2022 Helsinki Conference Speaker Biographies

Conference Agenda


 

Nail Rafisovich Akhmetzakirov

Mr. Nail Akhmetzakirov is the Head of the Judicial Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

He is a Member of the International Council under the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

He is a Honorary Professor of the Academy of Law Enforcement Agencies under the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

He is also a member of the Republican Budget Commission.

Work experience: 

  • Service in the district and regional Prosecutor's Office of the East Kazakhstan region;
  • Service in various senior positions in the Prosecutor General's Office;
  • Service in senior positions at the Academy of Law Enforcement Agencies under the Prosecutor General's Office;
  • Head of the Academy of Law Enforcement Agencies under the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
  • Deputy Head of the Department of Law Enforcement System of the Presidential Administration.

 


 

 

Hon. Marcelo López Alfonsín

Marcelo López Alfonsín is the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals in Contentious Administrative, Tax and Consumer Relations of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

He is a lawyer with a PhD in Law (Orientation in Constitutional Law) and a Master´s in Human Environment.

He is a professor of “Elements of Constitutional Law”, “Natural Resources Law and Environmental Protection”, and “Human Rights and Guarantees” at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), and “Constitutional Law” at the University of Palermo (UP). He also is a professor of Graduate Careers on Constitutional Law, Natural Resources Law, Environmental Law, the Master´s in Magistracy of UBA, the Doctorate Careers of UBA, and John F. Kennedy University, and the Judicial Training Center of the Superior Court of Justice of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.

He is a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and serves as Honorary Secretary of the Institute of Environmental Policy of the Academy National Institute of Moral and Political Sciences in Argentina.

Marcelo López Alfonsín is the author of numerous publications on issues of constitutional law, human rights, consumer law and users, and environmental law.

 


  

Yasser Mohammed AlSudais

Positions

Deputy Minister for Development and Planning
Vision Realization Office Head
Business Office Director
General Supervisor of the Judicial Training Center

 

Education

Master's Degree in Business Administration
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering
Stanford Executive Program

 


 

Raaid Sulieman Alsultan

Positions:

Supervisor of General Department of Analysis and Decision Support
Artificial Intelligent Unit Supervisor
Enterprise Architecture Manager

 

Education:

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science

 


  

Jeffrey A. Apperson, USA

Mr. Apperson is currently the Vice President for International Relations at the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), an organization that has the mission to improve judicial administration in the courts of the United States and courts throughout the world. He has taught courses on case management, strategic planning, and systems management in approximately 20 countries.  During Mr. Apperson’s tenure with NCSC his duties included, among other things, the following Judicial Governance activities as well as his experience with Judicial Conference Committees of the United States:

  1. Assisted in development of Strategic Plan for Ministry of Justice for establishment of new Judicial Council for Mongolia. Recently worked with new councils on training plan for court managers and new judge training. Oversaw court assessment project in Iraq. 
  2. Collaborated with the National Judicial Council of Brazil to establish restorative justice and court management capacity programs.
  3. Supported National Judicial Council of Nigeria’s national case management project.
  4. Introduced court management reform policy proposals to the Plenary Council of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 
  5. Addressed Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan at annual Judicial Conference on court governance and court management.
  6. Served Judicial Conference of U.S. as member of advisory committees on budget, technology, finance, Multi District Litigation and case management.
  7. Have met with members of Judicial Councils of Philippines, Kenya, Bulgaria and South Africa, Honduras, Argentina, Mexico, regarding court management improvement. 
  8. Oversaw finance and budget transition reorganization report for Supreme Court of Trinidad and Tobago. 
  9. Served on the formational Expert Workgroup for the UNODC Global Judicial Integrity project.
  10. Served on UNDP Istanbul Principles Expert Workgroup on Transparency and Public Trust.
  11. Officiated Ceremony for UNICTY legacy recognition at the International Court of Justice. 

Mr. Apperson co-founded and has served as president and CEO of the International Association for Court Administration (IACA) and helped establish the International Journal for Court Administration. Mr. Apperson is currently Chairman of the International Institute for Court Excellence in The Hague. Mr. Apperson served as a Clerk of Court for U.S. Courts and Attorney Advisor to the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts for 27 years and served as Chief of Court Management for ICTY in 2006. He has recently served as an advisor for the merger of ICTY and ICTR case management systems. Mr. Apperson also served as president of the Federal Court Clerks Association and National Conference of Bankruptcy Clerks. He is also a member of the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court.

 


  

Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Ivor Archie 

Mr. Justice Ivor Archie holds the distinction of being the youngest person to become Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago, having been appointed, the country’s eighth Chief Justice at the age of 47 in 2008.  In his role, he has provided the leadership and stewardship of an organisation which has been transforming to meet the demands of a dynamic and changing judicial environment. 

In the execution of his duties as Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Ivor Archie has been at the forefront of spearheading many initiatives geared towards the promotion and advancement of the administration of justice in Trinidad and Tobago. These include the widespread application of information communication technologies in the courts, innovations ranging from Maximum Sentence Indication hearings in the Criminal Justice courts, the implementation of new criminal proceedings rules, to the adoption of drug treatment courts and the introduction of a Juvenile Youth Court and Alternative Dispute Resolution in Civil Courts which embrace the Restorative Dialogue concept as a feature of their design and goal.  This is all aimed at enhanced collaboration with stakeholders in the justice sector, and the creation of a business model approach. 

An accomplished academic, The Honourable Chief Justice is the holder of degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Law. He initiated his tertiary education at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, where he obtained his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering (Upper Second Class Hons.), following which he entered the University of Southampton where he gained an Upper Second Honours degree in Law.  From there, he proceeded to the Hugh Wooding Law School in St Augustine, where he obtained his Legal Education Certificate and received the award for the most outstanding performance during the two-year programme. He was admitted to the Trinidad and Tobago Bar in 1986. Mr Justice Ivor Archie’s erudition has brought to the bench varied experience in the construction and oil and gas industries as well as a broad litigation background.

The Honourable the Chief Justice’s early legal career included service at the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, but he also spent a significant part of his professional career in the service of the Governments of Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Cayman Islands in the northern Caribbean. In the Cayman Islands, he served first as Crown Counsel and Senior Crown Counsel from 1990 to 1995, and then as Solicitor General from 1995 to 1998.  He also acted as the territory’s Attorney General on a number of occasions. He returned to Trinidad and Tobago in 1998 when he was appointed a Judge of the country’s Supreme Court, followed by his meteoric ascension, six years thereafter as a Justice of Appeal in 2004.

As Chief Justice, Mr Justice Ivor Archie is also President of the Court of Appeal of Trinidad and Tobago and The Trinidad and Tobago Judicial Education Institute, and Chairman of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission, the body responsible for the selection of persons to serve on the Bench. The Honourable Chief Justice is also a trained mediator. 

