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Board of Managerial Trustees
Hon. Leslie Alden, Chair
Fairfax Circuit Court
Fairfax, VA
Judge Leslie M. Alden has been a trial judge in Fairfax County, Virginia since 1995. She presently serves as the IAWJ President, and also sits on the IAWJ Board of Managerial Trustees. For 5 years, Judge Alden served as the International Director for the US National Association of Women Judges. Judge Alden has delivered a judicial perspective about the importance of the rule of law and the observance of human rights principles in courts, by speaking to legal groups in Nigeria, Cuba, Chile, South Africa, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Jordan, Hungary, Brazil, India and South Korea. Judge Alden serves as a Corresponding Editor for International Legal Materials, a publication of The American Society of International Law, as well as a member of the Editorial Review Board for the Advanced Management Journal, the publication of the Society for the Advancement of Management. Judge Alden earned her J.D. in 1983 from George Mason University School of Law, where she has been an Adjunct Professor of Law, and earned her B.S. (Business Administration) in 1978 from George Mason University. In 2001, she completed the Economics Institute for State Judges presented by the Law and Organizational Economics Center. In 2005, she completed the Sir Richard May Seminar on International Law and International Courts presented by the International Judicial Academy.
Hon. Rosemarie Annunziata
Virginia Court of Appeals
Fairfax, VA
Judge Annunziata began practicing law in 1978 and was elected to the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Virginia in 1989. In 1995, she was elected to the Virginia Court of Appeals and took Senior status in 2005. Prior to becoming a member of the judiciary, she served on the Fairfax County Planning Commission and acted as counsel and hearing officer for the Fairfax County Civil Service Commission, and as a hearing officer for the Commonwealth of Virginia to hear appeals under Public Law 94-142. She currently serves as the Fairfax County Civil Service Commission's chair, is also engaged as a mediator and arbitrator with JAMS, the national and international ADR service provider. She is a member of the ABA's Dispute Resolution Publications Board, the Virginia State Bar/Virginia Bar Association Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, a committee which she helped establish in 1994, the International Association of Women Judges, Board of Managerial Trustees, an editor of Virginia CLE's forthcoming handbook on the Fourth Amendment, and the chair of the Virginia Supreme Court's Committee charged with developing an interactive website on the judiciary for use in the Commonwealth's schools. Judge Annunziata is listed in Who's Who in American Law, has been recognized in "Fighting for Public Justice: Cases and Trial Lawyers That Made A Difference," published by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, 2002. She is also a recipient of the Fairfax County Human Rights Commission Human Rights Award, the Fairfax County Commission for Women Special Achievement Award for Women, and the first recipient of the Virginia Women's Attorneys Association President's Award.
Hon. Anna Blackburne-Rigsby
District of Columbia Court of Appeals
Washington, DC
Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby was appointed to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in August 2006. Prior to her appointment, Judge Blackburne-Rigsby served as a Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia from 2000-2006, and served as a Magistrate Judge on the Superior Court from 1995-2000. Judge Blackburne-Rigsby joined the District of Columbia Office of the Corporation Counsel (now Office of the Attorney General), in 1992, where she served as Special Counsel to the Corporation Counsel. She was an associate at the law firm Hogan and Hartson, from 1987-1992. Judge Blackburne-Rigsby is a 1987 graduate of Howard University School of Law, and received her undergraduate degree from Duke University. Judge Blackburne-Rigsby has taught Trial Advocacy at the Harvard Law School and Professional Responsibility as an Adjunct Professor at the David A. Clarke School of Law, University of District of Columbia. She has held various offices and has been a member of several community, bar and judicial organizations, including the U.S. National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ). She currently serves as Chair of the Board of Managerial Trustees for the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ). Judge Blackburne-Rigsby has received awards for her legal, judicial and community service. Judge Blackburne-Rigsby is married to Judge Robert Rigsby of the District of Columbia Superior Court, also a Colonel and Military Judge in the United States Army Reserves. They live in Washington, DC with their son, Julian.
Hon. Mary McGowan Davis (ret.)
