Family Court of the District of Columbia Superior Court | Welcome to the 2011 Family Court Interdisciplinary Conference

Biographies of Interdisciplinary Conference Participants

Washington Convention Center, Friday October 28, 2011

Judges' Bios

Faculty Bios

Read Judicial Bios

Honorable Zoe Bush was appointed to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1994 by President William Jefferson Clinton and is the Deputy Presiding Judge of the Family Court.

Judge Bush was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. She graduated with honors from Wellesley College in 1976 and received a Waddell Fellowship, which permitted her to spend the summer in Ghana to research her honors thesis in history. Judge Bush received her law degree from Harvard Law School in 1979. Judge Bush has served in the Criminal, Civil and Domestic Violence Divisions of the Court as well as in the Family Court. She was Co-Chair of the Training Committee of the Family Court for many years, is a member of its Implementation Committee and Panels Oversight Committee and is a past member of the Family Rules Advisory Committee. Judge Bush also serves as a member of the Judicial Education Committee of the Superior Court as well as the Jury Management Committee and Library Committee. She is also a member of the Charlotte E. Ray American Inn of Court. She is quite active in bar activities and community service and has also been active in the Wellesley College Alumnae Association.

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Honorable Noel T. Johnson was appointed Magistrate Judge by Chief Judge Rufus G. King III on April 6, 2002.

Judge Johnson was born in New Orleans Louisiana and lived there until age nine. His family then relocated to Washington, D.C., where his father made the transition from teaching university mathematics and physics to computerized ship design with the federal Maritime Administration. His mother, a native of Baltimore, spent her considerable energies caring for their four children.

After graduating from the Catholic University of America, Judge Johnson worked as a studio cameraman for local television station WDCA-TV in Bethesda, Maryland. He later attended the Tulane University School of Law and received his J.D. in 1985. While in law school, he clerked for a federal magistrate, interned for the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, and worked as a research assistant for two law professors.

After law school, Judge Johnson served as a legal assistant at the firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver, and Jacobson. There he worked on high-profile insider trading litigation and edited training materials on banking and securities law. He then worked as a law clerk for the D.C. Office of Bar Counsel. In 1987, Judge Johnson was hired as an attorney at the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) for the District of Columbia (then known as the “Office of the Corporation Counsel”). For three years, he served as trial counsel in the Child Support Section. In that capacity, he sought to establish paternity and to establish, modify, and enforce child support orders. In 1990, he was appointed Assistant Section Chief, and in 1993 became Chief of the Child Support Section.

During his tenure as OAG's Child Support Section Chief, Judge Johnson crafted innovative paternity and support legislation and participated in the design of the District's automated data processing system. Also while serving as Section Chief, he wrote procedures for the integration of child support services into the District's Domestic Violence Intake Center. When the DVIC opened its doors in November 1996, Judge Johnson became OAG's Director of Child Support Operations in the new facility. In that capacity, he was responsible for policy and procedural oversight while personally litigating a high volume of paternity and support matters.

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Honorable Milton C. Lee, Jr. was appointed to the District of Columbia Superior Court in 2010 by President Barack Obama.

Judge Lee is a native of the District of Columbia. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the American University School of Justice in 1982. He obtained his Juris Doctor from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law.

Following law school, Judge Lee joined the District of Columbia Public Defender service as a staff attorney. There he served as a trial attorney for many years, representing indigent persons in the Family, Misdemeanor, and Felony Divisions of the Superior Court. He also argued a number of appellate cases before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Judge Lee took leave from the Public Defender Service and taught as a Visiting Associate Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center in the Criminal Justice Clinic. He also served as a supervisor in the E. Barrett Prettyman Program. He returned briefly to the Public Defender Service as Deputy Trial Chief where he had oversight of the daily operations of the trial division. In 1993 Judge Lee joined the faculty at the former District of Columbia School of Law, where he supervised students in the Juvenile Law Clinic. In 1995 he received the Professor of the Year from the student body. In 2004 he received the same award for his service as a member of the adjunct faculty.

Judge Lee joined the District of Columbia Superior Court as a Magistrate Judge in November 1998. Since his appointment, Judge Lee has served in Criminal and Civil Divisions of the court as well as in the Family Court. He served as the presiding magistrate judge from 2006 until his nomination. Judge Lee has remained active in the both the legal and academic communities. He has continues to serve the law school community as an adjunct faculty member. Judge Lee and the members of the Juvenile Law Clinic published a manual for practitioners in the area of special education advocacy. Judge Lee later authored an article entitled “What Truth Do We Seek?” supporting greater discovery in criminal cases.

After serving on the Superior Court Task Force for Families and Violence, Judge Lee assisted in the development of the Teen Court Diversion Program. In addition, Judge Lee has been a consistent contributor to the Criminal Practice Institute, Neglect Practice Institute as well as many other local bar programs. He has also taught in the Harvard Trial Advocacy Program for several years.

Recently Judge Lee has spearheaded the development of the District of Columbia Superior Court’s Fathering Court. The initiative represents a partnership between the Court, several governmental agencies and the private sector directed toward creating opportunities for noncustodial parents to become meaningful contributors to the development of their children. The initiative has worked with many reentry parents by providing employment, educational training, parenting training and support groups as well as wrap around services for the entire family. The Fathering Court Initiative has garnered national recognition for its innovative problem-solving approach to reunited families.

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Judge José M. López was appointed to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1990 by President George H. Bush. Judge López’s trial experience includes Civil, Criminal and Family Matters. Currently, he is the Presiding Judge of the Domestic Violence Unit.

