Margaret Martin Barry
Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Clinical and Experiential Programs, Vermont Law School
Margaret Martin Barry is a Professor of Law and the Associate Dean for Clinical and Experiential Programs at Vermont Law School. In addition to her administrative duties, she co-supervises the joint Vermont Law School/Vermont Bar Association incubator project, teaches in the externship program and teaches simulation and doctrinal courses. Professor Barry spent most of her career teaching in the Families and the Law Clinic at Columbus School of Law, the Catholic University of America. She holds a J.D. from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. from Luther College. She is a member of the Vermont, District of Columbia, Maryland, and U.S. Virgin Islands bars.
Trevor Clarke
Director, Justice Entrepreneurs Project, Chicago Bar Foundation
Sam Clinch
Associate Executive Director, Nebraska State Bar Association
Sam Clinch is the Associate Executive Director of the Nebraska State Bar Association. Sam leads the Rural Practice Initiative, in collaboration with the University of Nebraska College of Law and Creighton University School of Law, to enhance access to lawyers in rural areas by facilitating summer clerkships for law students who will be placed with rural law firms so that they gain practice experience and a sense of life in less populated areas. He helps to prepare the annual plan and strategic vision of the Association and coordinates the Leadership Academy that nurtures effective leadership, builds relationships and raises awareness among lawyers regarding issues facing the legal profession. Sam has been active in the National Association of Bar Executives serving on the Program and Sponsorship Committees and served two terms as the Treasurer of NABE.
Davida Finger
Associate Clinical Professor, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law
Professor Finger is the founding director of the Incubator Program at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, an initiative for solo practitioners working for social justice. She is an Associate Clinical Professor and teaches the Community Justice section of the Law Clinic and the Law & Poverty course at Loyola. She joined Loyola in 2006 to work with what was formerly the Katrina clinic. In collaboration with community organizations, she has worked extensively on disaster-related litigation and policy matters focusing on government accountability in rebuilding. Clinic subject areas include landlord-tenant, subsidized housing, post-disaster housing, housing discrimination, public benefits, access to public records, and civil rights matters. For the upcoming academic year, she will serve as the Interim Associate Director of the Law Clinic and Interim Director of the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center. Prior to joining the clinical faculty at Loyola, she practiced law in Seattle.
Corina D. Gerety
Director of Research, Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS)
Corina Gerety is Director of Research at IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver, overseeing long-term research and evaluation projects across all IAALS initiatives. In collaboration with initiative directors, she spearheads the design, execution, and presentation of original research to provide answers to pressing questions about the legal system. Beyond her research responsibilities, Gerety serves in a consultative capacity to groups and committees working to improve the legal system, including the American College of Trial Lawyers Task Force on Discovery and Civil Justice and the Conference of Chief Justices Civil Justice Initiative Committee. She has also provided expertise to several states interested in instituting their own research or evaluation projects. Prior to coming to IAALS, she was an Assistant Attorney General in Colorado for several years. She was also a law clerk for Justice Nathan Ben Coats on the Colorado Supreme Court, the Honorable Paul A. Markson, Jr., and the Honorable Martin F. Egelhoff in Colorado’s Second Judicial District (general jurisdiction trial court). In addition, she spent six months in Colorado’s Office of the Presiding Disciplinary Judge, assisting the Honorable William R. Lucero to resolve alleged attorney violations of the professional rules of conduct.
Terri Ticknor Gilbert
Executive Director, Oakland County Bar Association (MI)
Terri Gilbert is the Executive Director of the Oakland County Bar Association (OCBA), the largest voluntary bar association in Michigan. Key among the many services provided by the OCBA, and of particular importance to Ms. Gilbert, are those oriented around access to justice and legal education. These services take many forms, including legal aid clinics, legal assistance for senior citizens and active pro bono partnerships with local human services and legal aid providers. A professional development program is offered to new lawyers including both seminars and individual mentoring from an established attorney, as well as the pro bono mentor match program. Prior to joining the bar association, she most recently served as the Director of Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Funding for the State of Michigan where she spearheaded juvenile justice reform efforts across the state. Ms. Gilbert has spent her professional career directing programs in both the public and private non-profit sector that serve vulnerable children and adults. She has specialized in turning around failing programs and in starting new programs. In these leadership positions, Ms. Gilbert observed first-hand the importance of access to justice and the profound impact that quality pro bono representation can have on the lives of those needing legal assistance.
Richard Granat
President, SmartLegalForms, Inc. and DirectLaw, Inc.
