TABLE OF CONTENTS
Hon. Lynn S. Adelman ................................................. 3
Hon. Jane E. Magnus-Stinson.................................... 16
Gino J. Agnello .............................................................. 3
Prof. Jonathan Masur ................................................ 17
Prof. Douglas G. Baird ................................................. 3
Laura K. McNally ....................................................... 17
Hon. Sarah Evans Barker ............................................ 4
Hon. Robert L. Miller, Jr. .......................................... 17
Hon. Mark W. Bennett ................................................. 4
Kevyn D. Orr............................................................... 18
Laura A. Briggs ............................................................. 5
Prof. Destiny Peery ..................................................... 19
Michael T. Brody .......................................................... 5
Jennifer Rosato Perea ................................................ 19
Thomas Campbell ......................................................... 5
Julie B. Porter ............................................................. 19
Hon. Ruben Castillo ...................................................... 6
Hon. Richard A. Posner ............................................. 20
Johanna M. Christiansen ............................................. 6
Hon. Steven W. Rhodes .............................................. 20
Charles N. Clevert, Jr. .................................................. 7
Hon. Nancy J. Rosenstengel ....................................... 21
Prof. Dov Cohen ............................................................ 7
Hon. Mary M. Rowland ............................................. 21
Hon. Sharon Johnson Coleman ................................... 7
Hon. James E. Shadid................................................. 21
Daniel E. Conley ............................................................ 8
Carolyn E. Shapiro ..................................................... 22
Hon. Barbara B. Crabb ................................................ 8
Joel N. Shapiro ............................................................ 22
Hon. William E. Duffin ................................................. 8
Alison Siegler............................................................... 22
Aisha Edwards .............................................................. 9
Prof. Sonja B. Starr .................................................... 23
Hon. Gary Feinerman ................................................... 9
Catherine L. Steege..................................................... 23
Hon. J. Phil Gilbert ..................................................... 10
Justice John Paul Stevens .......................................... 24
Hon. Joan B. Gottschall .............................................. 11
Michael Strautmanis .................................................. 24
Hon. David F. Hamilton ............................................. 12
Hon. Deborah L. Thorne ............................................ 25
David E. Hollar............................................................ 12
Hon. Maria Valdez ..................................................... 26
Hon. David E. Jones .................................................... 12
Jeanne G. Walsh ......................................................... 26
Justice Elena Kagan .................................................... 13
Brian W. Welch........................................................... 27
Hon. Matthew F. Kennelly ......................................... 13
Brandon Q. White....................................................... 27
Prof. Robert M. Lawless ............................................. 14
Hon. Stephen C. Williams .......................................... 27
Barry Levenstam ......................................................... 14
Hon. Andrea R. Wood ................................................ 28
Prof. Justin D. Levinson ............................................. 15
Chief Judge Diane P. Wood ....................................... 28
Mark Hugo Lopez ....................................................... 15
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Hon. Lynn S. Adelman
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wis.
Judge Adelman was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He graduated from Princeton
University and Columbia University Law School. He practiced law in New York City for five years as
a staff attorney for the Criminal Courts Division of the Legal Aid Society and as a sole practitioner.
He then returned to Wisconsin where he established a law practice, and, in 1976, was elected to the
Wisconsin State Senate. He served as a state senator for 21 years, and for most of that time, chaired
the senate judiciary committee. As a lawyer, he argued a number of cases in the Wisconsin Supreme
Court, including several challenging gubernatorial vetoes under the Wisconsin Constitution. In 1997,
President Clinton appointed him to the district court in the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Since
becoming a judge, he has written articles on federal sentencing and on a number of other issues,
including habeas corpus and the development of constitutional law.
Gino J. Agnello
Clerk of Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Gino J. Agnello is the Clerk of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. From 1988
to 1997, Mr. Agnello served as the Deputy Circuit Executive for the United States Court of Appeals
for the Seventh Circuit. In 1997, he was named Clerk of the Court. Mr. Agnello is recognized as a
national leader in courthouse technology. He began posting the court's decisions and the oral
arguments on the Internet many years before any other Federal Court of Appeals. He chaired the
national committee on automation, which resulted in judicial contracts that provided superior
courthouse computers and technology and saved the taxpayers millions of dollars. His computer
advice and help to the Seventh Circuit Bar Association has, as in the courts, saved much money while
better communicating to the members. Mr. Agnello received his bachelors’ degree from the University
of Illinois and his law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Prof. Douglas G. Baird
University of Chicago Law School
Douglas Baird is the Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago.
Baird received his undergraduate degree from Yale University summa cum laude and his J.D. from
Stanford. He joined Chicago’s faculty in 1980 and served as its Dean from 1994 to 1999. He has been
a visiting professor at Stanford, Harvard, and Yale. Baird was Vice Chair of the National Bankruptcy
Conference from 1997 until 2004 and Scholar in Residence at the American College of Bankruptcy
from 2009-2013. The sixth edition of his one-volume overview of U.S. bankruptcy law, Elements of
Bankruptcy, appeared in 2014.
Return to Table of Contents
3
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Hon. Sarah Evans Barker
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ind.
Sarah Evans Barker was appointed judge of the United States District Court, Southern District of
Indiana, in March 1984 by President Ronald Reagan. Between 1994 and 2001, Judge Barker served as
chief judge of the district court. Active throughout her career in judicial and bar-related organizations,
Judge Barker served as president of the Federal Judges Association, 2007-2009. Judge Barker
currently serves on the federal Judicial Conduct and Disability Committee, having been appointed by
Chief Justice John G. Roberts, and on the FJA board of directors ex officio. She has a long
involvement in numerous civic, educational, cultural and religious organizations, currently including
the State of Indiana Bicentennial Commission, having been appointed by then-Governor Mitch
Daniels, the board of directors of Indiana University Health, Inc., and the executive board of The
Gathering, a group of prominent Indiana women leaders. She served as a Moderator of the Stanley K.
Lacy Leadership class XXXIX from 2014-2015 and recently was appointed to the Community
Advisory Board for Indiana University’s Grand Challenges program. Judge Barker was born in
Mishawaka, Indiana, and is a graduate of Indiana University and the American University College of
Law. She and her retired attorney husband, Kenneth R. Barker, are members of the Morgantown
United Methodist Church and have three grown children (with spouses) and six grandchildren.
Hon. Mark W. Bennett
U.S. District Court for the Northern District Of Iowa
Mark W. Bennett is in his 22nd year as a United States district judge in the Northern District of Iowa.
For two-and-a-half years prior, he was a United States magistrate judge in the Southern District of
Iowa. He was in private practice in Des Moines, Iowa, from 1975 to 1991, having started his own law
firm upon graduation from the Drake University Law School in 1975. For 16-and-a-half years, he
practiced primarily as a civil rights and criminal defense lawyer appearing in more than 30 federal
district courts, several of the courts of appeals and the United States Supreme Court. He has taught at
the University of Iowa College of Law, the Drake University Law School, the University of Hawaii
William S. Richardson School of Law, and the University of Nebraska College of Law. In the past six
years, he has authored 18 law review articles, including three on implicit bias in the legal profession
and five on federal sentencing issues. He has been involved in educating more than 1,000 state and
federal trial and appellate judges on implicit bias from Alaska to Florida. He has authored numerous
other articles, most often about judging, is the co-author of a treatise on employment law, and has
spoken at more than 475 CLE programs in 37 states and several foreign countries.