Judge López was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Middlebury College in Vermont in 1973 and a law degree from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts in 1977. While in law school, he served as Associate Editor of the Law Review, Vice President of the Hispanic American Law Student Association, and President of the Black American Law Students Association.

Judge López began his legal career as Attorney Advisor to the Benefits Review Board of the U.S. Department of Labor. Prior to taking the bench, Judge López was in private practice, a member of the D.C. Traffic Adjudication Appeals Board, and member of the D.C. Board of Appeals and Review.

For nearly seven years, Judge López chaired the Superior Court Judicial Education Committee. He is currently a member of the Superior Court Rules Committee. He has been a faculty member at the National Judicial College located in Reno, Nevada and board member at the Leadership Institute in Judicial Education, out of the University of Memphis, Tennessee. In his most recent teaching experience, he traveled to Angola, Mexico and Chile regarding judicial system assessment, methods of civil delay reduction, mediation and biotechnology. He is past president and co-founder of the Charlotte E. Ray American Inn of Court. Judge López received the 1997 Award for Judicial Excellence, presented by the American Bar Association National Conference of State Trial Judges.

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Honorable Lori E. Parker was appointed a Magistrate Judge by Chief Judge Rufus G. King III on January 20, 2006. Magistrate Judge Parker is a native Washingtonian and a life-long resident of the District of Columbia. Magistrate Judge Parker graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University in 1986 with a degree in psychology. She received her law degree from George Washington University in 1989, and a master's degree in developmental psychology from Johns Hopkins University in 1999.

Prior to her appointment as a Magistrate Judge in the Family Court of the D.C. Superior Court, Magistrate Judge Parker served in all three branches of District government and on numerous task forces and committees. She most recently served as the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor for Children, Youth, Families and Elders from June 2004 to December 2005, following her appointment by Mayor Anthony A. Williams in January 2004 to oversee the city's social services and public health agencies as the Interim Deputy Mayor for Children, Youth, Families and Elders. In 1994, Magistrate Judge Parker also served as an Assistant Corporation Counsel in the Family Services Division of the Office of the Corporation Counsel. Upon her graduation from law school in 1989, Magistrate Judge Parker served as a law clerk to the Honorable Iraline G. Barnes (deceased) in D.C. Superior Court. From 1990 to 1992, following her clerkship, she worked as an associate with the former Wilkes, Artis, Hedrick and Lane law firm.

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Honorable Hiram E. Puig-Lugo joined the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1999. He has handled criminal felony, juvenile delinquency, criminal misdemeanor, child abuse and neglect, domestic relations, and domestic violence calendars. He is currently Deputy Presiding Judge of the Family Court. Judge Puig-Lugo was a trial attorney with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section, from 1996 to 1999. In that capacity, he investigated and prosecuted matters involving police brutality, hate crimes, and involuntary servitude in the United States and its territories.

His investigation uncovered an operation that transported Chinese women to the Northern Marianas Islands and forced them into prostitution. He secured a federal grand jury indictment that led to the conviction of the responsible parties. Judge Puig-Lugo worked with the D.C. Public Defender Service from 1988 to 1996, representing indigent clients in juvenile, adult and appellate proceedings. Judge Puig-Lugo has been an instructor for legal education projects in Spain, El Salvador, Venezuela, Argentina, México, Chile, Ecuador, Perú, Colombia, and the Federated States of Micronesia. He has taught at the American University Washington College of Law, the University of the District of Columbia School of Law, the George Washington University Law School, and the National Judicial College Pacific Islands Law Institute. Judge Puig-Lugo has provided training for judges in the United States and abroad on the implementation of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. He has participated in public education programs through Spanish language television in the District of Columbia and in New York City. In 1998, Judge Puig-Lugo received the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) Special Recognition Award for his work in prosecuting inmate abuse in a Puerto Rican prison facility. In 1996, he received the District of Columbia Courts Hispanic Heritage Celebration Committee Legal Community Award for his service to the Latino community.

Judge Puig-Lugo graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he was the first Latino member of the University of Wisconsin Law Review. He is from San Germán, Puerto Rico, and is equally fluent in English and in Spanish.

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Honorable Mary Grace Rook was appointed by Chief Judge Rufus G. King, III and installed as Magistrate Judge on August 18, 2006. Magistrate Judge Rook was born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from the Catholic University of America and her Masters in Social Work from the University of Connecticut, where she specialized in clinical practice. She received her law degree from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law. Prior to receiving her undergraduate degree, Magistrate Judge Rook spent two years living in the Philippines and worked as the director of a crisis intervention center at Clark Air Force Base.

Upon graduation from law school, Magistrate Judge Rook worked as Counsel for Child Abuse and Neglect, and also worked with the Dalton and Dalton Law Firm on special education cases. In 1999, Magistrate Judge Rook took on the role of special education attorney in the civil division for the Public Defender Service, where she assisted the juvenile trial attorneys whose clients had outstanding special education needs. Magistrate Judge Rook was a planner and teacher at the Public Defender Service’s (PDS) first special education training in 2000.

Following her work as a special education attorney, Magistrate Judge Rook served as Coordinator of the Juvenile Services Program for PDS. In this capacity, she was responsible for training and supervising staff attorneys and law clerks that worked with PDS at the Oak Hill Youth Center and the Youth Services Center. Magistrate Judge Rook was part of the truancy workgroup that developed the middle school truancy diversion program.

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Chief Judge Lee F. Satterfield was appointed in November 1992 by President George Bush to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and sworn-in as the Chief Judge in September 2008. Chief Judge Satterfield was born in the District of Columbia. He graduated from St. John’s College High School, the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and received his Juris Doctor from the George Washington University National Law Center.

