2025 Summit Agenda

8:00 AM – 10:00 AM    AJEI Board Meeting

10:00 AM – 12:00 PM  AJC Board Meeting

9:00 AM – 1:00 PM    Check-in and registration

1:00 PM – 1:30 PM Presentation of Colors and Welcome

1:30 – 2:30 PM: Plenary 1: The Death of the Chevron Doctrine: The Future of Regulatory Power and Litigation

• Hon. Elizabeth Prelogar, 48th Solicitor General of the United States
• Roman Martinez, Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP 
• Hon. J. Michelle Childs, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (Moderator)

2:30 – 2:45 p.m. BREAK

2:45 – 3:45 PM: Plenary 2: Suter on Souter: A Justice Remembered

• Thomas C. Leighton, Vice President Supreme Court Historical Society, Vice President, Content Acquisition, Thomson Reuters
• William “Bill” K. Suter, Former United States Supreme Court Clerk of Courts
• Boris Bershteyn, Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
• Hon. Robert J. Torres Jr., Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Guam (moderator)

4 PM – 5 PM: Plenary 3: R.E.S.P.E.C.T – LGBTQ Inclusion in the Courtroom and Workplace

• Ellen Krug, Writer, Lawyer, Human
• Hon. Margaret H. Chutich (Ret.), Minnesota Supreme Court
• Adrien Lawyer, Director of Education, Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico
• Justice Briana Zamora, New Mexico Supreme Court (Moderator)

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM: Opening Reception & Sandra Day O’Connor Award

7:00 AM – 8:00 AM: Breakfast

8:00 AM – 9:30 AM: Plenary 4: Writing Like the Greats in the 21st Century: An Advanced Appellate Writing Workshop

• Prof. Joe Regalia, Associate Professor of Law, William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Law Vegas
• Gretchen Harris Sperry, Partner, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP (Moderator)

9:30 PM – 10:30 PM: Plenary 5: Life of an Appeal in the Age of AI: From Trial Court to Appellate Decision

• Dr. Ryan Walker, Vice President of Technology, Thomson Reuters
• Damien Riehl, Lawyer & Technologist, vLex Group
• Hon. Leanna Weissmann, Judge, Court of Appeals of Indiana
• Hon. Robert J. Torres, Jr., Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Guam (moderator)

10:30 AM – 10:45 AM: BREAK

10:45AM – 11:45 AM: Plenary 6: Restoring Public Confidence in the Courts in a Highly Politicized Environment

• Prof. Jeremy Fogel (Ret.), Executive Director, Berkeley Judicial Institute (moderator)
• Prof. Steve Vladeck, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
• Prof. Susan Stokes, Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor of

11:45 AM – Noon: BREAK

Noon – 1:00 PM: Breakout 1: Originalism, Separation of Powers, and the Roberts Court

• Prof. Eric Segall, Ashe Family Chair Professor of Law, Georgia State University College of Law
• Prof. Lorianne Updike Schulzke, Visiting Associate Professor, Yale Law School, Assistant Professor, Northern Illinois University
• Prof. Ilan Wurman,
• Prof. Alan Rozenshtein, Associate Professor of Law, University of Minnesota
• Hon. Christopher J. McFadden, Chief Judge, Court of Appeals of the State of  (Moderator)

Noon – 1:00 PM: Breakout 2: Embracing Neurodiversity: Understanding, Accommodating, and Thriving in the Legal Profession

• Sierra Grandy, Speaker, Attorney, Advocate, Founder, Questify Your Life LLC

1 PM – 6 PM: Free Time – Optional Tours -Local Events/Hospitality

6:00 PM – 7:00 PM: Council of Appellate Lawyers (CAL) Meet and Greet (Optional – All AJEI attendees invited)

7:30 PM – 9:30 PM: CAL Dine-Around for Lawyers and Judges (Optional/additional charge)

7:30 PM – 9:30 PM       CASA T-Shirt Dinner at Black Sheep Coal Fired Pizza

7 AM – 8 AM: Breakfast and Optional CAL Roundtable Discussions

8 AM – 9 AM: Plenary 7: Do Something! Ethical Responses to Judicial and Lawyer Misconduct

• Tim O’Brien, Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board

• Hal R. Lieberman, Partner, ECBAWM

• Mary Andreoni, Ethics Education Senior Counsel, Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission
• Hon. Lucy Inman, Partner, Bryson Harrison Suciu & DeMay (Moderator)

9 AM – 9:15 AM: BREAK

9:15 AM – 10:15 AM: Break-out 3: To Defer or Not to Defer: Evolving Standards of Review in the Digital Age