Return to Table of Contents
4
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Laura A. Briggs
Clerk of Court, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ind.
Laura A. Briggs is Clerk of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. She is
licensed to practice law in Indiana and New York. Prior to coming to the court, she was with the
Indianapolis office of Barnes & Thornburg, LLP, focusing on creditor’s right and transactional law.
She serves as the Clerk Representative to the Civil Rules Advisory Committee, Judicial Conference of
the United States; co-editor of the Editorial Board of the Guide to Judiciary Policy; and was a member
of the National Forms Working Group through 2015. She was the recipient of the Indianapolis Bar
Association Pro Bono Service Award in 2007 for her work as program founder and coordinator of the
Hospice Pro Bono Legal Services Program. She obtained her B.A. in Economics from Wheaton
College in Norton, Massachusetts (summa cum laude, phi beta kappa) and graduated from the State
University of New York at Buffalo School of Law.
Michael T. Brody
President, Seventh Circuit Bar Association; Jenner & Block
Michael T. Brody is President of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association and a Partner at the law firm of
Jenner & Block LLP, where he serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Class Action Practice. Clients turn to
him for help with class action matters related to a variety of issues, including securities, antitrust, torts,
contract claims, consumer fraud, fiduciary duties, and other statutory and regulatory claims. He tries
cases in state and federal courts and in alternative dispute resolution proceedings. In addition to his
trial practice, Mr. Brody has argues appeals in the Seventh Circuit, the Illinois Appellate Court, and
the Illinois Supreme Court. He received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.
Thomas Campbell
Baker & McKenzie
Tom Campbell is senior counsel in the Chicago office of Baker & McKenzie, where he has focused on
the trial of antitrust actions and business disputes. Mr. Campbell chairs the Seventh Circuit Bar
Association Foundation and its planning committee that has organized the program on immigration - E
Pluribus Unum: The Immigration Conundrum. Mr. Campbell is also an avocational historian and the
author of Fighting Slavery in Chicago, which tells the story of the abolitionists in Chicago who ran the
Underground Railway, published abolitionist newspapers, organized political parties, and ultimately
helped get Lincoln elected.
Return to Table of Contents
5
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Hon. Ruben Castillo
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ill.
Ruben Castillo is the Chief Judge of the Northern District of Illinois, the third largest federal district in
the United States.
On January 27, 1994, President Clinton nominated Chief Judge Castillo to the Unites States District
Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Before joining the bench, Chief Judge Castillo practiced law at Jenner & Block LLP and the United
States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. In 1988, he became the director and
regional counsel for the Chicago office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
(MALDEF). In 1991, he returned to private practice as a partner at the Chicago law firm of Kirkland
& Ellis LLP.
Chief Judge Castillo received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Loyola University
Chicago in 1976 and his law degree from Northwestern University School of Law in 1979.
Johanna M. Christiansen
Assistant Public Defender in the Central District of Ill.
Johanna M. Christiansen is an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Central District of Illinois.
She has been with the office since 2001, primarily working as an appellate attorney and Appellate
Division Chief. In addition to representing her clients in the Seventh Circuit, Ms. Christiansen writes
the Weekly Update from her office, which summarizes recent developments in criminal law in the
Seventh Circuit and United States Supreme Court. She authors several publications for the office,
including “Issues Currently Pending in Criminal Cases in the Seventh Circuit” and the “Handbook for
Criminal Appeals in the Seventh Circuit.” She also teaches as an adjunct professor at the University
of Illinois College of Law. Prior to obtaining her position with the Federal Public Defender, she
served as an appellate law clerk to the Honorable Daryl L. Hecht of the Iowa Court of Appeals (now
of the Iowa Supreme Court.) Ms. Christiansen received her J.D. from Drake University School of
Law and her B.A. from St. Olaf College.
Return to Table of Contents
6
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Charles N. Clevert, Jr.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wis.
Charles Clevert is a Senior U.S. District Judge of the Eastern District of Wisconsin and was appointed
to the district court in July 1996. He served as U.S. Bankruptcy Judge and was Chief Judge of that
court for 10 years, as well as Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of
Wisconsin. Earlier, Judge Clevert was an Assistant United States Attorney and Milwaukee County
Assistant District Attorney.
Judge Clevert is a member of the ABA House of Delegates, the National Conference of Federal Trial
Judges’ Executive Committee and the American Jury Project. He has chaired the Federal Judicial
Center’s Advisory Committee on District Judge Education, has served as the President of the National
Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, and chaired the NCBJ’s Endowment for Education.
Prof. Dov Cohen
University of Illinois Department of Psychology
Dov Cohen has been a faculty member at the University of Illinois and the University of Waterloo in
Canada. He is the co-author or co-editor of the books Handbook of Cultural Psychology, Culture of
Honor, and Culture and Social Behavior. Among other topics, he has done research on culture;
concepts of face, dignity, and honor; violence; financial decision making; creativity; and legal policy
and practice. He is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the Society for
Personality and Social Psychology.
Hon. Sharon Johnson Coleman
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ill.
Judge Coleman was appointed to the federal judiciary by President Barack Obama in 2010. Prior to
her federal court appointment, Judge Coleman was a justice on the Illinois Appellate Court, First
District, having been elected in 2008. From 1996 until 2008, she was elected to the Cook County
Circuit Court, where she served in the Law Division and Juvenile Court. During her pre-judicial
career, she practiced exclusively in the public sector as an Assistant State's Attorney, Deputy State's
Attorney and an Assistant U.S. Attorney, handling civil and criminal litigation. She currently serves as
an adjunct professor at Northwestern School of Law and is a regular participant in bar association and
law school panels and programs. Judge Coleman received her J.D. from Washington University
School of Law in St. Louis.
Return to Table of Contents
7
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Daniel E. Conley
Quarles & Brady
Daniel Conley is a former President of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association and serves as a trusted
advisor to corporations, executives, lawyers and law firms on business disputes and transactions, and
has almost 30 years of experience in roles ranging from trial advocate, to mediator, business advisor,
public relations consultant, expert witness, and trustee. He had the honor of beginning his legal career
as a clerk for the Hon. John W. Reynolds.
A “lawyer’s lawyer,” Dan maintains a Rank 1 evaluation from Chambers USA, and served for many
years as legal counsel to Quarles & Brady. A past chair in the Firm's Litigation Group, he currently
leads the Firm's Class Action and Crisis Management Teams and regularly advises clients on sensitive
matters subject to significant media scrutiny. In addition to his work as a counselor and mediator, he
has successfully represented clients in mediation, arbitrations, and state and federal trial and appeals
courts across the country.