Chief Judge Satterfield began his law career as a judicial law clerk to Associate Judge Paul R. Webber, III, in the District of Columbia Superior Court and as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. He also joined a private practice of law and worked for the United States Department of Justice. Once becoming an Associate Judge, he served in the Criminal, Civil and Family Divisions, and the Domestic Violence Unit. He has previously served as the Presiding Judge for the Domestic Violence Unit and the Family Court. During the time of he was Presiding Judge of the Domestic Violence Unit; he chaired the Domestic Violence Unit’s Implementation Group, the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, and the Domestic Violence Advisory Rules Committee, which created new rules governing domestic violence cases in the Unit. During this time, Judge Satterfield also served as a member of a National Advisory Committee on Domestic Violence, which developed model guidelines for the creation and operation of domestic violence courts.

Chief Judge Satterfield has served as a Lead Judge in the Model Court Initiative of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the NCJFCJ and is a member of the National Judicial Institute on Domestic Violence’s Steering Committee and faculty. Chief Judge Satterfield is a member of the Joint Committee on Judicial Administration, which is the policy-making body of the D.C. Courts.

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Read Faculty Bios

M. Victoria Bellard, who holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and Supervision, is a Program Coordinator for the District of Columbia Public Schools, Office of Youth Engagement New Heights Teen Parents Program. New Heights is a school-based service delivery program that provides intensive support services to help low-income teen parents, both male and female, stay in school, graduate, further their education through a college or career path, become gainfully employed and contribute to the health, wellness and education of their children.

Ms. Bellard has extensive experience in the field of education. Although she has worked with students on all grade levels, she has always had an affinity for working with high school students. Starting out teaching with the New York City Board of Education, she has held numerous positions working her way from paraprofessional, to Special Education Teacher, Coordinator, Principal and Founder, Owner/Operator of an SAT Prep company geared toward serving middle to low income students. She also currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Highland Park Christian Academy located in Landover, Maryland.

Ms. Bellard is passionate about education and has always had a strong desire to work with underserved populations. For the pregnant and parenting teen population, she has worked tirelessly for the past four years to help take the program to “new heights.” She has fully immersed herself into working to remove barriers to participation in school for teen parents by collaborating with various city and government agencies, community based organizations, colleges, universities, and the private sector to secure resources, funding and services to help teen parents succeed. In addition, recognizing how teen fathers are often left out of the teen pregnancy equation, Ms. Bellard has worked diligently over the past several years to find and create partnerships that would help teen fathers.

Theodore “Theo” Butler is a public health technician at the D.C. Department of Health and has worked for many years with “at risk” populations, particularly in Wards 1 through 8. He also works with expectant and new mothers in the same wards. For over 10 years, Mr. Butler has been active in case management, fatherhood initiatives, and has acted as a coach and mentor in the D.C. Department of Health’s D.C. Healthy Start Program. Mr. Butler is a conduit between the “at risk” person and his or her family members and many of the service providers. His primary focus is to support and guide this population to develop skills that will enable them to lead healthy, positive, responsible and productive lives.

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James Campbell received his Master of Social Work from Howard University in 1989. Upon graduation, he began working as a case manager for D.C.’s Family and Child Services. Mr. Campbell became a social worker for the Families Together Program of the Department of Human Services’ Child and Family Services Division in 1990, and has been a part of the agency ever since. While working as a social worker, Mr. Campbell also provided direct one-on-one counseling to clients that were diagnosed with mental health illnesses at the Vesta Foundation in Forestville, Maryland. He has provided therapy at Washington Psychotherapy Services and the Institute for Life Enrichment in Washington, D.C. He became a supervisory social worker for the Department of Human Services’ Child and Family Services Division in 1996. In 2000, Mr. Campbell became Program Director for PSI Family Services Inc.’s Therapeutic Foster Care in Lanham, Maryland. A year later, he returned to Department of Human Services’ Child and Family Services Agency as Program Manager. In 2011, Mr. Campbell became the Acting Administrator for the In-Home & Reunification Services Administration I of the Department of Human Services’ Child and Family Services Agency.

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Derrick Colbert joined the Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative (FSFSC) as a Family Support Worker within the Fatherhood program November, 2010. Mr. Colbert is a native Washingtonian, and was raised in the Ward 8 community. He has spent the last twelve years of his professional career working with a population that was disadvantaged and disconnected. Prior to coming to FSFSC, Mr. Colbert was a program director at MTG Enterprise, LLC Supportive Living and has also served as the director of Community Outreach for Covenant House Washington. Mr. Colbert received his Associate Degree in Business/Public Administration from Southeastern University. In addition, he holds a Certificate in Non-Profit Management from Southeastern University for Entrepreneurship. Derrick describes his work as, “Bringing hope to the hopeless.”

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Kathleen Creamer is a Stoneleigh Foundation Fellow for Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, PA. She graduated from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law in 2003, after which she worked as a Law Clerk for Judge J. Michael Ryan in D.C. Superior Court’s Family Court. Following her clerkship, Ms. Creamer became the Director of Legal Services for Our Place, DC, where she provided civil legal services in matters affecting women during and after incarceration. In 2006, Ms. Creamer became a Staff Attorney for Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, PA, where she represented parents in all stages of dependency proceedings. There, she assisted in drafting The Healthy Birth for Incarcerated Women Act, which was signed into law in July 2010. Ms. Creamer serves as chair for the Anti-Shackling Committee of the Working Group to Enhance Services to Incarcerated Women. She is also a member of the Statewide Legislative Advisory Committee on Children of Incarcerated Parents, the ABA Permanency Barriers Subcommittee on Family Outreach, and the Timely Permanence Work Group of the Administration of Children and Families. Ms. Creamer was awarded the Women’s Way 2011 Unsung Heroine Award.