Mr Justice Ivor Archie interests range from theology to lawn tennis, the Honourable the Chief Justice is also a member of the well-known Lydians choir. He is married to Denise Rodriguez Archie, a Chartered Accountant and they have two children, Dr Chinyere Archie and Mr Sean Archie. 

 


  

Amal Arfaoui

Amal serves as Justice and Human rights program Coordinator in UNDP Morocco. She is a senior advisor with a record of accomplishment of almost of 12 years overseeing interventions, providing strategic advice, and programming priorities in support of justice reform and gender equality across North Africa. She served in advisory roles to international NGOs in the region, and United Nations agencies, including UNDP and IOM.  Prior to that, she held positions as judge in the administrative court of Tunisia, and she was lawyer with international law firm. 

Amel is a member of the international association of women judges (IAWJ), and IACA. She also serves as member of the North African coalition for women’s access to justice. And was nominated by the Institute for African Women in law IAWL, as a “Woman to Watch in law” Amandla series.

She holds a master's degree in legal, political, and social sciences and a master's degree in public and financial law from the University of Carthage, Faculty of Legal, Political and Social Sciences of Tunis. She also holds a project management certificate from Darden School of Business, University of Virginia. 

 


 

Zamirbek Kuramaevich Bazarbekov

Date of birth 14 December 1957
Nationality of Kyrgyz
Higher legal education, graduated from the Kyrgyz State National University in 1989
Specialty Jurisprudence
Languages Kyrgyz, Russian


Awards, Career

Year of admission and care

Name of the company,
organizations, institutions
Position
1990-1993 Ak-Suu district prosecutor's office of Issyk-Kul region;
Issyk-Kul Regional Prosecutor's Office
Investigator;
Senior Investigator
1993–1995

Office of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic

Referent

1995–1997 

Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic Senior Consultant of the Department of Citizens'
Complaints and Letters
1997–2005

Suzak District Court of Jalal-Abad region; 

Ak-Suuy District Court; Karakol City Court

Judge;
Vice-chairman
2005–2006   Issyk-Kul Regional Bar Association  Attorney
2006-2016  Balykchy City Court  Judge

President of the Court

 2011-2014  Council for the Selection of Judges of the Kyrgyz Republic

 

Councillor
Chairman
2016-2020  Chui Bar Association  Attorney
from 27 November to

16 December 2020

Disciplinary Commission under the Council of the Judiciary

 Chairman
from December 16, 2020, to June 2, 2021 Administration of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic Head of the Department of Judicial Reform and Legality
from June 2, 2021, to

February 1, 2022

Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic Judge
from February
2, 2022 
Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic  Chairman

 


 

Elaine Borakove, President 

Elaine Borakove is President of The Justice Management Institute (JMI). She has more than 30 years of experience working with state and local justice systems in the United States and has extensive national and international experience with state and local courts. Her work has focused on helping justice systems design and implement research-based strategies for improving the administration of justice, developing performance measures and system assessments, and conducting organizational workload assessments. 

Elaine’s work includes research and evaluation, training, and technical assistance to help justice professionals implement research-based policy and practice. She has worked in Abu Dhabi for the Ministry of Justice and in British Columbia, Canada to help assess prosecutor work and to calculate resource needs. She also developed a training manual for the judiciary in the Ukraine on weighted caseload studies and has consulted with prosecutors in Japan and Australia on workload assessment. Elaine is recognized as one of the nation’s leaders in workload assessment methodology. Current international work includes assisting with the development and implementation of model courts in Sri Lanka.

Over the years, Elaine’s work has also been focused on systemic improvement to promote coordinated and effective justice policy and to address access to justice issues. She has conducted extensive research on the utility and effectiveness of criminal justice coordination across the different sectors of the justice system. Her work has emphasized the practices of effective case management, use of technology to reduce barriers to justice system access, elevation of procedural fairness and procedural justice principles in criminal justice, and effective alternatives to adjudication and incarceration.

Elaine has authored numerous publications and reports on criminal and juvenile justice issues justice system for both federal, state, local, and foundation clients, and is co-editor of The Changing Role of the American Prosecutor (SUNY Albany Press, 2008).  She has authored numerous book chapters on prosecution and related topics including one published in Visions for Change: Criminal Justice for the 21st Century (Prentice Hall, 2009).  Her work has also been published in a number of journals include Victims and Offenders, International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, Forensic Journal of Nursing, and the American Journal of Criminal Justice. Elaine has a Master’s degree in Sociology and Criminology and completed course in the Administration of Justice Ph.D. program, both at George Mason University.

 


 

Tom Bruton

Tom Bruton was appointed Clerk of Court for the Northern District of Illinois on January 1, 2012.  The Northern District of Illinois is headquartered in Chicago and is the third largest federal court in the country with its 22 district judgeships, 10 senior district judges and 14 magistrate judges.  The Clerk’s Office consists of over 150 staff members, 27 court reporters and two staff interpreters.  

Tom began his career in the Federal Courts in 2004 as the Property and Procurement Administrator for the Northern District of Illinois.  From 2004 through 2011, he oversaw the Budget, Space & Facilities and the Procurement Department for the Court. 

Tom has been a member of the Federal Court Clerk’s Association (FCCA) since 2005 and has been a member of the FCCA Board of Directors since 2009.  In 2012, Tom was elected to serve as President-Elect of the FCCA.  In August 2015, Tom was sworn in as President of the FCCA for a two-year term.  

In 2018, Tom was appointed as the Vice President for Associations of the International Association for Court Administration (IACA).  In this position, Tom serves as a member of the Executive Board and has the primary responsibility for identifying, connecting with and maintaining relationships with other associations and bodies connected, directly or indirectly, with justice and courts.  In Fall of 2022, Tom will be appointed the Chief Executive Officer for IACA.   

Tom graduated from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota with honors in 1999, majoring in Criminal Justice and Political Science.  In 2014, Tom graduated from the Michigan State University Judicial Administration Program after submitting a capstone paper entitled, “Establishing a Succession Planning Program in a Federal Court Clerk’s Office.” Tom has presented this program at conferences and meetings.  Tom has been on several hiring panels for court executives and has worked on court executive compensation issues.

 


 

Michael L. Buenger 

Michael Buenger is the Executive Vice-President and Chief Operation Officer for the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). He assumed his position on October 5, 2018. Prior to joining NCSC in 2018, Mr. Buenger held several executive leadership positions in state courts and internationally over a 30-year career. He previously served as the Administrative Director of the Supreme Court of Ohio from 2015-2018. He has also served as a state court administrator for South Dakota (1995-2000) and Missouri (2000-2007). He worked for the NCSC as a senior rule of law advisor in Kosovo. (2007-2010). Mr. Buenger has consulted on rule of law projects in Macedonia, Egypt and Turkey. He assisted the United Nations Development Program on drafting the implementation measures for the Istanbul Declaration on Judicial Transparency.

