Ms. Carbon was first appointed to the bench in 1991, and served as Supervisory Judge of the New Hampshire Judicial Branch Family Division from 1996 until 2010. She was a member of the Governor’s Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence and chaired New Hampshire’s Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee. She was Chair of the Grafton County, NH Greenbook Project, a collaboration of the U.S. Department of Justice and Health and Human Services to improve practice where child protection cases intersect with domestic violence. She was also Lead Model Court Judge in New Hampshire for the nation?wide initiative of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges to improve court practice surrounding child protection cases, focusing on foster care and adoption. Ms. Carbon also served as President of NCJFCJ from 2007 to 2008, and was President of the New Hampshire State Bar Association in 1993?94. Ms. Carbon has also worked with the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts on two of their major initiatives conducted at the Wingspread Conference Center, the Family Law Reform Education Project (FLER Project), and Domestic Violence and Family Courts, dealing with differentiation of domestic violence in cases of child custody.

Ms. Carbon has trained judges and other professionals across the country and internationally on topics related to family violence, firearms, child custody, and child protection. She has published extensively on these and other topics, including on judicial selection and retention and judicial administration. Ms. Carbon served as faculty for the National Judicial Institute on Domestic Violence—a partnership of OVW, the Family Violence Prevention Fund, and NCJFCJ. In September 2006, she chaired “Firearms and Domestic Violence: A National Summit for Community Safety,” an initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Justice. She also chaired the project which produced the multidisciplinary Effective Issuance and Enforcement of Orders of Protection in Domestic Violence Cases (The Burgundy Book), a document used throughout the U.S. and its territories to guide professionals in their work around civil protection orders.

Ms. Carbon is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin?Madison and the DePaul University College of Law. Prior to becoming a judge, she was in private practice for a decade, and previously worked at the American Judicature Society in Chicago on a number of national court reform initiatives.

Connie trains internationally on community engagement, domestic abuse and prevention strategies, and taking the “crisis” out of crisis response organizations.  Her work in the LGBT community has developed her expertise in assessment, survivors’ use of violence, working with survivors’ friends and families, working with men, community engagement strategies and related issues.  She has focused particular attention on strengthening alliances among marginalized communities while centering liberation values in her work.

She was an early member in the grass roots group, which developed into BISC-MI (Batterer Intervention Services Coalition of Michigan) and has served on the board ever since. She served as the chair of BISC-MI from 2001-2002. She served on the Governor’s Task Force for the development of Batterer Intervention Standards. She has been a member of the Wayne County Council Against Family Violence and has served on several committees, including the Fatality Review Team. She was also a recipient of the 2001 Spirit Award. She has also been a member of the Oakland County Council Against Domestic Violence. She was instrumental in the development and implementation of the Wayne County jail based Batterer Intervention/Substance Abuse program. Additionally, Jeffrie has provided numerous training’s to corporations, community groups and professionals on domestic violence, substance abuse, parenting, supervision, and other topical issues. 

Ms. Cloutier-Lee has been an activist/advocate in the movement against domestic and sexual violence since 1978 and has worked as a shelter, crisis, legal, and response advocate in rural Alaska, Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota. 

Throughout her career, she has fought to bring awareness to the needs of domestic and sexual abuse survivors who are incarcerated.  Ms. Cloutier-Lee is herself a survivor of both child sexual assault and domestic violence and has been incarcerated, thus she has firsthand knowledge and understanding of how her experiences with a lifetime of abuse contributed to her incarceration and how incarceration further exacerbated her trauma experiences. She has facilitated numerous support groups and has spoke within prison and jail systems throughout the Country, including the Wyoming Women’s Correctional Center in Lusk, Wyoming; Campbell County Detention Center, Gillette, Wyoming; Washtenaw County Jail, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Huron Valley Women’s Correction Facility, Ypsilanti, Michigan; and Cooper Street Correction Facility, Waterloo, Michigan. 

Ms. Cloutier-Lee is excited to share this time with you all, to share her knowledge and skill as an activist/advocate. She has seen this work evolve and change over the years and it is her hope that you will gain a sense of how powerful we all are when we come together to facilitate change.