Among other matters, Dan negotiated a $350 million dollar litigation settlement for a client in a
complicated three-way deal requiring multiple levels of state and federal government approval;
successfully tried and defended on appeal a New Mexico consumer class action; challenged and had
struck down a Missouri law as violative of the Commerce Clause; led the outside crisis response team
after a major explosion at a Milwaukee manufacturing facility; and acted as a lead negotiator in the
sale of an NBA Franchise for a record price.
Hon. Barbara B. Crabb
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wis.
Judge Crabb first served the federal judiciary as a magistrate judge for the United States District Court
for the Western District of Wisconsin. She was appointed as a district judge in November 1979 by
President Jimmy Carter, serving as the court’s chief from 1980 to 1996, then again from 2001 to May
2010. She took senior status in 2010.
Hon. William E. Duffin
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wis.
William Duffin earned his undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Illinois and his
law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law. After clerking for Justice K. David Harris of
the Iowa Supreme Court, he came to Wisconsin, where he joined the law firm of Godfrey & Kahn,
S.C. During his more than 25 years as a litigator with Godfrey & Kahn, he represented businesses and
individuals in a wide variety of disputes, including intellectual property, distributor relations, labor and
employment, unfair competition, business fraud, and shareholder disputes. He served as the president
of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association from 2010 - 2011. In March 2014, he was appointed as a
United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. In addition to presiding over
criminal pretrial matters and all stages of civil litigation, he regularly serves as mediator in the
district's cases.
Return to Table of Contents
8
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Aisha Edwards
Supervising Attorney, Criminal Defense, Cabrini Green Legal Aid
Aisha Cornelius Edwards joined Cabrini Green Legal Aid (CGLA) in 2013 and is currently the
Supervising Attorney of the Criminal Defense program. She provides direct representation to clients
for felony, misdemeanor, and juvenile matters including delinquency and parole violations. She
further supervises the handling of defense matters by other staff, fellow, and volunteer attorneys.
Aisha was previously employed as an Assistant State’s Attorney with Cook County. While there, she
gained experience in criminal litigation by handling hundreds of trials, motions, and hearings on
various criminal and traffic matters. She has presented oral arguments in front of the Illinois Appellate
and Supreme Courts. Aisha graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2005. She
was the law school’s President’s Medallion recipient for scholarship, leadership, and service. Since
graduation, she has received the Norman C. Amaker Award of Excellence, Advocacy Honors Program
Coach of the Year Award, and BLSA Young Alumni Service Award. Aisha received her
undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign. She is
currently enrolled in graduate school there, expecting to obtain an Executive Masters in Business
Administration in May 2017.
Hon. Gary Feinerman
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ill.
Gary Feinerman has served since September 2010 as a district judge on the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of Illinois. Prior to joining the bench, Feinerman was a partner in the Chicago office
of Sidley Austin LLP in the firm’s general litigation and appellate groups. From 2003-2007,
Feinerman served as Solicitor General of Illinois in the Office of Illinois Attorney General Lisa
Madigan. Feinerman was a litigation associate and then a partner from 1996-2003 in the Chicago
office of the firm now known as Mayer Brown LLP. Earlier in his career, Feinerman served as a law
clerk to Justice Anthony Kennedy of the United States Supreme Court and to Judge Joel Flaum of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and also worked for the U.S. Department of Justice as
Counsel in the Office of Policy Development and on detail to the Office of the Counsel of the
President. A graduate of Stanford Law School and Yale College, Feinerman resides with his wife and
three daughters north of Chicago.
Return to Table of Contents
9
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Hon. J. Phil Gilbert
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ill.
J. Phil Gilbert is a lifelong resident of Carbondale, Illinois, and graduated from Carbondale
Community High School in 1967, where he was co-captain of the CCHS basketball team that finished
2nd in the state. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois and Loyola University of Chicago School
of Law in 1974. After law school, he returned to Carbondale and became a partner in the firm of
Gilbert & Gilbert with his father, former state senator John G. Gilbert, and his uncle, W. Philo Gilbert.
He served as Special Assistant Attorney General from 1974-1975 and was Assistant City Attorney for
Carbondale from 1975-1978. From 1978-1987, he was a member of the Illinois State Board of
Elections and was Chairman from 1981-1983 and Vice Chairman from 1983-1985. Governor James
Thompson appointed him to the Election Reform Commission in 1984, and he also served on the
National Council on Governmental Ethics Laws from 1983-1987.
Gilbert was a partner in the firm of Gilbert, Kimmel, Huffman & Prosser, Ltd. from 1983 -1988 when
he was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court as a Circuit Judge in the First Judicial Circuit and
served as a state court judge until his appointment to the federal bench. Judge Gilbert was appointed
United States District Judge for the Southern District of Illinois in September, 1992, by President
George H. W. Bush. He served as Chief Judge of the Southern District of Illinois from October, 1993
to September, 2000. While on the federal bench, Judge Gilbert served a six-year term on the Judicial
Conference Committee on Criminal Law.
In March, 2014, Judge Gilbert assumed Senior Status but continues his public service by rendering
substantial service as a senior judge.
In 2008, Judge Gilbert received the Silver Gavel Award for his dedication to justice from the criminal
defense bars of the Southern District of Illinois and the Eastern District of Missouri.
In 2009, Judge Gilbert received the SIU School of Law Founders’ Medal for distinguished service to
the law school.
In 2010, Judge Gilbert was the recipient of the Loyola School of Law’s Distinguished Jurist Award.
Judge Gilbert was appointed to the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees by Governor Bruce
Rauner on February 27, 2015.
In 1993, Judge Gilbert, along with his team, was inducted into the Illinois High School Basketball
(IBCA) Hall of Fame. In 1995, he was inducted into the Carbondale Elementary School District #95
Hall of Fame.
In 2014, he, along with his team, was inducted into the CCHS Athletic Hall of Fame.
In 2015, Judge Gilbert was the recipient of the David Kenney Award, which is presented to
outstanding members of the community who have dedicated themselves to making the community,
state and country a better place to live.
Return to Table of Contents
10
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Hon. Joan B. Gottschall
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ill.
Judge Joan B. Gottschall was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1947. She received her B.A. degree
cum laude from Smith College in 1969 and her law degree from Stanford University in 1973.
Upon graduation from law school in 1973, Judge Gottschall became associated with the law firm of
Jenner & Block, specializing in civil and criminal litigation. In 1976, she took a leave of absence from
Jenner & Block to join the Federal Defender Program. She returned to Jenner & Block in 1978 and in
1981 became a partner. In 1982, she joined the legal office of the University of Chicago. In 1984, she
was appointed a United States Magistrate Judge and was reappointed to a second term as a Magistrate
Judge in 1992. In September 1996, she was appointed a United States District Judge.
Judge Gottschall was involved in establishing a reentry program, the James B. Moran Second Chance
Program, for the Northern District of Illinois. With Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier, she was one
of two co-judicial leaders of the program for its first two years (2010-11).