Mr. Buenger holds a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from the University of Dayton (1983), a Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from the St. Louis University School of Law (1989), and an LLM in Public International Law, with distinction, from Brussels School of International Studies (2011). He is a co-author and contributor to books on the American court system, American federalism, the law of interstate agreements, and the politics of international law. He has published articles examining state constitutional law, state courts, judicial-legislative relations, human rights, and public international law.

 


 

Dr. Tim Bunjevac

  • Australian court administration expert and scholar

  • Court system advisor to Minister of Justice

  • Established people-centered courts in Australia

  • More than 10 years as a trial attorney

  • Professor of law at RMIT University, Melbourne

  • Community Engagement Advisor, EWMI & USAID Georgia

 


 

Justice Buwaneka Aluwihare PC

Upon being called to the Bar in 1982, after a brief practice at the unofficial Bar, joined the Attorney General’s Department in 1983 as a State Counsel and served the Attorney General’s Department for thirty-years. Served in the Criminal Division and held the position of Additional Solicitor General in 2013. In the same year, was conferred ‘silk’ and appointed as a President’s Counsel. 

In 1989, was enrolled as a solicitor of England and Wales and in 2004 successfully read for the master’s degree (LLM) at the University of London (Queen Mary College).

In 2001, worked for the United Nations as a Prosecutor in East Timor, prosecuting before the Serious Crimes Panel in war related crimes. In the year 2015, was sworn in as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Fiji Islands and to date preside in the Supreme Court of Fiji as a visiting judge.

Functioned both as an examiner and lecturer in Law of Evidence at the Sri Lanka Law College from 2005 up to the appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court in 2013. Also functioned as a visiting lecturer/examiner at the Kothalawela Defence University in International Humanitarian Law.

Whilst at the Attorney General’s Department served as a legal consultant to both, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka as well as the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (Financial Intelligence Unit). On several occasions represented Sri Lanka as a part of the country’s delegation at the UN Human Rights Council Sessions in Geneva.

In addition to performing the duties as a Judge of the Apex court, function as a member of the Judicial Service Commission which is the constitutional body charged with the administration and disciplinary control of the minor judiciary/ courts. Member of the Board of the Judges Training Institute and a member of the Council of Legal Education.

 


 

Natalia Chumak

Natalia Chumak is Deputy Head of State Judicial Administration Office in the city of Kyiv (Ukraine) overseeing the administration of Kyiv courts. She was born in 1973. She has Master Degree in Law. She has been in public service for 30 years and in court administration for 13 years.

Before being promoted to the State Judicial Administration office she was a court administrator of Kyiv region Appellate Court dealing with case-flow management, budgeting, operational and organizational support etc. In 2016, she was elected Board Chairwoman of the “Court Management Institute” NGO. In this capacity she is promoting best practices and innovations in court administration throughout Ukraine.

As a trainer for the National School of Judges of Ukraine she contributed to the development and implementation of training programs for court administrators in communication, court exсellence, international experience of court administration, competences of court administrator, issues of client-orientation of courts, access to justice for people with disabilities and HR management.

In addition to teaching at the School of Judges she is part of the faculty team for the Michigan State University (MSU) Judicial Administration Certificate Program in Ukraine. Together with Dr. Tim Dibble, she teaches the course "Components of the Court and Management of the Movement of Cases".

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Judicial Administrators of Ukraine "NewsLetter of the Court Management Institute".

Initiator of creation and leader of working group on accessibility to justice of persons with disabilities and population groups with reduced mobility was created.

In 2016, she participated in the 11th IACA Сonference in The Hague as а speaker. She is also a participant in the IACA-NACM Annual Conference in Washington in 2017. In 2019, she participated in the 14th IACA Сonference in Nur-Sultan.

You can reach her at e-mail: [email protected] tel.: + 38 067 782 70 33

 


  

Marc A. Giroux

Marc A. Giroux was appointed Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs on June 21, 2017, and reappointed on June 21, 2022.

As Commissioner, he manages a budget of $700 million, and supports more than 1200 federally appointed judges as well as 1000 retired judges and their survivors. He administers the Judges Act and oversees, amongst other things, the appointment process to the Supreme Court of Canada and the federal judicial appointments process on behalf of the Minister. At the current time, he also serves as the Interim Executive Director and Senior General Counsel at the Canadian Judicial Council.

Throughout his career, Mr. Giroux has held various positions within the federal government, including those of Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Canada, Judicial Affairs Advisor to the Minister of Justice, and Chief of Staff to the Minister for International Cooperation. Prior to being appointed to his current position, he was Deputy Commissioner for Federal Judicial
Affairs.

Amongst other things, he has headed Canadian judges’ delegations in several international cooperation projects, including some in Mexico, China, Jamaica, Russia, and Ukraine; appeared before various parliamentary committees; been a panelist at numerous conferences; and lectured at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa. He has significant management experience, and has acquired expertise in the areas of judicial independence, conduct, education and appointment.

Mr. Giroux was called to the bar in 1994 after having graduated from the Faculty of Law, and previously the Faculty of Arts, of the University of Ottawa. He is a member of the Law Society of Ontario, the Canadian Bar Association, the Association des juristes d’expression française de l’Ontario and the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice.

 


 

Andrew Grosso, Esquire

Andrew Grosso is the principal attorney with Andrew Grosso & Associates, in Washington, D.C., in the United States.  He is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in Tampa, Florida, and Boston, Massachusetts.  In addition to being an attorney, he holds Master of Science degrees in both physics and computer science.   Mr. Grosso’s practice includes the civil prosecution of fraud committed against governments, representing private whistleblowers under federal and state False Claims laws that authorize whistleblower lawsuits on behalf of those governments.  He also litigates and advises on matters involving high technology, computers, and the Internet.   

Mr. Grosso has previously served on the Council for the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Criminal Justice Section, and now chairs that Section’s Subcommittee on Computer Crime. Previously he twice chaired the ABA’s National Institute for CyberLaw.  He is a member of the national policy committee for the United States of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and chairs its Law Committee.  He been a member of the Committee for the International Freedom for Scientists for the American Physical Society (APS); and is currently he is a member of the Governing Board of the International Law Association.

 


  

Judge Markiyan Halabala

Judge Markiyan Halabala was born in 1981 in Lviv, Ukraine. In 2004 he graduated from Ivan Franko Lviv National University, and in 2013 got a Ph.D. in criminal law. After University, he worked as an attorney-at-law. He has extensive experience in client representation in high-profile cases, e.g., representing victims in the International Criminal Court. He also provided expertise on judicial reform, vetting of public officials and judges, and anticorruption for non-governmental organizations, including in cooperation with international-funded projects. From 2014 to 2015, he was the Deputy Chair of the Interim Special Commission for Vetting (Lustration) of Judges – an ad hoc institution for the review of judicial performance during the Revolution of Dignity of 2014. In 2019 he was appointed as a judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court.