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Howard Davidson, J.D., has been actively involved with the legal aspects of child protection for 37 years. He has directed the American Bar Association’s Center on Children and the Law, leading a twenty person staff in work on child welfare law and policy improvement, since its 1978 establishment. For the past five years, he has served as the ABA project director for the HHS-funded National Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System. He’s served as the chair of the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, is a founding board member of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and serves on the boards of ECPAT-USA, a national group focused on law and policy reform related to child trafficking and sexual exploitation, and the National Foster Care Coalition. He is a member of the Maryland Children’s Justice Act Committee and was named by the Mayor of Philadelphia to a Community Oversight Board that helps guide improvements in that city’s child protection system. Howard served as U.S. delegate to the first World Congress Against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. He has authored many legal articles and book chapters related to child maltreatment and the law.

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Sampson Davis’, M.D., life has come gratifyingly full-circle. Born as the fifth of six children in one of New Jersey’s poorest cities, Dr. Davis grew up in cramped living quarters, surrounded by fragmented families, crime, and drugs. Still, he was a good student, able to strike the fragile balance between being smart, yet socially acceptable on the streets. It was the skill, Dr. Davis says, most critical to his survival.

While attending University High School in Newark, Dr. Davis met Dr. Rameck Hunt and Dr. George Jenkins, two fellow students who, together, drastically altered the course of one another’s lives. The three bonded immediately, sharing the same dedication to making more of their lives than Newark usually provided. They became each other’s primary support system, studying and socializing almost exclusively together.

Dr. Davis speaks about his own life with complete candor in a style that is a contagious delivery of timely messages. “It is extremely important that I stay in tune with my community.” Dr. Davis focuses often on courage – courage to cope with life’s difficult circumstances, courage to set goals for yourself and most importantly, the courage to accept responsibility for achieving them. Dr. Davis notes that education saved his life. His immediate goal is to “become the Michael Jordan of education” so that learning becomes a glamorized trend throughout all communities.

Dr. Davis considers his 3 D’s – Dedication, Determination, and Discipline, as the necessary ingredients to success. When faced with challenges, the 3 D’s will prevail. It is clear that the compelling story of Dr. Davis and his colleagues, Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Hunt contain a message that both young and old can relate to and benefit from. Even Oprah has chimed in, calling The Three Doctors, “The Premiere Role Models of the World”.

Dr. Davis received his bachelor’s degree from Seton Hall University, graduating with honors, his medical degree from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at the same hospital in which he was born, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. Today, Dr. Davis is a Board Certified Emergency Medicine Physician at St. Michael’s Medical Center, Raritan Bay Medical Center and Easton Hospital. He is the Assistant Medical Director of the Emergency Department at Raritan Bay Medical Center. He is the Vice President of Physician Recruitment for Physician Practice Enhancement. He also works directly with the Violence Prevention Institute of New Jersey focusing on gang violence and preventative medicine.

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Rishaunda Ewings is a Program Manager with the Office of Planning, Policy and Program Support (OPPPS) at the District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA). She has worked in the field of child welfare in the District of Columbia for nearly 15 years, starting with the Agency in the early years of the child welfare receivership as a law clerk and Executive Assistant to the General Counsel. After earning a law degree and pursuing other work, Ms. Ewings returned to CFSA to work in OPPPS as part of the Planning and Data Analysis Unit. In between her periods of service with the District Government, she co-founded a small law firm and worked as a Director of Public Policy for a national non-profit child welfare organization serving at risk youth and as the Program Director for that organization’s Washington, D.C. office.

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Juliet M Francis, Psy.D., is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Francis & Associates, P.C., a Washington, D.C. based firm which offers high quality psychological services, leadership development, and training services to organizations.

Dr. Francis provides services to individuals, families, and organizations seeking to develop practical strategies that facilitate personal and professional growth. She has been practicing for over 20 years providing clinical, consultation, and training to a very diverse population. The main aspect of her current work is to provide mental health support to the Supervised Visitation Exchange (SVE) program which is a forum for children and their non-custodial parent to develop or re-establish an ongoing familial relationship in a safe environment. SVE is dedicated to provide opportunities for safe, conflict-free access to both parents and a member of the Supervised Visitation Network. Additionally, Dr. Francis developed the Fatherhood Initiative program, Fatherhood Support Network, which provides men with practical and accessible fathering and parenting resources that foster self-awareness, compassion, and increased sense of responsibility.

Some of her consulting contracts include the National Football League (NFL) Players Association and the University of Maryland (UMD) Sports Medicine Department. Additionally, she has extensive training both as a consultant and practitioner in areas including: emotional control/anger management, cultural competency, stress management and intimate partner violence. She holds an appointment as a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Howard University College of Medicine/Hospital and avail herself of the numerous continuing education activities there as well as the collegial interactions with other faculty, residents/interns, and students.

Dr. Francis received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. She is currently in her second year as a member of the Board of Psychology of the District of Columbia. She has also been a member of the District of Columbia Psychological Association (DCPA) and a past Vice Chair for the Membership and Community Affairs Committee, a member of the American Psychological Association, Association of Black Psychologists, and National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology.

