Jake Faleschini

Jake Faleschini consults on court appointments and elections and is also the campaigns director at Demand Justice, an advocacy organization focused on building more fair, just, and diverse courts. From July 2015 to May 2019, Jake was the director of the Federal Courts Program at the Center for American Progress. Before that, Jake founded and managed Sound Policy Consulting, where he and his associates ran dozens of judicial and direct democracy elections—including those of four current state Supreme Court justices—and assisted progressive legal nonprofits with advocacy, legislative, and communications campaigns. In his years of running campaigns, Jake never lost a judicial race—and it was not for lack of pushing the boundaries. His firm worked primarily with candidates from traditionally disenfranchised communities and attacked laws at the root of structural inequalities. Jake graduated with a B.A. in comparative policy studies from Reed College and a J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law. While in law school, he served as the president of the Graduate and Professional Student Senate for two terms. Jake was named a Next Generation Leader by the American Constitution Society in 2009. He has served in many volunteer leadership positions. He joined the faculty of The National Judicial College in 2019.

Hon. Holly Fujie

Judge Holly J. Fujie was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court of the State of California on December 27, 2011, by Governor Jerry Brown. She is currently sitting in a Family Law assignment in Department 87 of the Mosk Courthouse. Prior to her appointment, Judge Fujie was a shareholder in the Los Angeles‐based law firm of Buchalter Nemer, APC, where she practiced corporate civil litigation. She received her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was an editor of the California Law Review, and in 2008‐2009, she was the third woman and the first Asian-American to serve as the president of the State Bar of California. She has also served as vice president of the California Bar Foundation, president of the Boalt Hall Alumni Association and of the Chancery Club, and at the time of her appointment to the bench she was chair of Bet Tzedek Legal Services. Judge Fujie continues to serve on numerous boards and she has received many awards for her work in diversity and for bar leadership, including the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles’ Distinguished Service Award, the National Association of Women Lawyers’ M. Ashley Dickerson Diversity Award, the ABA’s Difference Makers Award and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s Trailblazer Award. Since 1991 she has served on Senator Feinstein’s Judicial Advisory Committee, advising the Senator and the White House on federal judicial nominations and on the nomination of United States Attorneys for the Central District of California. She joined the faculty of The National Judicial College in 2019.

Mark I. Harrison, Esq.

Mark Harrison is an attorney with Osborn Maledon. He specializes in the area of professional liability, ethics, risk management, appellate litigation, and tort litigation. He received his undergraduate degree from Antioch College and his law degree from Harvard Law School. He has received 25 prestigious awards during his career. For example, he was designated a Southwest Super Lawyer (Top 50 Arizona Attorneys, 2007 – 2010). Mr. Harrison is a fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America. Formerly, Mr. Harrison served as the president of the State Bar of Arizona’s Board of Governors and as the president of the Maricopa County Bar Association; he serves as a member of the State Bar Committee on Professionalism; he served as the founding fellow of the Arizona Bar Foundation and served as its president. He is the author of a number of law review articles and one book. Relevant to this course, he wrote the following: Can We Allow Justice To Become a Saleable Commodity?, 30 YALE L. & POL’Y REV. INTER ALIA 29 (2012); Co-author (with Keith A. Swisher); and When Judges Should Be Seen, Not Heard: Extrajudicial Comments Concerning Pending Cases and the Controversial Self-Defense Exception in the New Code of Judicial Conduct, 64 N.Y.U. ANN. SURV. AM.L., 2009. He joined the faculty of The National Judicial College in 2019. (NOTE: Mark may have additional / different information he wants his biography to contain, which we will correct for the course participants.).

Hon. Ilona M. Holmes

Judge Ilona Holmes has been a circuit judge in the Broward Circuit Court since 1998. She was appointed first as a county court judge and since 1998 has been a circuit judge serving in the criminal division of the Broward Circuit Court from 1998 to 2003.  She served in the civil division of the circuit court from 2003-2005. Judge Holmes returned to the criminal division in 2005 and has served there to the present and was the administrative judge from 2008-2010. Previously, she served as a county court judge, an assistant United States attorney and an assistant state attorney in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Judge Holmes attended Stetson University and graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She earned her Juris Doctor degree from Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Judge Holmes also attended Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University and worked toward a doctorate in public administration. She has taught courses at the University of Fort Lauderdale, Nova Southeastern University, St. Thomas School of Law, Florida’s New Judges College, Florida International University and the University of Mississippi through the National Center for Justice and the Rule of Law. She serves on numerous boards and committees including the Steering and Education committees of the Florida Conference of Circuit Court Judges. She is currently the Criminal Track Leader for the Florida College of Advanced Judicial Studies.  She is the current Chair of the Board of Trustees of the University of Fort Lauderdale.  Judge Holmes was inducted into the Broward County Women’s Hall of Fame in March 2010.  Judge Holmes was elected to the National Judicial College’s Faculty Council in 2018 as a member at large. She is an alumna of The National Judicial College and joined the faculty in 2008.

