American Judges Association

AMERICAN JUDGES ASSOCIATION

2012 Annual Educational Conference

Speaker Biographies

Hon. Steven S. Alm has been a circuit court judge in Hawaii since 2001. He is the principal HOPE Probation Judge and, eighteen months ago, became the First Circuit’s Adult Drug Court judge as well. From 1994-2001 he was the United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii. He is the past president of the Hawaii State Trial Judges Association and currently serves as co-chair of the Interagency Council on Intermediate Sanctions. In October 2010 Judge Alm was named Jurist of the Year for the State of Hawaii.

Justice Joseph Bovard: Justice Bovard has been a member of the Ontario Court of Justice for 23 years. He presides in Criminal and Family Court. He is based in Brampton, Ontario, but has presided in many jurisdictions in Ontario. Justice Bovard was part of a large team consisting of the Judiciary, government officials, community members and the office of the Chief Justice (Ontario Court of Justice) that created Toronto’s Integrated Domestic Violence Court. The court started on June 10, 2011 at 311 Jarvis, Toronto. He is one of the two judges that preside in the court.Justice Bovard has worked extensively with aboriginal people in Canada and was one of the founding members of the Toronto Aboriginal Persons Court. He has worked as an educator with the Ontario Native Justice of the Peace Program since 1987. He has presided in many aboriginal communities in northern Ontario.Justice Bovard is a member of the Canadian National Judicial Institute’s international judicial education program. He is currently working with judges in Peru with regard to the effective writing of judgments.

Honorable Jerry Bowles presides as a Circuit Court Judge in Jefferson Family Court in Louisville, Kentucky. From 1991 to 1996, Judge Bowles initiated and served as Director/Chief Prosecutor of the Jefferson County Attorney’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit. Prior to that, Judge Bowles was a private practitioner specializing in family law and domestic relations and a trial attorney with the Jefferson County Public Defender’s Office. A nationally known expert in domestic violence, he served as vice-chair of the Kentucky Governor’s Council on Domestic Violence, chairs the Louisville Domestic Violence Prevention Coordinating Council, chairs the Louisville Metro Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee and serves as a technical advisor to the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. Judge Bowles is also a member of the American Judges Association’s Domestic Violence Committee and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. Judge Bowles lectures, writes and consults throughout the United States on issues relating to domestic violence and has served on a number of task forces and coordinating councils charged with addressing issues of domestic violence. He received his Juris Doctorate degree from the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville in 1982.

Ann E. Brenden is an Administrative Law Judge with the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. Ann graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 1978 and from Drake University Law School in 1981. She was in private practice from 1981-1985. Ann served as an Assistant Iowa Attorney General from 1985-2006, as a staff attorney and Division Director for the Criminal Appeals Division and as a Prosecuting Attorneys trainer. She is the co-author of Persuasive Computer Presentations – The Essential Guide for Lawyers (ABA 2003) and the editor of several publications for county attorneys.

Courtney Bryan is the Project Director of the Midtown Community Court, a demonstration project of the Center for Court Innovation. She has held several positions at the Center both before and after receiving her law degree, including in the domestic violenceand community court technical assistance teams, and at the Crown Heights Community Mediation Center.Before returning to the Center in 2008,she was acriminal defense attorney with The Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn, New York. Previously, she was a staff attorney at the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women, an organization that provides technical assistance to criminal defense attorneys representing battered women defendants. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia and Temple University School of Law.

Kevin Burke is a District Judge in Hennepin County, Minnesota. The Hennepin County District Court has 62 judges and more than 750,000 cases filed per year. Judge Burke was elected for four terms as Chief Judge and three terms as Assistant Chief Judge. From 1991 – 1996 he served as the Chair of the Conference of Chief Judges. He chaired the State Board of Public Defense, and was a leader in the effort to improve and expand the state’s public defender system.Judge Burke has been named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the history of Minnesota by Law & Politics magazine. In 1996 he was named a Toll Fellow. The Toll Fellowship identifies emerging state leaders from all three branches of government. In 1997 he received the Director’s Community Leadership Award from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 2002 the NationalCenter for State Courts awarded him the Distinguished Service Award. In 2003 he was selected as the William H. Rehnquist Award recipient by the NationalCenter for State Courts. The Rehnquist Award is presented annually to a state judge who exemplifies the highest level of judicial excellence, integrity, fairness and professional ethics. He was awarded Public Official of the Year by Governing Magazine in 2004. In 2005 the Minnesota Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates named him trial judge of the year. Judge Burke teaches at the University of Minnesota and University of St. Thomas law schools. For many years he served on the faculty of the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute’s Reflective Leadership Program. He has been a speaker in 38 states as well as Abu Dhabi, Canada, Egypt, Mexico, China, India and Ireland regarding improvement in judicial administration and court leadership.Judge Burke has authored numerous articles, and is the co-author of the American Judges Association White Paper, “Procedural Fairness: A Key Ingredient in Public Satisfaction.” He presently serves on the Board of the Institute for the Reform of the American Legal System. He is a past Board member of the National Center for State Courts and the American Judicature Society.

