluded a one-year term as Chair of the American Bar Association’s Council of Appellate Lawyers. From 2018 to 2022, he served on the Education Committee for the Appellate Judges Education Institute Summit, the nation’s premier appellate bench-bar seminar. From 2013 to 2014, Mr. Miller was chair of the Appellate Advocacy Committee of the ABA’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section.

Mr. Miller was a member of the executive board of the University of Texas Law School Alumni Association from 2016 to 2020, and he served on the State Bar of Texas board of directors from 2014 to 2017.

Mr. Miller has dedicated much of his time to improving Texas legal procedure. From 2016 to 2023, he served on the State Bar’s Pattern Jury Charges Oversight Committee, which coordinates, considers, and approves standard jury instructions that six subject-matter committees propose for use in trials in Texas courts. From 2011 to 2014, he was a member of the State Bar’s Court Rules Committee, which is charged with identifying and proposing improvements to procedural rules affecting litigation.

Mr. Miller served, from 2009 to 2011, as a delegate in the ABA House of Delegates, the policy-setting body of the ABA. From 2010 to 2011, Mr. Miller further served the House as a member of its Committee on Issues of Concern to the Profession.

Mr. Miller created and led the implementation of the Kids Law Library at Los Encinos Elementary School. The Kids Law Library was selected over numerous state and local submissions to receive the American Bar Endowment Outstanding Public Service Project Award at the 2007 ABA Annual Meeting.

In recognition of his professional and public service efforts, Mr. Miller has been inducted as a life fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation and as a life fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Mr. Miller joined Royston Rayzor in July 2008.

Immediate Past Chair, Appellate Judges Education Institute
Chair, AJEI Education Committee

Judge Nguyen was confirmed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on May 7, 2012. She received her commission on May 14, 2012, becoming the first Asian American woman to serve on a federal court of appeals. Prior to her confirmation to the Ninth Circuit, Judge Nguyen was a district judge on the United States District Court for the Central District of California. She also served previously as a trial judge on the Los Angeles County Superior Court, from 2002 to 2009. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Nguyen spent seven years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, where she was also a Deputy Chief in charge of training new AUSAs. Judge Nguyen began her legal career in private practice.

Judge Nguyen received her A.B. from Occidental College in 1987 and earned her J.D. from UCLA Law School in 1991.

Judge Nguyen has long been actively engaged in the legal community. As a lawyer, she served on various boards including the Women Lawyers’ Association of Los Angeles County, the Southern California Chinese Lawyers’ Association, and the Japanese American Bar Association. She co-founded and served as the President of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association from 1999 to 2000. As a judge, she continues to be engaged in a number of organizations, including the ABA’s Appellate Judges Conference, the Appellate Judges Education Institute, the American Law Institute, and the Federal Judges Association. She also serves on the Judicial Council for the Ninth Circuit and a number of committees, including the Ninth Circuit Standing Committee on Federal Public Defenders and the National Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules.

Ann Nowak is the Director of the Legal Writing Center and Adjunct Professor of Law at Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center. She holds a J.D. from CUNY School of Law, an M.A. in Creative Writing from Boston University, and an A.B. in English (Writing Concentration) from Barnard College. At Touro and elsewhere, Professor Nowak has taught legal writing, persuasive writing, creative writing, and Law Practice Management. Before joining Touro, she founded and ran a law firm in eastern Long Island for 19 years. She previously worked as a reporter and feature writer at Newsday and the Southampton Press, and as a copy editor and feature writer at Moneysworth. Professor Nowak has published many articles on writing clearly, comparative legal scholarship, and teaching writing. She also is a frequent presenter at conferences throughout the United States and abroad. Additionally, she has served as a Pro Bono Legal Specialist in the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative – once in Istanbul and once in Kuwait – where she trained local attorneys in Law Practice Management.

Judge Reba Ann Page sits on the U.S. Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, and was formerly chief judge of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Board of Contract Appeals. Judge Page received her B.A. and M.S. (biology) and J.D. from the University of Louisville, and a Master’s and PhD in Judicial Studies from the University of Nevada Reno. She is admitted to practice in Kentucky, Florida, and the District of Columbia, and is active in the American Bar Association. Judge Page previously was regional counsel for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Deputy Commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection; and in corporate practice with a major consulting consortium. She frequently lectures and publishes on government contracts, mediation and dispute resolution, constitutional law, trial practice, judicial writing and ethics, and has been a faculty member of the National Judicial College since 2001.