Consultant, Legal Momentum
Brooklyn, NY
Mary McGowan Davis is a retired Acting New York State Supreme Court Justice and former Assistant U. S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Davis is currently active with several organizations that focus on human rights and transnational justice. In recent years her travels have taken her to Mongolia, where she worked with judges and prosecutors on an anti-human trafficking initiative sponsored by the Asia Foundation, and to Afghanistan, where she mentored criminal defense lawyers in a program organized by the International Legal Foundation, Inc. She has participated in workshops for judges and lawyers in Iraq and Rwanda, and has been a consultant to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court.
Ambassador Susan G. Esserman
Partner, Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Washington, DC
Susan G. Esserman, a graduate of Wellesley College (BA) and the University of Michigan Law School (JD), is a partner in the Washington office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where she is Chair of the firm's International Department and serves on the Executive Committee. Ms. Esserman provides legal and strategic advice to domestic and foreign clients on expanding access to global markets and represents clients in international trade litigation and dispute resolution matters. Ms. Esserman previously served as Deputy United States Trade Representative, the second ranking official at USTR, with the standing of Ambassador, and she held three additional senior posts at USTR and the Department of Commerce, including USTR General Counsel, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Import Administration and General Counsel of Commerce. As Deputy USTR, Ambassador Esserman was responsible for US trade policy and negotiations in the WTO and with Europe, India, Russia, the former Soviet Union, Africa, and the Middle East. Ms. Esserman is a frequent speaker and writer on trade law and policy, WTO and India issues, and she is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and sits on the board of directors of the US-India Business Council, the Aschiana Foundation and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
Rona Feit
Lawyer
Washington, D.C.
Rona ("Ronnie") Feit is a former Wall Street corporate lawyer who served in the Carter Administration in several policy level posts at the White House and the SBA. In 1971 she was one of the founders and leaders of the National Women's Political Caucus, and later of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, the National Congress of Neighborhood Women, GROOTS International and the Huairou Commission, and the SBA's Office of Women's Business Ownership. From 1986 to 1990, she was a Senior Fellow at the non-profit Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) in Washington, DC. Since then she has variously been an advisor on women's small and medium enterprises to the OECD in Paris, to officials of five European countries, the government of South Africa through PACT, several U.S. foundations and Federal agencies, and an appointed member of the SBA's National Advisory Council on Small Business Development Centers. She is currently working on new ways to end maternal mortality in developing countries. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and Columbia Law School.
Judith W. Gilmore
Consultant
Washington, DC
Judith Gilmore is currently a consultant in the area of human trafficking, a child protection mediator for the Washington, D.C. Superior Court, a small claims mediator for the Maryland District Court, and a community mediator for the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County. She is also on the Global Advisory Board of Mediators Beyond Borders. Prior to retiring from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2006, Judith. Gilmore was director of the Office of Private and Voluntary Cooperation - American Schools and Hospitals Abroad. Previous positions included: deputy director of USAID's Office of Regional Sustainable Development, Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean; director of the Office of East Asia Affairs; deputy director of the Office of Sahel and West Africa Affairs; deputy director for the Office of Technical Resources, Bureau for Africa; regional division chief for Latin America and then Africa in the Office of Food for Peace; and chief of evaluation for nongovernmental organizations and food aid programs. Prior to joining USAID, she worked at Oxfam-America, the International Labor Organization (ILO), and the Organization of American States (OAS). A graduate of John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Ms. Gilmore also earned certificates in French and Spanish translation from Georgetown University's Institute of Language and Linguistics. She received her BA in French literature from Wellesley College.
Cynthia Graae
Writer, Consultant
Washington, DC
Cynthia Graae is a writer who lives in New York City. In addition to her service to the IAWJ, she serves in a volunteer capacity as executive counselor to the not-for-profit Project Pericles, a consortium of colleges and universities committed to educating students for a life of civic engagement. Ms. Graae has volunteered her time to many other causes and organizations including, H.D. Cooke School (Washington, DC), where she taught creative writing and Swarthmore College where she ran the extern program and was a member of the Board of Managers. She has also served as a member of the District of Columbia Advisory Committee to the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights. She was formerly assistant staff director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, director of consumer and civil rights at the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and director of fair housing investigations at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. She was the project manager for the public art project, Hopscotch Bridge. Ms. Graae received her B.A. from Swarthmore College, her M.Sc. from Oxford University and her M.F.A. from American University.
