AMERICAN JUDGES ASSOCIATION
2012 Annual Educational Conference
Speaker Biographies
Hon. Steven S. Alm has been a circuit court judge in
Hawaii since 2001. He is the principal HOPE
Probation Judge and, eighteen months ago, became
the First Circuit’s Adult Drug Court judge as well.
From 1994-2001 he was the United States Attorney
for the District of Hawaii. He is the past president of
the Hawaii State Trial Judges Association and
currently serves as co-chair of the Interagency
Council on Intermediate Sanctions. In October 2010
Judge Alm was named Jurist of the Year for the
State of Hawaii.
Justice Joseph Bovard: Justice Bovard has been a
member of the Ontario Court of Justice for 23 years.
He presides in Criminal and Family Court. He is
based in Brampton, Ontario, but has presided in
many jurisdictions in Ontario. Justice Bovard was
part of a large team consisting of the Judiciary,
government officials, community members and the
office of the Chief Justice (Ontario Court of Justice)
that created Toronto’s Integrated Domestic Violence
Court. The court started on June 10, 2011 at 311
Jarvis, Toronto. He is one of the two judges that
preside in the court. Justice Bovard has worked
extensively with aboriginal people in Canada and
was one of the founding members of the Toronto
Aboriginal Persons Court. He has worked as an
educator with the Ontario Native Justice of the
Peace Program since 1987. He has presided in many
aboriginal communities in northern Ontario. Justice
Bovard is a member of the Canadian National
Judicial Institute’s international judicial education
program. He is currently working with judges in
Peru with regard to the effective writing of
judgments.
Honorable Jerry Bowles presides as a Circuit Court
Judge in Jefferson Family Court in Louisville,
Kentucky. From 1991 to 1996, Judge Bowles
initiated and served as Director/Chief Prosecutor of
the Jefferson County Attorney’s Domestic Violence
and Sexual Assault Unit. Prior to that, Judge
Bowles was a private practitioner specializing in
family law and domestic relations and a trial
attorney with the Jefferson County Public
Defender’s Office. A nationally known expert in
domestic violence, he served as vice-chair of the
Kentucky Governor’s Council on Domestic
Violence, chairs the Louisville Domestic Violence
Prevention Coordinating Council, chairs the
Louisville Metro Domestic Violence Fatality
Review Committee and serves as a technical advisor
to the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on
Violence Against Women. Judge Bowles is also a
member of the American Judges Association’s
Domestic Violence Committee and the National
Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. Judge
Bowles lectures, writes and consults throughout the
United States on issues relating to domestic violence
and has served on a number of task forces and
coordinating councils charged with addressing issues
of domestic violence. He received his Juris
Doctorate degree from the Brandeis School of Law
at the University of Louisville in 1982.
Ann E. Brenden is an Administrative Law Judge
with the Iowa Department of Inspections and
Appeals. Ann graduated from the University of
Northern Iowa in 1978 and from Drake University
Law School in 1981. She was in private practice
from 1981-1985. Ann served as an Assistant Iowa
Attorney General from 1985-2006, as a staff
attorney and Division Director for the Criminal
Appeals Division and as a Prosecuting Attorneys
trainer. She is the co-author of Persuasive Computer
Presentations – The Essential Guide for Lawyers
(ABA 2003) and the editor of several publications
for county attorneys.
Courtney Bryan is the Project Director of the
Midtown Community Court, a demonstration project
of the Center for Court Innovation. She has held
several positions at the Center both before and after
receiving her law degree, including in the domestic
violence and community court technical assistance
teams, and at the Crown Heights Community
Mediation Center. Before returning to the Center in
2008, she was a criminal defense attorney with The
Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn, New York.
Previously, she was a staff attorney at the National
Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women,
an organization that provides technical assistance to
criminal defense attorneys representing battered
women defendants. She is a graduate of the
University of Georgia and Temple University School
of Law.
Kevin Burke is a District Judge in Hennepin
County, Minnesota. The Hennepin County District
Court has 62 judges and more than 750,000 cases
filed per year. Judge Burke was elected for four
terms as Chief Judge and three terms as Assistant
Chief Judge. From 1991 – 1996 he served as the
Chair of the Conference of Chief Judges. He
chaired the State Board of Public Defense, and was a
leader in the effort to improve and expand the state’s
public defender system. Judge Burke has been
named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the
history of Minnesota by Law & Politics magazine.