 


 

Pamela Harris, Maryland State Court Administrator, President-Elect International Association for Court Administration

Pamela Harris was appointed by Chief Judge Barbera as the first female Maryland State Court Administrator in August 2013 following a 24-year career as the Trial Court Administrator for the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, the most populous region in Maryland.  Ms. Harris is committed to infusing evaluation-based practices into every aspect of court administration so that quality initiatives achieve intended results while meeting the needs of court personnel and the public the judiciary serves.  As the State Court Administrator for the Maryland Judiciary, she is responsible for a $700 million dollar budget and approximately 4,500 employees.

Ms. Harris is a Fellow of the National Center for State Courts’ Institute for Court Management (ICM). She currently serves on the ICM Board of Advisors and has taught national programs on ethics, leadership, and differentiated case management. Ms. Harris served a four-year term on the Board of Directors of the National Center for State Courts and continues serving on their International Programs Advisory Committee.  In 2021, she was inducted into the Warren E. Burger Society.

Her international experience includes serving as President of the Maryland International Coordinating Council, Inc. as well as serving on various board positions on the International Association for Court Administration (IACA) and recently nominated as its next President-Elect.  She previously served on the Board of the Russian American Rule of Law Consortium (RAROLC) where she worked for more than a decade promoting the rule of law and improving the capacity of local Russian legal institutions to implement reform prior to the current state of matters. She also served on the Maryland International Sister States Program, Legal Affairs Committee within Maryland Office of the Secretary of State.   She has been active internationally with various rule of law initiatives in Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador, India, Morocco, Russia, Sri Lanka, Ukraine and has professionally hosted numerous foreign delegations in Maryland. She also serves on the Board of the International Institute of Justice Excellence (The Hague). She has spoken internationally on strategic planning, court and case management, and specialized courts. She has been active in various rule-of-law initiatives in Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Morocco, Russia, Sri Lanka, and the Ukraine. 

She was elected to serve on Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) as a Board Director for a three-year term, followed by an additional year; Chaired Court Statistics Project through 2021; and continues to serve on the CCJ/COSCA Security Committee. She also serves on the Justice Management Institute Board (JMI). 

She is a Past President of the National Association for Court Management (NACM), where through her professional membership in the organization, served on the Professional Development Advisory Committee (PDAC) which originally developed the NACM Core Competencies and Curriculum Guidelines. Thereafter, she also participated the update of the competencies; The Core; chaired the Ethics Committee which developed the original NACM Code of Ethics; and chaired the Membership Committee. 

She previously held executive board positions including President of the Mid-Atlantic Association of Court Management (MAACM), an organization committed to the fair and effective administration of justice through improved management of courts.

 


 

Virginia M. Hernandez Covington

Virginia M. Hernandez Covington was appointed a United States District Court judge for the Middle District of Florida in 2004, a position with lifetime tenure.  As a district judge she has presided over hundreds of cases involving complex and international matters.  Previously, Judge Covington served on Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal, the state intermediate appellate court.  Judge Covington is a graduate of the University of Tampa, where she also earned an MBA, as well as a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center.  Most of her career, close to 20 years, was spent as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, where Judge Covington handled both civil and criminal cases as well as serving as Chief of the Asset Forfeiture Section. 

In 2021, Judge Covington received the Florida Supreme Court Federal Judicial Pro Bono Award, and last year she was one of three women inducted into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame.  Judge Covington has been recognized multiple times by bar associations, schools, civic organizations, and government entities with a variety of awards, honors, and recognitions.

Judge Covington is fortunate enough to be able to continue doing what she loves–working with colleagues throughout the world.  While still an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Judge Covington began working with law enforcement officers and prosecutors in the United States and more than a dozen countries leading training programs concerning drug prosecutions, money laundering, and asset forfeiture cases and programs.  As a judge, most of her assignments have been working with colleagues throughout Latin America, on subjects such as trial advocacy, judicial ethics, and court management.  In addition, she has worked with colleagues in numerous European countries and in Asia on receipt of evidence, arbitrations, and civil trial practices including intellectual property matters and on the criminal side involving human trafficking, intellectual property crimes, drug prosecutions, and money laundering.  She has hosted numerous groups of judges in her home district as they traveled to the United States to observe the accusatorial system of justice.

 


  

Timothy Hughes

Timothy Hughes has a legal counsel background with expertise in rule of law programming. Mr. Hughes currently serves as Senior Legal Counsel and Director of Programs for NCSC’s international rule of law projects. Mr. Hughes provides legal counsel, federal government contracting/compliance, and legal advisory services. Mr. Hughes has overseen rule of law programs implemented in Africa, Central America, Middle East, and Central Europe/Eurasia. Mr. Hughes was the project head of a USAID-funded rule of law project in Bosnia and Herzegovina focusing on judicial independence and accountability. In Bosnia, Mr. Hughes also served in a senior legal advisory capacity as Department Head for the Independent Judicial Commission (IJC), where he advised on justice sector strategic planning and the formation of a national judicial and prosecutorial council as the governance body for the judiciary. Mr. Hughes’s duties included designing and overseeing the drafting of the organic law establishing the council and its mandates, as well as operationalizing the council. Mr. Hughes was responsible for implementing a multi-year, nation-wide reappointment process for judges and prosecutors, a major undertaking to reshape and depoliticize the judiciary in the post-conflict period. As the Department Head, Mr. Hughes also oversaw the investigation of judges and prosecutors for alleged misconduct. Prior to working at the IJC, Mr. Hughes served as legal counsel to a Bosnian electoral body responsible for adjudicating electoral complaints in a series of democratic elections in the aftermath of Bosnia’s war.  Mr. Hughes practiced law in a medium-sized law firm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is an active member of the State Bar of Wisconsin and the State Bar of Virginia. Mr. Hughes holds a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin. Mr. Hughes studied law in the German language and obtained an LL.M. in European/German law from the Eberhard-Karls-Universitaet in Tuebingen, Germany. Mr. Hughes has strong proficiency in German and Serbo-Croatian (Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian) and basic proficiency in Spanish.

 


 

Guram Imnadze

Guram is the author/supervisor of up to 10 studies/reports concerning the independence of the judiciary, institutional reform of the judiciary system, drug-policy, political neutrality of the police 

and institutional organization of law enforcement agencies.