Brian J. Paul is an appellate lawyer and leads law teams in high-stakes commercial litigation. He has briefed and argued everything from weighty abstract constitutional issues to dollars-and-cents business issues and everything in-between, both on appeal and in trial courts around the country. A member of the American Law Institute, recent past-president of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association and top-tier ranked Chambers appellate lawyer, Brian had one client say about him: “He is excellent. I enjoyed working with him. He is able to put things into layman’s terms and explains things really well. His written and oral advocacy are short, crisp and to the point.” Clients hire Brian to digest the complex, and make the complex simple and compelling for busy, generalist judges. In his writing, he strives to cut through jargon and legalese, and distill things down to what’s important. In his oral advocacy, by intense preparation, he strives to be the advocate whom judges trust for the right answers. In the dozens of cases he has argued, Brian has helped clients win on both sides of the “v.”

Chief Justice Stuart Rabner is the eighth chief justice to lead the New Jersey Supreme Court since the 1948 state constitution. Chief Justice Rabner was nominated to the Supreme Court by Governor Jon S. Corzine and sworn in on June 29, 2007. He was nominated for tenure by Governor Chris Christie and sworn in on June 20, 2014. Born on June 30, 1960, Chief Justice Rabner grew up in Passaic. He graduated summa cum laude from the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1982 and cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1985. He served as a law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark in 1986. After beginning his career as an assistant U.S. attorney, Chief Justice Rabner worked in a number of positions including first assistant U.S. attorney and chief of the terrorism unit. He was chief of the office’s criminal division when he was named chief counsel to Governor Corzine in January 2006. He was named New Jersey attorney general in September 2006 and served in that position until he joined the Court.

Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker is a non-resident senior adviser with the Defending Democratic Institutions Project at CSIS. She has held prominent roles in government and academia, including serving as General Counsel for the National Security Agency (NSA)(1984-1989) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)(1990-1995), Principal Deputy Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State (1989-1990), and General Counsel for the University of Wisconsin System. Parker was the Dean of McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific from 2002 to 2012 and later served as Executive Director of the State Bar of California (2015-2017).

Parker is a founding member of the Intelligence Community Studies Board of the National Academies of Science and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is also a lifetime counselor to the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security and serves on various national security and law-related boards and committees. She has argued twice before the U.S. Supreme Court and taught national security law at multiple law schools, including Case Western Reserve and McGeorge.

Carol Rooney is a Partner with Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig in Tampa, Florida.  Carol is a Board Certified Specialist in appellate practice by The Florida Bar; AV peer-rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell, and recognized as a Best Lawyer in appellate practice since 2022.  Carol focuses her practice on handling civil appeals involving insurance coverage, products liability, construction, real estate and commercial issues in federal and state courts in Florida and throughout the U.S.

Born in Evanston, Illinois and raised in West Hartford, Connecticut, Justice Peter Sacks graduated from Harvard College, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1981, and from Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Harvard Law Review, magna cum laude in 1986.

Upon graduation he clerked first for the Honorable Edward Gignoux, United States District Court for the District of Maine and then for the Honorable Frank Coffin, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. In 1988, he began a long career in the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General. He served in various roles in the Office of the Attorney General for twentyeight years and his practice concentrated on appeals, including appellate procedure, with a particular focus on administrative law, election law, public records, cases involving separation of powers, appropriations, and other state constitutional issues. He argued numerous appeals before the Supreme Judicial Court and this court as well. His career in that office culminated in his being named as the State Solicitor, the principal advisor to the Attorney General on appellate strategy for cases involving or affecting the Commonwealth.

He served on the Supreme Judicial Court’s Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil and Appellate Procedure and was a member of the Boston Bar Association and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Appointed by Governor Charles Baker, Justice Sacks joined the court on September 12, 2016.

Dan Schweitzer is the Director and Chief Counsel of the National Association of Attorneys General’s Center for Supreme Court Advocacy. Since joining NAAG in February 1996, his principal responsibility has been to assist state appellate litigators who appear before the United States Supreme Court. Toward this end, Mr. Schweitzer organizes and participates in moot courts, edits about 20 state briefs filed each year in the Court, edits the biweekly Supreme Court Report, and provides strategic and technical assistance to state Attorney General offices. Prior to joining NAAG, Mr. Schweitzer was a litigator at a private law firm. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.A. 1986) and Harvard Law School (J.D. 1989).

