IAALS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Judge, Denver District Court
Honorable Adam J. Espinosa is a Denver District Court Judge assigned to the Criminal Division where he presides over felony criminal matters. Previously, he served as a Denver County Court Judge where he presided over the Civil, Municipal Criminal, and State Criminal Divisions of that court, presiding over two hundred and eighty trials. Prior to joining the bench, Judge Espinosa served as a senior trial attorney for the Colorado Supreme Court Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel and as a deputy district attorney in several Colorado counties. Judge Espinosa is active in the community, having served in leadership positions on numerous local, state, and national boards including the Denver Crime Prevention and Control Commission, the Colorado Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission, the ABA Standing Committee on Client Protection, and the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association. Judge Espinosa is a frequent lecturer and author for the several bar associations, law schools, and other groups on various legal, ethical, and professional responsibility topics. He has taught over one hundred continuing legal education courses and published several articles in the area of legal ethics, access to justice, and unbundled legal services. Judge Espinosa has dedicated his legal career to public service, public safety, and access to justice. He is committed to serving the people of Denver and to the improvement of our courts.
Job Titles:
- Events and Partnership Manager
Amy Downing is the events and partnership manager at IAALS, bringing over 20 years of experience in the event planning and hospitality industry. She joined IAALS in April 2014.
Downing began her career in Washington, D.C., at the Westin Hotel, working in catering and sales. From there she moved to the Ritz-Carlton, and then on to corporate event planning at Freddie Mac. She relocated to Denver and began an event planning and production company where she developed, designed, and implemented meetings and events of all sizes.
Amy Livingston is Director of Development at IAALS, which she joined in June 2021.
She brought to IAALS over 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector as an executive leader, strategic thought partner (C-Suite/Boards), philanthropic advisor, consultant, and board chair/member in the fields of healthcare, education, and conservation. Most recently, she consulted with nonprofit clients and philanthropists to secure multiple transformational gifts ($1M-$5M) to strengthen maternal and newborn healthcare delivery systems in East and West Africa.
Prior to consulting, she founded and led the Global Health Foundation through securing a $1M charitable gift, launching investments in innovative solutions that address systemic inequities and eliminate barriers that deny access to quality and comprehensive healthcare services. Livingston began fundraising as a teenager and when volunteering at a nonprofit hospice whose clients were in the final stages of their courageous battle with HIV/AIDS. At a young age, she witnessed the devastating intersection of vulnerable populations, disease, fear and ignorance which resulted in a commitment to-and a career in-bending the arc towards justice.
Amy received her MA in International Development with a Certificate in Global Health Affairs from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver and a BA in International Affairs and French from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Job Titles:
- Vice Dean, Co - Director of the Externship Program, and Professor of Legal Analysis, Writing, and Skills, Southwestern Law School
Anahid Gharakhanian is a champion of experiential learning and legal writing and has played a key role in Southwestern's innovative Legal Analysis, Writing, and Skills (LAWS) program, and in building one of the most extensive and highly regarded externship programs in California. Southwestern's Board Chair, Charles Fairchild '09, has established an endowment in Vice Dean Gharakhanian's honor to recognize her contributions to his education and to Southwestern. The Anahid Gharakhanian Endowment supports three annual awards: Excellence in Teaching Award; Award for Outstanding Staff Service; and the Gharakhanian Scholarship.
Vice Dean Gharakhanian began her legal career with the firm of Chadbourne & Parke LLP in Los Angeles where she was responsible for all phases of complex litigation in state and federal courts as well as arbitration proceedings, ranging from defense of class actions and shareholder derivative suits to prosecution and defense of insurance and reinsurance, employment, business transaction, high-profile family law, and various commercial matters.
She joined Southwestern's full-time faculty in 2002, teaching legal writing. She was instrumental in the redevelopment of the law school's groundbreaking three-track LAWS program, including bringing a professionalism focus to LAWS with such components as court visits. She is also the long-time director of the law school's Externship Program and has expanded the program to be one of the largest in the country. She served as Vice Dean from 2012 to 2016 and returned to the Vice Dean position in fall 2020.
In addition to her teaching, Vice Dean Gharakhanian has greatly enjoyed other opportunities to work with Southwestern students, which over the years has included serving in such positions as the faculty advisor for the Armenian Law Students' Association and the PLEAS Program.
