William J. Brunson, Esq., Director of Special Projects, National Judicial College (NJC)

As NJC’s Director of Special Projects, William Brunson conducts faculty development workshops, manages international programs, and oversees numerous grant projects primarily related to curriculum development for judges. Prior to his current position, Mr. Brunson served as the College’s academic director and assistant director, program attorney, and program coordinator under a Bureau of Justice Assistance grant. Before joining the staff of the NJC, Mr. Brunson was in private practice.

Among his other professional activities, Mr. Brunson is a member of the National Association of State Judicial Educators (NASJE). In 1999, he received the NASJE President’s Special Service Award and in 2004-2005 he served as NASJE’s president. Mr. Brunson is co-author and co-editor of numerous curricula and publications, including (1) Human Trafficking: What Judges Need to Know (2013); Immigration Consequences of Criminal ‘Convictions’ (2010); Presiding over a Capital Case: a Benchbook for Judges (2009); and Strategies for Addressing the DWI Offender: 10 Promising Sentencing Practices (2005). He has educated faculty both nationally and internationally on adult education principles and practice and on curriculum development.

Mr. Brunson received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Nevada, Reno and Juris Doctor from Willamette University College of Law.

Katie Crank, Esq., LMSW, Coordinator of Domestic Violence Programs, Center for Court Innovation (CCI)

Katie Crank, an attorney and social worker, provides technical assistance and strategic planning advice to courts wishing to improve their response to domestic violence, sexual assault and trafficking cases. Ms. Crank is interested in the response to gender-based violence both nationally and internationally, having spent a year developing a crisis hotline with a domestic violence agency in Ghana, as well as having assisted two Missouri jurisdictions with the planning and implementation of specialized domestic violence courts. She also provides trauma-informed therapy to children who have witnessed or been the victims of violence in the Bronx through the Center for Court Innovation’s Child and Adolescent Witness Support Program. Ms. Crank is an admitted attorney in the State of New York and a Licensed Master Social Worker. She earned her B.A. from Indiana University-Bloomington, and received both a J.D. and an M.S.W. from Washington University in St. Louis.

Miriam Goodman, MSW, Coordinator of Trafficking Programs at the Center for Court Innovation (CCI), and Clinical Director at Midtown Community Court

In her positions at CCI and the Midtown Community Court, Miriam Goodman oversees and facilitates the Women’s Independence Safety and Empowerment (WISE) program, a comprehensive psycho-educational and therapeutic program for women arrested for prostitution. Her focus is in trauma work and she has trained extensively in evidence-based practices for working with trauma survivors. Ms. Goodman previously worked as a therapist at Safe Horizon’s Counseling Center where she provided trauma-focused therapy for crime victims. She received her B.A. in Sociology from Dickinson College and her M.S.W. from the Silver School of Social Work at New York University.

Marie Komisar, MPA, Executive Director, National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ)

Marie Komisar has been the Executive Director of NAWJ since 2009. She has over 30 years of experience working with non-profit organizations, including serving as the executive director of the (1) Fairfax County Bar Association (Virginia), (2) Dutchess County Bar Association (New York), (3) and National Organization of Young Audiences, Arts for Learning, Inc. (New York). Ms. Komisar has a B.A. in Communications from Marist College, a paralegal degree from Marist College and an MPA from the Wagner School at New York University.

John A. Martin, Ph.D., Director, Center for Public Policy Studies, Immigration and the State Courts Initiative, and Human Trafficking and the State Courts Collaborative.

Dr. Martin, a planning, policy, and management consultant, is recognized as an innovator in planning, management, performance measurement, and institutional development for courts, justice and human service organizations. Over the past 40 years, he has worked with courts, justice, and human service agencies of all types. He has conducted grant-funded research, provided technical assistance, and taught seminars targeting numerous topics including innovation and systems change, agency and inter-agency planning and management, organizational culture and change management, work process improvement, simplified litigation, alternative dispute resolution, human trafficking, technology applications, cross-cultural interaction, the impacts of immigration in the courts, Latino family violence, performance measurement, evidence-based practices, and executive-legislative-judicial relations.

In addition to directing the Immigration and the State Courts Initiative, Martin’s recent projects have included a youth service improvement initiative with the Jefferson County Colorado justice and human service systems, and planning, work process improvement, and performance measurement efforts in the Los Angeles, Maricopa County Arizona, and the Sonoma and Imperial County, California, Superior Courts, and with the Boulder Colorado Police Department. His extensive writings about courts, police, corrections, and human service planning, management, and public policy have been published in handbooks, scholarly books, and dozens of magazines and journals.

Dr. Martin also serves on a variety of editorial boards and serves as Senior Faculty with the Institute for Court Management. Dr. Martin received a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Public Affairs of the University of Colorado, an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Colorado, and a B.A. in Political Science and History from Fort Lewis College. He also has had extensive mediation training from CDR Associates.

Lynn Hecht Schafran, Esq., Director of National Judicial Education Program – Legal Momentum.

Lynn Hecht Schafran is an attorney, who, since 1981, has directed the National Judicial Education Program to Promote Equality for Women and Men in the Courts (NJEP), a project of Legal Momentum in cooperation with the National Association of Women Judges. Ms. Schafran is nationally recognized as an authority on the issues of gender bias, sexual abuse/rape, and domestic violence, including trafficking as an aspect of intimate partner sexual abuse. Through her research and consulting across the nation, she has (1) created and presented courses on sexual abuse for numerous national, state, and federal judicial colleges; (2) designed a web course on the intersection of domestic violence and sexual assault; (3) written online curricula for judges and justice system professionals on domestic violence and sexual abuse; and (4) published widely on the subject of gender bias in the law, the courts, and the legal profession in both law reviews and periodicals. She has received numerous awards for her work to eliminate gender bias in the courts, including the Distinguished Service Award of the National Association of Women Judges, the gold medal of the Foundation of the Improvement of Justice, and the American Bar Association Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award.

All of NJEP’s resources are available online.

Steven Weller, J.D., Ph.D., Senior Consultant, CPPS Immigration and the State Courts Initiative.

Dr. Weller has more than 37 years of experience working with state courts and other justice system institutions in the Unites States and internationally. In the United States he has served as principal investigator or consultant on a variety of national, state, and local research and strategic planning projects aimed at improving different aspects of the justice system and developing responses to public policy problems. Weller is a former Program Attorney at the National Judicial College, where he was responsible for directing the College’s dispute resolution course and its course offerings for limited jurisdiction judges. He has served periodically on the faculty of the Judicial College. He also served as a Senior Staff Attorney at the National Center for State Courts, where he conducted extensive national-scope research on a wide range of projects involving court organization and court processes. His writings on immigration issues in the state courts, small claims courts, methods for simplifying the trial court process, alternative dispute resolution, family violence, and strategic planning have been published widely in a variety of books and journals. Weller has a J.D. from Yale Law School, and a Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University.