Judge Gottschall is a past chair and a life member of the Visiting Committee to the University of
Chicago Divinity School. She is a member of the Bankruptcy Administration Committee of the
United States Judicial Conference. In 2012, she was a recipient of the Chicago Bar Association’s
Justice John Paul Stevens Award.
Judge Gottschall is the author of "The Morality of Advocacy as a Law School Concern: Appointment
of Barry Sullivan to Loyola University Chicago Law School’s Cooney & Conway Chair,” 42
Loy.U.Chi.L.J. xix (2010); "Religion-Based Arguments in Juvenile Life Without Parole Cases,"
Sightings (Nov. 12, 2009), http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive
2009/1112.shtml; "Fact finding as a Spiritual Discipline," 4 U. St. Thomas L.J. 325 (2006); "Mural,
Mural on the Wall: Ownership of WPA Artworks," 15 CBA Record 38 (Nov. 2001); "A Tribute to
Barry Sullivan," 57 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 309, at 310 (2000); "The Role and Influence of Religious
Values in Judicial Decision making: A Response to Judge Wendell Griffin," 81 Marq. L. Rev. 533
(1998); and "Some Thoughts on Advocacy and Personal Responsibility," Indiana Univ. School of Law
"Bill of Particulars," p. 13 (Summer 1995). She is co-author, with attorney Molly Armour, of "Second
Chance: Establishing a Reentry Program in the Northern District of Illinois," 5 DePaul J. for Soc. Just.
31 (2011) and an article entitled "Rethinking the War on Drugs: What Insights Does Restorative
Justice Offer?" (contained in Restorative Justice in Practice: A Holistic Approach, S. Murphy and M.
Seng, eds. (Vandeplas 2015)). With W. Thomas Rosemond, Jr., she co-authored Just the Beginning: A
Celebration of the Integration of the Federal Judiciary (West Publishing Co. 1992).
Return to Table of Contents
11
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Hon. David F. Hamilton
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
In November 2009, Judge Hamilton was appointed by President Barack H. Obama to serve as a judge
on the Unites States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. From 1994-2009, he served as U.S.
District Judge for the Southern District of Indiana and was that court’s chief judge in 2008-09. He
grew up in southern Indiana, graduated from Haverford College and Yale Law School, and served as a
law clerk for Judge Prichard D. Cudahy of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 1983-84. He
practiced law as an associate and then partner of Barnes & Thornburg in Indianapolis and served as
Counsel to the Governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1991.
David E. Hollar
Appellate Division Chief, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ind.
David Hollar is the Appellate Division Chief for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District
of Indiana. He previously worked as an Assistant United States Attorney in that office and as an
attorney in the Appellate Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division. Prior to joining
DOJ, David served as a law clerk to Judge Diane P. Wood of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Seventh Circuit. He has orally argued cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First, Second, Third,
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Circuits, as well as more than 60 cases in the Seventh Circuit.
Hon. David E. Jones
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wis.
David E. Jones is a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Prior to his
appointment in June of 2015, he was a partner in the Madison, Wisconsin, office of Perkins Coie LLP,
where he focused on patent and commercial litigation. While at Perkins Coie, he maintained an active
pro bono practice representing pro se/inmate clients. He has also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney
in Madison, on active duty as an Assistant to the General Counsel of the Army in the Pentagon, and as
a law clerk to Chief Judge David B. Sentelle, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Return to Table of Contents
12
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Justice Elena Kagan
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Collection of the Supreme
Court of the United States
Elena Kagan, Associate Justice, was born in New York, New York, on April 28, 1960. She received
an A.B. from Princeton in 1981, an M. Phil. from Oxford in 1983, and a J.D. from Harvard Law
School in 1986. She clerked for Judge Abner Mikva of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
from 1986-1987 and for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court during the 1987 Term.
After briefly practicing law at a Washington, D.C. law firm, she became a law professor, first at the
University of Chicago Law School and later at Harvard Law School. She also served for four years in
the Clinton Administration, as Associate Counsel to the President and then as Deputy Assistant to the
President for Domestic Policy. Between 2003 and 2009, she served as the Dean of Harvard Law
School. In 2009, President Obama nominated her as the Solicitor General of the United States. A year
later, the President nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on May 10, 2010. She
took her seat on August 7, 2010.
Hon. Matthew F. Kennelly
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ill.
Judge Matthew F. Kennelly was appointed to the United States District Court for the Northern District
of Illinois by President Bill Clinton in 1999. Before his appointment, Judge Kennelly worked as an
attorney in private practice, representing individuals and corporations in complex civil cases and in
criminal cases in trial and appellate courts. In 1996, he was a recipient of the American Bar
Association’s Pro Bono Publico award, a Public Interest Law Initiative citation for distinguished
public service, and the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s Community / Public
Service award. In 1993, the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association awarded him its Walter J.
Cummings Award for excellence in advocacy. Judge Kennelly has been a Fellow of the American
College of Trial Lawyers since 1999, prior to his appointment to the bench. Since his appointment to
the court, Judge Kennelly has served as the Seventh Circuit's representative on the Information
Technology Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, and he is currently a member
of the Information Technology Advisory Committee of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
Judge Kennelly also serves as the vice chair of the Seventh Circuit Criminal Jury Instruction
Committee and as a member of the Seventh Circuit Civil Jury Instruction Committee, and he chairs a
committee of district judges and lawyers that drafted and periodically updates the local rules for patent
infringement cases in the Northern District of Illinois. Judge Kennelly received his undergraduate
degree from the University of Notre Dame and his law degree from Harvard Law School.
Return to Table of Contents
13
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Prof. Robert M. Lawless
University of Illinois College of Law
Robert Lawless is the associate dean for research, Max L. Rowe Professor of Law, and co-director of
the Program on Law, Behavior & Social Science at the University of Illinois College of Law. where he
writes and teaches about bankruptcy, consumer credit, and business law. He is a co-author of Secured
Transactions: A Systems Approach and Empirical Methods in Law. Professor Lawless is a regular
contributor to the blog Credit Slips, a discussion on credit, finance, and bankruptcy. He is a member of
the American Law Institute, the National Bankruptcy Conference, and the American College of
Bankruptcy. Professor Lawless has testified before Congress, and his work has been featured in media
outlets such as CNN, CNBC, NPR, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the
National Law Journal, the L.A. Times, and the Financial Times.
Barry Levenstam
Jenner & Block
Barry Levenstam is a member in the law firm of Jenner & Block LLP and its Appellate and Supreme
Court Practice Group. He administers the firm’s program for taking appointed appeals in the Seventh
Circuit and supervises many of these appeals. From 1978 to 1979, Barry was a law clerk to the late
Philip W. Tone, then judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He received the
Walter J. Cummings Award presented by the Federal Bar Association in recognition of excellent
service as appointed counsel before the Seventh Circuit in 1995. He also received the inaugural John
Paul Stevens Pro Bono and Public Service Award presented by the Seventh Circuit Bar Association in
recognition of outstanding pro bono service in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 2010. Barry is
a contributing author to the Attorney’s Guide to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (5th ed.) and to
the IICLE’s book Illinois Civil Appeals: State and Federal (2015 ed.). He is also a member of the
Seventh Circuit Bar Association.