Vice Dean Gharakhanian is committed to pro bono work and civic activities in the profession and greater community, most recently facilitating the creation of Southwestern's collaborative efforts with the Human Rights Defender's Office of the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh. She also spearheaded the establishment of the 2012-14 Southwestern Armenia Fellowship with the Ministry of Justice in Armenia to work on the development of the rule of law. She has served on the Advisory Committee for the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative in Armenia for advancing legal education in Armenia. She has also served as a temporary judge in Los Angeles Superior Court's Small Claims Court and has worked on a pro bono basis in the areas of domestic violence and other family law matters.
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- CEO, Automate Medical
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Editor of the
- President & CEO, American Arbitration Association - International Centre for Dispute Resolution
- President and CEO of the American Arbitration Association - International Centre for Dispute Resolution
Bridget Mary McCormack is President and CEO of the American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution. She is also a Strategic Advisor to the Future of the Profession Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Until the end of 2022, McCormack was Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, a position her peers selected her for in January 2019 after she served for six years as a Justice. While on the Court, she championed innovation and the use of technology to improve access to justice.
A graduate of New York University Law School, McCormack started her legal career in New York City. In 1996, she joined the Yale Law School faculty. She then joined the University of Michigan Law School faculty in 1998, where she taught criminal law, legal ethics, and numerous clinics. She was Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs from 2002 until 2012.
McCormack was elected to The American Law Institute in 2013. The Attorney General of the United States appointed her to the National Commission on Forensic Science in 2014. In 2019, the Governor of Michigan named her Co-Chair of the Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration. In 2020, she joined the American Bar Association's Council on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar and currently serves as Vice Chair. In 2021, the Governor of Michigan asked her to co-chair the Michigan Task Force on Forensic Science and to chair the Michigan Jail Reform Advisory Council. She also chaired the Michigan Judicial Council, the strategic planning body for the judicial branch. In 2021, McCormack was also appointed to serve nationally on The Council of State Governments Healthy States National Task Force and the ABA Center for Innovation's Governing Council. She was also named Chair of the ABA Board of Elections.
McCormack is an Editor of the ABA's preeminent publication, Litigation Journal. She speaks and writes frequently about access to justice, innovation in the legal profession, and legal education.
McCormack is married to Steven Croley, General Counsel and Chief Policy Officer at Ford Motor Company. They have four adult children.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Leader
- Member of the Leadership Team
Brittany Kauffman is Chief Executive Officer at IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System. Prior to taking on this role, she served for several months as Interim CEO and, before that, as a Senior Director overseeing IAALS' programmatic strategy, projects, and research.
Over the last ten years, Kauffman has served as a leader in civil justice and judiciary reform in the United States, serving as a facilitator, expert liaison, and consultant to state and federal courts, rules committees, civil justice task forces, and bar organizations. She provides legal and empirical research and analysis to assist in the development of recommendations, as well as support for implementation-all toward the goal of making our civil justice system accessible, efficient, and relevant to the people whom it serves. Examples include Kauffman's work with the Conference of Chief Justice's Civil Justice Improvements Committee, which developed a set of 13 recommendations for transforming civil justice in our state courts, and the American College of Trial Lawyer's Task Force on Discovery and Civil Justice. Following CCJ's issuance of the recommendations, Kauffman has worked with numerous court-appointed task forces and committees at the state level to tailor the recommendations for implementation, including Arizona, Idaho, Missouri, Maine, and Texas. During the pandemic, Kauffman served on the CCJ/COSCA Rapid Response Team Civil Working Group, including both the business litigation and high volume committees. Kauffman also serves on the Legal Services Corporation Rural Justice Task Force and as a Commissioner and member of the Executive Committee of the Colorado Access to Justice Commission.
Kauffman joined IAALS in 2012 after having practiced with Arnold & Porter, LLP, in the areas of environmental law, natural resources law, and Native American law. She was honored in 2009 as a nominee for the Colorado Lawyers Committee Individual of the Year Award for her pro bono efforts. Prior to her work at Arnold & Porter, she served as a law clerk for the Honorable Judge Paul J. Kelly, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Kauffman received her JD from the University of Colorado School of Law, where she was a member of Order of the Coif and a Breitenstein Scholar. Kauffman obtained her undergraduate degree from Colorado College, where she graduated cum laude with a BA in Chemistry and a minor in Environmental Studies and was a Boettcher Scholar.