In 1996 he was named a Toll Fellow. The Toll
Fellowship identifies emerging state leaders from all
three branches of government. In 1997 he received
the Director’s Community Leadership Award from
the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 2002 the
National Center for State Courts awarded him the
Distinguished Service Award. In 2003 he was
selected as the William H. Rehnquist Award
recipient by the National Center for State Courts.
The Rehnquist Award is presented annually to a
state judge who exemplifies the highest level of
judicial excellence, integrity, fairness and
professional ethics. He was awarded Public Official
of the Year by Governing Magazine in 2004. In
2005 the Minnesota Chapter of the American Board
of Trial Advocates named him trial judge of the
year. Judge Burke teaches at the University of
Minnesota and University of St. Thomas law
schools. For many years he served on the faculty of
the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute’s
Reflective Leadership Program. He has been a
speaker in 38 states as well as Abu Dhabi, Canada,
Egypt, Mexico, China, India and Ireland regarding
improvement in judicial administration and court
leadership. Judge Burke has authored numerous
articles, and is the co-author of the American Judges
Association White Paper, “Procedural Fairness: A
Key Ingredient in Public Satisfaction.” He presently
serves on the Board of the Institute for the Reform
of the American Legal System. He is a past Board
member of the National Center for State Courts and
the American Judicature Society.
Judge Russell F. Canan was appointed to the
Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1993
by President William Jefferson Clinton. Judge
Canan was born in New York City and attended
public schools in the area. After graduating from
college he worked as a health education worker at
which time he assisted in setting up health clinics for
migrant farm workers. He obtained his law degree
from Antioch School of Law in the District of
Columbia. Judge Canan served as a law clerk to the
late John D. Fauntleroy, an Associate Judge of the
Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He also
worked for the Legal Assistance Branch of the
Superior Court. In 1977, Judge Canan and his
classmates from Antioch School of Law, Jeffrey
O’Toole, Bill Walsh, and Elkanah Burns, opened the
law offices of Canan, Burns & O’Toole. His
practice focused on litigation primarily in the
criminal defense and civil rights fields. In 1983 and
part of 1984, Judge Canan helped establish the
Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta,
Georgia, where he represented prisoners on death
row. He also directed class action civil rights
lawsuits. Upon returning to the District of
Columbia, he returned to the private practice of law
with the firm Milliken, Van Susteren & Canan, with
partners now-Senior Judge Stephen Milliken, Greta
Van Susteren and Karen Schneider. He was later in
the private practice of law with the firm of Canan,
Kiersh & Lobo with his partners, Steven R. Kiersh
and Cynthia W. Lobo. Currently, Judge Canan
serves as the Presiding Judge of the Criminal
Division. For three years Judge Canan served as the
Deputy Presiding Judge. He is Chairperson of the
Criminal Advisory Rules Committee. He is the
former Chairperson of the Judicial Education
Committee and former Chairperson of Jury
Management Committee and served on the
Committee for Appointment and Retention of
Magistrate Judges. Judge Canan has served in the
Criminal and Civil Divisions of the court as well as
the Family Court. Throughout his career, Judge
Canan has served as an Adjunct Professor at the
Antioch School of Law, Georgetown University Law
Center, George Washington University Law School,
the Washington College of Law at the American
University and the University of the District of
Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law. Judge
Canan has been an instructor at the Harvard Law
School Trial Advocacy Workshop, and has lectured
throughout the country before such groups as the
NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Amnesty
International, and the American Bar Association.
Pamela Casey, Principal Court Research Consultant
of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC),
holds a Ph.D. in psychology. Since joining the
NCSC in 1986, she has conducted numerous
national-scope research and policy projects on a
variety of court topics. Dr. Casey has served as
Associate Director of Research and the director of
the NCSC’s Best Practices Institute. She currently
directs projects on access to justice issues, the use of
evidence-based sentencing practices, and judicial
decision making. She also supports the Access,
Fairness and Public Trust and the Criminal Justice
Committees of the Conference of Chief Justices and
the Conference of State Court Administrators in
their work to develop and disseminate national
policy statements and recommendations for state
courts.