Justice Anne K. McKeig

Justice Anne McKeig has been an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court since 2016. She is the state’s first Native American justice and the first female Native American to serve on any state supreme court. Previously, she served as a judge of the Minnesota Fourth District Court in Hennepin County from 2008 to 2016. From 2013 to 2016, she served as the presiding judge of the family court. Prior to taking the bench, Justice McKeig was an assistant attorney for more than 15 years in Hennepin County. Working on behalf of the child protection division, she specialized in Native American child welfare cases. She received her bachelor’s degree from St. Catherine University, and her law degree from Hamline University School of Law. She currently serves as an adjunct professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Justice McKeig is an alumna of The National Judicial College and joined its faculty in 2019.

Jesse Rutledge

Since 2008, Jesse Rutledge has served as vice president for external affairs at the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). In this role, he oversees four departments at NCSC: Association and Conference Services; Communications; Knowledge and Information Services; and Private Development. Mr. Rutledge serves as project director on NCSC’s State of the State Courts public opinion work, hosts NCSC’s podcast (Court Talk), and serves as staff to two committees of the Conference of Chief Justices: Judicial Politics and Compensation and Public Engagement, Trust and Confidence. He plays a leadership role in shaping NCSC’s signature conferences such as eCourts and CTC, and collaborates with many of NCSC’s association partners to advance shared goals. Mr. Rutledge’s commentary has appeared in a wide variety of state, national and international media, including the ABA Journal, NPR and BBC Radio.  His original research was cited in Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s 2015 concurring opinion in Williams-Yulee v. The Florida Bar. Before joining NCSC, Rutledge served as the deputy director of the Justice at Stake Campaign in Washington, D.C. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in political science.  He joined the faculty of The National Judicial College in 2019.

Hon. Daniel B. Shanes

Judge Daniel B. Shanes serves as a circuit judge of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit in Illinois where he is the presiding judge of the felony division. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Shanes served as an assistant state’s attorney and supervisor in the Lake County (Illinois) state’s attorney’s office. Previously, he served as a judicial law clerk to Justice Robert J. Steigmann of the Illinois Appellate Court. Judge Shanes received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa and Juris Doctor from the DePaul University College of Law where he served on the law review. By separate appointments of the Illinois Supreme Court, he serves on the Illinois Judicial College Board of Trustees as well as the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases.  Judge Shanes serves as faculty and regularly presents continuing judicial and legal education programs to other judges and lawyers on a variety of topics, including evidence, criminal law and procedure, trial practice, judicial discretion, and courtroom management. In addition, he has published numerous legal articles, several of which have been cited by courts of review and legal treatises. He serves in a variety of leadership roles for several legal and charitable organizations, and is the recipient of many awards and recognitions. Judge Shanes is an alumnus of The National Judicial College and joined its faculty in 2015.

Hon. Thomas A. Zonay

Judge Thomas A. Zonay is a judge of the Vermont Superior Court. He was appointed to the bench by Governor James Douglas in 2007. Prior to his appointment to the bench, he was an attorney in private practice and before that he was a police officer in Woodstock, VT. Judge Zonay received a bachelor’s degree in food industry from Delaware Valley College and a Juris Doctor from Vermont Law School. He is currently a member, and past president of, the Vermont Trial Judge’s Association.  He is the current chair of the Vermont Judicial Education Committee, current chair of the Vermont Criminal Rules Committee, the current Chair of the Vermont Sentencing Commission, and a member of the Vermont Judicial Conduct Board.  He is the past-chair of the Vermont Public Access to Court Records Committee, and served as a member of the Vermont Judiciary Advisory Council (chair of budget committee).  He has served on the Vermont Bar Association Board of Managers (President, 2005); was a director of the Vermont Bar Foundation; and is past president of the New England Bar Association. At the time of his appointment to the bench, Judge Zonay was chairman of the Vermont Human Rights Commission and had previously served on other judicial and community boards and committees. He is also a U.S.C.G. licensed Master Captain. Judge Zonay is an alumnus of the National Judicial College and joined its faculty in 2012.