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Dean of the University
- Dean, University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Bruce Smith is the Dean of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, having served in that role since July 2016. Previously, he was Professor of Law and Guy Raymond Jones Faculty Scholar at the University of Illinois College of Law, where he was Dean from 2009-14. In the latter capacity, he successfully completed a $50 million capital campaign; launched an innovative Chicago Program, three new clinics, and a postgraduate public interest fellowship program; and recruited a dozen new faculty members to campus. Dean Smith has been a visiting faculty member at the University of Michigan Law School, the George Washington University Law School, and the University of Luxembourg. From 1996-2001, he practiced in the litigation group at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, D.C., where he focused on intellectual property litigation and sports law, representing the NFL, NHL, and NBA, among other clients.
An internationally recognized historian of Anglo-American criminal procedure and an award-winning teacher, Dean Smith is the author of History of the Common Law: The Development of Anglo-American Legal Institutions (with John H. Langbein and Renée Lettow Lerner). He has published articles on the presumption of innocence, the origins of public prosecution, and the history of plea bargaining in Law & History Review, the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, and the Annual Review of Law & Social Science. His invited papers and lectures include presentations at the University of London, the University of Luxembourg, the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, the University of Palermo (Buenos Aires, Argentina), the University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, and Yale University, among other institutions.
He currently serves on a number of educational, civic, and corporate boards, including the board of directors of the Center for Legal Inclusiveness (CLI), the external advisory board of the University of Luxembourg Research Unit in Law, and the board of directors of State Farm Bank.
He received a B.A. in History summa cum laude from Williams College, a B.A. and M.A. in History from the University of Cambridge, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and a Ph.D. in History from the Yale University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, which he attended as a Mellon Fellow in the Humanities.
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Dean and Professor of Law, University of Hawai'I at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law
- Professor of Law at the University of Hawai'I
Camille Nelson is Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa | William S. Richardson School of Law. She has long been an outstanding member of the law community and previously served as Dean of the American University Washington College of Law. Before that, she previously served as the Dean of Suffolk University's School of Law in Boston and was a Professor of Law at Hofstra Law School, where she taught courses in Comparative Criminal Law and Transnational Law. Dean Nelson was also a Dean's Scholar in Residence and visiting Professor of Law at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, where she taught courses in Contracts and Criminal Law.
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Vice President - Counsel for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
- Vice President - Counsel, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Companies
Carla Cowles van Dongen is Vice President - Counsel for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and currently leads State Farm's Claim Litigation Section, overseeing 38 staff counsel offices across the United States. She has served in several leadership roles, all involving litigation management. She has been actively engaged in the development and implementation of civil justice policy and initiatives for State Farm and served as operating committee co-chair for the civil justice reform group.
Prior to joining State Farm, Ms. van Dongen was a litigator with the Indianapolis law firm of Bingham Summers Welsh & Spilman (now Bingham Greenebaum Doll). Both before and since joining State Farm, she has written and spoken extensively on insurance and litigation-related topics, and she was awarded the Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation.
She is active with the Board of Governors for RAND Institute for Civil Justice, is past president of the insurance staff counsel committee for Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), and was elected to membership in the American Law Institute. She is also active with her local school district, McLean County Unit 5, serving as a member of its Citizen's Advisory Council, and currently as board president for its Educational Foundation. She also spent several years as chair of the Normal Community Theatre Parents organization.
She is a graduate of Butler University and Indiana University School of Law.
Ms. van Dongen is also Chair of IAALS' Business Leadership Network.
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Associate Justice, Colorado Supreme Court
Before his appointment to the district court bench, Justice Samour worked as a prosecutor in the Denver District Attorney's Office for approximately ten years. Prior to becoming a prosecutor, he worked in civil practice for almost five years at Holland & Hart LLP. His first job out of law school was a one-year clerkship with the Honorable Robert McWilliams in the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Job Titles:
- Associate at Holland & Hart LLP
Chris Martin is an associate at Holland & Hart LLP. He is a part of the real estate, construction, finance and bankruptcy practice group and focuses on land use and zoning, renewable energy, and leasing.
Chris is a 2021 graduate of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, a recipient of the Robert B. Yegge Memorial Scholarship, and the 2021 recipient of the Irving P. Andrews Outstanding Law Graduate Award. Growing up in a biracial home just outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico, he was raised to understand the importance of his background and staying true to that identity.