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Jack S. Gilmore is a Court Appointed Attorney for the Counsel for Child Abuse and Neglect (CCAN). He graduated from North Carolina Central University School of Law in 2005 and worked as a Judicial Law Clerk for the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania’s Court of Common Pleas. In 2007, Mr. Gilmore became the Manager of Volunteer Services for the Dual Jacket Initiative of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children of D.C., where he supervised and monitored advocates to ensure effective and efficient advocacy on behalf of children under the supervision of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) and the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA). A year later, Mr. Gilmore started working as a Staff Attorney for the Institutional Services Program for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, where he provided services to D.C. code offenders housed at the Central Detention facility and Bureau of Prisons. After working for D.C.’s Public Defender Service, he became Deputy Director and Resource Advisor for Offender Aid and Restoration of the District of Columbia before joining the CCAN Panel in 2010.

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Allison Green, Staff Attorney, joined Children’s Law Center in 2010, where her work focuses on the unique needs of teen parents of Washington, D.C. Ms. Green represents teen parents as guardian ad litem in neglect cases and as stated interest attorney in child custody and support actions. She attended Georgetown Law as a Public Interest Law Scholar. During law school, Ms. Green participated in the Juvenile Justice Clinic and taught Street Law at Dunbar High School. Prior to law school, she worked as a counselor at a the Sasha Bruce Emergency Shelter in Washington, D.C. and as a Youth Advocate at Legal Services for Children in San Francisco, CA. Ms. Green has volunteered as a tutor and a Court Appointed Special Advocate.

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Courtney Hall has been the Program Coordinator for the D.C. Superior Court Supervised Visitation Center since 2005. The Supervised Visitation Center provides supervised visitation and monitored exchange services to court referred families involved in domestic violence and domestic relations cases. Ms. Hall participates in the D.C. Domestic Violence Implementation Committee, and serves on the Safe Havens: Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchange Grant Planning Committee. In addition, Ms. Hall works with the Boy’s and Girl’s Club of Greater Washington, and volunteers throughout the area with various groups and organizations. Ms. Hall received both Master’s Degree in Social Work and a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Howard University.

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Cedric R. Hendricks serves as an Associate Director at the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA). This federal agency is responsible for the community supervision of adult offenders in the District of Columbia. Mr. Hendricks heads the agency’s Office of Legislative, Intergovernmental and Public Affairs. Before coming to CSOSA, Mr. Hendricks worked for 15 years on Capitol Hill, serving on the staffs of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, House Post Office and Civil Service Committee, and the House Judiciary Committee. He has also served as Legislative Director for Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Legislative Counsel for Congressman John Conyers, Jr. Mr. Hendricks is a 1983 graduate of the Howard University School of Law.

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Kristin Henning is a Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic at Georgetown Law. In the clinic, Professor Henning supervises law students and represents juveniles accused of delinquency in D.C. Superior Court. Professor Henning was previously the Lead Attorney for the Juvenile Unit of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, where she represented clients and helped organize a specialized unit to meet the multi-disciplinary needs of children in the juvenile justice system. She has been active in local, regional and national juvenile justice reform, serving on the Boards of the Mid-Atlantic Juvenile Defender Center, the Center for Children’s Law and Policy, and the Advisory Board of the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS). Professor Henning has published a number of law review articles on the role of counsel in delinquency cases, confidentiality in juvenile court, victims’ rights, and other contemporary issues in the criminal and juvenile justice systems. She has also traveled to Liberia to aid in juvenile justice reform and was awarded the 2008 Shanara Gilbert Award by the Clinical Section of the Association of American Law Schools for her commitment to justice on behalf of children. Professor Henning received her B.A. from Duke University, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and an LL.M. from Georgetown Law. Professor Henning was a Visiting Professor of Law at NYU Law School in the Spring of 2009.

Professor Henning has been active in local, regional and national juvenile justice reform, serving on the Board of the Mid-Atlantic Juvenile Defender Center, the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services Advisory Board and Oversight Committee, and on local D.C. Superior Court committees such as the Delinquency Working Group and the Family Court Training Committee. She has published a number of law review articles on the role of child’s counsel, the role of parents in delinquency cases, confidentiality in juvenile courts, and therapeutic jurisprudence in the juvenile justice system. She is currently writing about victims’ rights in juvenile court, parental consent in the Fourth Amendment context, and sexual abuse of juveniles in detention facilities among other projects. She is also a lead contributor to the Juvenile Law and Practice chapter of the District of Columbia Bar Practice Manual and has participated as an investigator in eight state assessments of the access to counsel and quality of representation for juveniles.

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Rameck Hunt, M.D., was born like many other young men in Newark, New Jersey where the neighborhood either makes you or breaks you. Dr. Hunt found several obstacles on his path to success. Yet he was determined that by the end of his career there would be something positive to look back on. Dr. Hunt, just beginning his career, is already recognized for many accomplishments.

Having always had a gift for speaking, Dr. Hunt has become a master at telling a story. Similar to a reverend when he speaks, he speaks from past experience of lacking structure and direction in his own life. He recalls, “I was in a lot of trouble as a youngster because I had no course for my life. I made many mistakes but eventually learned from them and recognized what I needed to achieve; something different than what I was exposed to – determination and direction.” He found that direction in friends, Dr. George Jenkins and Dr. Sampson Davis. In their pursuit to becoming doctors, Dr. Hunt and friends learned to strategize and plan for the long term.

Dr. Hunt loves telling his story and wholeheartedly accepts his chosen position as a role model. Contributing his success to not only determination but to the influence and guidance of others, Dr. Hunt acknowledges, “My passion exists because others believed in me and if I can trigger that same passion in someone else, then I’ll try my best to do just that”.