In 2009 Ms. Dick was invited to participate in the “Judicial Roundtable Discussion:  Batterer Accountability and Opportunity for Change” sponsored by the National Judicial Institute on Domestic Violence (NJIDV) in partnership with the NCFJCJ, Family Violence Prevention Fund and the Department of Justice Office on Violence against Women.  Since 2009 Ms. Dick has been a faculty member at the “Enhancing Judicial Skills in Domestic Violence Cases Workshop” teaching judicial officers from across the United States in the area of domestic violence, a program sponsored by the NCFJCJ and FVPF.  Additionally, Ms. Dick was a faculty member at the 2009 BISC-MI Annual Conference.  To increase awareness and knowledge of domestic violence issues and to enhance trial practice Ms. Dick created and coordinates a Domestic Violence Trial Practice Group for staff attorneys who have made a commitment to practicing in the Domestic Violence Courts. 

Thea has presented individually and on many panels in diverse settings since 1988. Some highlighted events from her extensive speaking career are: the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence conferences in Seattle, Washington; Amherst, Massachusetts; St. Paul, Minnesota; Charleston, South Carolina; Denver, Colorado; Portland, Oregon and New York, New York; 5th through the 10th National Roundtable for Women in Prison conferences in Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Washington, DC; South Oaks, California; and Ann Arbor, Michigan starting in 1989 and concluding in 2002.  In January of 1994, Thea presented to The Bar Association of the City of New York.  She has presented internationally at the 2nd Global Tribunal on Women’s Human Rights, which was part of the IV World Conference on Women (Beijing, China, 1995).  She has been interviewed by magazine, newspaper, television and radio. 

In 2000, the Sunshine Lady Foundation awarded the Sunshine Lady Award to Thea.  Also in 2000, Thea was awarded the YWCA of White Plains and Central Westchester Salute to Women and Racial Justice Award in the area of Human Services in 2000. During the summer sessions of 2009 and 2010, Thea was an Adjunct Instructor at College of New Rochelle where she taught the Dynamics of Domestic Violence. Thea continues to champion the work to end violence against women.

In 2001 he was a participant in VERA sessions where victim advocates and defense attorneys from Boston, Milwaukee and Ann Arbor exchanged ideas and learned together about leading practices in domestic violence cases.  At the 2009 BISC-MI Annual Conference, he was a panel member of the Washtenaw County Judicial Oversight Demonstration Team and also a presenter of Low Cost and No Cost Coordinated Community Response Innovations. Mr. Funkhouser is currently Vice-Chair of the City of Ann Arbor/Washtenaw County Community Corrections Advisory Board, where he has been a board member for over fifteen years. He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and J.D from Wayne State University. Brant has practiced in family courts, as a divorce attorney or attorney for children or parents in juvenile court. He has represented more defendants in domestic violence cases in Ann Arbor's Fifteenth District Court than any other attorney.

Mr. Garvin is a co-founder and current Chair of the Batterer Intervention Services Coalition of Michigan (BISC-MI). Mr. Garvin was selected to serve as the co-chair of the Michigan Governor's Taskforce on creating standards for batterer intervention programs. Mr. Garvin has conducted trainings, consultations, conferences, workshops, in-services around the country and has been featured on local, state and national television, in magazines, professional journals and newspapers. Mr. Garvin was named the 2009 National Association of Social Workers-Michigan (NASW-MI) Social Worker of the Year. He earned the prestigious honor for his work in the areas of domestic violence, mental health and adoption.

From 1991-2008 Jim was a probation officer responsible for overseeing the policies and practices of Intensive Probation for Domestic Violence offenders in Ann Arbor MI. He was assigned to the Washtenaw County Domestic Violence Unit as part of the Judicial Oversight Demonstration Initiative from 1999 to 2005 and works from a system perspective to enhance victim’s safety and defendant accountability. He has provided batterer intervention within the Detroit metropolitan area since 1995. Before joining the criminal justice system in 1993, he worked as the clinical director of Straight, Inc., a family oriented substance abuse program for drug using young people and their families. 

In 1998, Jim was appointed by the Mayor of Ann Arbor to serve on the Ann Arbor Domestic Violence Coordinating Board. He has served two terms as a Regional Representative for the Batterer Intervention Services Coalition of Michigan and has been active with them since 1997. He has also been an active member of the Arab American Domestic Violence Coalition from 2001-2006. In 2002 he received a certificate of appreciation for outstanding service on behalf of crime victims from the Washtenaw County Prosecutors office. 