Judge Mary A. Celeste sits on the Denver County
Court bench where she was the Presiding Judge
2009 and 2010; the first woman to hold that position
in the history of that Court. She currently sits on the
Colorado Advisory Committee for the United States
Civil Rights Commission and is a NHTSA Judicial
Outreach Liaison for Region 8. She has served as
the President of the Colorado Women’s Bar
Association Foundation, the President of the
American Judge’s Association, and as an Adjunct
Professor at the Sturm College of Law She has also
served as a member of the Colorado Bar
Association’s Board of Governors, the Denver Bar
Association’s Conciliation Panel and the Colorado
Women’s Bar Association Board of Governors.
She is a graduate of Cal Western where she was the
Editor- in- Chief of the law school journal. Judge
Celeste has published many legal articles in various
periodicals including the 2010 AJA White Paper in
the AJA Court Review and was the Executive
Producer of the CWBA historical video entitled
Raising the Bar 2005. She is the recipient of the
Outstanding Editor-in-Chief Award 1982; Human
Rights Campaign Award,1994; the American
Association of University Women’s Trailblazer
Award, 1998; Professional Women of the Year
Award, 2002 from the Colorado Business Council,
the Judicial Excellence Award from the Colorado
Women’s Bar Association, 2006; the Judicial
Excellence Award from the Denver Bar Association,
2006, the Education Award from the American
Judges Association, 2007; the Colorado Humanities
Award 2008; the Mary Lathrop Award 2011 from
the Colorado Women’s Bar Association, and, the
Judge William H. Burnett Award from the American
Judges Association 2011.
With over 1 million cookbooks sold, Holly Clegg,
cookbook author and spokesperson, is the expert on
easy healthier recipes through her best-selling
trim&TERRIFIC® cookbook series, including
specialized books, trim&TERRIFIC® Diabetic
Cooking with the ADA and Eating Well Through
Cancer. Holly has appeared on Fox & Friends, NBC
Weekend Today, QVC, USA Today and The
Huffington Post. Holly has partnered with Wal-Mart
and has been a spokesperson for Louisiana Sweet
Potatoes, Reynolds, Teflon and others. She
offers a phone application, Mobile
Rush-Hour Recipes, bringing her
signature trim&TERRIFIC® recipes to
user’s finger tips to help solve
the
dinner
dilemma.
Visit
http://www.hollyclegg.com
and
http://www.thehealthycookingblog.co
m
Lynda M. Connolly is Chief Justice of the
Massachusetts District Court, overseeing 158
judges, 733,000 cases in 62 locations. She serves as
a key advisor to the Trial Court on matters of court
policy, government relations, and crisis
management. Judge Connolly co-chaired the Trial
Court’s Fiscal Task Force, its Court Relocation
Committee, and chaired the Supreme Judicial
Court’s Budget Advisory Committee. She has led
the successful effort to introduce a culture of
accountability to the Judicial Branch including the
introduction of performance metrics as well as a
comprehensive
program
of
professional
development for judges including peer review and
support. Chief Justice Connolly serves as an adjunct
faculty member at New England School of Law,
Suffolk Law School and Boston College and has
served as a guest lecturer at the Kennedy School of
Government at Harvard University and the Harvard
School of Public Health.
Patti Cross: After taking her first family law course
at the University of Toronto’s law school, Patti was
hooked. Her professional career has focused on
family courts. Patti articled and worked for the
Office of the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of
Justice in Ontario, before moving to her current
position as the Family Counsel for the Office of the
Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice. She
has worked as family counsel for the Senior Justice
of the Family Courts (S.C.O.) and with the Family
Rules Committee. Today, she advises the Chief
Justice and the OCJ Advisory Committee on Family
Law on policy and legislative issues and other
matters of interest to family judges. She was the cochair for the AFCC Ontario’s Coordinating
Committee to establish the AFCC Ontario and was
the chapter’s first President. She also serves on the
parent AFCC Chapter Committee as the Chapter
Liaison. She is also a proud mommy of her eight
year old daughter, Maggie.
Aubrey Fox is the director of Strategic Planning at
the Center for Court Innovation. In November 2011,
he launched the Centre for Justice Innovation, an
institution that seeks to promote thoughtful criminal
justice reform in the United Kingdom by focusing
on the use of demonstration projects. Prior to that,
Aubrey was the project director of Bronx
Community Solutions, a one-of-its-kind initiative
that seeks to meet the ambitious goal of changing a
large and tradition-bound public agency's approach
to low-level crime. Finally, he is the co-author of
Trial & Error in Criminal Justice Reform: Learning
from Failure (Urban Institute Press, 2010).
