Hon. Mary Jane Theis

Chief Justice, Illinois Supreme Court

Mary Jane Theis was born in Chicago. She received her bachelor’s degree from Loyola University Chicago in 1971 and her law degree from the University of San Francisco, School of Law in 1974. From 1974-83, she was an Assistant Public Defender in Cook County. Chief Justice Theis has served at every level of the Judiciary in the State of Illinois. In 1983 she was appointed an Associate Judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County, where she served for five years. In 1988, Chief Justice Theis was elected to the Circuit Court, where she was assigned to both the Criminal and Chancery Divisions until 1993, when she was appointed to the Appellate Court, First District. She was elected to the Appellate Court in 1994. When Chief Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald retired in 2010, the Supreme Court appointed Justice Theis to fill his vacancy on the Court. In her 17 years on the Appellate Court, Chief Justice Theis served as a Presiding Judge. She was Committee Chair of both the Committee on Judicial Education and the Committee on Judicial Conduct of the Illinois Judicial Conference, and a member of the Supreme Court Rules Committee. Chief Justice Theis was President of the Appellate Lawyers Association and the Illinois Judges Association, as well as President and founding member of the Illinois Judges Foundation. She has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Illinois State Bar Association and the Board of Managers of the Chicago Bar Association and is a member of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois. Chief Justice Theis’ honors include the American Constitution Society’s Legal Legend Award, the CBA’s Vanguard Award for recognizing persons who have made the law and legal profession more accessible to and reflective of the community at large, the IJA’s Celebrating the Achievement of a Judicial Icon, the CBA’s John Paul Stevens Award, the Juvenile Justice Initiative’s Champion of Children’s Rights Award, the WBAI’s Mary Heftel Hooton Award, the WBAI’s Esther Rothstein Award for her vision, contributions and assistance to women in the legal profession, and the Illinois Bar Foundation’s Distinguished Service to Law and Society Award. She is married to John T. Theis, and they have two children, Jack (Uma Amuluru) and Claire (Joshua) Merok, and seven grandchildren.

Mark Britton

Founder of Avvo.com; Advisor to Clio, Clearbrief, and Tangibly

Mark Britton is the founder of the legal marketplace, Avvo.com. Upon his retirement from Avvo in 2018, Above the Law called Mark “the person who most disrupted law this decade.” Prior to founding Avvo, Mark was the executive vice president of Worldwide Corporate Affairs of InterActiveCorp Travel (IACT) and Expedia, Inc. (NSDQ: EXPE). In this position, Mark oversaw all strategy, finance, accounting, corporate development, legal, human resources and government relations functions for the IACT companies, including Expedia, Hotels.com, Hotwire, Classic Custom Vacations and Interval International. Mark was also Expedia’s first general counsel and a long-time Board member of Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW). Today, Mark stays active in the legal industry by advising some of its most innovative companies, including Clio (www.clio.com), Clearbrief (www.clearbrief.com) and Tangibly (www.tangibly.com). Mark also regularly advises courts and other policy groups regarding technology, access to justice and the future of law. Mark received his law degree from George Washington University. He holds a degree in finance from Gonzaga University and served on Gonzaga’s Board of Regents for 14 years. He has appeared on major news programs, including ABC’s Good Morning America, Fox Business News, CNN Money and Dow Jones MarketWatch. He also received Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” Award in 2015.

Nkoyo Effiong Lewis

Legal Innovator & Consultant

Nkoyo-Ene Effiong Lewis is the Director of Law Practice Management Program for the State Bar of Georgia. In that role, she helps Georgia lawyers tap into innovation to build a profitable and purpose-filled practice with less struggle and stress. Prior to joining the State Bar, Nkoyo was the founder and principal attorney at The Effiong Firm LLC, a strategic law and consulting firm that advocated unapologetically for excellence, equity, and education justice alongside communities of color. As a strategic partner, Nkoyo helped caregivers and courageous leaders protect the people and purposes that mattered most to them. With a steadfast focus on equipping clients with the confidence, competence, and capacity they need to resolve problems better, The Effiong Firm leveraged technology to offer practical and proactive legal and advocacy solutions through flat fee and subscription services. Nkoyo is a proud graduate of Brown University and New York University School of Law. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and children.