He is also: 

  • Project Coordinator in Judiciary and Democracy program – Social Justice Center;

  • Project Director “Drug Policy Research in Georgia” – Human Rights Watch;

  • Lawyer/Researcher at Social Justice Center; and

  • Guest Lecturer- Ilia State University

 


 

Elīza Kārkliņa

Elīza Kārkliņa works as information system administrator for Court administration Information system development department. At the moment the main responsibility is coordination of the new e-case portal development project as well as look after e-services proper work and development.  

 


 

Bogdan Kryklyvenko

Since June 2019, Bohdan Kryklyvenko is the Chief of Staff of the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine - a specialized court (consisting of 38 judges and 280 staff members) in the judicial system of Ukraine. Mr. Kryklyvenko holds a master's degree in law, as well as a master's degree in finance and public administration. In 2005 he began his career in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, where he worked in the Secretariat of the Government Commissioner for the European Court of Human Rights, where, in particular, he coordinated the implementation of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. From June 2012 to March 2018, he was the Head of the Secretariat of the National Human Rights Institution (Ombudsman of Ukraine). He is a human rights expert for the Council of Europe, the OSCE, and other international organizations engaged in protecting and promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms.

 


  

Dr. Tatu Leppänen

Dr. Tatu Leppänen is the President of the Supreme Court of Finland.  He lives in Helsinki, Finland, and was born in 1968.  

Education

Master of Laws 1990, Doctor of Laws 1998, University of Helsinki

Associate Professor of Procedural Law, University of Helsinki, 2002-

Specialized and Published in Procedural Law, including Civil Procedure, Law of Evidence and Insolvency Law, acted as Chair or Member in various Committees in these fields

Language skills: Finnish, Swedish, English, German

Career

President of the Supreme Court of Finland, 1 September 2019-

Justice of the Supreme Court of Finland, September 2016 - August 2019

Chief Judge, District Court of Hyvinkää, 2014-2016

Judge, District Court of Vantaa, 2010-2014

Judge, Appellate Court of Helsinki, 2010

Councellor of Legislation, Law Drafting Department, Ministry of Justice, 2000-2009

Referendary in the Parliamentary Ombudsman´s Office, 1996-1999

Researcher, Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki, 1991-1993, 1995-1999

Trained at the Bench, District Court of Helsinki, 1994

Some Other Positions

Permanent Court of Arbitration, Member 2022-

Finnish Lawyers’ Society, Board Member 2002-2014, Chair 2011-2014

 


 

Sheryl Loesch

Sheryl Loesch is the Clerk of Court for the United States Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida. 

After having served as the Clerk of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida for 18 years, Sheryl Loesch was appointed as the Clerk of the United States Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida in April 2017. Prior to her appointment as Clerk in the United States District Court, Ms. Loesch served as the Chief Deputy Clerk for the District of Kansas for three years.

Ms. Loesch began her career in the judiciary serving as the Deputy in Charge of the Jacksonville Division of the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida from 1989-1996. Ms. Loesch currently serves as Clerk liaison on behalf of the Federal Court Clerks Association to the International Judicial Relations Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. She is currently the President of the International Association for Court Administration. She is a Past President of the Federal Court Clerks Association. She has served on court management review teams and as a facilitator for the Federal Judicial Center.

Prior to working for the United States Courts, Ms. Loesch was an Assistant Dean of a college in Tampa, FL and also a faculty member.

Ms. Loesch has served as a consultant to international courts, traveling to Egypt, Montenegro, Slovenia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Namibia, Mali, and Bahrain to work on court reform projects, conduct judicial management seminars, and assist on court enhancement projects.

Ms. Loesch holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL and a Bachelors Degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences also from the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL.

A native of Pittsburgh, PA, Ms. Loesch is an avid Steelers and Pirates fan as well as a fan of the University of South Florida Bulls. In her spare time, Ms. Loesch enjoys photography, traveling, hiking, and bike riding

 


  

Hon. Mai Matar

Hon. Mai Matar obtained her law degree from University of Bahrain (2006) and holds LLM in International dispute resolution from the university of London (2013). She is a chief high court Judge with over 14 years of experience in the judiciary and is also a fellow member in the CIArb.

Ms. Matar has been a chairman of the civil and commercial court, hearing disputes concerning constructions, commodities, commercial and joint venture, banking and finance, and investor-state disputes in addition to civil law disputes. In her years of experience, she severed as a member of the committee in charge of selecting the new judges and public prosecutors. 

Hon. Mai Matar has strong interest in developing court administrations and has accordingly taken part in several related projects.

 


 

Frank Martela, PhD

Frank Martela, PhD, is a philosopher and researcher of psychology specialized in meaningfulness, human motivation and how organizations and institutions can unleash human potential. He is a University Lecturer at Aalto University, Finland, and has two Ph.D.’s from organizational research (2012 Aalto University) and practical philosophy (2019 University of Helsinki). His scientific publications have appeared in journals ranging from Journal of Personality, Nature Human Behaviour, and European Review of Social Psychology to Southern Journal of Philosophy, Metaphilosophy, Academy of Management Review, and Organization Studies. He has spoken at universities on four continents including Harvard and Stanford, written for Scientific American Mind, and Harvard Business Review, and been interviewed by New York Times, Le Monde, and New Scientist, and Discover Magazine, among other. His book A Wonderful Life – Insights on Finding a Meaningful Experience (HarperCollins 2020) has been translated to 27 languages including French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Korean, and Indonesian.

  


 

James E. McMillan

James E. McMillan is one of the world’s leading court technologists with 40 years of experience in the field. He directed the Court Technology Laboratory, founded the E-Courts Conference and was co-founder of the Courtroom 21 project at William and Mary School of Law. McMillan has provided consulting expertise in all 50 state courts in the USA and internationally to courts in more than 20 countries along with UN International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague, Netherlands and Arusha, Tanzania. He is a currently with the NCSC International Programs Division and is editor of the Court Technology Bulletin blog http://courttechbulletin.blogspot.com/.

 


  

Justice Ivan Mishchenko

Justice Ivan Mishchenko graduated with honors from the Institute of International Relations of the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University in 2002. From 2004 to 2009, he worked in the Law firm “Vasil Kisil and Partners.” Since 2006 he has had private legal practice. From 2014 he was a Managing Partner of the Law Firm “Trusted Advisors.” In 2017 he was appointed to the position of a justice of the Commercial Cassation Court of the Supreme Court. He mainly specializes n the consideration of contract and property disputes. Justice Mishchenko is among the developers of the judicial writing course for the Supreme Court Justices and is a trainer of this course which is implemented with the support of the Government of Canada and the National Judicial Institute (NJI). In September 2022, he was appointed as a member of the Selection Commission for selecting members of the High Qualifications Commission of Judges of Ukraine, an auxiliary body of the High Council of Justice. He is a Deputy-Chair of the Selection Commission. In February 2022, Justice Mishchenko joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine (93rd Brigade) after the start of the full-scale invasion of the russian federation. Currently, Justice Mishchenko combines his work in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the work in the Selection Commission.