Hon. Thomas Gove, B Commerce (UBC); LLB
(UBC) 1973, Called to BC Bar 1974; Private
practice in Vancouver 1974 – 1990. Practice include
criminal and youth defence work as well as
representing the BC child welfare authorities in
protection proceedings; Membership in many youth
offender organizations ;Taught programs training
probation officers, social workers and related
professionals; Consulted on youth justice and
children’s issues to Province of BC and Canada;
Member of Provincial and National Councils of the
Canadian Bar Association; Appointed Judge of the
Provincial Court of British Columbia 1990;
Jurisdiction includes criminal, youth, children and
civil; May 1994 – December 1995 was the
Commissioner of Inquiry appointed by the
Government of BC – Gove Inquiry Into Child
Protection – that resulted in the redesign of BC’s
child and youth systems; Spoken at many
conferences across Canada and the United States on
child welfare reform; Organized and presented
educational programs for the BC Provincial Court as
well as through the National Judicial Institute;
Appeared on several occasions as a witness before
House of Canada and Senate Committees on
children and youth issues; Since early 2006 worked
on the creation of Canada’s first community court
and have been the presiding Judge at Vancouver’s
Downtown Community Court since it opened in
September 2008; Honours.
Rebecca Thomforde Hauser, Associate Director,
Domestic Violence Programs, at the Center for
Court Innovation, assists jurisdictions nationally to
plan and implement Domestic Violence, Integrated
Domestic Violence, Sex Offense and Youthful
Offender Domestic Violence Courts. Before coming
to the Center, Ms. Thomforde Hauser was a Victim
Witness Advocate at the Suffolk County District
Attorney’s Office in Boston, MA, providing crisis
intervention, case management, and court advocacy
to domestic violence victims as well as other victims
of violent crimes. While in Boston, Ms. Thomforde
Hauser also worked at Safe Havens: The Interfaith
Partnership Against Domestic Violence, creating
curricula and coordinating a year-long training
domestic violence education program for clergy and
laity from Christian, Jewish and Muslim
congregations throughout the greater Boston area.
Ms. Thomforde Hauser graduated from Earlham
College, where she received a Fulbright Scholarship,
and Boston University School of Theology.
Georgeann Herbert is Senior Vice President of
Content and Community Engagement at Detroit
Public Television, and has spent more than 40 years
as a broadcast reporter, anchor, and manager in
Virginia, Chicago, and Detroit. A graduate of the
University of Virginia and one-time law student, she
oversees local content development for DPTV and
helps community organizations tell their stories
more effectively. A fervent amateur musician, she
has spent time the last two summers playing side-byside with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as part
of their “Rusty Musicians” program.
Harvey Hoffman Private practice of law Lansing,
Michigan 1983 through 1996. Judge 56-A District
Court, Eaton County, Michigan 1997 through the
present. Chief Judge 56-A District Court 2005
through 2011. Sitting DWI Court Judge 1997 to
present. President Michigan Association of Drug
Court Professionals 1999 through 2002. Board of
Directors National Association of Drug Court
Professionals 2004 through 2008. Chairman
National Association of Drug Court Professionals
DWI Court Committee 2004 through 2008. Member
Traffic Injury Research Foundation National
Working Group 2005 through the present. Michigan
Judge of the Year 2001, Michigan District Judges
Association. President’s Special Recognition Award,
Executive Office of the President 2004. Mothers
Against Drunk Driving National President’s Award
for Criminal Justice, 2007. National Committee for
the Prevention of Alcoholism and Drug Dependency
Distinguished Service Award, Barbados, 2008.
American Bar Association/National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration Judicial Fellow January 2011
through September 30, 2012.
Ben Holden is a former reporter for The Wall Street
Journal. He has been executive editor of the
Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer and assistant to the
president of the McClatchy Co., the Sacramentobased owner of the Columbus newspaper. Holden
practiced law with Cooper, White & Cooper, one of
the Bay Area's top media-law firms, and is licensed
to practice in California and Georgia. He earned a
bachelor of journalism from the University of
Missouri School of Journalism, and an MBA and a
law degree from U.C. Berkeley. He is currently an
associate professor of journalism at the University of
Nevada-Reno (specializing in media law) and
director of the Center for Courts & Media at the
National Judicial College.