Return to Table of Contents
14
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Prof. Justin D. Levinson
University of Hawaii at Manoa, William S. Richardson School of Law
Professor Justin Levinson is a leader in the field of implicit bias and the law and an expert in
psychological decision-making in the legal system. His scholarship, which regularly employs
experimental social science methodology, has appeared in the NYU Law Review, UCLA Law Review,
and Duke Law Journal, among others, and has been cited by the United States Supreme Court.
Professor Levinson served as lead editor of Implicit Racial Bias Across the Law, a volume that was
published by Cambridge University Press in 2012 (co-edited by Robert J. Smith). He has lectured,
taught courses, and trained audiences globally, including in Eastern and Western Europe, East and
Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.
In 2008, Professor Levinson founded the Culture and Jury Project, an interdisciplinary and
international research collaboration devoted to facilitating the study of human decision-making in the
law. He is currently collaborating with scholars in China, Japan, and Korea, as well as domestically in
the United States.
Professor Levinson previously practiced law at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto,
California. He has served as Visiting Assistant Professor at Beijing University and as a Fellow at the
Culture and Cognition Lab at UC Berkeley. He regularly teaches Criminal law, Business
Associations, Law and Psychology, and High Growth Entrepreneurship and has offered a seminar on
Implicit Bias and the Law.
Mark Hugo Lopez
Director of Hispanic Research, Pew Research Center
Mark Hugo Lopez is director of Hispanic research at Pew Research Center. He studies the attitudes
and opinions of Latinos, Hispanic views of identity, the political engagement of Latinos in the nation's
elections, and Latino youth. Lopez also coordinates the Center's National Survey of Latinos, an annual
nationwide survey of Hispanics. He was the research director of the Center for Information and
Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) as well as a research assistant professor at the
School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland. Lopez received his doctorate in economics
from Princeton University. He is an author of reports about the Hispanic electorate, Hispanic identity
and immigration. Lopez frequently appears in national and international media in both Spanish and
English.
Return to Table of Contents
15
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Hon. Jane E. Magnus-Stinson
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ind.
Jane Magnus-Stinson was appointed U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Indiana by
President Barack Obama in June 2010. Prior to her appointment, she served three years as Magistrate
Judge for the Southern District.
Magnus-Stinson was appointed and then twice elected Judge of the Marion Superior Court, serving
from 1995-2007 in the Criminal Division, Room 6. She served as Associate Presiding Judge during
2005-06. As a superior court judge, she tried over 100 jury trials, of which over 45 were murder trials.
The Indiana Coalition Against Sexual Assault named Magnus-Stinson the 2000 “Judge of the Year” in
recognition of her work with child victims of sexual assault. She was also named “Outstanding
Judge” by the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence in 2005. She received the Antoinette
Dakin Leach Award from the Women in Law Division of the Indianapolis Bar Association in 2002
and the IBA’s Paul H. Buchanan Award of Excellence in 2012. She was named a Distinguished
Alumna of Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 2012, and received the Robert
Todd Duncan Award from the Butler University Alumni Association.
Before appointment to the bench, Magnus-Stinson served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Counsel to
then-Governor Evan Bayh.
Prior to joining the Bayh Administration, Magnus-Stinson was in private practice with the firm of
Lewis and Wagner in Indianapolis. She specialized in litigation, and has tried over 20 jury trials in
courts throughout the State of Indiana.
Magnus-Stinson served as an adjunct faculty member at the Indiana University School of Law in
Indianapolis, teaching the Trial Practice course for third-year students from 1988-1995 and 2000. In
addition, since 1990, Magnus-Stinson has served as a team leader and faculty member of the National
Institute for Advocacy's Mid-Central Trial Advocacy Workshop.
Magnus-Stinson frequently served as faculty for the Indiana Judicial Center, providing instruction to
fellow judges. In recognition of her efforts, she received the "Decade of Teaching Award" from the
IJC. Magnus-Stinson is also a graduate of the IJC’s Graduate Program for Judges and the Indiana
Judicial College.
Magnus-Stinson is a 1983 cum laude graduate of the Indiana University School of Law at
Indianapolis. She is a 1979 cum laude graduate of Butler University.
Return to Table of Contents
16
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Prof. Jonathan Masur
University of Chicago Law School
Jonathan Masur received a B.S. in physics and AB in political science from Stanford University in
1999 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2003. After law school, he clerked for Chief Judge
Marilyn Hall Patel of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and then
Judge Richard Posner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He taught at the
Law School as a Bigelow Fellow and Lecturer in Law before joining the faculty as an Assistant
Professor in 2007. Masur served as Deputy Dean from 2012 to 2014 and as the Herbert and Marjorie
Fried Teaching Scholar from 2011 to 2013. He was named the John P. Wilson Professor of Law in
2014 and received the Graduating Students Award for Teaching Excellence the same year.
Laura K. McNally
Loeb & Loeb
Laura McNally practices complex commercial litigation at Loeb & Loeb LLP in Chicago. She is a
board member of the ADR Section of the Federal Bar Association and speaks frequently about
mediation advocacy. Laura’s practice spans the spectrum of commercial disputes, from consumer
class actions to insurance coverage to contract disputes to unfair trade practices. Laura is a member of
the Seventh Circuit Bar Association’s Pro Bono Committee and Task Force on Inclusion, and she
serves as an associate editor of the Circuit Rider.
Hon. Robert L. Miller, Jr.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ind.
Robert L. Miller, Jr., is a district judge for the Northern District of Indiana, and served as chief judge
of that court. He graduated from Northwestern University and Indiana University McKinney School of
Law.
Judge Miller served for 10 years on an Indiana trial court before joining the federal district court in
1986. He has served on the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Judicial Panel on
Multidistrict Litigation, and the Federal Judges Association Board of Directors. Judge Miller chairs
the Seventh Circuit Pattern Civil Jury Instructions Committee and was a founding member of the
Robert A. Grant American Inn of Court. He took senior status in 2016 after 40 years of service as an
active federal and state trial judge.
Return to Table of Contents
17
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Kevyn D. Orr
Jones Day
Kevyn is the Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day’s Washington office. He returned to the firm in May
2015 after being appointed as the Emergency Manager for the City of Detroit by Michigan Governor
Rick Snyder and serving in that role from March 2013 until December 2014.
Kevyn led the City through the largest municipal bankruptcy ever filed, rising to the unprecedented
challenges and delivered superb results. The Detroit News editorialized that Gov. Snyder "won the
lottery when he found Kevyn Orr to carry out his restructuring blueprint for Detroit," adding that Mr.