Jim has designed and conducted training’s, on the effective interviewing of domestic violence offenders and victims. He has endeavored to change the focus of the victim interview from that of “information gatherer” to that of “information provider”. Jim trains on the utilization of probation group reporting to gain better compliance, using the community to assist in the monitoring of batterers, thus enhancing the safety of those victimized by the violence. Jim has been faculty for several organizations including the multiple probation and parole associations, The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Association, VERA institute of Justice, the Michigan Judicial Institute, Batterer Intervention Services Coalition of Michigan, Greenbook, The Battered Women’s Justice Project, American Probation & Parole Association, The National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies, the American Prosecutors Research Institutes National Institute on the Prosecution of Domestic Violence., The National Collage of District Court  Attorneys Domestic Violence Conference, Praxis International, and The Presidents Family Justice Centers. Jim is on the national advisory board or acts as a consultancy team member for the Family Justice Center Alliance, The Battered Women’s Justice Program, and The Center for Court Innovation. Jim has been a Certified Addition Counselor II since 1987 and an Internationally Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor since 1990. He received his Master's degree in social work from the University of Michigan in 1995.

She represented her colleagues on the Executive Committee managing a Judicial Oversight Demonstration Initiative (“JODI”) sponsored by the US Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women  from 1999 to 2004, one of three sites in the country selected to see what works best in cases of  domestic violence.  She helps train new judges on DV through the Michigan Judicial Institute.  She was appointed to serve on the Governor’s Task Force on Children’s Justice and the Governor’s Task Force on Batterer Intervention Standards.  She was appointed by the Michigan Supreme Court to the Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure to review rules of criminal procedure used by all Michigan courts. 

She is a member of the National Domestic Violence Court Technical Assistance Consultancy Team for the Center for Court Innovation, and the National Center for State Court’s Advisory Committee for its Problem-Solving Justice Toolkit.   A member of the Board of Governors of the AJA, Judge Hines is past Chair of the AJA Domestic Violence Committee, Chair of the AJA Access to Justice Committee, and a member of the AJA Executive Committee.  She is active in her community and has received numerous awards including the “Patriot Award” from the Washtenaw County Bar Association, and the “2008 Distinguished Service Award” from the National Center for State Courts. 

With the On-Call Response Team, Erin was commonly faced with situations where dual-arrests were made,where women were arrested, and where assaults occurred within same-gender relationships.  In light of these situations, Erin developed screening protocols to identify and understand the reasons behind women's use of force and to distinguish between female batterers, females acting in self-defense or in reaction to a history of victimization and isolated acts of force that were not a part of a larger context of power and control within intimate relationships.  These assessment tools and strategies were important not just in assessing women's use of force within heterosexual intimate relationship but also womens and mens use of force in same-sex relationships.  Erin's present work as a prosecutor of intimate partner violence is informed by her work with the Domestic Violence Project/SAFE House as well as her work with the Branch County Coalition Against Domestic Violence in Coldwater, Michigan and her work with the Orange County Domestic Violence Project in North Carolina.

I earned my J.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1975 and my B.A. from the University of Colorado.  I spent 11 years in private practice handling a variety of civil litigation matters and before that was an assistant D.A. for Milwaukee County assigned to, and director of the Sensitive Crimes Unit.

I am a frequent instructor to the Wisconsin Judiciary on a variety of topics including DV, Sexual Assault, Immigration issues, and Sexual Predators. I am a faculty member as well as past associate dean of the Wisconsin Judicial College. I am also a member of the faculty for the National Judicial Institute on Domestic Violence presented by the NCJFCJ and The Family Violence Prevention Fund. Other professional activities include membership on several statewide committees charged with making recommendations regarding judicial education in the areas of DV, Sexual Assault and Stalking, our Criminal Jury Instruction Committee, and jury issues.

Each experience has inspired - and continues to inform - Lisa’s work with men who batter, female survivors of domestic violence, and women who have used force in their intimate relationships.  Before joining to Catholic Social Services of Washtenaw County (CSS-W), Lisa co-facilitated support groups for female survivors of domestic violence, and men who batter, at the Jersey Battered Women’s Services (JBWS), Inc. in Morris County, NJ.  At JBWS, Lisa also co-created, implemented, and managed JBWS’ Vista Program that provides an extended view of serving women who have used force.  In addition, Lisa and JBWS colleagues wrote and published the Vista curriculum that addresses the diverse needs of this population (www.jbws.org). 