Ritschard (Rich) P. Homberg is President and
General Manager of Detroit Public Television, one
of the nation’s largest public television stations. He
joined DPTV four years ago, after a long tenure as
Vice President and General Manager at CBS Radio
Detroit. With over 30 years in broadcasting, he has
developed a track record of success for companies
including CBS, Viacom, and Westinghouse
Broadcasting. He came to Detroit in 1997 to lead
WWJ Newsradio 950, where he created an epublishing division and one of the city’s top rated
websites. He is a graduate of Temple University and
Leadership Detroit.
Hon. Steve Leben, Judge of the Court of Appeals
2007-present. After serving nearly 14 years as a
district judge in Johnson County, Steve Leben joined
the Court of Appeals in June 2007. At the time of
his appointment, Leben was serving as president of
the American Judges Association and was teaching a
course at the University of Kansas School of Law.
Throughout his career, Leben has been dedicated to
both expanding and generating scholarship on the
development of law, procedure, and legal ethics. In
addition to 13 published articles, Leben has served
as editor of Court Review, a national journal for
judges, since 1998. The National Center for State
Courts recognized him for his contributions to the
administration of justice nationally by giving him its
national Distinguished Service Award in 2003. He
also edits the practice manual on Kansas family law
published by the Kansas Bar Association, in addition
to writing one of its chapters. The Kansas Bar
Association gave him its outstanding Service Award
in 2000 and named him the Outstanding Young
Lawyer in Kansas in 1993. Leben has presented
lectures to lawyers in Kansas and at national and
international conferences. He has taught a course on
statutory interpretation to law students at both the
University of Kansas and University of MissouriKansas City law schools. He is a past president of
the Kansas City Chapter of the University of Kansas
Alumni Association and presently serves as a
member of the Board of Governors of the KU Law
Alumni Association.
Jennifer Lofft: Assistant Crown Attorney in the
downtown Toronto office since 1989. Member of
the Domestic Violence Prosecution Team since 2006
and assigned to the Integrated Domestic Violence
Court since inception in June 2011.
Joan Meier is the Founder and Executive Director
of the Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and
Appeals Project (DV LEAP) and a Professor of
Clinical Law at George Washington University Law
School. DV LEAP litigates varied appeals and
trains judges, lawyers, and mental health
professionals on custody and abuse. Ms. Meier
founded three pioneering inter-disciplinary domestic
violence clinical programs at the law school, and
served for three years as the “public” member of the
American Psychological Association’s Board for
Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest.
She has received numerous awards, including in
2009 the American Bar Association’s Inaugural
Sharon Corbitt Award for Exemplary Legal Services
to Victims of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault,
and Stalking.
Hon. Vincent Phelps: I was admitted to practice in
the State and Federal Courts of Nebraska and
Colorado in 1974 and practiced law as a general
practitioner until 1996. During my 22 years in
private practice I handled Civil personal injury
cases, Criminal defense, Juvenile cases, Domestic
relations and Probate cases. I was later admitted to
the U.S. Supreme Court. From January, 1976 to
January, 1996, I was the Presiding Judge for the City
of Brighton, Colorado, Municipal Court on a part
time basis. On April 8, 1996, I was sworn in as a
District Court Judge for the 17th Judicial District for
the State of Colorado. On July 8, 2008, I was
appointed Chief Judge for the 17th Judicial District,
State of Colorado. The 17th District includes the
County of Adams and the City and County of
Broomfield, CO, and presently has 30 Judicial
Officers and over 300 staff, including 17th District
Probation.
The Honorable Victoria F. Pratt is a Municipal
Court Judge for the City of Newark, New Jersey, in
the Criminal Arraignment Court. She also presides
over Newark Community Solutions – a Community
Court Project, as the State’s first and only
Community Court Judge. Judge Pratt was installed
as a Municipal Court Judge on November 6, 2010,
after being appointed by Mayor Cory Booker. Prior
to her appointment to the bench, she served as
Counsel to the Office of the President for the
Newark Municipal Council. She also served as the
Compliance Officer for the Camden City School
District. Prior to joining local government, she
served the New Jersey Governor’s Counsel’s Office
as Assistant Counsel in the Authorities Unit under
Governor James McGreevey and Governor Richard
Codey. She also gained valuable litigation
experience as a litigation associate at Pitney Hardin
Kipp & Szuch, LLP, currently known as Day Pitney.