Richard Granat is a lawyer and a recognized expert on the delivery of legal services over the Internet. He serves as Co-Director of the Center for Law Practice Technology, Florida Coastal School of Law. Richard created one of the first virtual law firms in the United States and also was the Founder of DirectLaw, Inc., a virtual law firm platform provider. Richard also had served as Co-Chair of the eLawyering Task Force of the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association and is a liaison member of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services. In 2009, the ABA Journal recognized Richard as one of 50 Legal Rebels, throughout the Unites States - individuals who are engaged in changing the legal profession. In 2010, Richard received the Louis Brown Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Bar Association in recognition of his innovations in the delivery of legal services and in 2013, the ABA James Keane Award for Excellence in eLawyering.
Luz E. Herrera
Assistant Dean for Clinical Education, Experiential Learning, and Public Service, UCLA School of Law
Luz E. Herrera is the Assistant Dean for Clinical Education, Experiential Learning and Public Service at UCLA School of Law. Dean Herrera promotes entrepreneurial efforts to address the access to civil justice gap. Her efforts are informed by her experiences in a community law practice and her ties to neighborhood lawyers. Before entering academia, Prof. Herrera ran her own practice and founded Community Lawyers, Inc., a non-profit organization that encourages access to affordable legal services and develops innovative opportunities for legal professionals in underserved communities. These experiences have influenced her scholarship that promotes legal “low bono” service delivery models and post-graduate support programs for lawyers starting their own law firms. Prior to her current position, Dean Herrera was an assistant professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, a visiting clinical professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, a visiting professor at Chapman University School of Law and a Senior Clinical Fellow at Harvard Law School.
Robert Hirshon
Frank G. Millard Professor from Practice and Special Counsel on Developments in the Legal Profession, University of Michigan Law School
Prof. Robert Hirshon is the Frank G. Millard Professor from Practice and Special Counsel on Developments in the Legal Profession at the University of Michigan Law School. Hirshon has served as president of the American Bar Association, the Maine State Bar Association and the Maine Bar Foundation. He is also a visiting professor at the Haim Striks Law School in Israel and the Peking University of Transnational Law in China. Hirshon practiced law for 30 years in Portland, Maine, and is counsel to the northeast regional law firm Verrill Dana LLP. Prof. Hirshon served as the CEO of Tonkon Torp LLP, an Oregon law firm of 75 lawyers and also served as the COO of Stoel Rives LLP, a 370-lawyer Western regional law firm with offices in 12 cities and eight states. In addition, Hirshon is the CEO of The Wein Hirshon Charitable Foundation, which provides grants to nonprofit organizations that focus on medical and legal issues. He is the recipient of several honorary degrees and numerous state and national awards for his pro bono work and efforts in the profession.
William T. Hogan III
Chair, ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services
Bill Hogan is serving his second year as Chair of the ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services. Hogan is the founding partner of the Boston office of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP. An experience litigator, he began his legal career as an assistant district attorney for Suffolk County. His practice areas are business litigation, administrative law and sports business law. He served as outside counsel to Congressman Martin Meehan during President Bill Clinton's impeachment hearings before the House Judiciary Committee, and he has served on the transition teams of two Massachusetts state treasurers. Hogan was a member of the Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Commission and serves on the board of Suffolk University. Suffolk University Law School has awarded him an Outstanding Law Alumni Service Award. Hogan is active in the ABA, also serving in positions in the Solo, Small Firm Division including a term as the Chair. He is a long term member of the House of Delegates.
Will Hornsby
Staff Counsel, American Bar Association
Thirty-five years ago, armed with little more than his IBM Selectric, Will Hornsby hung his shingle on the day he was admitted to practice. After eight years of an unremarkable practice, and in need of affordable health insurance, Will saw an ad in a newspaper and applied for a job at the ABA. In the 27 years since, he has provided staff support for the Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, the Legal Access Job Corps Task Force, and the Commission on the Future of Legal Services, among others. Will has written a couple of books and a handful of law review articles, with titles like Gaming the System: Approaching 100% Access to Legal Services through Online Games. He has posted 1,084 tweets to his 37 followers. Will is frequently invited to speak at programs and conferences, particularly when the ABA pays his travel costs. The only awards Will has won have come with an opportunity to buy a plaque. However, in his spare time, he serves as a chair of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission Hearing Panel, is a member of the steering committee of the Justice Entrepreneurs Project incubator, and is an adjunct professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he team-teaches Practice & Professionalism, as part of a track to enable students to become better practice-ready lawyers.