Chris completed his undergraduate degree at Colorado College, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a business focus. Chris wrote his senior economics thesis on incarceration rate disparity between Black, Hispanic, and Caucasian Americans, and researched the contributing factors to that disparity. In addition to his degree in economics, he received a minor in Spanish. During his time at Colorado College, he played four years of varsity basketball, starting at center and serving as a captain both his junior and senior year. While at Colorado College, he also served as a leader in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter, worked as a liaison between the men's basketball team and Operation TBI Freedom, and served as a mentor for incoming first year students.
Following graduation, Chris attended the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, where he graduated in May of 2021. As a law student, he served as the president of the Black Law Students Association for the 2019-20 academic year, the 3L Representative for the 2020-21 academic year, a student ambassador, a leader in the Christian Legal Society, a peer mentor to 1L and 2L students, and had the privilege of working at different corporate, firm, and public placements during his three years at the Sturm College of Law. He also served, and continues to serve, as a member of the Professional Mentor Advisory Board at DU, which works with current and recently graduated law students to provide them with the opportunity to develop a professional relationship with a mentor according to their professional interests.
At Holland & Hart, he keeps his commitment to diversity and paying it forward at the core of his practice. He is a member of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee and is a passionate advocate for increased diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.
Job Titles:
- Law and Director of Clinical and Experiential Education, Stetson University College of Law
- Professor
Professor Christine Cerniglia graduated from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and pursued the civil law curriculum dedicated to the Louisiana Civil Code. In law school and in practice, she received training in a true apprentice-style work environment at the law firm of Sharp, Henry, Cerniglia, Colvin and Weaver, where she practiced maritime law in New Orleans, Louisiana. Most of the cases involved personal injury or wrongful death claims for Jones Act seamen or longshore harbor workers involved in deepwater drilling operations.
While she never anticipated leaving that practice, Hurricane Katrina pushed her to the Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg area, where she became a staff attorney at the Sixth Judicial Circuit. This change in career presented an opportunity to learn first-hand about mortgage foreclosure issues at a time when Florida was deeply impacted by the foreclosure crises. During her time at the Sixth Circuit, she became licensed in Florida and learned many aspects of civil Florida practice.
She began her teaching career as a visiting legal writing professor at Stetson University College of Law for three years before accepting a Director of Legal Writing position at Atlanta's John Marshall Law School. She returned to New Orleans in 2012 as Director of Skills and Experiential Education at Loyola College of Law to help transform Loyola's skills curriculum. She was responsible for Loyola's expansive skills and experiential opportunities and in 2013, the school was highlighted as the Most Innovative Law School by National Jurist and Pre-Law magazine based on Professor Cerniglia's designed practice tracks.
As Director of Clinical and Experiential Education at Stetson College of Law, she is excited to build upon the long history of clinical training at Florida's first law school. Stetson's unique externship program and dedicated field clinics offers a unique opportunity to showcase what we do best-train future lawyers to understand legal issues and concepts of justice to improve our legal systems.
Her scholarship is dedicated to legal education reform, client-centered lawyering, and the specific injustice of the underfunding of our third branch of government. Professor Cerniglia believes to "bloom where you are planted" and to take each day as an opportunity to connect to people and learn through experience.
She holds active licenses in both Florida and Louisiana.
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Senior Vice Provost for Research & Graduate Education
Dr. Corinne Lengsfeld serves as the Senior Vice Provost for Research & Graduate Education at the University of Denver. As the chief research officer, she is the primary advocate for the University's research mission and is charged with understanding, celebrating, leading, and enhancing all forms of scholarship to foster professional growth of the faculty, advancing knowledge, enriching the student experience, and enhancing University visibility. Dr. Lengsfeld oversees all internal support for research, the management of external grants and contracts, research integrity and protection, intellectual property and technology transfer, and some multidisciplinary research institutes/core facilities. In her capacity as the head of graduate education, she serves as the pathway and provides an official record for graduate student applications, admissions, enrollment, monitoring, and recording of academic progress, and the awarding of degrees. Dr. Lengsfeld provides leadership around enrollment strategy, communicates enrollment progress relative to targets to the Board of Trustees, and generates collaboration across the university to leverage enrollment successes in various divisions.
A deeply respected teacher, researcher, administrator, and colleague, Dr. Lengsfeld has been part of the DU community for over 20 years. Previously, she served as the interim provost and executive vice chancellor, as well as in other leadership roles at DU. As a faculty member still actively engaging in research, she specializes in interdisciplinary research in meso- and micro-scale fluid systems. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Health & Human Services, the Department of Defense, the State of Colorado, Keck Futures, and others.