 


  

Olha Nikolaieva

Olha Nikolaieva is a legal and judicial advisor working for the USAID Justice for All Activity. She is an expert with over 20 years of professional experience conducting legal research, monitoring and analyzing legislation, and organizing events to promote the rule of law reform. Her areas of expertise are the justice sector, constitutional reform in the judiciary, and human rights. Olha holds a master's degree in Law from the Zaporizhzhya National University and a bachelor's degree in English from the Kyiv National Linguistic University. Olha also successfully completed Arizona State University Minimasters on Leadership and Management for Development Impact. Olha is a Ukrainian National Bar Association member and a trained mediator.

 


 

Prof. Dr. Luis Maria Palma

Luis Maria Palma is the President-Elect of the International Association for Court Administration (IACA), President of E-Justicia Latinoamérica, and Director of the International Institute for Justice Excellence (IIJE).

He is a lawyer with a PhD in Political Science, a PhD in Sociology, a Doctorate and. Post PhD in Law, and a Post PhD in Fundamental Principles and Human Rights.

The State Legislature of Buenos Aires declared Luis María an “Outstanding personality in the field of Legal Sciences”.

He is a Professor at National University of La Matanza (UNLaM), National Northeastern University (UNNE), National University of Cuyo (UNCUYO), Austral University, Catholic University of Cuyo (UCCuyo), National University of Lomas de Zamora (UNLZ), San Pablo-Tucumán University.

Luis Maria has been a Visiting Faculty at the University of Florida (UFL), Université Paris Dauphine (France), State University of Tbilisi (Georgia) and the University of El Salvador (UES, El Salvador).

For over two decades, he worked in judicial modernization consulting for projects developed by UNDP, USAID, NCSC, IADB and Eurosocial (European Commission, EU) amongst other international organizations and agencies.

Luis Maria has run the National Direction of Judicial Modernization of the Ministry of Justice of Argentina and served honorarily as General Coordinator of the National Judicial Management Commission of the Supreme Court of Justice of Argentina.

Luis Maria has taught over 320 graduate courses and workshops in universities and judicial colleges of America and Europe and participated as a speaker of more than 200 national and international congresses and conferences.

He is the author and coauthor of books, articles on innovation and judicial management, economic analysis of law, international law, and public ethics.

 


  

Ilze Piševa

Ilze Piševa joined the Courts Administration of Latvia after 10 years of working in court. She has been actively engaged in e-case project mainly regarding Court information system development and user involvement.

 


 

Juthika Ramanathan

Ms. Juthika Ramanathan is Chief Executive, Office of the Chief Justice, Singapore Courts. Appointed since 1 February 2013, she oversees the administration and operations of the Singapore Courts (comprising the Supreme Court, the Family Justice Courts and the State Courts).


Ms. Ramanathan is also a member of the following:

  • Presidential Council of Religious Harmony;
  • Board of Governors of the Singapore International Foundation;
  • Committee on Fostering of the Ministry of Social & Family Development;
  • Board of Trustees of the Singapore Management University;
  • Governing Board of the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board;
  • Indian Heritage Centre Advisory Board; and
  • International Association for Court Administration (IACA),
  • Vice President of South Asia and Australia Regional Board.

Ms. Ramanathan, a former solicitor in commercial practice, received her Bachelor of Laws Degree from the National University of Singapore. She is recipient of the Public Administration Medal (Gold), a Singapore National Day Award, in 2018. Prior to Ms. Ramanathan’s current appointment, she was Chief Executive of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) Singapore between 2004 and 2013.

 


 

Loretta H. Rush

Loretta H. Rush took the oath of office as Indiana's 108th Supreme Court Justice in November 2012 after being appointed by Governor Mitch Daniels. She was retained by voters in 2014. The Judicial Nominating Commission named her Chief Justice in August 2014, and she was reappointed as Chief Justice in 2019.

Chief Justice Rush is President of the Conference of Chief Justices Board of Directors and Chair of the National Center for State Courts Board of Directors. She served as co-chair of the National Judicial Opioid Task Force, was appointed by Chief Justice John Roberts to serve as a member of the Judicial Conference Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction, and is a National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Courts’ Response to Mental Illness Executive Committee member. In addition to being a member of local, state, and national bar associations, Chief Justice Rush is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. She is an Academy of Law Alumni Fellow for the Maurer School of Law. She chairs or is a member of several commissions (including the Commission on Improving the Status of Children in Indiana and the Judicial Nominating/Qualifications Commission).

Prior to her appointment, Rush spent 15 years at a Lafayette law firm and was elected three times to serve as Tippecanoe Superior Court 3 judge. She was born in Pennsylvania and moved frequently as a child before settling in Indiana in 1972. She earned her undergraduate degree from Purdue University and her law degree from Indiana University Maurer School of Law, both with honors.

 


 

Justice Angéline Rutazana 

Justice Angéline Rutazana is a member of the Rwandan Judiciary, currently serving as the Inspector General of Courts. Previously she was the Vice President of the Commercial High Court from July 2018 to November 2019; Inspector of Courts from October 2013 to July 2018; and High Court Judge from May 2005 to October 2013. She is also a regular trainer at the Institute of Legal Practice and Development (ILPD) since 2010. Before she joined the bench, Justice Rutazana was a Lecturer of Criminal Law at the University of Rwanda for 7 years (from 1998 to 2005). She was also the President of the East African Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association from November 2017 to October 2019, and President of Rwanda Judges’ and Registrars’ Association from 2012 to 2017. Justice Rutazana holds an LLM from the University of Ottawa, Canada and an LLB from the University of Rwanda. 

  


 

David Sayles

Mr. Sayles is a Senior Court Consultant at the National Center for State Courts in the Consulting Services division. Mr. Sayles is a graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design and Planning. At the NCSC, he has 15 years of experience assessing court facility needs and assisting in the delivery of court planning projects. Additionally, over the past 15 years, Mr. Sayles has worked on a variety of court process and governance projects including: information technology strategic planning, state level judicial and staffing workload assessments, case management functional requirements, and case flow management studies throughout the country.  

As a planning analyst, David specializes in the statistical and data analysis of court workloads and court systems. He assists the court in projecting their future needs by summarizing statistical findings. The information David collects and summarizes is used to determine space needs and operational requirements in the court system. Mr. Sayles routinely has served the role of project manager to maintain project and deliverable schedules, coordinate and conduct user group interviews, meetings and presentations, facilitate client and user communication and feedback, and manage internal project staff coordination. 