Bonnie Hough
Managing Attorney, California Administrative Office of the Court’s (AOC) Center for Families, Children & the Courts
Bonnie Rose Hough is the Managing Attorney for the Center for Families, Children & the Courts of the Judicial Council of California and oversees its Access to Justice, Self Help, Family Law, Domestic Violence, and Tribal/State programs. She manages the Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Pilot project and the Equal Access Fund providing over $24 million in funding for legal services agencies. She also manages three grant programs providing $12.5 million in funding for court based, attorney supervised, self-help centers. The focus of her work is on helping courts meet the needs of people who cannot afford counsel in civil cases. She is the editor of the Benchguide for Judicial Officers on Handling Cases Involving Self-Represented Litigants. She supervises an extraordinary team that developed the California Courts On-Line Self-Help Center, a site is used by over 5 million people per year. Her team also develops document assembly programs which are currently used by over 70,000 people per year. Bonnie was a founder of the Family Law Center in Marin County and served as its executive director and lead attorney for six years. Before joining CFCC, she was in private practice in family law where she focused on offering limited and full scope assistance to persons of modest means.
Niloufar Khonsari
Executive Director and Immigration Attorney, Pangea Legal Services
Niloufar Khonsari is the executive director of Pangea Legal Services (Pangea), a nonprofit immigration legal services provider in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to founding Pangea in late 2012, Niloufar served as supervising attorney of the refugee services program at Omid Advocates for Human Rights and an immigration attorney with the African Advocacy Network. She has been practicing law as a licensed attorney since 2010, prior to which she was a Fulbright Fellow in West Africa and a student at Georgetown Law. Niloufar was able to grow Pangea through a sliding-scale affordable fee structure and because of the great demand for immigration services in court proceedings. In addition to its fees for services, Pangea has received foundation support and after two and half years, the organization now has two offices and five full time employees.
Linda A. Klein
American Bar Association President-Elect Designee
Linda A. Klein is the current president-elect nominee for the American Bar Association (ABA). She is the managing shareholder in the Georgia offices of the firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, P.C., and just completed a six-year term on the Firm's Board of Directors. Her practice includes most types of business dispute resolution, including contract law, employment law and professional liability. She has worked extensively with clients in the construction, higher education and pharmaceutical industries. In June 1997, Ms. Klein became the first woman to serve as president of the State Bar of Georgia. She was the 2010 − 2012 term chair of the ABA's House of Delegates, has served as chair of the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, chair of the Committee on Rules and Calendar of the House of Delegates, chair of the Coalition for Justice, and chair of ABA Day, the Association's Congressional outreach effort. She is a member of the Council of the ABA Section of International Law and also serves as a columnist and on the Board of Editors of Law Practice Management Magazine. She currently holds numerous board of director positions, including for Southface Energy Institute and Neighbor to Family, Inc., and serves on the executive committee of the Buckhead Coalition. She also serves on the advisory boards of Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers. She is a past president of the Board of Directors' Network, past president of the Caucus of State Bars, and past chair of both the Institute for Continuing Legal Education in Georgia and the Lawyers Foundation of Georgia.
Natalie Anne Knowlton
Director of the Honoring Families Initiative, Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS)
Natalie Anne Knowlton has been with IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver since 2006. She joined the staff full time in 2008, working first as a Research Analyst across initiatives and then as Manager of the Quality Judges Initiative. She is currently Director of the Honoring Families Initiative, where she provides legal and empirical research and analysis, facilitates collaboration among stakeholders, and undertakes national outreach and advocacy to enable continuous improvement in practices and procedures for divorce and child custody matters. During law school, she spent three years with the Denver Journal of International Law and Policy, including a year as Managing Editor on the 2007-2008 Editorial Board. Knowlton was also very involved with the school’s international criminal tribunal externship, through which she worked in Arusha, Tanzania, as a program consultant for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Rebecca Love Kourlis
Executive Director, Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS)
Rebecca Love Kourlis is the Executive Director and a founder of IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver, which is focused on continuous improvement of our legal system. She has dedicated her career, both in and out of the courts, to ensuring that the system provides justice for all. Kourlis, a daughter of the West and a Colorado native, began her legal career in her home state, first at a large firm in Denver and then at her own small practice in rural northwest Colorado. Upon appointment to the bench, she served Colorado’s judiciary for nearly two decades, first as a trial court judge and then as a justice of the Colorado Supreme Court. During her time in the courts, Kourlis witnessed a system increasingly under attack from outside forces and ultimately failing to deliver the justice she swore to uphold. So, in January 2006, she resigned from the Supreme Court to do something about it.