IAALS was founded by University of Denver Chancellor Emeritus Daniel L. Ritchie; Denver attorney and bar leader John E. Moye; business leader and philanthropist Charles C. Gates; and former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Love Kourlis, our founding executive director. Their stewardship and vision continue to inspire our work.
Job Titles:
- Founder & Principal Attorney, NextLevel Law
Daniel R. Hernandez is a social entrepreneur and attorney who brings access to justice to families that once could not imagine affording an attorney. At age 27, Daniel started a law firm with the mission of offering competent legal services at affordable fixed costs. In this short period, shockwaves have hit the legal community caused by Daniel's innovative business and pricing model-where clients pay flat-monthly fees for legal services, slashing the overall legal cost for his clients. As a practitioner, Daniel assists families in transition through divorce and child custody proceedings. His experience among transitioning families is wide-ranging-he is legal counsel to mothers, fathers, grandparents, and even children as their Guardian Ad Litem.
Outside of the firm, Daniel serves as President-Emeritus of the Board of Directors at Between Friends, a nonprofit committed to ending domestic violence. He is also active among many bar associations. Daniel currently serves as President for the Hispanic National Bar Association Region IX. Prior, he served LGBT Committee Chair for the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois; Membership Chair for the LGBT Division of the Hispanic National Bar Association; and Vice-Chair of the ABA Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee of the Young Lawyers Division.
In January of 2022, Daniel was appointed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to serve as a Commissioner on the Chicago Commission on Human Relations. Daniel is a recipient of the Windy City Times as a 30 under 30 Award (2018); Rising Star by Super Lawyers (2019; 2020; 2021; 2022); Negocios Now Latinos 40 under 40 (2019); Young Lawyer of the Year by HLAI (2019); BEQ Pride Magazine 40 LGBTQ Leaders Under 40 (2020); Crain's Business Chicago Notable LGBTQ+ Executive (2020); Crain's Business Chicago Notable Nonprofit Leader (2021); and Hispanic National Bar Association's Top Attorney Under 40 (2022).
Daniel is humble and compassionate with a radiant smile, to the point that it changes others' feelings. In his spare time, you may catch Daniel roller-blading the Chicago's lakefront path or catching up with friends.
Job Titles:
- Director of Civil Justice and the Judiciary
Danielle Kalil is the Director of Civil Justice and the Judiciary at IAALS. In this role, Kalil is responsible for leading the vision and strategy of IAALS' work around civil justice reform and the judiciary, working towards a more accessible, fair, efficient, and accountable civil justice system.
Danielle joined IAALS in 2023 after five years teaching in the Human Trafficking Clinic + Lab at Michigan Law School. In that role, she supervised law students providing direct representation to clients in a variety of legal areas, including immigration, family law, public benefits, and post-adjudication criminal relief. She also supervised multidisciplinary teams of graduate students using design thinking to develop innovative, systemic solutions to vulnerability and exploitation. Throughout her career, Danielle has been a strong advocate for interdisciplinary collaboration and looking beyond traditional legal tools to solve problems in the legal system.
Prior to teaching at Michigan Law, Danielle worked as a legal aid attorney in Texas, where she represented foster youth, immigrants, and survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault. In this role, she served as a member of Legal Aid for Survivors of Sexual Assault, representing survivors with civil legal needs arising from their victimization. She also worked with the Texas Foster Youth Justice Project, helping current and former foster youth address legal issues arising from their time in care.
Danielle earned her JD from the University of Michigan Law School. Prior to law school, she worked in the nonprofit sector in Washington, D.C.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director of Maryland Legal Services Corporation
Dave Pantzer serves as the deputy director of Maryland Legal Services Corporation and the chair of the Maryland Access to Justice Commission Data and Legal Technology Committee. He previously served as director of education, outreach, and technology at the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland, and managed the Maryland People's Law Library statewide legal information website. He has been a civil litigator with Simms, Showers LLP; a chair of the Maryland State Bar Association Section on Delivery of Legal Services; and a member of the legal studies faculty at Towson University.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Administrative Director of the Courts at the Hawai'I State Judiciary
- Deputy Administrative Director of the Courts, Hawai'I State Judiciary
Daylin-Rose H. Heather is the Deputy Administrative Director of the Courts at the Hawai'i State Judiciary. Daylin has been with the Judiciary in various roles as a staff attorney at the Hawai'i Supreme Court, Special Assistant to the Administrative Director of the Courts, and judicial law clerk to Chief Justice Mark E. Recktenwald, as well as Intermediate Court of Appeals Judges Daniel R. Foley (Ret.) and Alexa D.M. Fujise (Ret.).