Deborah Enix-Ross

President, American Bar Association

Deborah Enix-Ross, a senior adviser to the International Dispute Resolution Group of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York City, is president of the American Bar Association, the world’s largest voluntary association of lawyers, judges, and other legal professionals. Enix-Ross served as chair of the ABA’s policymaking House of Delegates and as chair of the ABA Center for Human Rights. As chair of the ABA International Law Section, she co-founded the Women’s Interest Network and worked with the International Bar Association to create its Women’s Interest Group. She also led an international legal exchange delegation to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ghana, where she delivered an address commemorating the country’s 50th anniversary of independence. Enix-Ross is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and has served as vice president of the World Justice Project, chair of the ABA Section Officers Conference, vice chair of the International Bar Association’s Bar Issues Commission, and ABA representative to the IBA. She is a member of the American Law Institute. Enix-Ross joined Debevoise & Plimpton in 2002. Previously, she served as senior legal officer with the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center in Geneva, Switzerland. She also was a director of international litigation with Price Waterhouse and the American representative to the International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration. She started her legal career with MFY Legal Services in New York City. Enix-Ross was appointed by the U.S. Departments of Commerce and State as one of the original eight U.S. members of the trilateral NAFTA Advisory Committee on Private Commercial Disputes. She is a member of the Advisory Committee of the New York Law School Alternative Dispute Resolution Skills Program. She is also a former member of the advisory board of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, the ADR Advisory Board of the International Law Institute, and the Board of Directors of the American Arbitration Association. Enix-Ross earned a B.A. in broadcast journalism from the University of Miami and J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law. She also received a diploma in comparative law from the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law of Columbia University and a certificate in international law from the London School of Economics.

Kara Hardin

Chief Executive Officer, The Practice Lab

Kara Hardin (she/her), Founder and CEO of The Practice Lab, is a mental health educator, Registered Psychotherapist, and former practicing corporate and securities lawyer, who works at the intersection of mental health and performance. She specializes in the complicated ways that mental health drives performance and how it shows up at work. She holds a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) and a Juris Doctor from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law. Kara’s core values are learning and kindness. In her free time, she can be found either knee deep in a pile of very mediocre mystery books or walking her dog Maple.

Erika Harold

Executive Director, Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism

Erika Harold is Executive Director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism. Most recently, Erika was a commercial litigation attorney at Meyer Capel, P.C. in Champaign, Illinois, where she represented clients at both the trial and appellate levels and advised clients on matters of statutory and constitutional interpretation. Earlier in her career, she was a litigation attorney at the Chicago offices of Sidley Austin LLP and Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C., representing businesses in commercial disputes and advising religious institutions in matters involving First Amendment protections. She has served on the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Equality since 2015. Erika is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she won a Boykin C. Wright Memorial Award for appellate advocacy in Harvard Law School’s prestigious Ames Moot Court Competition. She funded her legal education through the scholarships and appearance fees she earned as Miss America 2003. Ms. Harold has been active in Illinois politics, most recently running a statewide race for Attorney General. Erika has taught students about the U.S. legal system as part of the Lawyers in the Classroom program, coached students in city-wide mock trial competitions, and served on the teaching faculty of Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop. She is a nationally recognized advocate of bullying prevention efforts and has spoken to more than 100,000 students about combating peer-to-peer harassment. Erika is licensed to practice by the Supreme Court of Illinois and the United States District Courts for the Northern and Central Districts of Illinois. She served on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism as a Commissioner from 2017 to 2022.

Nathan Hinch

Attorney, Meyer Capel

Nathan B. Hinch joined Meyer Capel as a shareholder in 2021, after more than 10 years in private practice with the law firm Mueller, Reece & Hinch, LLC. Mr. Hinch helps clients with wills, trusts, probate, guardianships, and other estate planning or administration matters, and with legal issues facing businesses and non-profits, real estate transactions, construction and agricultural law issues, and civil litigation in those areas. He also serves as an administrative hearing officer for the Town of Normal, Illinois in adjudication proceedings for municipal ordinance violations.

Hon. Sharon O. Johnson

Justice, Illinois Appellate Court First District

Justice Sharon Oden Johnson serves on the Illinois Appellate Court First District. Prior to her election to the Appellate Court, Justice Johnson served in the Circuit Court of Cook County Domestic Relations Division, where she initiated working relationships with the Illinois Department of Employment Security and the Cook County Works program to assist unemployed parents in paying family support. Earlier in her career, Justice Johnson owned a boutique law firm, worked for the Chicago Mayor’s Office of Employment and Training, and served as a law clerk for the New Jersey Superior Court. She is a member of the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Professional Responsibility, the CBA/CBF Task Force Subcommittee Working Group on the Sustainable Practice of Law, the Illinois Judges Association subcommittee: Restoring Confidence in the Legal System, the Cook County Bar Association, and many other legal associations. She has been a faculty member of the Judicial Education Conference since 2014 and is a former president of the Illinois Judicial Council. Justice Johnson received a J.D. from Howard University School of Law and a B.S. from Bradley University. She has served on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism since 2022.