Tammy M. Kudialis
Director, Incubator Program at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (UDM)
Tammy Kudialis is the director of the newly formed Solo and Small Firm Incubator Program at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (UDM). In 2004, Kudialis started her solo law practice representing low and moderate income senior citizens in the areas of estate planning, family law, and public benefits. Shortly thereafter, she joined UDM to teach elder law in the clinical program. Kudialis founded UDM's Veterans Appellate Clinic and was instrumental in creating Project SALUTE, a nationally traveling program helping indigent and homeless veterans obtain their federal benefits. Under her direction, the program was recognized by the ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services for outstanding dedication to the advancement of innovation and the ABA Young Lawyers Division for the creation and implementation of the divisions’ national public legal service initiative, Project Salute: Young Lawyers Serving Veterans. Kudialis recently published “A Proposed Model for Creating a Law School Based Solo or Small Firm Incubator Program” to share ideas and information on the creation of UDM’s Incubator Program.
Dan Lear
Director of Industry Relations, Avvo, Inc.
At Avvo Dan manages relationships with the legal industry (law schools, legal tech companies, bar and industry associations). He is a technology lawyer, facilitator, and blogger. He is the cofounder of the Seattle Legal Technology and Innovation MeetUp, a self-styled "legal hacking" group that meets regularly to explore, identify, and implement unconventional solutions to law's problems, big and small. He's also blogged and written extensively about the profession and its evolution on his blog Right Brain Law and for other online and print publications. In his six years as a practicing attorney and more than ten years in the legal industry, Dan worked for two lean "NewLaw" law firms, designed and implemented an online program for procurement contract processing, and was a part of early international legal outsourcing efforts with a Fortune 500 company. He received his BA in International Studies from Brigham Young University, and his JD and MBA from Seattle University. Dan is admitted to the bar in Washington. He is also a frequent speaker and writer on legal technology trends and innovations.
Joshua Lenon
Lawyer in Residence, Clio
Joshua Lenon is an attorney admitted to the New York Bar. He studied law at St. Louis University School of Law, obtaining a Juris Doctorate and a Certificate in International and Comparative Law. During this time, Joshua clerked for the Missouri Attorney General, helping prosecute discrimination claims on behalf of Missouri citizens. Joshua also studied European Union Law at the University of Georgia School of Law's Brussels Legal Seminar. Joshua has since helped legal practitioners improve their services, working for Thomson Reuters' publishing departments in both the United States and Canada. Joshua currently serves as Lawyer-in-Residence for Clio, providing legal scholarship and research skills to the leading cloud-based practice management platform.
Diana Lopez
López Law Corporation, Santa Ana, CA
Diana López has been serving low to moderate income clients since 2009, primarily in the areas of Labor & Employment and Personal Injury but also generally in civil, landlord tenant and family law disputes. Faced with the worst job market, just six months into her first job she was laid off and opened her solo practice. Initially doing a lot of limited scope work in order to meet the needs of her client base. She now continues to offer low-bono and limited scope options to her non-contingency clients. Diana is a graduate of Chapman University School of Law and prior to that obtained a B.A. in Mathematics from Pitzer College, A Member of the Claremont Colleges. Diana is fully bilingual, bi-literate and was born and raised in Santa Ana where she attended Valley High School. She is grateful to be able to serve her community and sere on the ABA Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services where she can further learn and share ways to better serve communities that face barriers to legal access.
Forrest Mosten
Mediator, Limited Scope and Collaborative Attorney and Certified Family Law Specialist
Forrest (“Woody”) Mosten is internationally recognized as the “Father of Unbundling” for his pioneering work in Limited Scope Representation to provide affordable and understandable legal services to the underserved members of our society. He is in solo private practice as a Family Lawyer and Mediator in Los Angeles in which unbundling, collaborative practice, and other non-litigation conflict prevention activities are the foundation of his work with clients. Mosten is Adjunct Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law and has taught extensively at other law schools. He is the author of four books and numerous articles about unbundling and other issues of legal access and peacemaking. He was Convener of the first National Unbundling Conference in Baltimore in 2000, was Editor of the Family Court Review’s special issue on unbundling in 2002, on Collaborative Law in 2012, and shall serve as Editor for a special issue on Peacemaking for Divorcing Families in July, 2015.