Dr. Hunt received his Bachelor of Science from Seton Hall University and his Doctor of Medicine from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and completed a residency in internal medicine at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Dr. Hunt is a board certified internist at University Medical Center at Princeton and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

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George Jenkins, D.M.D., had a powerful advantage over many of his peers as a young boy growing up in Newark, New Jersey, – he had a dream. It was a dream that kept him off his crime-ridden streets and dedicated to his schoolwork. It was a dream that helped him to inspire two friends he made in high school. It was a dream that now helps him inspire countless others. That dream was to become a dentist.

Born on February 6, 1973, Dr. Jenkins lived the kind of life you would expect in one of the nation’s poorest cities. But, on a fateful day when he was 13 years old, a routine dental check-up altered his course. Always an inquisitive child, he was fascinated by the tools in his dentist’s office. Sensing Dr. Jenkins’ curiosity, that dentist spent a little extra time with him, explaining each tool and what it was used for. These few minutes became the catalyst for the young boy’s ambition.

Determined to get to dental school, Dr. Jenkins stayed focused on success while attending University High School. Having met Dr. Rameck Hunt and Dr. Sampson Davis as teenagers, Dr. Jenkins found kindred spirits. The three made a promise to each other that somehow, together, they would make more of themselves than the statistics indicated. Their journey was never easy, and it certainly had its detours, but Dr. Jenkins was a driving force which was so powerful that he convinced his two friends they should also become doctors.

Together, the three young men attended Seton Hall University’s Pre- Medicine/Pre-Dental Plus program, specifically designed to encourage minority students to pursue medical careers. The social and financial hardships that followed them through high school continued through college, making medical school sometimes seem impossible. But, with deeply rooted strength and a commitment to persevere, the three headed off, still together, to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, one step closer to becoming doctors.

Today, Dr. Jenkins proudly serves as Assistant Professor of the Clinical Dentistry Section of Adult Dentistry at Columbia University.

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Jeffrey M. Johnson, Ph.D., is President and CEO of the National Partnership for Community Leadership (NPCL). Dr. Johnson played an integral role in the planning and implementation of two of the nation’s largest social welfare research projects involving low-income men. They are the Partners for Fragile Families Site Demonstration, and the Fathers at Work Demonstration. These projects have served more than 6000 men. Since 1997, Dr. Johnson and NPCL have also convened an annual international fatherhood conference that attracts cumulatively several thousands of community-based and family practitioners from around the world. Also, under Dr. Johnson’s leadership NPCL managed the National Youth Development Practitioners Institute on behalf of the United States Department of Labor, the Ford Foundation, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Dr. Johnson received his formal education at the University of Michigan where he received the Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Urban Education. Dr. Johnson is married 29 years and has two children.

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Laurie S. Kohn is a professor and the director of the Family Justice Litigation Clinic at George Washington University. Before joining the George Washington University Law faculty in 2010, Professor Kohn was co-director of the Domestic Violence Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center, where she supervised students representing victims of domestic violence, taught the clinic seminar, and litigated domestic violence and criminal contempt cases.

Prior to entering academia, Professor Kohn was an associate at the D.C. law firm of Crowell & Moring where she specialized in medical malpractice and insurance coverage litigation. Before entering private practice, Professor Kohn focused on disability rights, assisting in the legislative phase of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s office, and later in the regulatory drafting and implementation phase of the ADA in the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice. Professor Kohn also worked at the Legislative Office of the American Civil Liberties Union, focusing on reproductive rights and disability policy.

Professor Kohn serves as a hearing officer in police misconduct cases for the D.C. Office of Police Complaints. In addition, she is the former chair of the steering committee of the D.C. Bar Family Law Section. At D.C. Superior Court, Professor Kohn is co-chair of the Domestic Violence Unit Task Force, and a member of the Domestic Violence Unit Rules Committee and the Family Court Training Committee. She serves on the advisory board of the D.C. Volunteer Lawyers’ Project. She has appeared on radio programs and participated in symposia on domestic violence around the country. Professor Kohn attended Harvard College and received her J.D. and LL.M. degrees from Georgetown University Law Center.

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Chester Marshall is the Founder and CEO of the Institute for African Man Development, a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C.

He is also an adjunct professor of Social Work at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. Additionally, he is a trainer with the Child Welfare Training Academy at Child and Family Services Agency in Washington D.C.

Known for his dynamism and ability to connect with and engage audiences, Mr. Marshall has presented at many conferences and public forums and is frequently invited as a keynote speaker. He has been a regular guest speaker on various television shows including Howard Television, Africa News Vision, CNN and the popular BET.

Mr. Marshall is currently working on a book tour for his new book “Black Man Heal: Volume I: A Resource Manual for the Healing and Uplifting of African Men and Boys.”

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Derek McGinty is the weekday anchor for 9NEWS NOW at 7pm and weeknight co-anchor for 9NEWS NOW at 11pm. From March 2001 to June 2003, he was co-anchor of ABC NEWS' overnight broadcast, World News Now, and anchor of World News This Morning. Additionally, Mr. McGinty was a correspondent for "HBO's Real Sports" for 4 years. Until recently, he was the host of "Eye On Washington", a politically-based roundtable talk show produced at WUSA 9's studios that provided analysis and perspective on top stories from our Nation's Capital.

Prior to joining ABC, Mr. McGinty worked for two years as a reporter and anchor for WJLA. Before that, he was a correspondent for the nationally broadcast program, "Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel" on CBS. Mr. McGinty previously hosted the nationally broadcast "Straight Talk with Derek McGinty" for PBS. At WETA, he had a similar role for the station's Emmy-nominated "Here and Now," a weekly half-hour local program focusing on issues, events, and people in metropolitan Washington, D.C.