Among Mr. Schweitzer’s publications are How to Write a Successful Brief in Opposition: A Guide for State Lawyers (NAGTRI 2019); How to Write a Successful Cert Petition: A Guide for State Lawyers (NAGTRI 2019); U.S. Supreme Court Brief Writing Style Guide, 19 J. of App. Practice & Process 129 (2018); The Law of Preemption (NAGTRI 2011); Frustrated with Preemption: Why Courts Should Rarely Displace State Law Under the Doctrine of Frustration Preemption, 65 N.Y.U. Annual Survey of American Law 585 (2010) (with Kevin O. Leske); and Fundamentals of Preparing a United States Supreme Court Amicus Brief, 5 J. of App. Practice & Process 523 (2003).

Mr. Schweitzer is a Master in the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court and on the Advisory Board of the Georgetown University Law Center’s Supreme Court Institute.

Michael A. Scodro is co-chair of the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice at Mayer Brown LLP in Chicago. Michael previously served as the Illinois Solicitor General, overseeing the civil and criminal appeals divisions in the state Attorney General’s Office and advising the Attorney General on significant litigation. An experienced appellate lawyer, Michael has argued dozens of cases in federal and state supreme and appellate courts, including three in the U.S. Supreme Court. He teaches courses on the Supreme Court and the role and practice of state attorneys general as a Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School. After graduating from Yale Law School, Michael served as a law clerk to the Honorable José A. Cabranes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Michael is an elected member of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and the American Law Institute, and was appointed to the American Bar Foundation. He is past chair of the ABA’s Council of Appellate Lawyers, past president of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association, past chair of the Illinois Supreme Court’s Committee on Professional Responsibility, and past president of Illinois’ Appellate Lawyers Association.

Peter Shaplen is a nationally recognized and award-winning journalist whose work appeared on multiple network news broadcasts & for corporate clients in commercial programs and podcasts.

Because of his 40+ years of experience, Peter is often engaged for message development, media training and crisis management preparing senior executives among others for news interviews, press conferences, even appearances before Congressional subcommittees. Clients include companies where there have been multiple murders and maritime disasters.

Some of you may also be familiar with his work as the pool producer at high profile trials including the Scott Peterson double murder, Michael Jackson molestation trials, and OJ Simpson’s Nevada case. At those proceedings he was what the Los Angeles Times termed the “go to guy” working between the court, sheriff, and the media. Others named him ‘the lion tamer’ for preventing what otherwise might have become an unruly circus.

In a letter of appreciation sent to news managers after the Scott Peterson trial, Superior Court Presiding Judge Mark Forcum wrote, “We have been asked often how and why it has worked so well in San Mateo. The answer is: through relationships based upon a common understanding of the various goals and needs of the court, the sheriff and the media. These common understandings supported an environment that allow for creativity in resolving problems, anticipation of future problems, and most important a level of trust that made working together easy. Peter was a key player in the development of these relationships and understandings.”

After the Jackson trial, the Associated Press recognized him with a special Mark Twain Award for his work.

Mr. Shaplen has consulted with courts and law enforcement around the country and in British Columbia and has spoken to judges in Washington, Colorado, Missouri, West Virginia and Guam when participating in programs with the National Center for Courts and Media and the National Judicial College.

Peter Shaplen has been an instructor teaching journalism and communications at Academy of Art University in San Francisco and the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. He has lectured at colleges and universities nationally.

Peter Shaplen is an independent producer and media consultant and can be reached at peter@shaplen.com & 415.279.3338.

Jennifer Goodwin Shircliff is a Staff Attorney for Indiana Supreme Court Services. She arrived at the Court after serving twelve years as a public defender and representing the accused at both trial and appeal in all levels of criminal offenses. She is proud that her work continues to focus on public service. Jennifer’s educational background includes a BS in Public Health Dental Hygiene and a JD from IU McKinney School of Law. Jennifer completed a professional Editing Certificate from the Graham School at the University of Chicago.

Neil S. Siegel is the David W. Ichel Distinguished Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science at Duke Law School, where he also serves as Director of the Summer Institute on Law and Policy. He has been writing, teaching, speaking, debating, and testifying about the U.S. Constitution, constitutional law, constitutional politics, and the federal courts since 2004. A former law clerk to Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, he has worked in the United States Senate on the nominations of six current Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Johnathan J. Smith served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice until April 2024. In this capacity, Johnathan helped oversee the Division’s investigatory, enforcement, and policy efforts. Johnathan rejoined the Civil Rights Division in July 2021; he previously served in the Civil Rights Division as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General from October 2014 to January 2017.