Previously, Daylin was a staff attorney at the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, a non-profit law firm, representing clients through direct representation and impact litigation. She is currently a member of the Hawai'i State Bar Association's Judicial Administration Committee, Hawai'i State Bar Association's Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services to the Public, and the Hawai'i Supreme Court's Permanent Committee on Equality and Access to the Courts.
Daylin graduated with honors from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai'i.
Dean Nelson began her education at the University of Toronto, and then went on to the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law to receive her law degree. She then completed a Master of Laws from Columbia Law School in New York.
Dean Nelson has worked to augment discussions of equality and justice in academic areas of culture and race through publishing many revered, well-known articles in a variety of academic journals. These publications based in comparative and criminal law have appeared in a variety of publications such as the Journal of Politics and Law, the Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law, and the Yale Journal of Law & Feminism. These works, her academic positions, and a multitude of speeches have been recognized through a variety of awards and honors. At her time at Suffolk University Law School, Dean Nelson was awarded the Trailblazer award by the Black Law Students' Association "In honor of your unwavering commitment to create new paths, and to lead others through the legal profession," the Malcolm Donahue Award, and the law school's annual diversity award has been named "The Dean Camille A. Nelson Award" in honor of her work. In 2013, Dean Nelson was honored as one of the "Top Women of Law" by Lawyers Weekly, and was named to the Power 100 most influential Black attorneys by On Being a Black Lawyer from 2012-2015. She has also received the Ida B. Wells Award in 2011 by the Massachusetts Black Women Lawyers, and won a Faculty Excellence Award during her time at Washington University in St. Louis. Dean Nelson recently received the Paul Robeson Distinguished Alumni Award from the Black Law Students Association of Columbia Law School.
In addition to her academic writings and teaching, Dean Nelson has been involved with various professional organizations. She is currently a member of the Overseers' Committee to Visit the Harvard Law School, The Partnership (Next Generation Executive and C-Suite Program), Demography is Not Destiny Advisory Group of the Open Society Foundation, and the Association of American Law Schools' Nominating Committee. She also serves on the Advisory Board for Mina's List, an organization that "seeks to realize women's equal and substantive representation in national governments around the world." In September 2016, she was named to the Governing Council of the American Bar Association Center for Innovation, and in January 2017, she was elected to the Executive Committee of the Association of American Law Schools.
Dean Nelson has previously been appointed to the Senator Warren and Senator Markey Advisory Committee on Massachusetts Judicial Nominations (2013-2015), served as a Steering Committee Member of the AALS Deans Forum (2014-June 2015), and was a Boston Bar Association (BBA) Board Member (2012-2014).
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
Mr. Scrivner has participated and held leadership positions in several educational and professional organizations. At the University of Denver this has included serving as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Denver, where he was Chair from 2014 to 2018 (and designated Chair Emeritus in 2018), and chairing the Advancement Committee during the public phase of DU's ASCEND comprehensive campaign; Chairman of the Visiting Committee, University of Denver Sturm College of Law; National Co-Chairman of the Second Century Campaign, University of Denver Sturm College of Law; member of the Advisory Board of Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers at IAALS; and member of the executive committee of IAALS and the Barton Institute for Philanthropy and Social Enterprise. He has also served as an adjunct professor at the Sturm College of Law.
He has served as a member of the Board of Visitors, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University; a member of the Arts & Sciences Campaign Committee, Duke University; co-chair of the Sanford School campaign committee in Duke's Duke Forward campaign; a member of the board of the Gladstone Institutes Foundation in San Francisco; a member of the Advisory Board to the Diversity and Flexibility Alliance (formerly PAR); a member of the California State Bar Academy Strategic Task Force; and an occasional guest speaker at UC Berkeley School of Law, Northwestern University School of Law, Daniels College of Business and Sturm College of Law.
Mr. Scrivner received an A.B. in political science and history from Duke University, an M.Sc. in international relations from the London School of Economics, and a J.D. from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.
Doug Scrivner, former General Counsel of Accenture, retired in 2011 after 31 years with the company and 14 years as General Counsel. During his tenure, he built a legal group of over 400 lawyers in 35 countries and also oversaw the company's government relations function and served as Corporate Secretary, Compliance Officer and as a member of Accenture's Executive Leadership Team.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager, Access Pro Bono Society of BC
Erin has been working in British Columbia's legal sector since 2011. During her 8 years as the education director of the Trial Lawyers Association of BC, she was responsible for all continuing legal education programs including seminars, webinars, retreats and international conferences.