Judge Russell F. Canan was appointed to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1993 by President William Jefferson Clinton.Judge Canan was born in New York City and attended public schools in the area. After graduating from college he worked as a health education worker at which time he assisted in setting up health clinics for migrant farm workers. He obtained his law degree from Antioch School of Law in the District of Columbia.Judge Canan served as a law clerk to the late John D. Fauntleroy, an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He also worked for the Legal Assistance Branch of the Superior Court. In 1977, Judge Canan and his classmates from Antioch School of Law, Jeffrey O’Toole, Bill Walsh, and Elkanah Burns, opened the law offices of Canan, Burns & O’Toole. His practice focused on litigation primarily in the criminal defense and civil rights fields.In 1983 and part of 1984, Judge Canan helped establish the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia, where he represented prisoners on death row. He also directed class action civil rights lawsuits. Upon returning to the District of Columbia, he returned to the private practice of law with the firm Milliken, Van Susteren & Canan, with partners now-Senior Judge Stephen Milliken, Greta Van Susteren and Karen Schneider. He was later in the private practice of law with the firm of Canan, Kiersh & Lobo with his partners, Steven R. Kiersh and Cynthia W. Lobo.Currently, Judge Canan serves as the Presiding Judge of the Criminal Division. For three years Judge Canan served as the Deputy Presiding Judge. He is Chairperson of the Criminal Advisory Rules Committee. He is the former Chairperson of the Judicial Education Committee and former Chairperson of Jury Management Committee and served on the Committee for Appointment and Retention of Magistrate Judges. Judge Canan has served in the Criminal and Civil Divisions of the court as well as the Family Court. Throughout his career, Judge Canan has served as an Adjunct Professor at the Antioch School of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, George Washington University Law School, the Washington College of Law at the American University and the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law. Judge Canan has been an instructor at the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop, and has lectured throughout the country before such groups as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Amnesty International, and the American Bar Association.

Pamela Casey, Principal Court Research Consultant of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), holds a Ph.D. in psychology. Since joining the NCSC in 1986, she has conducted numerous national-scope research and policy projects on a variety of court topics. Dr. Casey has served as Associate Director of Research and the director of the NCSC’s Best Practices Institute. She currently directs projects on access to justice issues, the use of evidence-based sentencing practices, and judicial decision making. She also supports the Access, Fairness and Public Trust and the Criminal Justice Committees of the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators in their work to develop and disseminate national policy statements and recommendations for state courts.

Judge Mary A. Celeste sits on the Denver County Court bench where she was the Presiding Judge 2009 and 2010; the first woman to hold that position in the history of that Court. She currently sits on the Colorado Advisory Committee for the United States Civil Rights Commission and is a NHTSA Judicial Outreach Liaison for Region 8. She has served as the President of the Colorado Women’s Bar Association Foundation, the President of the American Judge’s Association, and as an Adjunct Professor at the Sturm College of Law She has also served as a member of the Colorado Bar Association’s Board of Governors, the Denver Bar Association’s Conciliation Panel and the Colorado Women’s Bar Association Board of Governors. She is a graduate of Cal Western where she was the Editor- in- Chief of the law school journal. Judge Celeste has published many legal articles in various periodicals including the 2010 AJA White Paper in the AJA Court Review and was the Executive Producer of the CWBA historical video entitled Raising the Bar 2005. She is the recipient of the Outstanding Editor-in-Chief Award 1982; Human Rights Campaign Award,1994; the American Association of University Women’s Trailblazer Award, 1998; Professional Women of the Year Award, 2002 from the Colorado Business Council, the Judicial Excellence Award from the Colorado Women’s Bar Association, 2006; the Judicial Excellence Award from the Denver Bar Association, 2006, the Education Award from the American Judges Association, 2007; the Colorado Humanities Award 2008; the Mary Lathrop Award 2011 from the Colorado Women’s Bar Association, and, the Judge William H. Burnett Award from the American Judges Association 2011.