Judge Pratt received her Bachelor of Arts from
Rutgers University in New Brunswick and her Juris
Doctor from Rutgers Law School-Newark. She is
licensed to practice law in both New Jersey and New
York and performs with the New Jersey Volunteer
Lawyers for the Arts Charity Benefit in the dance
ensemble.
John M. Priester grew up along the Mississippi
River in Bettendorf, Iowa. He went to Marquette
University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, majoring in
Political Science. John then completed his studies
when he graduated With Distinction from the
University of Iowa Law School in Iowa City, Iowa.
After serving a one year clerkship with the judges of
the Iowa District Court for the 7th Judicial District,
John was hired by the Iowa Public Defender’s
Office. He served two years in Mason City and
three years in Iowa City as an Assistant Public
Defender representing clients charged with both
misdemeanors and felonies at the trial level. John
then spent one year as an Appellate Defender
briefing and arguing cases to the Iowa Supreme
Court and Court of Appeals. In 1997 John was hired
to be an Administrative Law Judge with the Iowa
Department of Inspections and Appeals, Division of
Administrative Hearings. His docket includes cases
for the Iowa Department of Transportation, Public
Health, Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, Iowa
Public Employees Retirement System, Board of
Regents, Iowa Law Enforcement Academy, State
Fair Board and the Department of Human
Services. John authored the article, “The Impact of
Adverse Inferences in Administrative Hearings,”
published in the Spring 2002 Journal of the National
Association of Administrative Law Judges. He has
lectured at numerous continuing legal education
conferences in conjunction with his American Bar
Association/National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration Judicial Fellowship.
Hon. Lisa Bloch Rodwin is a Family Court Judge in
New York State who specializes in matters of family
violence, abuse, neglect, juvenile justice, custody
and visitation. Prior to this appointment, Judge
Bloch Rodwin worked with the Erie County District
Attorney’s Office from 1985 to 2008, and served as
Chief of the Domestic Violence Unit from 1995
until her appointment as a Family Court
Judge. Judge Bloch Rodwin was the founder of New
York State’s first Domestic Violence Bureau outside
of New York City. While at the District Attorney’s
Office, Judge Bloch Rodwin developed protocols for
the investigation and prosecution of domestic
violence crimes for local police agencies and
developed interview and investigation polices for
child abuse investigations. During her tenure as
Family Court Judge, she has directed a new
collaborative to reduce the disproportionate number
of minority children placed in foster care and has
created the first program in New York State to
provide outreach and education to Immigrant and
Refugee families about Family Court, focusing on
Domestic Violence and Child Abuse. Judge Bloch
Rodwin has worked endlessly serving domestic
violence awareness causes, and has appeared on
national television as a domestic violence expert on
20/20 with Diane Sawyer and on three occasions on
Oprah. She served as a keynote speaker at national
conferences on abuse in Houston, Atlanta, Tulsa,
Orlando and Long Beach, and has lectured at SUNY
Buffalo School of Law, the National Council of
Child and Family Court Judges and the National
College of District Attorneys.
Hon. Robert T. Russell, Jr. is an Associate Judge
for Buffalo City Court and serves by appointment, as
an Acting Erie County Court Judge. In January of
2008, he created and began presiding over this
Country’s first Veterans Treatment Court, in
collaboration with the Western New York Health
Care Network, Western New York Veterans Project,
and with a host of volunteers veterans that serves as
Mentors. The National Veterans of Foreign Wars of
the United States has awarded Judge Russell with
the James E. Dan Zandt Citizenship Award and The
National Vietnam Veterans of America has awarded
Judge Russell with The Vietnam Veterans Of
America Achievement Medal. Prior to his service as
a Treatment Court Judge for Veterans, He created in
December 1995 Buffalo’s Drug Treatment Court@
and continues to serve as its Presiding Judge. In
addition, In December 2002, he established and
began serving over Buffalo’s Mental Health
Treatment Court. This Court oversees treatment
cases involving individuals diagnosed as severely
and persistently mentally ill. The National Alliance
for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), an advocacy
organization for the mentally ill, has awarded Judge
Russell the Nancy D. Smith Memoriam Award, and
similarly, the Mental Health Association of Erie
County has bestowed Judge Russell with the
Professional Service Award. Judge Russell is the
Past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the
National Association of Drug Court Professionals,
Inc., located in Alexandria, Virginia and the Past
President of the New York State Association of
Drug Treatment Court Professionals, Inc. He also
serves on the National Advisory Board of the Judges
Criminal Justice/Mental Health Leadership Initiative
(JLI). He is the recipient of the Erie County Bar
Association’s, AAward of Merit, the New York State
Bar Association, Award for Outstanding Judicial
Contribution, and the American Bar Association,
Judicial Division, 2010 Franklin N. Flaschner
Award. Judge Russell is a graduate of Howard
University School of Law in Washington, D.C.
