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

Session Description:
This presentation will help attorneys and judges communicate with respect and inclusiveness when they interact with members of the LGBTQIA+ community in the courtroom or their practices.  The panelists will help attorneys and judges understand the differences between gender and sexuality, describe the use of terminology, review pronoun inclusion, internal and external best practices, common fears and misconceptions, personal experiences, and discuss how to have conversations that treat everyone with respect.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will understand terms used in the LGBTQIA+ community
• Participants will be able to identify issues faced by LGBTQIA+ people as they pertain to employment, client consultation, social interactions, and courtroom proceedings.
• Participants will have strategies for treating LGBTQIA+ people with courtesy and respect not only in their personal interactions but also in the courtroom.

Adrien Lawyer, Director of Education, Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico

Adrien is the Director of Education at the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico. He co-founded TGRCNM in 2008 with Zane Stephens to be a clearinghouse of service provision, education, and advocacy for the transgender community in New Mexico. He has facilitated over 4,000 Transgender Cultural Fluency training sessions throughout New Mexico, including training every correctional facility in the state, numerous district attorney offices, police departments, public and private schools, healthcare and social service facilities, and countless businesses, nonprofits, and other entities. Adrien has led successful advocacy efforts for model transgender student policies, gender-neutral restrooms, trans inclusion in social service facilities, statewide bullying prevention, and updating the law that governs birth certificate gender marker change. 

On a national level, Adrien presents and consults on many issues impacting the trans community, including TGRCNM as a successful model for local service provision. He has been recognized with the Jose Sarria Into the Light Award for community service and the Vincent R. Johnson Model of Hope Award for LGBTQ role models. In 2019, Adrien won the Advocacy In Action (AIA) Professional Innovation in Victim Services Award presented by the New Mexico Crime Victims Reparation Commission (CVRC). 

Adrien is a trans man and father. In his spare time, he enjoys playing guitar with A Band Named Sue. 

Ellen Krug, Writer, Lawyer, Human

In 2009, when she was a civil trial attorney in Cedar Rapids with 100+ trials, Ellen (Ellie) Krug transitioned from male to female; she later became one of the few attorneys nationally to try jury cases in separate genders. The author of “Getting to Ellen: A Memoir about Love, Honesty and Gender Change” (2013), Ellie has trained on diversity and inclusion to court systems, law firms, Fortune 100 corporations, and colleges/universities on nearly 1,000 occasions.

A hopeless idealist, Ellie has presented her inclusivity training, Gray Area Thinking®, across the country. In 2016, Advocate Magazine named Ellie one of “25 Legal Advocates Fighting for Trans Rights” and in 2019, OutFront Minnesota conferred Ellie its Legacy Award. She is also a monthly columnist for Lavender Magazine and a weekly radio host on AM950 radio. Her monthly e-newsletter, The Ripple, reaches 9000+ readers and can be found at www.elliekrug.com.

Ellie presently lives in the Twin Cities metro and is the founder and president of Human Inspiration Works, LLC

Hon. Margaret H. Chutich (Ret.), Minnesota Supreme Court

Margaret Chutich served as an Associate Justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court for over eight years. When appointed by Governor Mark Dayton in 2016, Justice Chutich was the first open member of the LGBTQ+ community to serve on the court.  Justice Chutich previously served on the Minnesota Court of Appeals from 2012 to 2016.  She is currently serving as a Senior Judge.  

Before serving on the appellate courts, Justice Chutich served for three years as Assistant Dean at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs.  Before that, she served over fourteen years in various capacities at the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, including as Deputy Attorney General overseeing the Law Enforcement Section.  In addition, Justice Chutich prosecuted criminal cases as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota, and practiced law privately at two Minneapolis law firms.   

Justice Chutich began her career clerking for the Honorable Diana E. Murphy in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.  Justice Chutich graduated from the University of Minnesota, studied Croatian at the University of Zagreb, and received her law degree, cum laude, from the University of Michigan.  She is married to Dr. Penny Wheeler.  Among other leisure activities, Justice Chutich enjoys playing keyboard for the Reasonable Doubts, an all-judicial band.   

Justice Briana Zamora, New Mexico Supreme Court (Moderator)

As a dedicated public servant, Justice Briana Zamora has served at all levels of the judiciary. She began her judicial career when she was appointed to the Metropolitan Court bench in 2008. Four years later, she was elected to the Bernalillo County District Court. As a trial judge, she spent a decade presiding almost exclusively over adult criminal cases. She also presided over various treatment courts, including Homeless Court, the Native American Healing to Wellness Court and the Courts to School program. In 2018, she was elected to the Court of Appeals where she authored opinions in all areas of the law. Justice Zamora was then appointed to the New Mexico Supreme Court after being nominated by a bi-partisan Judicial Nominating Commission.

As a Justice, she is the liaison to several commissions, including the Children’s Court Improvement Commission, the Children’s Court Judges Association, the Tribal-State Judicial Consortium and the Commission on Mental Health and Competency. She serves on the Executive Board for the American Bar Association’s Appellate Judges Conference. In 2023, she was selected as a Council of State Governments’ Henry Toll Fellow.

Prior to taking the bench, Justice Zamora worked as a litigator for the State of New Mexico in several capacities. Then, she was recruited to join the law firm of Butt, Thornton & Baehr as an attorney litigating a broad range of civil cases, including workers compensation, insurance coverage and personal injury. Prior to being appointed to the bench, she founded the Zamora Law Firm where she managed the law firm and litigated criminal and civil cases. She also represented abused and neglected children as their guardian ad litem.

Justice Zamora was born, raised, and educated in New Mexico and she is now raising her children in Albuquerque. She is a graduate of New Mexico State University where she received degrees in Government and Psychology. She graduated in 2000 from the University of New Mexico School of Law. She was the recipient of the Frederick M. Hart Award in Commercial Law and recognized for Honors in Clinical Law.