Immediately prior to the Civil Rights Division, Johnathan served in the administration of New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo from January 2019 to July 2021. During his tenure in New York State government, Johnathan served as the Governor’s Deputy Secretary for Civil Rights and Workforce and as the Interim Commissioner for the New York State Division of Human Rights. He has also previously worked as the legal director at Muslim Advocates, a staff attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and a litigation associate at Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP. Johnathan started his legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Carl E. Stewart of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Johnathan has also previously served as a lecturer at the University of Michigan Law School. Johnathan is a graduate from Harvard College, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and NYU School of Law.

Hon. Frank Sullivan, Jr. was appointed Professor of Practice at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 2012 after 19 years as a Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court. In 2018, he was named an Indiana University Bicentennial Professor.  A graduate of Dartmouth College and the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, he earned an LL.M. at the University of Virginia School of Law.  

Sullivan is active in the legal profession and the Indianapolis community. He is a Commissioner from Indiana to the Uniform Law Commission (also known as the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws) and a member of the American Law Institute. 

Sullivan was appointed in 1993 by Governor Evan Bayh to the Indiana Supreme Court where he authored approximately 500 majority opinions during his tenure. He was also active in the Court’s administrative work, chairing its multi-million dollar project to equip Indiana courts with modern technology. 

While on the Court, Sullivan was also active in the Appellate Judges Conference of the American Bar Association, serving as its Chair in 2008-2009 and Chair of the Board of Directors of its affiliated Appellate Judges Education Institute in 2009-2010. He has been a leader since its inception of the ABA’s Judicial Clerkship Program that encourages minority law students to seek judicial clerkships.

Robert H. Tembeckjian, Administrator and Counsel, is a graduate of Syracuse University, the Fordham University School of Law and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where he earned a Masters in Public Administration. He was a Fulbright Scholar to Armenia in 1994, teaching graduate courses and lecturing on constitutional law and ethics at the American University of Armenia and Yerevan State University. He also advised the Armenian Parliament on its drafting of a new constitution. Mr. Tembeckjian served on the Advisory Committee to the American Bar Association Commission to Evaluate the Model Code of Judicial Conduct from 2003-07. He is on the Board of Directors of the Association of Judicial Disciplinary Counsel and previously served as a Trustee of the Westwood Mutual Funds and the United Nations International School, and on the Board of Directors of the Civic Education Project. Mr. Tembeckjian has served on various ethics and professional responsibility committees of the New York State and New York City Bar Associations, and he has published numerous articles in legal periodicals on judicial ethics and discipline. He was a member of the editorial board of the Justice System Journal, a publication of the National Center for State Courts, from 2007-10. In 2022-23, Mr. Tembeckjian served on the Committee to Review the Operations and Structure of the California Commission on Judicial Performance, by appointment of California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Judge, Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, Phoenix, Arizona, since 2012, and Chief Judge, 2017-2019. Sam is a member of the National Judicial College Board of Trustees; is a Uniform Law Commissioner, where he serves as Secretary and on the Executive Committee and is an ABA Presidential appointee to the Advisory Council of the ABA Task Force on Law and Artificial Intelligence and the Standing Committee on Lawyer Referral and Information Services. He is a member of the Joint Technology Committee, appointed by the National Center for State Courts, and is an Advisor to the American Law Institute’s RESTATEMENT OF LAW (THIRD) OF TORTS: REMEDIES project. Sam chairs Arizona’s Commission on Access to Justice, having previously chaired various Committees, Commissions and Task Forces for the Arizona Supreme Court and the State Bar of Arizona. In 2023, he received the James A. Walsh Outstanding Jurist Award from the State Bar of Arizona and, in 2021, he was named the Judge of the Year by the Arizona Supreme Court.

Sam co-teaches evidence at ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. He has presented at more than 500 law-related programs and published 16 law review articles, six book chapters and nearly 70 other law-related articles. Sam served as a Judge on the Maricopa County Superior Court for five years; a partner at Perkins Coie Brown & Bain, P.A., Phoenix, and an associate at Arnold & Porter, Washington, D.C. He clerked for Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Stanley G. Feldman and Federal Judge David R. Hansen, Northern District of Iowa. Sam received a Master of Laws, Duke University School of Law (2020); J.D., Order of the Coif, University of Iowa College of Law (1988), and B.S., Iowa State University (1984), where he was a Truman Scholar.