Mark O'Brien
Executive Director, Pro Bono Net
Mark O'Brien is the co-founder and Executive Director of Pro Bono Net, a national nonprofit that increases access to justice for the poor and other vulnerable populations through innovative uses of technology, collaboration and volunteer mobilization. Founded in 1998, Pro Bono Net has built web platforms – www.probono.net, www.lawhelp.org, www.lawhelpinteractive.org, www.immigrationadvocates.org – to support public interest lawyers, build broad based justice partnerships, and empower people in need to solve their own legal problems. Prior to starting Pro Bono Net, Mark spent eight years building a nationally recognized pro bono program at Davis Polk. He has served on the advisory boards of the University of Pennsylvania Law School Public Service Program and the Public Interest Law Alliance (Ireland), and is a member of New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman's Committee on Non-Lawyers and the Justice Gap. He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he co-teaches the Technology, Innovation, and Law Practice Practicum that culminates in the “Iron Tech Lawyer” competition. Mark was named a 2012 "FastCase 50" honoree for his contributions to the legal technology field.
Catherine Sanders Reach
Director, Law Practice Management and Technology, Chicago Bar Association
Catherine Sanders Reach is Director, Law Practice Management and Technology for the Chicago Bar Association, providing practice technology assistance to lawyers. Previously she was the Director at the American Bar Association's Legal Technology Resource Center for over ten years. In 2011 she was selected to be one of the inaugural Fastcase 50, celebrating 50 innovators, techies, visionaries, and leaders in the field of law and in 2013 was nominated as a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management. She is currently serving on the ABA TECHSHOW Board and is editorial advisory board emeritus for Law Technology News. She received a master's degree in Library and Information Studies from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa in 1997. Follow her @catherinereach or connect at www.linkedin.com/in/catherinereach.
Lee Richardson
Executive Director, Legal Aid of Arkansas
In 2005, Mr. Richardson became the Executive Director for Legal Aid of Arkansas. He had previously served for two years as executive director of Legal Services of Northeast Arkansas. He serves on the National Legal Aid and Defenders Association Leadership and Diversity Committee and is an ex-officio member of the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission. Lee Richardson is a native of Melbourne, Arkansas and a life-long resident of the state. He was admitted to practice in 1987 and began his legal career in solo practice, then had a brief stint as an Inmate Attorney for the Arkansas Department of Corrections before joining Legal Services of Northeast Arkansas in 1991. During his Legal Aid career, he has served in several capacities including staff attorney, managing attorney, litigation director, and deputy director.
Rebecca L. Sandefur
Associate Professor of Sociology and Law, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Sara Smith
Research and Policy Analyst, American Bar Association
Sara Smith is a Research and Policy Analyst for the ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services. Sara administrates the Committee’s website, providing content for its Unbundling Resource Center and law firm incubator resources, among others. She also tracks innovative programs and projects that meet the unmet legal needs of the middle class for the Louis M. Brown Award for Legal Access. Sara is an active volunteer with the CARPLS Legal Aid Hotline, where she provides advice and referrals on matters of landlord/tenant law, consumer law and domestic relations. While attending Chicago-Kent College of Law, Sara clerked for Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender, and before that, the Citizen Advocacy Center, a non-profit community legal organization. While attending DePaul University for her Master’s degree in Public Service Management, Sara worked as a research assistant for the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development.
Allan Tanenbaum
Co-Chair, ABA Legal Access Job Corps Task Force
Allan Tanenbaum is Co-Chair of the ABA Legal Access Job Corps Task Force, a Presidential Initiative to advance innovations that marshal the resources of lawyers to expand access to legal services. He is the former Chair of the ABA American Bar Association's Division of Public Education, has represented the State of Georgia in the ABA’s House of Delegates, was a liaison to the Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justices’ Commission on Public Trust and Confidence and is former President of the Atlanta Bar Foundation. Tanenbaum is Of Counsel to Taylor English’s Corporate and Business practice group and former General Counsel of AFC Enterprises Inc. He co-founded and was Managing Partner and General Counsel of Equicorp Partners, an Atlanta-based private equity and advisory firm. Prior to joining AFC, Tanenbaum was in private practice for over 30 years, specializing in business transactions.
Bill Tanner
Supervising Attorney, Legal Aid Society of Orange County
William T. Tanner received a J.D. from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 1994 and a B.A. in Philosophy/Law and Society from University of California, Riverside in 1991. After graduating from law school he worked as a staff attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance representing seniors and migrant farm workers in civil and administrative matters. In 1996 Mr. Tanner went to work for the Legal Aid Society of Orange County. He is currently a Directing Attorney and oversees many programs including the LEAP (incubator program), the Legal Aid Hotline, Small Claims Court Advisory Program of Orange County, LRS and aspects of I-CAN! Further, he oversees the training of approximately thirty law students and paralegals at Legal Aid each year.