Hon. John C. Rowley, Tompkins County Judge,
Ithaca, New York – Judge Rowley is a graduate of
Cornell University and the S.U.N.Y Buffalo School
of Law. He was first elected to his current position,
Tompkins County Judge, Family Court Judge and
Surrogate, in 2000, and re-elected in 2010. He was
appointed an Acting Supreme Court Justice in 2003.
In addition to his criminal court and family court
caseload, he presides in four specialty courts: the
Family Treatment Court, the Felony Drug Court, the
Sex Offense Compliance Court, and the Integrated
Domestic Violence Court Part of Supreme Court.
Judge Rowley lectures widely on issues of domestic
violence, lawyer and judicial alcoholism and
addiction, stress management, vicarious trauma and
other legal topics. His most recent presentations
have included: Co-presenter at the National Council
of Family Court Judges 2011 Annual Conference
held in New York City on the topic of “Intimate
Partner Sexual Assault”; Presenter at the 2011
Annual Conference of Chief Judges and Court
Administrators held in Atlanta Georgia on the topic
of “Headlines or Helplines – Assisting Judges in
Distress”; Panelist at the 2011 Annual Conference of
New York State Family Court Judges held in
Saratoga, New York on the topic of “Working
effectively in Family Court with substance abusing
parents”; and Plenary presenter at the 2011 Gender
Violence in South Asia conference held in New
Delhi, India.
Steven D. Schwinn is an associate professor of law
at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He
teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law
and comparative human rights. His articles have
appeared in a variety of law reviews and journals.
Professor Schwinn is a frequent media commenter;
he is co-founder and co-editor of the Constitutional
Law Prof Blog; and he is a regular contributor to the
ABA Preview of United States Supreme Court
Cases. He directs the ABA Media Alerts Project for
the Seventh Circuit and the Constitution-in-theClassroom program at JMLS and local public
schools, and he has an active pro bono practice.
The Honourable Madam Justice Gertrude F.
Speigel, Superior Court of Justice: B.A. (Industrial
Relations) McGill University 1970. LLB University
of Toronto 1973. Judges Law Clerk of The Supreme
Court of Ontario 1975. Appointed Family Law
Commissioner of The Supreme Court of Ontario in
1977. Appointed to the Superior Court of Justice
(Ontario) in 1990. Member of CBA Council 1987 to
1991. Member of Joint Committee on Court Reform
1988 to 1990. Member of Family Law Rules
Committee 1990 to 2001. Member of Canadian
Judges Form of OBA. Life member of Women’s
Law Association. Honourary Member of Arbitrators
Institute of Canada (Ontario) Inc.
Tom Tremaine is the Presiding Judge of the
Kalispel Tribal Court. Prior to his appointment to
the Court, Tom had 26 years experience as an
attorney with Spokane Legal Services Center and
Northwest Justice Project representing the interests
of children, adults and tribes in tribal, state, and
federal courts. Tom has presented trainings on
Indian child welfare and other topics for the
National Congress of American Indians, National
Legal Aid and Defenders Association, Federal Bar
Association, Washington State Bar Association,
Washington State CASA, and at Washington’s
annual Children’s Justice Conference. Tom is also
on the adjunct faculty at Gonzaga University School
of Law.
Lori Van Wallendael received her B.A. from
MacMurray College in 1982, and received her Ph.D.
in Experimental Psychology from Northwestern
University in 1986. She has taught psychology at
the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for
over 25 years, and is currently Associate Chair. She
developed and regularly teaches an undergraduate
course in Forensic Psychology there. Her research
interests include eyewitness memory and juror
knowledge of psychological issues that impact the
court system. She has worked with the Charlotte
Mecklenburg Police Department in evaluating their
lineup procedures, and occasionally serves as an
expert witness regarding eyewitness reliability and
lineup administration.