Orr had "the right mix of brains, charm, compassion and persistence to deftly pull off the imposing
task of working the many levers of a complicated bankruptcy." Judge Steven Rhodes similarly made
note of Mr. Orr's contribution in November 2014 when confirming the City's Plan of Adjustment:
"And here I want to single out Kevyn Orr for special recognition and appreciation. His task was
perhaps the most challenging of all of us. Yet he met that challenge with skill, determination and
commitment, and at great personal sacrifice. I hope that someday soon, this City will recognize the
singular contribution that he made to its fresh start and give him the credit he truly deserves."
Kevyn has been named to Fortune magazine's "50 World's Greatest Leaders" (2015), selected as
"Newsmaker of the Year 2014" by Crain's Detroit Business, named to Worth magazine's "Fourth
Annual Power 100" (2013), named by The National Law Journal as one of "The 100 Most Influential
Lawyers in America" (2013), honored by Chambers USA (2011-2013) as "leader in their field" in
restructuring/insolvency and bankruptcy law, and included by Washingtonian magazine's December
2011 list of "Washington's Best Legal Minds-Stars of the Bar — Bankruptcy." He was previously
awarded outstanding service and performance awards from the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Resolution Trust Corporation.
Kevyn practices all aspects of business restructuring, financial institution regulation, government
investigations, and commercial litigation. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated the ability to
handle all aspects of complex and precedent-setting matters and has provided strategic advice
regarding crisis management situations.
Kevyn graduated from the University of Michigan in 1979 with a B.A. in Political Science and
received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1983.
Return to Table of Contents
18
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Prof. Destiny Peery
Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Destiny Peery is an Assistant Professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law with a
courtesy appointment in the Department of Psychology. She has a JD and PhD in social psychology
from Northwestern University. Before joining the faculty at Northwestern, Peery spent two years as a
Visiting Assistant Professor at Duke Law School. Peery's core research interests are at the intersection
of race, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination, and law and policy. Using legal research methods
and experimental methods common to social psychology, she studies how people perceive and
categorize others, as well as the downstream consequences of those perceptions and categorizations,
particularly in terms of their contributions to experiences of prejudice and inequality inside and
outside of legal settings. She also integrates basic social psychological theory on cognitive and other
biases with questions of how bias affects the law and legal institutions. Peery teaches seminars on
Race, Social Science, and the Law and Social Science Evidence, as well as Criminal Law and Civil
Rights/Anti-Discrimination Law.
Jennifer Rosato Perea
Dean of DePaul University College of Law
Jennifer Rosato Perea has served as the dean of DePaul University College of Law since July 2015. A
nationally recognized leader in legal education, Dean Rosato Perea brings a wealth of experience to
DePaul as an experienced administrator, a longtime advocate of active learning and professionalism,
and a respected scholar. She is one of only a small number of Latina law school deans in the
nation. Dean Rosato Perea is an accomplished scholar and expert on family law, bioethics, legal ethics
and civil procedure. She has published extensively on diverse legal issues that affect children and
families. She has presented nationally and regionally on the future and challenges of legal education
before a number of organizations including the Association of American Law Schools and the
American Bar Association. Dean Rosato Perea has been recognized and honored for her commitment
to diversity and access, including presentations on implicit bias for a variety of legal audiences. In
2015, she received the Honorary Fellow Award from the Illinois Bar Foundation. Prior to joining
DePaul, she served as dean at Northern Illinois University College of Law for six years.
Julie B. Porter
Chief of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ill.
Julie B. Porter graduated from Williams College in 1994 and University of Michigan Law School in
1997. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Chicago
in commercial litigation. As a federal prosecutor, Ms. Porter has prosecuted fraud, public corruption,
child exploitation, and violent crime cases, among others. She is currently Chief of the Criminal
Division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois, supervising all criminal AUSAs
and criminal cases.
Return to Table of Contents
19
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Hon. Richard A. Posner
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Richard Posner is a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and a senior lecturer at
the University of Chicago Law School. After graduating from Yale College and Harvard Law School,
he clerked for Justice Brennan of the U.S. Supreme Court (1962 Term) and then had several
government jobs including assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States. He began teaching
law at Stanford in 1968 and the following year joined the University of Chicago Law School faculty as
professor of law, in which position he served until being appointed to the Seventh Circuit in 1981. He
was chief judge of the court from 1993 to 2000. He has written many books and articles, of which the
best known deal with either the application of economics to law or the deficiencies of the judiciary.
Hon. Steven W. Rhodes
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Mich. (retired)
Steven Rhodes was a United States Bankruptcy Judge in the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) for
nearly 30 years until his retirement on February 18, 2015. He was also appointed to the Bankruptcy
Appellate Panel of the Sixth Circuit from 1997-2004 and 2008-2011.
In 1995, he was inducted as a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.
From 2005-2009, he was Vice President for Research of the American Bankruptcy Institute and on its
Executive Committee. In 2009, the ABI awarded him its Distinguished Service Award.
He is a co-author, with Kathy Bazoian Phelps, of “The Ponzi Book: A Legal Resource For Unraveling
Ponzi Schemes,” published by Matthew Bender LexisNexis (March 2012), as well as several law
review articles.
In July 2013, the chief judge of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals appointed him to preside over the
bankruptcy case of the City of Detroit. He confirmed the city’s plan in November 2014.
In 2015, Michigan Lawyers’ Weekly named him 2014 Lawyer of the Year. Also, the Commercial Law
League of America awarded him its Lawrence P. King Award for Excellence in the Field of
Bankruptcy. Walsh College awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Laws.
On March 1, 2016, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder appointed him to be the emergency manager for
the Detroit Public Schools.
Return to Table of Contents
20
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Hon. Nancy J. Rosenstengel
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ill.
Nancy Rosenstengel is a United States District Judge in the Southern District of Illinois. She received
a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, in 1990 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
and a J.D., cum laude, in 1993 from Southern Illinois University School of Law. She was an associate
at the law firm of Sandberg, Phoenix & von Gontard in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1993 to 1998, where
her practice primarily involved products liability, medical malpractice, and maritime litigation. From
1998 to 2009, she served as a career law clerk to United States District Judge G. Patrick Murphy in the
Southern District of Illinois. From October 2009 to May 2014, she served as Clerk of Court in the
Southern District of Illinois. She was the first female to hold that position in the district.
On November 7, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated Rosenstengel to serve as a United States
District Judge. The Senate voted 95-0 for final confirmation on May 8, 2014, and she received her
judicial commission on May 12, 2014. Rosenstengel is the first female district judge to serve in the
Southern District of Illinois.
Hon. Mary M. Rowland
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ill.
Judge Mary Rowland was sworn in as a United States Magistrate Judge on October 1, 2012.
Magistrate Judge Rowland works with many pro se litigants in her current position. For 10 years after
law school, she worked as a staff attorney at the Federal Defender Program for the Northern District
of Illinois where she represented over 275 indigent defendants in federal criminal cases.
Hon. James E. Shadid
U.S. District Court for the Central District of Ill.