From 2019-2021 she was the business development director for Reportex Agencies, a BC wide court reporting company. There, she worked with the leadership team on 3 acquisitions and multiple office expansion projects.
She joined Access Pro Bono Society of BC in 2021 to project manage the launch of the Virtual Family Mediation Project, and later the launch of the Everyone Legal Clinic, a first-of-its-kind public interest law incubator offering a full menu of affordable legal services to British Columbians.
She has certificates in project management and change management from UBC Sauder School of Business. In 2021, she earned her Project Management Professional (PMP) designation.
Her first love (and first career) was theatre. She is a graduate of Studio 58, one of Canada's leading professional theatre training programs.
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Shareholder, Parsons Behle & Latimer
Fran Wikstrom is a trial lawyer at Parsons Behle & Latimer in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is a Fellow and Past President of the American College of Trial Lawyers. His practice consists of complex civil litigation and white collar criminal defense. He formerly served as an Assistant United States Attorney and as U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah. He has been with Parsons Behle & Latimer since 1982.
Fran has tried cases in numerous jurisdictions involving patent infringement, trade secrets, contracts, real property, stray current, shareholder disputes, construction claims, employment discrimination, premises liability, franchises, fraud, and white collar crimes. He has argued appeals before the U.S. Tenth and Ninth Circuits and the Federal Circuit, the Utah Supreme Court, the Utah Court of Appeals, the Minnesota Supreme Court, and the Minnesota Court of Appeals. He is also a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers, and the American Bar Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Chairman of the Board of the D.C. Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
- President Emeritus of the Legal Services Corporation
- President Emeritus, Legal Services Corporation
James (Jim) Sandman is President Emeritus of the Legal Services Corporation, the largest funder of civil legal aid in the United States. LSC, established by an Act of Congress in 1974, supports 132 independent legal aid programs with more than 850 offices serving every state and territory. Sandman was President of LSC from 2011 to 2020.
Sandman practiced law for 30 years with the international, Washington-based law firm of Arnold & Porter. He served as the firm's Managing Partner for ten years. Immediately prior to joining the Legal Services Corporation, he served as General Counsel of the District of Columbia Public Schools. He is a past President of the 110,000-member District of Columbia Bar.
Sandman is Chairman of the Board of the D.C. Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and a member of the boards of the Pro Bono Institute, Washington Performing Arts, the College of Saint Rose, and Albany Law School. He is Vice Chair of the District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission and a member of the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board, the District of Columbia Bar Pro Bono Committee, the American Law Institute, the Advisory Council of the American Bar Association's Center for Innovation, and the Board of Advisors of the University of Pennsylvania Law School's Center on the Future of the Profession. He currently serves as Chair of the American Bar Association's Task Force on Legal Needs Arising Out of the 2020 Pandemic.
Sandman previously served as chair of the District of Columbia Circuit Judicial Conference Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services, as a member of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service and the ABA's Commission on the Future of Legal Services, as Chairman of the Boards of the Meyer Foundation and of Whitman-Walker Health, and as a member of the boards of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, the Neighborhood Legal Services Program of the District of Columbia, the International Senior Lawyers Project, the NALP Foundation for Law Career Research and Education, and Wilkes University.
Sandman was named one of the "90 Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Last 30 Years" by the Legal Times in 2008. The University of Pennsylvania Law School has honored him with its Alumni Award of Merit and its Howard Lesnick Pro Bono Award. He has also received the District of Columbia Bar's highest honor, the Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Award, as well as the Wiley A. Branton Award from the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Legal Rights and Urban Affairs, the Hugh A. Johnson, Jr. Memorial Award from the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia, the D.C. Commission on Human Rights' Cornelius R. Alexander Humanitarian Award, D.C. Law Students in Court's Celebration of Service Award, the Washington Council of Lawyers' Presidents' Award, the Council for Court's Excellence's Justice Potter Steward Award, Tahirih Justice Center's Wings of Justice Award, the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland's Louis Stokes Paragon Award, and the American Bar Association's Presidential Citation. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by the College of Saint Rose and has received Villanova University's Medallion Award. He has given commencement addresses at the College of Saint Rose, Villanova Law School, Rutgers Law School, and the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law.