The Honorable Robert J. Torres, Jr., born and raised on Guam, was sworn in as Justice of the Supreme Court of Guam in 2004. He served as Chief Justice of Guam from January 15, 2008 to January 18, 2011 and served his second term from January 21, 2014 to January 17, 2017. Justice Torres played a central role in expanding court services on Guam with the opening of the Northern Court Satellite, enabling wireless technology and videoconferencing in the courtrooms, and implementing e-filing and increased online services. A self-professed technophile, he laid the groundwork for the design and acquisition of a modern case management system and continues to oversee various technological advancements for the Judiciary of Guam.

Justice Torres is on the American Judges Association’s Executive Committee and Board of Governors, and since 2016 has been on the Social Media and Technology Committee for the American Judges Association. He has spoken at numerous conferences on “Judicial Ethics and Social Media,” and has lectured in over twenty countries on a variety of subjects including the International Framework for Court Excellence, case flow management, cultural responsiveness, court community communication, alternative dispute resolution, technology, and judicial ethics and discipline. He presently serves as the Membership Secretary for NAPABA’s Judicial Council and chairs numerous Judiciary of Guam subcommittees.

Justice Torres received his B.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame (Magna Cum Laude; Beta Gamma Sigma; Beta Alpha Psi) and J.D. from Harvard Law School. He was also awarded two Doctor of Laws (LL.D.), Honoris Causa, from the University of Cebu and Centro Escolar University in the Philippines.

He is married to the Honorable Senator Mary Camacho Torres. They have three children and 11 grandchildren.

Hon. Thomas I. Vanaskie co-chairs Stevens & Lee’s Appellate Practice Group and chairs the firm’s Mediation, Neutral Services and Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group.  Previously, he was Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and a Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  He received a B.A. from Lycoming College and a J.D. from Penn State Dickinson School of Law.  

In May of 2021, he was appointed by the President of the Pennsylvania Bar Association to serve as chair of a statewide task force to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on delivery of legal services and to make recommendations to mitigate the disruption of services resulting from future catastrophes. The task force generated a comprehensive report that will serve as the foundation for enhancing the use of technology to assure that legal services will be delivered despite widespread disasters.   

Dalila Argaez Wendlandt is an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Prior to this appointment, she served as an associate justice in the Appeals Court from 2017 to 2020. Justice Wendlandt came to the bench from Ropes & Gray LLP, where she was a partner in the intellectual property litigation group. She has published on the subjects of appellate advocacy, intellectual property, and patent law, and has also lectured extensively at specialized seminars, bar associations, and a law school.

Jill Wheaton is a Senior Counsel with Dykema Gossett PLLC in Ann Arbor, Michigan and the current Chair of the ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers. Jill is also the Co-Chair of the Appellate Practice team at her firm. She has been recognized as a Best Lawyer and SuperLawyer for many years running, and was inducted in the Michigan Lawyers Hall of Fame in 2023 due to her extensive appellate practice. She focuses on civil appeals in federal and state courts of appeals throughout the country, and is a frequent speaker on appellate issues.

Joshua Wolinsky is the Senior Law Clerk to the Honorable Scott Laurer at the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC). Before clerking, he worked at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in various roles for nearly a decade. As a VA appellate attorney, he was lead counsel on appeals before the CAVC and presented oral argument on several occasions. A graduate of the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, Josh graduated with honors, co-founded the Dispute Resolution Society, and worked on the school’s labor and employment law journal. Before law school, Josh earned a government and politics degree with a citation in rhetoric from the University of Maryland at College Park. Josh met his wife at Maryland, and he has two young daughters. He’s a member of the ABA’s Council of Appellate Staff Attorneys, a mediocre golfer, enjoys running with a podcast, and plays pickleball.

Justice Briana Zamora was appointed to the New Mexico Supreme Court in July 2021. She began her judicial career when she was appointed to the Metropolitan Court bench in December 2008. She was then elected to the Bernalillo County District Court in 2012. As a trial court judge, she spent a decade presiding almost exclusively over adult criminal cases. In addition to her day-to-day docket, she presided in various specialty courts, including, Homeless Court, Courts to School, Urban Native American Healing to Wellness Court and the medically assisted treatment track of drug court. Justice Zamora was also elected to the Court of Appeals where she authored opinions in all areas of the law.

Justice Zamora was born and raised in New Mexico. She is a graduate of New Mexico State University and received her law degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law.