Hon. James E. Shadid
Chief United States District Judge
Central District of Illinois
Confirmed March 10, 2011
Became Chief Judge March 12, 2012
Seated by designation 7th Circuit Court of Appeals February, 2012
Return to Table of Contents
21
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Carolyn E. Shapiro
Solicitor General, State of Illinois
Carolyn Shapiro serves as the Illinois Solicitor General in the Office of the Attorney General. Shapiro
is on leave from her faculty position at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, where she has worked since
2003. Shapiro is the founding director of the law school's Institute on the Supreme Court of the United
States (ISCOTUS). Her scholarship is largely focused on the Supreme Court, its relationship to other
courts, and its role in our constitutional democracy.
Prior to joining IIT Chicago-Kent, Shapiro practiced as an associate at Miner, Barnhill & Galland in
civil rights practice, and she was a Skadden Fellow with the Sargent Shriver National Center on
Poverty Law.
After receiving her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, Shapiro clerked for U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer and U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard
A. Posner. She earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Chicago and a master's degree at the
university's Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies.
Joel N. Shapiro
Chief Circuit Mediator, Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Mediation Program
Joel N. Shapiro is the Chief Circuit Mediator at the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh
Circuit, where he mediates civil appeals and administers the Court’s mandatory mediation program.
After graduating from the University of Chicago Law School in 1984, Mr. Shapiro practiced in the
private bar in Chicago representing plaintiffs and defendants in litigation involving securities,
contracts, business torts, fiduciary relations, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions,
intellectual property, and employment. He frequently addresses bar groups, continuing legal
education seminars, and law school audiences on mediation and related topics.
Alison Siegler
Clinical Professor, University of Chicago Law School
Alison Siegler is a Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School and the founder
and director of the Federal Criminal Justice Clinic (FCJC), the nation’s only legal clinic solely devoted
to representing indigent defendants charged with federal felonies. The FCJC defends individual clients
and pursues impact litigation in federal district court, in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and
before the United States Supreme Court, and engages in legislative advocacy. Alison is a past recipient
of the Federal Bar Association’s Excellence in Public Interest Service Award, the American
Constitution Society Chicago Chapter’s Ruth Goldman Award, and a Leadership Greater Chicago
Fellowship. She was previously a staff attorney with the Federal Defender Program in Chicago, a
Prettyman Fellow at Georgetown University Law Center’s Criminal Justice Clinic, and clerked for
U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale College, earned
a J.D. from Yale Law School, and holds an LL.M. from Georgetown.
Return to Table of Contents
22
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Prof. Sonja B. Starr
University of Michigan Law School
Sonja B. Starr joined the Law School faculty in fall 2009 and teaches first-year Criminal Law,
International Criminal Law, and a seminar on the collateral consequences of criminal convictions. Her
research interests include prosecutorial conduct, sentencing law and policy, remedies for violations of
criminal defendants' rights, and re-entry of ex-offenders. Her research methods include quantitative
empirical assessment of the effects of criminal justice policies as well as analysis of legal theory and
doctrine. Before coming to Michigan Law, Professor Starr taught at the University of Maryland
School of Law and spent two years at Harvard Law School as a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on
Law. Professor Starr has clerked for the Hon. Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
D.C. Circuit and for the Hon. Mohamed Shahabuddeen of the shared Appeals Chamber of the
International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Between these
clerkships, she was an associate with Goldstein & Howe, PC, in Washington, D.C., a firm specializing
in U.S. Supreme Court litigation. Professor Starr earned her JD from Yale Law School, where she
served as senior editor of the Yale Law Journal and was awarded the American Bar Association's
annual Ross Student Writing Prize. She received her AB from Harvard, summa cum laude, and is also
an alumna of the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research Summer Program in
Quantitative Methods.
Catherine L. Steege
Jenner & Block
Catherine Steege is a partner at Jenner & Block where she Co-Chairs the firm’s Restructuring and
Bankruptcy and Bankruptcy Litigation practices. Cathy is nationally recognized for her work
representing debtors, creditors, creditors’ committees, 1114 committees, and trustees. She is a fellow
in the prestigious American College of Bankruptcy and has received numerous recognitions, including
her selection one of 10 “Bankruptcy MVPs” by Law360. In addition to her chapter 11 practice, Cathy
has served as a chapter 7 trustee in the Northern District of Illinois for nearly 30 years. Recently,
Cathy successfully represented Wellness International Network Limited in the United States Supreme
Court, where she argued in January 2015 for the petitioner in a case addressing the constitutional
authority of bankruptcy courts to enter judgments with the consent of the litigants. She is a frequent
writer on bankruptcy topics and teaches bankruptcy as an Adjunct Professor at the John Marshall Law
School.
Return to Table of Contents
23
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Justice John Paul Stevens
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (retired)
Collection of the Supreme
Court of the United States
John Paul Stevens (Retired), Associate Justice, was born in Chicago, Illinois, April 20, 1920. He
married Maryan Mulholland (deceased), and has four children - John Joseph (deceased), Kathryn,
Elizabeth Jane, and Susan Roberta. He received an A.B. from the University of Chicago and a J.D.
from Northwestern University School of Law. He served in the United States Navy from 1942–1945
and was a law clerk to Justice Wiley Rutledge of the Supreme Court of the United States during the
1947 Term. He was admitted to law practice in Illinois in 1949. He was Associate Counsel to the
Subcommittee on the Study of Monopoly Power of the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of
Representatives, 1951–1952, and a member of the Attorney General’s National Committee to Study
Antitrust Law, 1953–1955. He was Second Vice President of the Chicago Bar Association in 1970.
From 1970–1975, he served as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
President Ford nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and he took his seat
December 19, 1975. Justice Stevens retired from the Supreme Court on June 29, 2010.
Michael Strautmanis
Vice President of Civic Engagement, Obama Foundation
Michael, a native of Chicago, joined the Obama Foundation as Vice President for Civic Engagement
in January of 2016. In his role with the Foundation, he is tasked with developing and leading the
execution of outreach efforts and civic engagement programs relating to the work of The
Foundation. Michael is the Former Deputy Assistant to the President and Counselor for Strategic
Engagement to Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett. In this role, Michael was responsible for building
strategic partnerships with stakeholders and coordinating engagement strategies. In addition, he served
as a senior advisor to the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. Formerly, Michael was the
Chief of Staff to Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett.
Prior to coming to the Obama Foundation, Michael served as the Vice President for Corporate
Citizenship & Strategic Programs at The Walt Disney Company.
Michael has been with the President since his election as the junior U.S. Senator from Illinois, where
he served as then-Senator Obama’s Chief Counsel and Deputy Chief of Staff. He continued serving
then-Senator Obama on the campaign, where he became Senior Counsel for Obama for America,
playing a leading role in political outreach as a member of the Congressional Relations team. Upon the
President’s election, Michael joined Obama’s presidential transition team as Chief Counsel and the
Director of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs.
Prior to his time with the President, Michael practiced complex litigation and employment law in
Chicago at Sidley Austin. He then joined the Clinton Administration as Chief of Staff to the General
Counsel at the United States Agency for International Development.
