MEMBERS

Dr. Elizabeth L. Hillman (Chair) is president and CEO of the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum, which remembers and honors the nearly 3,000 victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and shares the inspiring story of those who risked their lives to save others. Before coming to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, Hillman was the 14th president of Mills College, the first women’s college west of the Rockies. At Mills, she reduced tuition, spearheaded a transformative merger with Northeastern University, and led the college through the COVID-19 crisis. Earlier, Hillman served as provost and academic dean at the University of California Hastings College of the Law (now UC Law San Francisco), where she was also a professor of law, and as a law professor at Rutgers. She began her career as a space operations officer in the U.S. Air Force and served on active duty for seven years, including two as an instructor of history at the U.S. Air Force Academy. She holds a BS in electrical engineering from Duke University, an MA in history from the University of Pennsylvania, a JD from Yale Law School, and a PhD in history from Yale University. Dr. Hillman serves on the board of the Alliance of Downtown New York and is a member of the American Law Institute, Council on Foreign Relations, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Steven M. Barney is a retired Captain with the U.S. Navy, with over 30 years of practice specializing in criminal justice. After graduating from Saint Michael’s College, Captain (Retired) Barney graduated from Suffolk University Law School in 1990. He is a 2001 graduate of the U.S. Navy War College.

During his distinguished military career, he served in nearly every level of judge advocate service to include Fleet Judge Advocate, Staff Judge Advocate, and Executive Assistant to the Judge Advocate General of the Navy. Following his military service, he served as General Counsel and Professional Staff Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services from 2013 to 2017. He most recently served as Commissioner of the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service.

Barney is an advocate for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and with autism. He served as chief executive officer of a nonprofit that supports disabled adults live independently, with dignity. He served on the board of directors of The Arc of Plymouth and Upper Cape Cod,  and of Living Independently Forever, Inc. in Massachusetts. As a brother of a person with disabilities he engages in outreach to support siblings of people with disabilities.

Tara Osborn (Vice-Chair) is a retired Army colonel and military lawyer who served as the 21st Chief Trial Judge of the U.S. Army. In that role, she presided over felony criminal trials, which included capital cases, oversaw the Army's worldwide judicial operations, and led all active duty and reserve judges of the Army Trial Judiciary. Before her appointment to the trial bench, she completed a U.S. Army War College fellowship as Special Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Colonel Osborn retired from the military in 2017, having served nearly 30 years on active duty, with over two decades of trial experience and with significant leadership experience in interagency policy and field operational assignments. She served at all levels of the Army Trial Judiciary; as a strategic planner on the Joint Staff in Washington, DC; Deputy Staff Judge Advocate and Staff Judge Advocate of the forward-deployed 2nd Infantry Division in Korea; senior litigation attorney with the U.S. Army Litigation Division and the Department of Defense Office of General Counsel; Chief of Criminal Law for III Corps and Fort Hood, Texas, and prosecutor with 1st Armored Division in Germany.  She is a combat veteran of the Persian Gulf War with service in Iraq as an armored brigade legal advisor and operations officer. Her awards include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Valorous Unit Award, and the U. S. Department of State Superior Honor Award.

After retiring from the Army, she has been an active leader in the American Bar Association (ABA). She is the inaugural ABA National Military Judicial Fellow, an ABA President-appointed judicial advisor to the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and Past Chair of the ABA's National Conference of Specialized Court Judges. In 2018, she joined the faculty of the National Judicial College at the University of Nevada where she continues to teach military law, jurisdiction, and capital litigation to judges from across the country.

She holds degrees from the University of South Carolina (B.A. and J.D.), the University of Virginia (M.P.A.), and the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s School (LL.M.), and Professional Certificates in Judicial Development and in Judicial Executive Leadership from the National Judicial College and Harvard Law School.

Benes Z. Aldana leads (since 2017) the nation’s oldest, largest and most widely attended college for Judges, and has established a national reputation as a pioneer and force multiplier in the field of judicial education.

The College’s many accomplishments during his tenure include achieving record- shattering enrollment in 2020. This was driven by special online programming created in response to the coronavirus pandemic and to concerns about racial injustice that intensified after the police killing of George Floyd.

The College launched a first-of-its kind Judicial Academy for lawyers who aspire
to become judges along with new courses on artificial intelligence, animal law, and other emerging topics. A Judicial Renaissance course, designed to be presented abroad annually, brings together judges from around the globe for wide-ranging study of the origins of law and justice.