From 1991 to 1998, Mr. McGinty became increasingly popular on a nationwide basis with "The Derek McGinty Show" on WAMU. His guests have included D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, former Secretary of State James Baker, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, rapper Ice-T, and author Robert Ludlum. In 1994, the show received the highest programming honor in public radio, when it won the Gold Award for Public Affairs Programming from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting.

Prior to his work at WAMU, Mr. McGinty co-hosted "The Daily Drum," a news and interview program covering local politics on WHUR-FM. Mr. McGinty was a reporter/editor for UPI's Washington metro desk and a news editor at WTOP Radio. He began his professional career as a desk assistant for ABC Radio News in the Washington bureau. Articles by Mr. McGinty have appeared in The New York Times; The Washington Post; The New York Daily News; and Washingtonian Magazine.

A native of Washington, D.C., Mr. McGinty is a graduate of American University, where he received a bachelor's degree in communications.

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Marlesia A. Neloms, LGSW, is the Special Assistant to the Deputy Director for Agency Programs at the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) in Washington, D.C. In that position, she develops, conducts and monitors data analysis in coordination with other staff for presentation to the Deputy Director highlighting Agency’s progress on initiatives and outcomes. Ms. Neloms has worked for CFSA for the past eleven years. In that capacity she has worked for a number of initiatives and various divisions including the Community Services Administration (where her emphasis has been on building healthy families), Office of Youth Development and Licensing, Monitoring, Placement and Support. Prior to joining CFSA, Ms. Neloms worked as a Family Services Coordinator for the West of the River Family Strengthening Collaborative and the Head Start Bureau. Ms. Neloms received her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Howard University and her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

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Robert Nelson, Founder and President of Daddy’s Conner Inc, has spent 20 years using his experiences in the culinary arts and kitchen management to build relationships. He understands the delicate needs of a challenged childhood, as he was a troubled teen living on the frontlines of poverty during the 1980s and 90s in Washington, D.C. Under the guidance of the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services (DYRS) that provided vocational training in the culinary arts while he was incarcerated, Mr. Nelson was able to overcome the cycles of poverty to become an upstanding model father and influential community advocate. As the founding Executive Officer of Daddy’s Corner, he uses food education and nutrition as a cornerstone to engaging young fathers and at-risk males in programs and services that support building healthy, self-sustaining families.

The evolution of Mr. Nelson’s career has exposed him to a wealth of nutritional knowledge. As a cook in daycare centers, he grew his understanding of the nutritional ages and stages of infants to elementary kids. His work as a cook and mentor in residential correctional facilities increased his awareness of preteens and teenagers, and special needs kids. Mr. Nelson grew as a nutrition professional during his tenure at Washington Hospital Center, where he received intensive training on dietary guidance for patients and nutrition-related diseases.

Mr. Nelson uses his experiences and background to support training initiatives for young fathers on dietary guidance, lifecycle nutrition, diet and disease, food composition, food safety, food labeling, and food consumerism. As a Certified Food Safety Instructor, Mr. Nelson is able to offer vocational training in the food services industry to promote self-sufficiency and increased marketability for young men. The D.C. Housing Authority selected Mr. Nelson to serve as an Honorary Chairperson in the 2011 Fatherhood Initiative intending to bring the fathers out of the shadows in public housing. Mr. Nelson has been acknowledged by the D.C. Department of Health for his efforts in condom education and distribution throughout the metropolitan area. The National Partnership for Community Leadership presented Mr. Nelson the 2011 Favorite Father award at the 13th Annual International Fatherhood Conference.

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Lisa Nitsch serves as the Program Manager for the Gateway Project, the Si Puedo program and the Teen Initiative at the House of Ruth Maryland. The Gateway Project and the Si Puedo program are the men’s abuser intervention services of the domestic violence prevention agency. The Gateway Project is for English speaking men and the Si Puedo program is a culturally competent program for Latino men. The Teen Initiative is an educational and preventive program for teens, parents, teachers, and other professionals working with youth. Ms. Nitsch oversees the day-to-day operation of these programs and coordinates new program initiatives to improve the quality and scope of services.

Since 1998, Ms. Nitsch’s focus in the domestic violence field is on evaluating “success” for programs, engaging men in work to end violence against women, and coordinating public systems to best ensure survivor safety.

Ms. Nitsch also serves as Vice President for the national organization, Women In Fatherhood. Ms. Nitsch’s emphasis on a family perspective for addressing intimate partner violence was cause to be invited to the White House last March to consult on federal funding for responsible fatherhood programs. Ms. Nitsch demonstrates strength in creating community partnerships between programs that have historically had conflicting agendas and provides technical assistance in this area to programs across the country.

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Henry Prempeh is a Family Services Coordinator with the Generations Program at Children’s National Medical Center with responsibility for coordinating the program’s fatherhood component and serving as a mental health provider for young parents. He is also participates in the Strong Foundations research program, which is a program designed to support young parents by helping them work together for the benefit of their child, whether or not they are still together as a couple. Mr. Prempeh holds a M.A. degree in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University and is currently pursuing his Ph.D in Clinical Psychology at The George Washington University. His doctoral research includes looking at risk and protective factors for African American adolescent suicide.