Sandman is a summa cum laude graduate of Boston College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and received his law degree cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as Executive Editor of the law review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Max Rosenn of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Job Titles:
- Research Analyst
- Research Analyst / Communications & Public Relations
James Swearingen is a research analyst at IAALS. He assists with the collection and analysis of data as well as the preparation of reports to answer IAALS' ambitious research questions. He joined IAALS in 2017 after working in various capacities in the healthcare and fitness industries.
Swearingen received his M.S. in Health and Sport Science from University of Memphis, during which he worked as a graduate assistant in both teaching and research. In this capacity, he taught courses in resistance training and delivered guest lectures in an upper-division course in strength and conditioning. Additionally, he was actively involved in exercise science research and constantly worked on his ability to express complicated topics using conversational language to students as well as research participants. Prior to attending University of Memphis, Swearingen received his B.S. in Kinesiology from California State University, Fullerton.
Job Titles:
- Legal Assistant
- Senior Executive
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Administrative Judge ( Ret. ), 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Circuit Civil Division
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Executive Director, Berkeley Judicial Institute
Job Titles:
- Director of Legal Services and the Profession
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- CEO, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
Job Titles:
- Senior Program Legal Assistant
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Bail Blue Ribbon Commission
Justice Samour currently serves as the Chair of the Bail Blue Ribbon Commission. He was appointed Chair of that commission by Chief Justice Nancy E. Rice in 2018. The Bail Blue Ribbon Commission is charged with evaluating Colorado's pretrial practices and making recommendations for improvement to the Colorado Supreme Court. Justice Samour is also the Chair of the Colorado Supreme Court's Model Criminal Jury Instructions Committee. He is a member of the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Inn of Court, the Colorado Bar Association, the Arapahoe County Bar Association, and the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association. Justice Samour previously completed two terms on the Board of the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association.
Justice Samour was born in El Salvador. He immigrated to the United States when he was 13 years old after his family was forced to flee El Salvador during a time of political upheaval. He grew up in Littleton, Colorado, where he graduated from Columbine High School. Justice Samour subsequently graduated with honors from the University of Colorado at Denver. In 1990, he graduated Order of St. Ives from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Partner, Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell LLP
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Marketing and Public Relations
Kelsey Montague is the Associate Director of Marketing and Public Relations at IAALS. She oversees visibility for the organization, specifically focusing on organizational marketing strategy, social media, earned media, digital marketing, and analytics. She joined IAALS in June 2019.
Before coming to IAALS, Montague was Communications Manager at Anchor Center for Blind Children, tasked with leading all marketing, communications, and visibility efforts at the organization. While at Anchor Center, Montague implemented their first-ever digital marketing and public relations strategy, resulting in the organization's highest-ever record of online giving, media coverage, event attendance, and social media following in its 32-year history. Previously, Montague was Head of Marketing and Communications for Asbury Provisions and Senior Marketing Manager for Bridge Education Group in Denver, and Marketing Director for Pond Lehocky Stern Giordano in Philadelphia.
Montague obtained her BA in Journalism, Public Relations, and Advertising from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, graduating cum laude. She studied abroad in Australia at Bond University, and received a certificate in Digital Media for Print and Web from Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, PA.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Senior Director of Operations
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Judge, United States District Court for the District of Hawaii
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Executive Director, Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession
Job Titles:
- Communications and Marketing Manager
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Professor and Former Dean, University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Provost
Job Titles:
- Director of Special Projects
Job Titles:
- President, Governance Institute
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Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Chief Justice ( Ret. ), Arizona Supreme Court
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Executive in Residence, Office of the Colorado Attorney General
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- CEO, Courtroom5
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Administrative Director, Alaska Court System
Job Titles:
- Budget and Operations Manager
Job Titles:
- Member of the Southern California Externships Consortium
Vice Dean Gharakhanian is an active member of the Southern California Externships Consortium - SoCalEx - formerly, GLACE, which includes the externship directors of Southwestern, Loyola, Chapman, Pepperdine, UC Irvine, USC, and UCLA law schools. She's also been elected to co-chair the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Externships group (through spring 2021). Her previous service with AALS was with the Balance Section, including serving on the Executive Committee. Over the years, she's also worked closely with the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, most recently on the Building a Better Bar project, as well as serving on the Foundations for Practice Advisory Committee.
Job Titles:
- Member of the IAALS Board of Advisors
- Principal and Owner, Rossbach Law, P.C
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Communications / Development