Bryan A. Garner is an American lawyer, grammarian, and lexicographer. He also writes on jurisprudence. He is the author of over 25 books, the best-known of which are Garner’s Modern English Usage (5th ed. 2022) and Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts (2012)—coauthored with Justice Antonin Scalia—as well as five unabridged editions of Black’s Law Dictionary. He serves as Distinguished Research Professor of Law at Southern Methodist University. He also teaches from time to time at the University of Texas School of Law, Texas A&M School of Law, and Texas Tech School of Law.

In 2009, he was named Legal-Writing and Reference-Book Author of the Decade at a Burton Awards ceremony at the Library of Congress. He has received many other awards, including the Benjamin Franklin Book Award, the Scribes Book Award, the Bernie Siegan Award, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Center for Plain Language. His work has played a central role in our understanding of modern judging, advocacy, grammar, English usage, legal lexicography, and the common-law system of precedent. His books are frequently cited by American courts of all levels, including the United States Supreme Court.

Justice Lidia S. Stiglich was appointed to the Nevada Supreme Court. Justice In 2016. Stiglich earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Hastings  College of Law, and is a member of the State Bars of Nevada and California. She is a member of the Clark County  Bar Association, Washoe County Bar Association, the Northern Nevada Women Lawyers Association and the National Association of Women Judges. She serves as a member of the Nevada Supreme Court’s Indigent Defense Commission and the Commission on Statewide Rules of Criminal Procedure.

Prior to appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Stiglich was the presiding judge of the Second Judicial District Court in Washoe County, Nevada. During her time with the Second Judicial District court, she presided over both civil and criminal cases, served as the court’s Probate Judge, and co-founded the Youth Offender Drug Court.

Before her judicial appointments, Justice Stiglich practiced law for nearly two decades. She was the founder and managing partner of the law firm Stiglich & Hinckley, LLP. She also advised Lieutenant Governor Brian Krolicki on legal matters related to economic development, tourism and cultural affairs as his special counsel.

Justice Stiglich has served as a faculty member at numerous educational institutions, including the National Judicial College; the University of Nevada, Reno; the John F. Kennedy School of Law; the Golden Gate University School of Law; and the New College of the Law.

Penny White is professor emerita of the University of Tennessee College of Law, and before that, was the Elvin E. Overton Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee College of Law, where she directed the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution and previously directed the UT Legal Clinic. She also serves as a Visiting Faculty member of the Harvard Law School. Professor White teaches evidence, trial practice, pretrial litigation, negotiations, and clinic and lectures around the country at legal and judicial education programs on each of these areas as well as about criminal procedure, capital punishment jurisprudence, and attorney and judicial ethics and professionalism issues. Before beginning her teaching career, Professor White served as a judge at every level of the court system in Tennessee. While at UT, she has received the university’s Jefferson Prize for excellence in research and creative activity and has been recognized twice as the law school’s outstanding teacher. In 2019, the university named her the SEC Outstanding Professor. Professor White has published numerous articles on evidence, criminal procedure, and ethics and has authored several bench books for state court judges. She is most proud of her book on the defense of capital cases, for which she was awarded the Ritchie Award by the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and of her article in the Harvard Law Review “Relinquished Responsibilities,” addressing the failure of state judges to adhere to important restrictions on political behavior. Professor White has taught at the National Judicial College for more than 25 years and has received the NJC’s Advancement of Justice Award and the V. Robert Payant Award for Teaching Excellence.

Judge Thomas A. Zonay is the Chief Superior Judge for the State of Vermont. He was appointed to the bench by Governor James Douglas in 2007 and appointed as Chief Judge in 2021. Prior to his appointment to the bench, he was an attorney in private practice and before that he was a police officer in Woodstock, VT. Judge Zonay received a bachelor 's degree in Food Industry from Delaware Valley College and a Juris Doctor from Vermont Law School. Judge Zonay currently serves on the Vermont Sentencing Commission (Chair), the Vermont Coordinated Justice Reform Advisory Council (Chair), the Vermont Judiciary Commission on Mental Health and the Courts (Chair of the Education Committee), the Act 180 Post-Adjudication Reparative Program Working Group (Chair), the Vermont Judiciary Change Advisory Board (Co-chair), the Vermont Judiciary Standard Practices Committee, the Vermont Judiciary Commission on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the Vermont Prison Research and Innovation Network Executive Committee, the Vermont Treatment Docket Executive Oversite Committee, the Vermont Juvenile Justice Stakeholders Group, the Vermont Judicial Workload Study Advisory Executive Committee, the Vermont FTAP Management Team, the Vermont Justice Reinvestment Initiative Domestic Violence Executive Working Group, the Vermont Justice for Children Task Force, and the Act 250 Steering Committee. He also serves as a member on the Vermont Civil, Criminal, Family, and Probate Oversight Committees, as well as the Vermont Judicial Education Committee.