 


 

Oliko Shermadini

  • Community Engagement Manager at USAID Rule of Law Program

  • Over 8 years of experience working on judicial reforms and good governance

  • Fulbright scholar, LL.M. from Wake Forest School of LawFormer Edmund. S. Muskie Professional Fellow

  • Litigation experience at Georgian courts at all levels

 


 

David W. Slayton

David W. Slayton serves as the Vice President of Court Consulting Services for the National Center for State Courts. In that role, he oversees the consulting work done for the nation’s state courts in such areas as court leadership and administration; facilities, security, and emergency preparedness; technology services; workload and resource allocation; access and fairness; children and family courts; problem-solving courts; language access; public trust and confidence; and judicial ethics. Prior to this role, he was appointed by the Texas Supreme Court to be the Administrative Director of Office of Court Administration and Executive Director of the Texas Judicial Council from 2012 to 2021. He has been employed by the judicial branch in various roles since 1998, including as the Director of Court Administration for Lubbock County, Texas, as Court Services Supervisor for the United States District Court, Northern District of Texas, in Dallas, Texas, as a trial court coordinator for the 99th District Court and deputy district clerk in Lubbock County.  David earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Texas Tech University and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Troy University.  He is a 2007 Graduate Fellow of the Institute for Court Management. David received the 2020 Mary McQueen Award Leadership Award, the 2008 Distinguished Service Award from the National Center for State Courts, and the 2010 Robert O. Dawson Indigent Defense Distinguished Service Award. He has served on the board of directors of the Conference of State Court Administrators and is a past president of the National Association for Court Management.

 


 

Sidney H. Stein

Judge Stein has been a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York by appointment of the President of the United States since 1995. He received an A.B. degree from Princeton University and a J.D. degree from Yale Law School. Following his graduation, he was a clerk to the Chief Judge of the State of New York and Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. Judge Stein was a partner in a litigation firm he founded in 1981 until his induction as a United States District Judge in 1995. Judge Stein was a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Special Commission on the Practical Operation of the Hague Convention in 2001 and was the recipient of the Stanley H. Fuld Award of the New York State Bar Association in 2003 and the Edward Weinfeld Award of the New York County Lawyers’ Association in 2012. Judge Stein is also a member of the American Law Institute, the board of directors of the Greater New York Councils of the Boy Scouts of America, and is Chair of the International Judicial Relations Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

As a federal trial judge, he presides over both civil and criminal litigations, including cases involving intellectual property; conspiracy; securities, bank, wire, and tax fraud; Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations proceedings; and bribery and official corruption matters.

Judge Stein has authored more than 900 judicial opinions and has given more than 130 lectures and presentations at a variety of professional organizations and law schools, both in the U.S. and abroad.

 


 

Kaisa Teivaanmäki

Kaisa Teivaanmäki is an appointed judge in District Court of Kainuu located in northern Finland. She got the degree of master of laws in 2008 and was trained on the bench in 2011 from where her court career started. She has since worked as an referendary in Rovaniemi Court of Appeal and as a judge in District Courts since 2014. While working in the Court of Appeal she was appointed as a member to a group planning and drafting a model for Court of Appeal’s quality assessment system, an assignment that launched her in to the world of Quality in Courts. Since then she has been an active participant to the Quality Project of the Courts in the Jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal of Rovaniemi. She has acted as chairwoman of quality working group and as quality secretary of Quality Project for several years. In 2022 she was appointed as the coordinator for quality of the Quality Project, a task that entails chairing the secretary for quality, supporting the working groups, implementing the trainings organized by the Quality Project and
editing the annual Reports on Quality.

 


  

Cristina Malai Turturica

Cristina Malai Turturic is Millennium Partners, Vice President for Technical Direction and Business Development.

Ms. Malai Turturica is an innovative and result-oriented executive leader with over 25 years of rule of law, judicial reform, and international development experience in Moldova, Kosovo, and Ukraine. She supervised the implementation of multi-million dollar judicial reform and court digitization projects in Moldova, provided strategic direction and consultancy to the Kosovo and Ukraine judiciary on their path towards judicial transparency and accountability, and worked as Legislative Research Fellow for the American Bar Association in Washington D.C. She has solid experience in legislative drafting, designing and implementing training programs for judges and lawyers, designing and supervising implementation of people-centered justice activities and model courts, grants coordination, building capacity of legal aid organizations to foster better access to justice, promoting court automation and empowering civil society to participate in democratic processes.

She co-authored the commentaries to the Judicial Code of Conduct in Moldova and is an internationally published author on rule of law and judicial reform topics. She was a speaker at several international conferences on court performance and the International Framework for Court Excellence. Cristina also has solid experience in strategic planning, project financial controls and oversight, monitoring and evaluation of project performance. She holds a Law degree from the Moldova State University, a Master of Laws degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and is a certified Project Management Professional by the Project Management Institute in the United States, which is the international golden standard in project management. Cristina is committed to working collaboratively to achieve the highest standards of quality, impact, and sustainability of the projects she supervises.   

 


 

David Vaughn 

David Vaughn is an attorney with more than 25 years of experience in designing, implementing, and evaluating legal and judicial reform projects throughout Europe & Eurasia, Africa, and Latin America. He led USAID-funded activities that furthered legislative and bar reform in Kazakhstan, supported judicial reform in Russia, and promoted women’s legal rights in Albania, Benin, Eswatini, Guatemala, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda, and South Africa. David also supervised and provided technical guidance to rule of law and commercial law reform projects in Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Morocco, Nicaragua, and Zambia. He currently serves as Chief of Party for the USAID/Ukraine Justice for All Activity that is designed to advance justice for all Ukrainians by strengthening justice systems, services, and societal engagement to deliver responsive solutions to address the legal problems and justice needs of Ukrainians. David recently coauthored an article on Launching an effective anti-corruption court: Lessons from Ukraine. He holds a J.D. from the American University Washington College of Law, as well as an M.A. in political science and B.A. in Russian from the University of Vermont that included language studies at Kharkiv National University in Ukraine. David also completed a certificate program on mediating disputes at Harvard Law School. He speaks Ukrainian, Russian, French, and Spanish.

 


 

Minttu Viitanen

Minttu Viitanen is the Managing Director, Public Services, Accenture Finland

Viitanen is the Country Lead for Public Services at Accenture Finland. In her role she leads both the delivery and sales activities for Public Sector clients in Finland. She believes people want to work for organizations that are true to their values, want to use technology for the good of people and the environment, and hold themselves accountable for doing their part in this world.

Viitanen is an eternal optimist and an encourager. The biggest learning in her career has been that it is important to use moments of failure and shortcomings for learning.

 


  

Chief Justice Richard Wagner

The Right Honorable Richard Wagner is the 18th Chief Justice of Canada. In this role, he presides over the Canadian Judicial Council, National Judicial Institute and chairs the Advisory Council for the Order of Canada. Chief Justice Wagner is currently president of the Association des Cours Constitutionelles Francophones. The Chief Justice also fulfilled his duty to serve as
administrator of the Government of Canada from January 23 to July 26, 2021. 