In 2018, the College organized a national symposium in Washington, D.C., examining efforts to undermine the public’s faith in the courts and the news media. A second national symposium in the nation’s capital in early 2020 explored ways to identify and combat implicit bias in jury decisions. 

Under a five-year strategic plan developed in his first year as president, fundraising has increased, as have collaborations with many other judicial and legal organizations such as the Conferences of Chief Justices, National Center for State Courts, International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and American Board of Trial Advocates.

Prior to joining the College, Aldana had a distinguished 22-year career in the U.S. Coast Guard (retiring in the rank of Captain (O-6)) that included serving as the first Asian Pacific (Filipino) American chief trial judge in U.S. military history.

He is the ninth overall president or chief executive officer of the NJC, the first former military judge, and the second person of color to lead the College. 

Born in Angeles City, Philippines, he and his brothers immigrated to the United States when he was 10 years old after his father, a member of the U.S. Navy, was stationed in Maryland. His family then moved to Oak Harbor, Washington, near Seattle.

He began his service with the Coast Guard in 1994 and held multiple leadership positions. As chief trial judge, headquartered in Washington, D.C., he presided over felony trials throughout the country while overseeing a trial judiciary composed of 10 judges. 

Prior to being named chief trial judge, he served as an appellate judge (2015-16) and trial judge (2005-2011). Before that, he was chief legal officer of the Eighth Coast Guard District in New Orleans, Louisiana. In that role, he oversaw the largest field legal office in the Coast Guard, providing legal support to more than 4,700 personnel at more than 80 operational units in 26 states. 

Before his posting in New Orleans, he served as chief counsel of the Legal Engagements Division of the Defense Department’s U.S. Africa Command, which is based in Stuttgart, Germany. He led the U.S. military’s efforts in advancing the rule of law by working with African partner nation militaries and organizations such as the International Institute of Humanitarian Law and Defense Institute of International Legal Studies. 

In the aftermath of 9/11, he was deployed as a legal adviser to the Department of Defense Criminal Investigation Task Force in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, conducting criminal investigations against suspected terrorists detained by U.S. forces. He also served as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental Enforcement Section.

Other notable military assignments included: special assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington; deputy chief, Office of Environmental Law, U.S. Coast Guard; and appellate and trial counsel. He served as the commanding officer, personnel services and support unit, Seattle, and executive officer for Coast Guard Base Seattle. His many honors include the Department of Defense Meritorious Service Medal. 

Outside of his military service, he has been active in leadership of the American Bar Association, which helped launch the NJC in 1963. He currently chairs the ABA Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. He is the immediate past president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Judicial Council. He was a member of the ABA Rule of Law Initiative Board and the Commission on Diversity and Inclusion 360. He is a past chair of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division. He also served as assembly speaker of the ABA Young Lawyers Division and was a member of the ABA House of Delegates. 

Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, he served as co-chair of the Washington State Fellows and in 2011 was awarded the Outstanding State Chair Award by the American BarFoundation.

While stationed in Seattle, he served as president of the Asian Bar Association of Washington. He was a co-founding board member of the Filipino Lawyers of Washington, chair-elect of the Washington State Bar Legal Assistance to Military Personnel Section, and he was the Washington State Supreme Court’s appointee to the Civil Legal Aid Oversight Committee. He is a 1991 cum laude graduate of Seattle University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. While in college he served as student body president and as a congressional
intern on Capitol Hill. He received his Juris Doctor in 1994 from the University of Washington School of Law.
 

Kirsten V.C. Brunson is a retired Colonel with the U.S. Army, with over 23 years of practice specializing in criminal justice and criminal and administrative investigations. She has presided over 180 felony and misdemeanor criminal trials.

In 1987 she graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in Criminology and in 1991 she graduated from the University of California-Los Angeles Law School. During her career, she has served as a legal advisor to the U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Division; Deputy Chief, Defense Appellate Division; Regional Defense Counsel; and, Circuit Judge. In addition, she is a past chair of the Military & Veterans Committee, National Association of Women Judges, a member of the Military Women’s Foundation Hall of Fame, and was awarded the Superior Public Service Medal for her volunteer work with several military family support organizations.

John Ewers, a (fourth generation) Washington, D.C. native and a Gonzaga College High School graduate, was commissioned a Marine second lieutenant in 1984 and certified as a judge advocate in 1986. His early career included service as a prosecutor and defense counsel. From 1996-99, he presided over more than 500 courts-martial as a military trial judge.