Donald H. Green
Partner, Pepper Hamilton, LLP
Washington, DC
Donald H. Green is with the Washington, DC Office of the law firm of Pepper Hamilton LLP. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School, served in the U.S. Department of Justice, and has been in private practice since 1961. He is an emeritus Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. He recently completed a 3-year term on the U.S. Defense Department's Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, where he chaired the Equality Management Committee. Mr. Green is a retired Marine Corps colonel, where his decorations include the Legion of Merit for his work on the International Law of War. He is married and has 4 grown children and 6 grandchildren.
Vicki C. Jackson
Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Constitutional Law, Georgetown University
Washington, DC
Professor Jackson received her B.A. and J.D. from Yale University. Upon graduation from law school, Ms. Jackson served as a law clerk to Judge Murray Gurfein (U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit), Morris Lasker (U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York), and to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. She teaches courses in constitutional law, comparative constitutional law, federal courts, Supreme Court, and on gender-related issues at Georgetown University Law Center. She is co-author with Professor Mark Tushnet of a coursebook on Comparative Constitutional Law, and has written numerous articles for scholarly journals. She serv ed as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice (200 0-01); as a member of the D.C. Bar Board of Governors (1999-2000); as a co-chair of the Special Committee on Gender of the D.C. Circuit Task Force on Gender, Race and Ethnic Bias (1992-95), and a member of the D.C. Circuit Advi sory Committee on Procedures (1992-98).
Hon. Arline Pacht (ret.)
Founder of IAWJ
Chevy Chase, MD
The Hon. Arline Pacht, founder and first president of the IAWJ, and then its executive director, designed the organization's pioneering human rights educational program for judges, "Towards A Jurisprudence of Equality." She retired as Director in 2002, but continues to serve on the Association's Board of Managerial Trustees. The IAWJ honored her with its Human Rights Award at its 2002 International Conference. Judge Pacht also is an active member of the U.S. National Association of Women Judges, receiving the NAWJ's District Four Edna Parker Award and the Florence Murray Distinguished Service Award. Most recently she was honored by the Supreme Court of Mato Grosso, Brazil . After graduating from George Washington School of Law, she was legal assistant to the Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, then joined the Washington, D.C. Public Defender Service. Thereafter, she litigated school desegregation cases for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Her judicial career began in 1979 as an administrative law judge (ALJ) with the U.S. Department of Labor. A year later, she joined the National Labor Relations Board serving there for the next 17 years. She now works as a hearing officer, mediator and arbitrator for various government agencies. including the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the NY-NJ Port Authority Labor Panel, the DC Public Employees Relations Board and the Foreign Service Grievance Board. In 2005, Judge Pacht served as a senior research fellow for the International War Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania , and in 2006, provided pro bono legal services for the League of Human Rights in Prague, Czech Republic.
Judith Resnik
Arthur Liman Professor of Law, Yale Law School
New Haven, CT
Judith Resnik is the Arthur Liman Professor of Law at Yale Law School, where she teaches about federalism, procedure, feminism, and local and global interventions to diminish inequalities and subordination. Her writings include Law as Affiliation: "Foreign" Law, Democratic Federalism, and the Sovereigntism of the Nation State (International Journal of Constitutional Law, 2008); Representing Justice: From Renaissance Iconography to Twenty-First Century Courthouses, (with Dennis E. Curtis) (Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 2007); Law's Migration: American Exceptionalism, Silent Dialogues, and Federalism's Multiple Ports of Entry (the Yale Law Journal, 2006). Her book, Migrations and Mobilities: Citizenship, Borders, and Gender (co-edited with Seyla Benhabib), has recently been published by New York University Press. She is a recipient of the Margaret Brent Award from the Commission on Women of the American Bar Association and in 2008, she received the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation Outstanding Scholar of the Year Award. Professor Resnik is also an occasional litigator; she argued the case involving women's admission to the Rotary Club before the United States Supreme Court. She has also testified before the Congress, before rulemaking committees of the federal judiciary, and before the House of Commons of Canada. Professor Resnik is a graduate of Bryn Mawr and NYU Law School, where she was a Hays Fellow.