Michael received a B.S. from the University of Illinois and a J.D. from the University of Illinois
College of Law.
Return to Table of Contents
24
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Hon. Deborah L. Thorne
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ill.
Deborah L. Thorne was sworn in as a bankruptcy judge for the Northern District of Illinois on October
22, 2015. Prior to joining the bench, she was a partner in the Chicago office of Barnes & Thornburg
LLP where she was a member of the Financial Insolvency and Restructuring Department. Her
practice included representation of creditors and other parties in insolvency proceedings, and she
frequently served as a federal equity receiver in commodity fraud cases brought by the Commodity
Futures Trading Commission. She served as co-chair of the Women’s Initiative for the firm.
Deborah received her B.A. from Macalester College in 1975, a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Duke
University in 1976 and a J.D. from Illinois Institute of Technology in 1983. Deborah is past chair of
the Chicago Bar Association Bankruptcy and Restructuring Committee and past chair of the
Bankruptcy Committee for the Seventh Circuit Bar Association. She currently serves as Vice
President for Communications and Information Technology for the American Bankruptcy Institute and
is a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors. She is the author of The Preference
Defense Handbook: The Circuits Divided and a co-author of Interrupted! Understanding Bankruptcy’s
Effects on Manufacturing Supply Chains, both published by the American Bankruptcy Institute.
Deborah is a member of the Board of Governors for the Seventh Circuit Bar Association. She is a
fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. She is included in The Best Lawyers in America in the
area of bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights law, is recognized as a Leading Lawyer in Illinois, and
has been recognized by Illinois Super Lawyers every year since 2003.
Deborah served as chair for seven years of Women Employed, a Chicago not-for-profit policy
organization focused on improving the lives of low-wage women through enhancing access to postsecondary education and improving job quality. She remains on the Board of Women Employed and
co-chairs the Governance Committee.
Deborah is married to Jerry Esrig, a judge on the Circuit Court of Cook County. They have two adult
children, Daniel and Rachel. In her free time, Deborah enjoys traveling, reading, rowing and
swimming.
Return to Table of Contents
25
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Hon. Maria Valdez
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ill.
Maria Valdez is the Presiding Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois. Prior to becoming
a federal magistrate judge, she was the Chicago Regional Counsel of the Mexican American Legal
Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) concentrating her trial and appellate practice in the areas
of constitutional law and the federal Voting Rights Act. She began her legal career in 1988 as a
federal public defender in Los Angeles, California representing indigent criminal defendants. Judge
Valdez also worked as a senior associate at the law firm of Hughes, Socol, Piers, Resnick & Dym in
Chicago, where she specialized in civil rights.
She received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Los Angeles and her law
degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Judge Valdez was appointed
to the federal magistrate bench in May of 2005.
Jeanne G. Walsh
Chief U.S. Probation Officer for the Northern District of Ill.
Jeanne G. Walsh was appointed Chief U.S. Probation Officer for the Northern District of Illinois on
March 3, 2013. Prior to being selected for this position, Jeanne served as Deputy and Assistant Deputy
Chief Probation Officer in the Northern District of Illinois. Through her 28-year career, Ms. Walsh has
worked as a Sentencing Guidelines Specialist and as a Post-Conviction Supervisor. She leads the
probation office to ensure expeditious handling of investigative work for the courts and institutions
including effective case supervision of offenders. The agency is responsible for monitoring
approximately 3500 active supervision cases and preparing approximately 800 presentence
investigation reports on an annual basis. She manages a staff of 114 employees including officers,
clerical and administrative personnel. Jeanne has served as a member of the Seventh Circuit’s
Committee on Supervised Release under the leadership of Judge Matthew F. Kennelly. She is
committed to the agency’s mission to positively impact the community and the lives of the offenders.
Ms. Walsh has a Master of Arts degree from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service
Administration, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development and Family Studies from
Colorado State University.
Return to Table of Contents
26
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Brian W. Welch
First Vice President, Seventh Circuit Bar Association; Bingham Greenebaum Doll
Brian is a capital partner in the business litigation group at Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP in
Indianapolis. He is First Vice President of the 7th Circuit Bar Association and is slated to become the
President at the conclusion of this meeting. Brian has 35-plus years of experience representing
business and government clients in complex disputes involving breach of contract issues; asset and
stock transactions; real estate transactions; class actions; business torts; accountant liability; and utility
service territory, rate and environmental matters. He also regularly represents higher education clients
regarding student conduct issues. Brian commenced his career with McHale, Cook & Welch, P.C.
That firm merged with Bingham Summers Welsh & Spilman to form Bingham McHale in 2002.
Bingham McHale later merged with Greenebaum Doll & McDonald in 2012 to form Bingham
Greenebaum Doll LLP.
Brandon Q. White
Office of the Chapter 13 Trustee
Mr. White currently serves as a Staff Attorney for Tom Vaughn, Chapter 13 Trustee. Prior to a career
in the law, Mr. White developed an expertise in municipal taxation through the D.C. Mayor’s Office
of Budget and Finance. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Mr. White also has a background in public
policy, fundraising, and community organizing. He has served on a number of civic boards and brings
a wide range of experiences to find solutions in his practice. Mr. White earned his B.G.S. at the
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and his J.D. from the University of the District of Columbia.
Hon. Stephen C. Williams
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ill.
Stephen C. Williams is a United States Magistrate Judge in the Southern District of Illinois. Judge
Williams was appointed in January of 2011. Of Judge Williams' duties in the Southern District, he
spends the largest percentage of his time managing his pro se/prisoner civil rights caseload.
Return to Table of Contents
27
65th Annual Meeting of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association
& Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit
Hon. Andrea R. Wood
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ill.
The Honorable Andrea R. Wood has served as a federal judge on the United States District Court for
the Northern District of Illinois since 2013, when she was nominated by President Barack Obama and
confirmed by the U.S. Senate. At the time she was sworn in, Judge Wood was the youngest federal
judge in the country. Before her appointment, Judge Wood was Senior Trial Counsel at the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Enforcement, in Chicago, where she began working
as a senior attorney in 2004 before being promoted to senior trial counsel in 2007. Judge Wood also
worked as an associate at the Chicago headquarters of Kirkland & Ellis LLP for five years. She began
her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Diane P. Wood of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Seventh Circuit. Judge Wood earned her B.A. from the University of Chicago and her J.D. from Yale
Law School.
Chief Judge Diane P. Wood
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Diane P. Wood is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and a
Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School. Chief Judge Wood attended the
University of Texas at Austin, earning her B.A. in 1971 and her J.D. in 1975. She clerked for Judge
Irving L. Goldberg on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (1975-76) and for
Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the United States Supreme Court (1976-77). She began her career as a
legal academic after a brief period at the United States Department of State. From 1993 until she was
appointed to the Seventh Circuit in 1995, she served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the
Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice. She became Chief Judge of the Seventh
Circuit on October 1, 2013.
Return to Table of Contents
28