With over 1 million cookbooks sold, Holly Clegg, cookbook author and spokesperson, is the expert on easy healthier recipes through her best-selling trim&TERRIFIC® cookbook series, including specialized books, trim&TERRIFIC® Diabetic Cooking with the ADA and Eating Well Through Cancer. Holly has appeared on Fox & Friends, NBC Weekend Today, QVC, USA Today and The Huffington Post. Holly has partnered with Wal-Mart and has been a spokesperson for Louisiana Sweet Potatoes, Reynolds, Teflon and others. She offers a phone application, Mobile Rush-Hour Recipes, bringing her signature trim&TERRIFIC® recipes to user’s finger tips to help solve the dinner dilemma. Visit and

Lynda M. Connolly is Chief Justice of the Massachusetts District Court, overseeing 158 judges, 733,000 cases in 62 locations. She serves as a key advisor to the Trial Court on matters of court policy, government relations, and crisis management. Judge Connolly co-chaired the Trial Court’s Fiscal Task Force, its Court Relocation Committee, and chaired the Supreme Judicial Court’s Budget Advisory Committee. She has led the successful effort to introduce a culture of accountability to the Judicial Branch including the introduction of performance metrics as well as a comprehensive program of professional development for judges including peer review and support.Chief Justice Connolly serves as an adjunct faculty member at New England School of Law, Suffolk Law School and Boston College and has served as a guest lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Patti Cross:After taking her first family law course at the University of Toronto’s law school, Patti was hooked. Her professional career has focused on family courts. Patti articled and worked for the Office of the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario, before moving to her current position as the Family Counsel for the Office of the Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice. She has worked as family counsel for the Senior Justice of the Family Courts (S.C.O.) and with the Family Rules Committee. Today, she advises the Chief Justice and the OCJ Advisory Committee on Family Law on policy and legislative issues and other matters of interest to family judges. She was the co-chair for the AFCC Ontario’s Coordinating Committee to establish the AFCC Ontario and was the chapter’s first President. She also serves on the parent AFCC Chapter Committee as the Chapter Liaison. She is also a proud mommy of her eight year old daughter, Maggie.

Aubrey Fox is the director of Strategic Planning at the Center for Court Innovation. In November 2011, he launched the Centre for Justice Innovation, an institution that seeks to promote thoughtful criminal justice reform in the United Kingdom by focusing on the use of demonstration projects. Prior to that, Aubrey was the project director of Bronx Community Solutions, a one-of-its-kind initiative that seeks to meet the ambitious goal of changing a large and tradition-bound public agency's approach to low-level crime. Finally, he is the co-author of Trial & Error in Criminal Justice Reform: Learning from Failure (Urban Institute Press, 2010).

Hon. Thomas Gove,B Commerce (UBC); LLB (UBC) 1973, Called to BC Bar 1974; Private practice in Vancouver 1974 – 1990. Practice include criminal and youth defence work as well as representing the BC child welfare authorities in protection proceedings; Membership in many youth offender organizations ;Taught programs training probation officers, social workers and related professionals; Consulted on youth justice and children’s issues to Province of BC and Canada; Member of Provincial and National Councils of the Canadian Bar Association; Appointed Judge of the Provincial Court of British Columbia 1990; Jurisdiction includes criminal, youth, children and civil; May 1994 – December 1995 was the Commissioner of Inquiry appointed by the Government of BC – Gove Inquiry Into Child Protection – that resulted in the redesign of BC’s child and youth systems; Spoken at many conferences across Canada and the United States on child welfare reform; Organized and presented educational programs for the BC Provincial Court as well as through the National Judicial Institute; Appeared on several occasions as a witness before House of Canada and Senate Committees on children and youth issues; Since early 2006 worked on the creation of Canada’s first community court and have been the presiding Judge at Vancouver’s Downtown Community Court since it opened in September 2008; Honours.

Rebecca Thomforde Hauser, Associate Director, Domestic Violence Programs,at the Center for Court Innovation, assists jurisdictions nationally to plan and implement Domestic Violence, Integrated Domestic Violence, Sex Offense and Youthful Offender Domestic Violence Courts. Before coming to the Center, Ms. Thomforde Hauser was a Victim Witness Advocate at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in Boston, MA, providing crisis intervention, case management, and court advocacy to domestic violence victims as well as other victims of violent crimes. While in Boston, Ms. Thomforde Hauser also worked at Safe Havens: The Interfaith Partnership Against Domestic Violence, creating curricula and coordinating a year-long training domestic violence education program for clergy and laity from Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations throughout the greater Boston area. Ms. Thomforde Hauser graduated from Earlham College, where she received a Fulbright Scholarship, and Boston University School of Theology.

Georgeann Herbert is Senior Vice President of Content and Community Engagement at Detroit Public Television, and has spent more than 40 years as a broadcast reporter, anchor, and manager in Virginia, Chicago, and Detroit. A graduate of the University of Virginia and one-time law student, she oversees local content development for DPTV and helps community organizations tell their stories more effectively. A fervent amateur musician, she has spent time the last two summers playing side-by-side with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as part of their “Rusty Musicians” program.