Mark C. Palmer

Chief Counsel, Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism

Mark C. Palmer is the Chief Counsel of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism. Mark strives to serve judges, attorneys, law students, and the people of Illinois with a dedication to the quality of justice and the rule of law. As Chief Counsel, Mark facilitates the promotion of professionalism, civility, and integrity among the legal and judicial systems to better provide equitable, efficient, and effective service to the public through education and outreach initiatives. Mark leads professionalism programming through the statewide mentoring program, collaborating with stakeholders from Galena to Cairo. Mark also supports the development and delivery of educational programming to lawyers and in law schools and performs outreach across the state on behalf of the Commission. Prior to joining the Commission, Mark was in private practice at the Champaign law firm Evans, Froehlich, Beth & Chamley where his law practice focused on areas including commercial litigation, municipal law, banking law, and creditor’s rights, among others. He represented private and appointed clients in both civil and criminal cases in state and federal courts.

Julia Roundtree Livingston

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Manager, Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism

Julia Roundtree Livingston is the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Manager at the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism where she leads the Commission’s education and advocacy initiatives aimed at promoting DEI in Illinois’ legal and justice systems. She joined the Commission in 2023. Prior to joining the Commission, Julia was Executive Director of Macon County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), which provides court-appointed volunteers to advocate for abused, neglected, and/or dependent children who are involved in the Macon County juvenile court system. She was appointed to this role in 2018 after serving as CASA’s Director of Development. At CASA, Julia led a sustainable nonprofit organization with multiple streams of funding while educating the community on the need for CASA’s services. This included working with local lawyers and judges to organize trainings for CASA volunteers, regularly communicating with legal and judicial professionals about CASA’s capabilities, and presentations to the Decatur Bar Association on CASA’s work. During her time at CASA, she grew the organization’s impact by increasing the number of community volunteers who became advocates as well as the number of children that CASA serves. In 2021, Julia led Macon County CASA in expanding its services into a second county, DeWitt County. In addition to her role at CASA, Julia was a member of the Illinois CASA Equity Task Force, the Illinois CASA/Children Advocacy Centers Task Force, and the CWAC (Child Welfare Advisory Committee) on Racial Equity led by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services. Before joining CASA, Julia was the Director of Development at Baby TALK, an educational non-profit in Decatur, Illinois, and an English professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Florida State University, and Richland Community College. Julia received an ABD (all but dissertation) in African American Literature and U.S. Literature Since 1865 from Florida State University and a master’s and bachelor’s degree from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where she was a 4-year letter winner in cross country and indoor/outdoor track. She is a member of the Diversity & Education Leadership Team at the Maroa-Forsyth School District and founder of Discourse on Racial Difference: A Macon County Book Club, which has 600 members statewide. Julia lives with her husband and three children in Forsyth, Illinois. As a family, they enjoy board games, watching sports, playing basketball and soccer, and traveling.

Stephanie Villinski

Deputy Director, Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism

Stephanie Villinski is the Deputy Director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism. She helps to execute operations and programs within the Commission by leveraging technology and project management processes. As Deputy Director, Stephanie is responsible for streamlining the day-to-day activities of the Commission such as IT, workflows, and data analysis. In addition to these operations, Stephanie also supports the Commission’s mentoring, education, and law school programs. With a particular interest in health and wellness, Stephanie seeks to promote a healthier, more rewarding professional life for lawyers and by extension, better service to their clients. Stephanie graduated summa cum laude from Saint Mary’s College and with Order of Coif distinction from DePaul University College of Law. Subsequently, she dedicated her career to social justice and public interest law. Most recently, she was the Content Director at Illinois Legal Aid Online (ILAO) and was charged with publishing high-quality, user-centered content. She managed ILAO’s recent 2-year content transformation from five websites to one.

Martin Sinclair

Chair, Illinois Supreme Court on Professionalism

Martin Sinclair is a partner at Sperling & Slater, LLC in Chicago. Previously, he practiced at Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where he gained extensive experience representing public and private companies and individuals in all phases of litigation at both the trial and appellate levels. Mr. Sinclair is devoted to pro bono work in his practice. He has represented individuals and organizations alike as well as worked extensively on judicial policy matters in Illinois. Mr. Sinclair received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois and a J.D. from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. Upon graduation, Mr. Sinclair served as a law clerk for the Hon. William J. Bauer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He is president of the Northern District of Illinois Court Historical Association and a member of the Law School Fund Board for Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. He is a former director of Landmarks Illinois and taught appellate advocacy at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Mr. Sinclair is a member of the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the Seventh Circuit Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, and the Chicago Bar Association. Mr. Sinclair has served on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism since 2015. He was appointed Commission Chair in 2019.