• Hon. Jack M. Sabatino, Presiding Judge of the Appellate Division, Superior Court of New Jersey
• Hon. Ramon Paul L. Hernando, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the Philippines
• Prof. Mary D. Fan, University of Washington School of Law
• Hon. Samuel A. Thumma, Chief Judge, Arizona Court of Appeals (Moderator)

9:15 AM – 10:15 AM: Breakout 4: The Ethical and Practical Challenges of Amicus Participation

• Prof. Allison Orr Larsen, Alfred Wilson & Mary I.W. Lee Professor of Law, William & Mary
• Prof. David R. Cleveland, Clinical Professor of Law, Director of Legal Research & Writing, University of Minnesota
• Hon. Theodora Gaïtas, Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court (Moderator)

10:15 AM – 10:30 AM: BREAK

10:30 AM – 11:30 PM: Plenary 8: A Legacy of Leadership: From Football to the Law and Social Justice

• Hon. Alan Page (Ret.), Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court, Author, former Vikings player & Hall of Famer
• Kamie Page, Teacher, The Blake School & Author

11:30 AM – 11:45 AM: BREAK

11:45 AM – 12:45 PM: Breakout 5: Concur and Dissent: When Great Minds Don’t Think Alike

11:45 AM – 12:45 PM: Breakout 6: Advanced Legal Writing and Linguistics: Understanding “Any”

12:45 PM – 2:15 PM: Lunch & CASA/CAL Business Meetings

2:15 PM – 3:45 PM: Plenary 9: Supreme Court Review: Civil and Criminal

• Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Berkeley Law

3:45 AM – 4 PM: BREAK

4 PM – 5 PM: Breakout 7: Standing: Who can Sue These Days? (And are State Courts More – or Less – Receptive?)

• Dana Berliner, Senior Vice President and Litigation Director, Institute for Justice
• Kasia Szymborski Wolfkot, Senior Counsel, The Brennan Center
• Michael  A. Scodro, Co-Chair, Supreme Court and Appellate Practice, Mayer Brown LLP
• Hon. Laurie McKinnon, Justice, Montana Supreme Court (Moderator)

4 PM – 5 PM: Breakout 8: Cutting Edge Scientific Knowledge or Junk Science?

• Jessica Gabel Cino, Krevolin & Horst
• Barbara Llewellyn, Ph.D., Forensic DNA Consulting
• J.D. Schmid, Assistant Public Defender, Minnesota Sixth District
• Heather Wood, Staff Attorney, Tennessee Supreme Court (Moderator)

6:00 PM – 7:00 PM    Saturday Night Reception
7:00 PM – 9:30 PM    Saturday Dinner & Entertainment

7 AM – 8 AM: BREAKFAST

8 AM – 8:15 AM: Honoring Our Veterans

8:15 AM – 9:15 AM: Plenary 10: Military Criminal Justice: What You Should Know

• Hon. M. Tia Johnson, Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
• Col. Iain Pedden, USMC Director, Appellate Government Division, Office of the Judge Advocate General
• Col. Pilar G. Wennrich, Chief of the Appellate Defense Division, Military Justice and Discipline Directorate, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland
• CDR Jenn Fraser, Navy Reserve JAG, United States Pacific Fleet
• Hon. Kurt Brubaker, Judge, United Stated Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals (Moderator)

9:15 AM – 9:25 AM: BREAK

9:25 AM – 10:40 AM: Plenary 11:What about US? The Role of State Constitutional Rights Following Recent U.S. Supreme Court Decisions

• Hon.David Stras, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Hon. Shannon Bacon, Justice, New Mexico Supreme Court
• Julie Murray, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU & Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School
• Prof. Miriam Seifter, Richard E. Johnson Bascom Professor of Law, Co-Director, State Democracy Research Initiative, & Rowe Faculty Fellow in Regulatory Law, University of Wisconsin Law School
• Hon. David K. Thomson, Chief Justice, New Mexico Supreme Court (Moderator)

10:40 AM – 10:50 AM: BREAK

10:50 AM – 11:50 AM: Plenary 12: Stories in Courage: Fredrick McGhee and Civil Rights Advocacy in Minnesota

• Paul Nelson, Historian & Author
• Prof. William Green, Professor of History Emeritus, Augsburg University
• Prof. Duchess Harris, Ph.D., Special Assistant to the Provost for Strategic Initiatives, Professor of American Studies, Affiliated with Political Science – Macalester College (Moderator)

11:50 PM – Noon: Conclusion and Preview of 2026 Summit