As a senior officer, Major General Ewers led the DOD’s busiest military justice litigation office; served as SJA to 1st Marine Division (OIF I) and I Marine Expeditionary Force; and was a Circuit Military Judge. His non-legal service included command of a Recruit Training Battalion and leadership of a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Al Anbar, Iraq. He was also a Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Before being promoted to major general in 2014 and serving as the SJA to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, he was the Deputy SJA to CMC and the Assistant Judge Advocate General of the Navy for Military Justice.

In 2018, after 34 years of service, Major General Ewers retired from the Marine Corps. His military awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, four Legions of Merit, the Bronze Star, four Meritorious Service Medals, the Combat Action Ribbon, and Purple Heart. Since retirement, Major General Ewers has taught trial advocacy at American University’s Washington College of Law as an adjunct professor, served as the (pro bono) General Counsel of the Iwo Jima Association of America and provided pro bono services in immigration cases.

Major General Ewers received a B.A. in philosophy/political science from the University of Delaware, a J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, and a Master of Laws as an honor graduate of the Judge Advocate General School, U.S. Army. He is also a distinguished graduate of the Marine Corps Command and Staff College. He resides in Washington D.C. with his wife, Elisa Catalano, and has two sons, John Scalley Ewers and Lloyd Wills Ewers.

The Honorable Will A. Gunn is the Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). In 2009, he was appointed by President Barack Obama as the General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, a position in which he served for five years. Subsequently, he was an attorney with a solo law practice, assisting military members facing adverse actions.

In 1980, he graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy with military honors and in 1986 he graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he served as President of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. He also holds an LL.M in environmental law from George Washington University, a Masters in National Resource Strategy from the National Defense University, and a Masters in Ministry (with a focus on Leadership) from Lancaster Bible College. Will served as an active-duty Air Force officer and in 2002, he was promoted to the rank of colonel. In 2003, he was selected as the first-ever Chief Defense Counsel for the DoD Office of Military Commissions. In that role, he established an office that defends detainees brought before military commissions at the Guantanamo Prison Camp. He is a former White House Fellow and after retiring from the Air Force in 2005, he served as President and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, DC. He has chaired the American Bar Association (ABA) 2021 National Law Day commemoration, the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity and the ABA Commission on Youth at Risk. He has served on several boards, is a deacon in his local church, and has received numerous awards including an honorary doctorate from Nova Southeastern University and the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau’s Outstanding Alumni Award.

Judge Bruce E. Kasold was appointed as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (USCAVC) by the President of the United States on December 13, 2003. Judge Kasold took the oath of office on December 31, 2003. He became Chief Judge on August 7, 2010 and served in that role until August 6, 2015.  In 2016, he entered retired-senior status, subject to recall.  He subsequently served almost two years as the Chief Operating Officer and Acting President of the Pentagon Federal Credit Union Foundation, which assists veterans in need.  In August 2020 he joined FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) as a senior hearing officer, retiring in April 2024. He remains a senior judge, subject to recall on the USCAVC.

Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Kasold served as Chief Counsel for the Secretary of the Senate and Senate Sergeant at Arms. In that non-partisan position, he advised Senate leaders on general legal matters and issues at the forefront of the nation's political landscape, including the electoral college, impeachment of the President, and historical management of an evenly divided Senate. Judge Kasold also served as Chief Counsel for the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, where his work included marshaling the Senate's largest series of campaign finance hearings in a decade and conducting an investigation of allegations of state election fraud.

Prior to working in the Senate, Judge Kasold was a commercial and government contracts litigation attorney with the law firm Holland & Knight. Judge Kasold is also a retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel, with service in the Air Defense Artillery and Judge Advocate General's Corps.

Judge Kasold earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy, and a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of Florida. He also holds an LL.M. from Georgetown University and an LL.M. equivalent from the Judge Advocate General's Graduate School. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Florida Supreme Court, and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. He is a member of the Florida Bar, the District of Columbia Bar, the Federal Bar Association, and the Order of the Coif. Judge Kasold is married to the former Patricia Ann Gatz.

Robert G. Kenny is a partner in the Transactional Group of Hoagland, Longo, Moran, Dunst, and Doukas, and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, charged with management and leadership, as well as the professional oversight of the firm’s attorneys.