He has served on the Vermont Bar Association Board of Managers (President, 2005); was a director of the Vermont Bar Foundation; and is past president of the New England Bar Association. He is currently a member, and past president of, the Vermont Trial Judge's Association. At the time of his appointment to the bench, Judge Zonay was Chair of the Vermont Human Rights Commission and had previously served on other judicial and community boards and committees. He is also a U.S.C.G. licensed Master Captain. Judge Zonay is an alumnus of the National Judicial College, joined its faculty in 2012.

Jessica Escobar is a seasoned interpreter, translator, and educator with extensive experience in languages, teaching, and event management. She has worked as a Certified Court Interpreter, Instructor, and Translator for various institutions and organizations, including the Second Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada, Truckee Meadows Community College, and the University of Nevada, Reno. Jessica holds a Master's degree in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology and French from the University of Nevada, Reno. She is proficient in four languages: English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language.

Marshal Seth Palmer has been working in federal law enforcement for 13 years—three years with the United States Border Patrol in Arizona and 10 years in the United States Marshals Service. He began work with the US Marshals in Idaho, moved to Puerto Rico when promoted to supervisor, was then selected for supervisor in Las Vegas, before making the lateral move to his current position as the Judicial Security Inspector about a year and a half ago. Marshal Palmer has worked in many areas with the US Marshals Service, including Taskforce, Court Operations, Sex Offender Investigations, and Security and Protections. He is also a certified firearms instructor for the United States Marshals. Marshal Palmer joined The National Judicial College faculty in 2020.

Gabe Paul graduated from Indiana University in 1995 with a B.A. in Communications and History and with a J.D. from the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University in 1999. He served in the private sector before joining the State of Indiana as a Staff Attorney for the Indiana Department of Transportation in 2006. From 2013-2021, Judge Paul was appointed as the Director and Chief ALJ of the State Employees’ Appeals Commission, which heard grievances concerning state employees. In 2021, Governor Holcomb appointed Judge Paul to his current position as the Chair of the Indiana Unemployment Insurance Review Board, which hears unemployment insurance appeals from lower-level agency ALJs and serves as the final agency authority for such appeals. He was reappointed in September 2024. Judge Paul has also served as a past president of the Indiana Association of Administrative Law Judges and has served on the Board of Directors of NAALJ since 2019. He the immediate past president of NAALJ.

Hon. Evan J. McGinley has served as the Chief Administrative Law Judge for the IllinoisDepartment of Public Health (IDPH) since January of 2020. In this position, JudgeMcGinley has reviewed or decided thousands of cases involving various aspects of skilled nursing home operations, including involuntary transfer and discharges, regulatory violations, and consumer complaints about nursing home operations. During 2020, Judge McGinley served as counsel to IDPH in support of the department’s efforts to combat the COVID pandemic. He has also served as the department’s Ethics Officer.

Prior to joining IDPH, Judge McGinley was as a Senior Assistant Attorney General with the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, where he primarily litigated and tried environmental enforcement cases in both state and federal courts, and beforeadministrative bodies. Before joining the Attorney General, Judge McGinley served as environmental counsel to a several California municipalities in a variety of litigation, transactional, and regulatory matters. He was also an active pro bono attorney in the Los Angeles area, primarily representing clients in asylum proceedings.

Judge McGinley received his B.A. in Urban Studies from Temple University, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his J.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology-Chicago Kent College of Law, in Chicago, Illinois. He is admitted to the practice of law in both Illinois and California. 

Judge McGinley is also the current Secretary for the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary.

Carrie Ingram has served as the Chief Administrative Law Judge at the Office of Administrative Law Proceedings since July 2023. Prior to joining OALP, Carrie was the Director of Dispute Resolution for the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board where she was in charge of all dispute resolution in Indiana between school corporations and teachers unions. Prior to that, Carrie served as an ALJ for the Department of Workforce Development and Department of Child Services. Carrie was a 2018 Fellow of the National

Administrative Law Foundation where she researched and published an article on Chevron Deference. Carrie presented her research at the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary’s 2018 Annual Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida. Since then, Carrie has been a regular attendee and speaker at conferences held by NAALJ and its Indiana affiliate. She is currently NAALJ’s president elect.

Dr. Melissa Piasecki is an emeritus professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and is a former acting dean and executive associate dean at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine. Dr. Piasecki received her M.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and completed psychiatry residency training at the University of Vermont in Burlington. Additional specialty training through a Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship was completed at the University of Hawaii. Dr. Piasecki is board certified in general psychiatry and forensic psychiatry. Her interests include forensic psychiatry, medical education, neurobiology of substance abuse disorders, and judicial education. She has served as a consultant to the Department of Justice and to Federal monitors. Dr. Piasecki is an alumna of The National Judicial College and has served as faculty since 2005.

Shlomo Klapper is the CEO of Learned Hand, the only company building AI specifically for judges and courts. 