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Jamie Argento Rodriguez, Esq., is the Juvenile Services Program Coordinator in the Community Defender Division at the Public Defender Service (PDS) for the District of Columbia. The goal of the Juvenile Services Program is to ensure that the children who are detained by and committed to the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) are receiving appropriate services and are afforded due process. Prior to her appointment to the Juvenile Services Program in 2008, Ms. Argento Rodriguez served as a Special Education Attorney in the Civil Legal Services Division of the Public Defender Service. As a Special Education Attorney at PDS for more than six (6) years, Ms. Argento Rodriguez predominantly represented juvenile clients involved in the delinquency system in an effort to identify and monitor appropriate special education programs. She worked closely with the criminal defense attorneys to offer judges solutions to issues relating to special education faced by delinquent youth. Ms. Argento Rodriguez conducts trainings for judges and attorneys in local and national audiences on post-adjudication juvenile justice issues and special education law and has been a featured presenter at the National Legal Aid and Defender Association’s Substantive Law Conference, the National Juvenile Defender Center’s Annual Leadership Summit and the Louisiana Judicial College and Louisiana State Bar Association’s Joint Summer School.

Prior to her tenure at the Public Defender Service (PDS), Ms. Rodriguez worked as a special education attorney in the private sector, dedicated to representing inner city, indigent children with disabilities. Ms. Rodriguez earned her law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – School of Law and her bachelor’s degree in Government and Politics from George Mason University.

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Dave Rosenthal, J.D., joined the Office of the Corporation Counsel (now Office of the Attorney General (OAG) for the District of Columbia) in March 1993 as a line attorney in the Juvenile Section. He was quickly named Assistant Section Chief. In May 1998 he was promoted to Chief of the Juvenile Section. In May 2003 he was named Acting Deputy, Criminal Division and has served as Acting Deputy of the Public Safety Division and Acting Chief of the Criminal Section. He is currently a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Public Safety Division. Prior to joining OAG, Mr. Rosenthal was a partner in the firm of Stern, Rosenau, Rosenthal & Linde specializing in criminal, civil, family law, and appellate litigation. He was the president of the Family Division Trial Lawyers Association from 1988-1990 and served on their Board of Governors.

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Ron Scott is an experienced, accomplished attorney with over ten years of expertise in prosecution, litigation and program management. A strong oral and written communicator, he has an extensive background in the research, interpretation and application of statutes, regulations, policies, and precedents. Since 2007, he has served as the Program Manager for the Fathering Court Initiative of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

As the Program Manager of the Fathering Court Initiative, Mr. Scott was instrumental in the development and implementation of all policies and procedures for this program, including the creation of operational processing charts, forms, and operational manuals. Mr. Scott sat on various committees, including executive, legal, and evaluative, which were critical in the development of the program and its scope. Mr. Scott has cultivated and spearheaded the development of the various partnerships with governmental agencies and private sector organizations necessary to operate the Fathering Court on a daily basis. Mr. Scott also was responsible for developing, preparing, and management of various grants in the form of acting as Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR), which served as the funding source to begin this initiative. He performs and supervises all team meetings, and weekly Court hearings for the participants of the Fathering Court, who regularly come before Judge, Milton C. Lee. Mr. Scott also supervises the case management and employment coordination staff of the Fathering Court, essential components of its operation.

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Phillip Terrell is the Program Coordinator for the Fatherhood Education Empowerment and Development Program, (FEED) in the District of Columbia. He is responsible for the strategic direction and leadership of this program. His responsibilities for the program include oversight of training, technical assistance, resource identification, policy development, and relationship building.

Mr. Terrell has extensive experience in facilitating meetings. He has facilitated workshops and provided technical assistance focused on program recruitment, retention, staffing, and service delivery for men. Additional workshops include How to Avoid Counter Aggression, How to Connect with Aggressive Youth, Youth Suicide Prevention and A Strength Based Approach to Working with Men and Families.

Mr. Terrell has dedicated most of his life to serving children and families through direct services, service management, program development, and consulting. He holds certifications for work with children that include; TAC II Training, Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI), and Handle with Care. Additionally, he holds certifications as a Master Father’s Trainer, Quenching the Father’s Thirst Trainer, and Cornell University’s Family Development Credentialing and Leadership Programs.

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Dion Wright is a 20-year-old parent of two who resides in Washington, D.C. He is an older brother who recently obtained custody over his siblings, ages 11 and 13. He reads and writes Korean and aspires to teach English to Korean students overseas.

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James Worthy has been a team member of Center for Urban Families (CFUF) since 1999, and he currently serves as CFUF’s Director of Responsible Fatherhood, providing oversight of the Baltimore Responsible Fatherhood Project.

In this capacity, Worthy provides critical support of the organization’s fatherhood-focused advocacy activities, as well as contributions in research and evaluation of national Responsible Fatherhood prototypes. Prior to his current role, Worthy served as workforce development trainer for the STRIVE Baltimore program. Worthy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Penn State University.

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Angelisa Young is a native Washingtonian and currently employed by the Office of Attorney General for the District of Columbia as a Community Outreach Specialist in the Policy Outreach and Training Section. As a Community Outreach Specialist, her primary goal is to improve the relationship that child support has with the residents of the District of Columbia. She delivers a customer centered approach when educating/informing customers about services, processes, programs, district and federal law child support laws.

Ms. Young brings fifteen (15) years of experience as a public administrator and advocates for individuals who have been marginalized by society. Her focus has always been to bridge the gap between the government and its citizens. Other goals include strengthening existing partnership with local agencies and developing new partnerships that support and encourage parents to work together to produce healthy children. Ms. Young graduated from the University of the District of Columbia with an Associate in Corrections Administration, Bachelor’s degree in Administration of Justice, and a Master’s degree in Public Administration. Ms. Young is currently a candidate for a doctoral degree from Walden University in Public Policy and Administration specializing in Public Management and Leadership. Ms. Young is strongly committed to advocacy Social Justice Issues.

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