Bob’s practice focuses on the defense of general negligence matters, including professional liability cases involving the defense of lawyers, architects, engineers, accountants, doctors, dentists, nurses, hospitals, nursing homes, long term care facilities, assisted living facilities and skilled nursing facilities. He also represents various professionals before the State Licensing Boards and credential review boards. Further, his vast litigation experience includes defending products liability matters, construction, and labor and EEO matters. Bob served as a Municipal Attorney, and his experience includes many investigations with regard to allegations of discrimination in the workplace, harassment, hiring and firing of employees, and related labor and employment matters. He has represented state, county and municipal entities in litigated matters. He also concentrates on complex business disputes and recently obtained a multi-million-dollar verdict in favor of an oppressed shareholder. In addition, Bob focuses on estate litigation and most recently successfully defended an estate valued at $20 million.

Prior to joining the firm, Bob served a four-year active duty tour with the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the United States Air Force. He served as an Assistant Staff Judge Advocate, Area Defense Counsel and Circuit Trial Counsel. He was responsible for advising commanders on military, federal and state criminal and civil law matters including military justice, operations law, law of armed conflict, rules of engagement, mobilization, deployment, foreign criminal jurisdiction, standards of conduct, and federal labor and employment law. Upon separation from active duty, he remained a member of the United States Air Force Reserve. He retired from the Air Force in 2015 as a Major General, serving as the Mobilization Assistant to the Judge Advocate General of the United States Air Force, Headquarters United States Air Force, Washington, D.C. In 2014 he performed the Duties of The Judge Advocate General of the Air Force, the only Reserve Officer ever to do so.

In his U.S. Air Force position, Major General Kenny was responsible for the professional oversight of more than 900 Reserve Judge Advocates and Paralegals in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, assigned to more than 200 offices at every level of command. He was responsible for the development of Corps-wide policies affecting all Air Force Reserve component members, and managed the recruitment, training, utilization, and deployment of Reserve legal forces worldwide. Further, he assisted the Judge Advocate General in the professional supervision and management of 4,400 Active- Duty, Guard, and Reserve personnel assigned to the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. In addition to overseeing a vast array of military justice, international, operational law, and civil law functions, including litigation affecting Air Force interests, he provided legal advice to the Chief of the Air Force Reserve and Commander, Air Force Reserve Command. He was deployed on four occasions to the Persian Gulf area of operational responsibility in support of Operation Southern Watch, and was deployed to a classified location for Operation Enduring Freedom. He received the Reginald C. Harmon Award as the 1998 Outstanding Reserve Judge Advocate of the United States Air Force.

He served as an adjunct member of the Judge Advocate General’s School faculty as an instructor at the Advanced Trial Advocacy Course, the Trial/Defense Advocacy Course, and the Total Force Operations Law Course.

 Steven H. Levin is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel and former Assistant United States Attorney with over 30 years of practice in criminal justice. After       graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he attended Wake Forest University School of Law during which time he participated in both the     university’s ROTC program and the North Carolina Army National Guard. Steve is also a graduate of the US Army War College.

 During his active duty military career, Steve served as a trial counsel, trial defense counsel, and government appellate counsel. As an Army reservist, Steve taught in the criminal law department at the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School. He also served as a military judge at both the trial and appellate levels for ten years, presiding over dozens of felony trials and authoring dozens of appellate decisions for the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.

Upon his retirement, Steve was awarded the Legion of Merit.

In addition to his day job in the Investigations and White-Collar Defense Practice Group at Steptoe LLP, Steve is active in his community. He previously chaired the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board for the State of Maryland and currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, where he teaches Military Justice.

Steve has a lovely wife, Dr. Jill Baldinger, two mostly well-behaved children, Julia and David, and a dog named Summer.

Judge James Robert Redford is a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals. Judge Redford has served on the Court since his appointment in 2018 and his subsequent election in 2020.

Prior to his service on the Court, he was the Director of the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency and previously served as Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s Chief Legal Counsel from January 2015 until February 2016. Prior to serving in Governor Snyder’s administration, Judge Redford was a Kent County Circuit Judge from 2003 until 2015. Before being elected to the trial bench, he was in private practice with Plunkett Cooney, served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan, and was on active duty in the United States Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps for five years. In addition to his active duty military service, he served in the Navy Reserves for twenty-three years in a variety of assignments including commanding officer of the Navy Reserve Trial Judiciary and five years as a trial judge in the Navy & Marine Corps Trial Judiciary. Judge Redford transferred to the retired–reserve list in August 2012 at the rank of Captain.