Hon. Vanessa Ruiz
District of Columbia Court of Appeals
Washington, DC
Judge Vanessa Ruiz was appointed in 1994 by the U.S. President to the position of Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the highest court of the District of Columbia. Before her appointment, she was Corporation Counsel (now Attorney General) for the District of Columbia. Prior to government service, Judge Ruiz was in private practice focused on international commercial transactions. She is active in many organizations, including the U.S. National Association of Women Judges, of which she was President, and the Council for Court Excellence. Judge Ruiz is a member of the American Law Institute and a trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She regularly speaks on issues of judicial independence and judicial diversity and meets with judges from other countries. A member of the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia, Judge Ruiz serves as a mentor for individual Latino law students, and speaks to law students about judicial clerkships. She participates in programs to educate the Hispanic and immigrant communities about the law and the courts and has developed a judicial education program to alert judges about the obstacles immigrants face in the courts. Judge Ruiz was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Georgetown University Law Center.
Robert Wald, Esq.
Partner, Baach, Robinson & Lewis
Washington, DC
Mr. Wald is Senior Counsel of the Washington, D.C. law firm Baach Robinson & Lewis. He was founding partner of Wald Harkrader & Ross and predecessor firms. His practice has focused on antitrust, trade regulation, federal regulatory matters, and international legal matters. He served as assistant to the General Counsel and Director, Division of Export Trade, Federal Trade Commission. Mr. Wald was Board Member and Chair of the Romanian-American Enterprise Fund, a founding member and former Chair of the Washington Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. He is a Board Member of Global Rights (formerly International Human Rights Law Group), the International Association of Women Judges, Capital Area Immigrant Rights Coalition and is an emeritus Board Member of the Frederick B. Abramson Memorial Foundation. He is a graduate of Harvard University and the Yale Law School.
Joan D. Winship, ex officio
Executive Director, IAWJ
Washington, DC
Joan D. Winship is Executive Director of the International Association of Women Judges. Ms. Winship has many years of experience working on international issues, including international organizations, human rights, gender, and global higher education. She has served as a consultant/trainer for rule of law and human rights programs in such diverse places as Afghanistan, Jordan, Bangladesh, Russia, and the Philippines. Prior to coming to the IAWJ, she was Advisor for Strategic Alliances for Vital Voices Global Partnership, Vice President at the Stanley Foundation, and also Director of Women Waging Peace. She has more than twenty years experience as a college administrator and professor of political science. Ms. Winship is a Trustee of the American University of Rome, and on the advisory board of the Global Alliance for Women's Health. She was a founding board member of US Women Connect and a founding Fellow of the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights. Ms. Winship received her B.A. degree from Western Maryland (McDaniel) College and M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2007 she received the McDaniel Trustee Award for professional accomplishments from the Board of Trustees of McDaniel College, Maryland, USA, and in 2008 she was awarded the "Judicial Medal of Merit of José de Mesquito" by the Judiciary of Mato Grosso State, Brazil, for contributions to the judiciary and to justice for all. Ms. Winship is married with two grown children.
Mildred Wurf, Treasurer
Consultant
Washington, DC
Mildred Kiefer Wurf's work in the public policy arena in Washington, DC focused on issues of gender equity, especially in the field of youth development. As the Director of Public Policy for Girls Incorporated, she identified the inequitable allocation of public and private resources for programs and services for g irls and boys. When Ms. Wurf first raised this issue, two dollars went to boys' services for every dollar directed to girls, whether the funds were from foundations, United Ways, the federal government, or corporate contributions. Redressing that imbalance led to an active advocacy role for Girls Inc., which had been a traditional direct community service organization. Ms. Wurf earlier worked in the labor and cooperative movements in New York City. She holds an A.B. degree from the University of California at Berkeley and did her graduate work at Columbia University.
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