Born and raised in Montreal, Chief Justice Wagner earned his Bachelor of Social Science and Licentiate in Laws at the University of Ottawa. He returned to his hometown to practice law from 1980 to 2004. His areas of specialization included professional liability, commercial litigation and class action lawsuits. As a litigator the Chief Justice argued cases before every level of court in Quebec, quasi-judicial tribunals, as well as the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Canada. Throughout his legal career, Chief Justice Wagner led initiatives to help lawyers constantly upgrade their skills and knowledge, such as the creation of the Centre d’accès
à l’information juridique in 2002.


Chief Justice Wagner was appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec in 2004 and was named to the Quebec Court of Appeal in 2011. On October 5, 2012, he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. He was named the Court’s Chief Justice on December 18, 2017. At his Supreme Court welcoming ceremony, Chief Justice Wagner spoke of the need to for more transparency in the justice system, “Judges and courts must adjust and must explain who they are, what they do and how they do it.”


In that vein, the Chief Justice works very closely with the Supreme Court Registrar. The Court has introduced plain-language summaries of decisions called Cases in Brief and produces an annual report called the Year in Review. The Chief Justice now holds an annual news conference and has directed the Supreme Court, for the first time in its history, to hear cases outside Ottawa. In 2019 it traveled to Winnipeg where it heard two cases and judges conducted activities in the community. The Court has planned a similar trip to Quebec City in September 2022. 

Chief Justice Wagner is a steadfast advocate for better access to justice for all Canadians. He encourages better funding for legal aid, urges lawyers to do more pro bono work and supports structural reforms to further modernize the justice system.


As a litigator and a judge, the Chief Justice has championed civility in and outside the courtroom, “Even if people reading our decisions don’t agree with an outcome, we have to ensure they respect them. If we let emotion get the best of us, our decisions become suspect, and so do we.” Civility and collegiality were the focus of his speech at the 2019 Cambridge Lectures.

  


  

Adam Watson

Adam Watson is a Vice President of Account Management and Customer Success at Synergy International Systems, Inc. His work supports the implementation of e-Justice programs around the world through the application of Synergy’s eCase technology. He has served as Synergy’s Account Manager for the implementation of the Rwanda Integrated Electronic Case Management System since its inception in 2015. Adam has a Masters of International Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, and is a Certified Change Management Practitioner. He currently serves on the IACA Board as the Membership chair and is happy to answer questions or help you get connected with IACA!

 


 

Dr. Jay Wolfson

Jay Wolfson is the Distinguished Service Professor of Public Health, Medicine, Pharmacy and Industrial Engineering, Senior Associate Dean, Morsani College of Medicine and Associate Vice President, Health Law, Policy and Safety at the University of South Florida and is faculty at Stetson University College of Law. He researches and writes about health care law, ethics, policy, technology, safety and finance; provides research-based analyses to state and federal branches of governments; and is a health policy consultant to national and international news organizations. He won the largest Medicare fraud and abuse settlement involving a single clinician in U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) history. He holds a doctorate in public health from the University of Texas, a law degree from Stetson University College of Law, a master’s degree in public health from Indiana University, a master’s degree in history from New York University, and an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Illinois.  He was appointed Special Guardian Ad Litem for Theresa Marie Schiavo. He has been a Faculty Scholar to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a W. K. Kellogg Fellow in Health Care Finance, a Senior Fulbright Scholar at the University of Tokyo a W. K. Kellogg Fellow in Health Care Finance, Distinguished Scholar at the University at Buffalo College of Social Work, The Sebati Distinguished Scholar at the University at Albany College of Law, Distinguished Visiting Scholar at St. Louis University College of Law, and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Florida International University Honors College. He has three sons, and is married to psychologist, Dr. Olga Skalkos.

 


 

Dr. Aseel Zimmo

Dr. Aseel Zimmo works as an advisor to Chief Justice and Minister of Justice of Bahrain.  She also works in the Data Protection Authority. She specializes in civil and commercial law and has a PhD in commercial arbitration from the London School of Economics, UK. Dr Zimmo is experienced in both common and civil law jurisdictions as she studied in London and is a qualified lawyer in New York and Jordan. She taught in University of Bahrain, Royal Women University and American University of Bahrain. Dr Zimmo led the digital transformation project for the Bahraini courts as well as many legal and judicial reforms. 

 


 

Judge Albert Zogaj

Judge Albert Zogaj, currently Chairman of the Kosovo Judicial Council, is judge at the Supreme Court of Kosovo.

He was appointed judge at the Basic Court level in 2010, when he was 29 years old.

Due to his excellent performance, he was promoted to the Appellate Court after five years and then to the Supreme Court of Kosovo after ten years. The Supreme Court of Kosovo is the highest judicial authority in Kosovo and shall have jurisdiction over the entire territory of the Republic of Kosovo.

In March 2021, he was elected as a member of the KJC, while in July 2021, he was voted as the Chair of the Kosovo Judicial Council, with a three-year mandate.

Upon taking the leadership function, he has shown readiness to strengthen the judicial system and improve the efficiency of court services to solve people’s legal problems and improve their experience with the judiciary. At the first meeting chaired by him, at his request and initiative, all Council meetings are being broadcast live and are accessible to the public at real time. This is because he believes that transparency, efficiency, and better access for the citizen are the fundamentals of rule of law. 

In his role, the people-centred justice approach became the focus of the work, which led to evident positive changes, such as the highest transparent recruitment process for judges, the first ever meeting between judiciary and

civil society organizations, adoption of important strategies such as judiciary’s communication strategy, the strategy on anti-corruption and organized crime, an improved case efficiency strategy, and the regulation on work of judges, which for the first time ever introduces the use of statistics and data trending to establish workload and performance management policies and tools.  

Under his direction, the Council now has an established Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee which has already issued four opinions.

Chair Zogaj is very committed to improving public's understanding of people-centered justice approach and mindset shift that brings sustainable solutions and benefits.

He is also a supporter of innovation and digitalization for establishing robust, modernized, and efficient judicial service delivery.

Improving the availability of data and a more data-driven culture for strengthened sectoral analysis, evidence-based policymaking, and promotion of a culture of accountability and performance assessment, are his main goals in his mandate.

He is author of numerous publications and opinions such as: Manual from Judges on Writing and Legal Reasoning, Manual for Judges on Contested Procedure, Achievements, and shortcomings of the justice system in Kosovo and human rights as a precondition for integration, Comparative aspects of the definition of property, Comparative aspects of consumer protection between Kosovo and EU, Contracts, Preliminary examination of the indictments, etc.

He is married and father of three kids, two daughters and a son.