Judge Redford has been active in many bar and community organizations. He has served on and been chair of the Michigan Supreme Court Model Civil Jury Instructions Committee. He is an Eagle Scout and has been a member of the Boy Scouts of America for over fifty years. He has also served on several nonprofit boards including the Boy Scouts of America, Gerald R. Ford Council and the West Michigan Shores Council of the Girl Scouts of America.

Judge Redford received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio in 1982, and his Juris Doctor from the University of Detroit School of Law in 1985.

Captain (Retired) Bryan Schroder is currently of Counsel with Cashion, Gilmore, and Lindemuth. From 2017-2021, he was the United States Attorney for the District of Alaska. He led Alaska’s federal litigators through a period of complex and unprecedented challenges, overseeing improvements to the delivery of justice to rural Alaska, and directing the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s response to the COVID-19 epidemic in Alaska.

In addition to these responsibilities, CAPT(R) Schroder was chosen for the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC), a select group of U.S. Attorneys that took on the most important and pressing issues to the Department of Justice. As the only AGAC member from the West Coast, CAPT(R) Schroder was assigned specific coordination duties with DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, capitalizing on his experience as an environmental crimes prosecutor, and maritime & environmental law attorney in the U.S. Coast Guard.

Prior to becoming U.S. Attorney, Mr. or CAPT Schroder spent 12 years as an assistant U.S. attorney leading investigations and prosecutions into major violations of federal law, including violent crime, fraud, tax evasion, environmental crimes, and fisheries violations. Before the Department of Justice, he had a 24-year career in the U.S. Coast Guard – both at sea, conducting fisheries patrols in the Bering Sea, and as an attorney. He retired at the rank of Captain. During his service, he was assigned to the U.S. State Department at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN), where he worked with the UN Security Council and was the U.S. negotiator on Security Council Resolution 1379 (Children and Armed Conflict). He is also a plank holder at U.S. Northern Command, assigned as NORTHCOM’s first Deputy Staff Judge Advocate in 2002.

CAPT(R) Schroder is also an experienced appellate advocate, arguing cases to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the EPA Board of Environmental Appeals. He currently serves as a Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference and is Co-chair of the Alaska Bar Association’s Arctic Law Section.

CAPT(R) Schroder graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 1981 and the University of Washington School of Law in 1991.

Judge Jeri K. Somers (Ret.) is an arbitrator and mediator, focusing on the areas of government contracts matters, construction matters, and other industry disputes. Judge Somers is also a member of the Military Justice Review Panel, established pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 946, and the Department of State Foreign Services Grievance Board. 

Prior to retiring from the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals in 2021, Judge Somers presided over high-stakes trials with millions of dollars at stake, and issued decisions in cases arising under the Contract Disputes Act, and other unique statutory schemes. As chair, she was also responsible for the management of the CBCA, which has worldwide jurisdiction, and its budget. Judge Somers is widely known and respected in the government contracts community. Before her appointment as chair of the CBCA, she served as vice chair from 2008 until 2017. Prior to the creation of the CBCA in 2007, Judge Somers, served as an administrative judge on

the Department of Transportation Board of Contract Appeals.

Judge Somers’ impressive record across her 35 years in legal practice began when she served in the US Air Force as a lawyer in the Judge Advocate General Corps. While on active duty, Judge Somers provided legal advice on international law of war issues, served as a prosecutor and defense counsel, and ultimately litigated cases before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals.

After transitioning to the Reserves, Judge Somers served in the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Commercial Litigation Branch, where she litigated on behalf of the US in the Court of Federal Claims and in appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, including some of the most high-profile government contracts cases of the era. She then spent six years as an AUSA in the Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria division), litigating all manner of disputes, including one of the last “Scanwell” bid protest cases in US District Court. She also worked as a lawyer in private practice before her appointment to the DOT Board in 2003. Meanwhile, Judge Somers served for many years as the Staff Judge Advocate for the DC Air National Guard and provided critical guidance to the Commanding General during the attacks of September 11, 2001. Prior to retiring in 2008, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Judge Somers served as a military judge in the USAF Reserves.

She has been a professorial lecturer in law at the George Washington University Law School since 2009, where she also serves on the school’s Government Contracts Advisory Board, and as an adjunct professor at the American University Washington College of Law since 2018. She is actively involved in the American Bar Association’s Public Contract Law Section.