He clerked for Judge Steven J. Menashi on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and was a litigation associate at Quinn Emanuel.

He co-founded Weave Bio, a generative AI startup for regulatory processes in biotech and pharma, and built enterprise software at Palantir for government, finance, and consumer goods. He earned his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he won the Emerson Prize twice, and his B.S. in Economics and History from Wharton, summa cum laude.

Katherine Kwan MacDonald joined the California Public Utilities Commission as an Administrative Law Judge in 2009 and currently serves as Assistant Chief Administrative Law Judge.  In addition to supervising Administrative Law Judges and Retired Annuitants, she has subject matter responsibility for citation appeals, telecommunications policy and licensing, utility mergers and acquisitions, and confidentiality issues for the division.  She leads the Judicial Internship program and Division Training programs.  Judge MacDonald has extensive experience adjudicating a wide variety of proceedings in adjudicatory matters, enforcement proceedings, telecommunications, energy matters, water, and transportation matters.  She is an experienced certified neutral and actively serves in the Commission’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program. 

Prior to beginning her career in public service, Judge MacDonald practiced as a litigator, practicing general civil litigation with a focus in professional liability defense, employment, and tax matters. She also served as an advisor to elected Board Member Johan Klehs prior to becoming a hearing officer at the California State Board of Equalization.  Judge MacDonald graduated with a bachelor’s degree in History and Art History from the University of California at Los Angeles. She earned her J.D. from Whittier Law School in 1995.  In 2000, Judge MacDonald earned her LLM in Taxation from Golden Gate Law School. Judge MacDonald became a certified neutral at Hastings College of Law in 2010.  Judge MacDonald joined the faculty of the National Judicial College in 2018.

The Honorable Linda Marie Bell serves as a Justice of the Nevada Supreme Court in Seat A. Justice Bell was elected to the position in November of 2022 and took office January 2, 2023. Prior to serving on the Nevada Supreme Court, Justice Bell served on the Eighth Judicial District Court in the civil/criminal division. She served as a trial court judge for fourteen years.

During her tenure with the trial court court, Justice Bell was a driving force in the proliferation of specialty courts. She started the District Court Veteran’s Treatment Court and also worked to implement the District Court Gambling Diversion Treatment Court, which was the only one of its kind in the country. In 2019, her peers on the bench elected Justice Bell to serve as the Chief Judge of the largest court in the State of Nevada. As Chief Judge, Justice Bell was responsible for overseeing the entire operation of a large, high-volume court. During Justice Bell’s tenure as Chief Judge, the Eighth Judicial District Court took swift action to manage the unprecedented challenges of a pandemic. Justice Bell also led development and implementation of a COVID-19 trial plan to allow jury trials to move forward safely when many other courts remained closed.

A third generation Nevadan, Justice Bell grew up primarily in Reno, where she attended Anderson Elementary School, Pine Middle School, and Wooster High School. She completed high school in Las Vegas, graduating with honors from Bonanza High School. Justice Bell also graduated with honors from University of Nevada, Reno. In 1993, Justice Bell received her law degree magna cum laude from the University of San Diego School of Law, where she served as a Lead Articles Editor for the University of San Diego Law Review.

Justice Bell was admitted to the Nevada State Bar in October of 1993. After graduation, she worked as a law clerk to the Honorable Sally Loehrer in the Eighth Judicial District Court. Following her clerkship, Justice Bell worked in private practice in the areas of medical malpractice and family law. After three years in private practice, Justice Bell served as a public defender for five years in Clark County, handling felony criminal trial cases. She then spent seven years in the non-capital post-conviction unit of the Law Offices of the Federal Public Defender, handling complex post-conviction cases. Justice Bell argued a number of times before the Nevada Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Justice Bell is deeply committed to giving back to the community. She has been a mentor and role model to countless judges, lawyers, and students. She was honored as the Trial by Peers youth program Judge of the Year in 2011. Justice Bell graduated from the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Leadership Las Vegas program in 2008 and remains actively involved in Leadership Las Vegas. She volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) to speak on behalf of abused and neglected children. Among other professional and community activity, Justice Bell has previously served as a board member of Family and Child Treatment, the Southern Nevada Women Attorneys, and the Nevada Attorneys for Criminal Justice.

Justice Bell served as Chair of the National Conference of State Trial Judges and served for two years as Chair of the ABA Judicial Division Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee. Justice Bell is a past president of Nevada District Judges Association. She served as president of the Howard D. McKibben Chapter of the American Inns of Court from May 2012 to May 2014. Justice Bell taught criminal law and criminal procedure at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas from 2011 until 2022. Justice Bell was a 2019 recipient of the Clark County Law Foundation Liberty Bell Award, the 2021 recipient of the Southern Nevada Women Attorney’s annual Miriam Shearing Award, and the 2022 recipient of the NCJFCJ Impact of the Year Award.