Since joining to CSS-W in 2007, Lisa created, implemented and coordinates the Reflectively Embracing Nonviolence through Education for Women (RENEW) Program - both agency and jail based - that contextually addresses the advocacy, support, and intervention needs of women who have used force (www.csswashtenaw.org/renew). 

In 2007, Lisa and David J.H. Garvin cofounded the international W-Catch22 list serve that provides resources and information sharing opportunities for professionals committed to thoughtfully addressing the complexities of serving women who have used force.  Lisa is the chairperson for the November 4 & 5, 2010 national Batterer’s Intervention Services Coalition of Michigan (BISC-MI) conference:  When She Hits Him:  Why Gender & Context Matter.  She is also a published author, national presenter, and editorial review board member of the international, interdisciplinary journal Violence Against Women. 

Having lived  in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area since 1974, she has seen the  community grow and diversify.

Having owned and operated several businesses in the area, she has had the opportunity  to serve the community  in a variety of venues for two decades. She is particularly  well acquainted with the challenges, struggles and strengths of Latinos. 

Rebecca is the current co-chair of the Domestic Violence Committee of State Bar of Michigan and has been a member of the committee since it began.  She is also a council member of the State Bar Family Law Section and co-chairs its domestic violence committee.  She has been a trainer for the Michigan Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Board, the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, the Institute for Continuing Legal Education, the Michigan Judicial Institute and the State Bar of Michigan.  She is the co-author of the domestic violence chapter of Michigan Family Law, published by the Institute of Continuing Legal Education.  Rebecca received her J.D. from Wayne State University.

Professor Richie is the author of numerous articles concerning Black Feminism and Gender Violence, Race and Criminal Justice Policy, and The Social Dynamics around issues of sexuality, families and grassroots organizations in African American Communities. Her book Compelled to Crime: the Gender Entrapment of Black Battered Women, which is taught in many college courses and is cited in the popular press for its original arguments concerning race, gender and crime. Her upcoming book, Black Women, Male Violence and the Build-up of a Prison Nation chronicles the evolution of the contemporary anti-violence movement during the time of mass incarceration in the United States. Dr. Richie is qualitative researcher who is also working on an ethnographic project documenting the conditions of confinement in women's prisons. Her work has been supported by grants from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Ford Foundation, and The National Institute for Justice and The National Institute of Corrections. Among others, she has been awarded the Audre Lorde Legacy Award from the Union Institute, The Advocacy Award from the US Department of Health and Human Services, and The Visionary Award from the Violence Intervention Project. Dr. Richie is a board member of The Chicago Foundation for Women, The Institute on Domestic Violence in the African Community, The Center for Fathers' Families and Public Policy and a founding member of INCITE!: Women of Color Against Violence.

In addition Ms. Rosen was a Board Member for the Council Against Domestic Assault/ EVE Inc. and the Board of Directors of the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence for six years, and currently is on the National Campus Steering Committee for the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Ms. Rosen chairs the VFC and is active in several subcommittees of the CADSVCC, including: Steering, Court Watch, Service Providers, and Capital Area Sexual Assault Response Effort (CASART). She is on the advisory board of the Lansing area Capital Area Response Effort (CARE) and the Personal Protection Order Office in Ingham County, Michigan. For several years Ms. Rosen has been utilized as an expert witness by prosecutors across the state, focusing on explaining domestic violence and sexual assault perpetrator tactics and victim response. Ms. Rosen takes an active role in providing trainings for Ingham county Court Watch, and statewide Expert Witness trainings.

Daniel G. Saunders is a Professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work and Co-Director of the university’s Interdisciplinary Research Program on Violence Across the Lifespan. His research, teaching, and service focus on the problems of dating and domestic violence. Dr. Saunders established one of the first intervention programs for men who batter and has been a counselor, group leader, trainer, advocate, and researcher in the domestic violence field for many years. He has published over 70 articles and book chapters, primarily on offender program effectiveness, the traumatic effects of victimization, and the response of professionals to survivors of domestic violence.  These professionals include police officers, welfare workers, nurses, physicians and psychologists.  Dr. Saunders has been an expert witness in court cases involving custody, supervised visitation, and domestic homicide.  He recently directed the National Evaluation of the Safe Havens Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchange Demonstration Initiative and a National Institute of Justice study on the beliefs and practices of child custody evaluators. 

Previously, Ms. Welch focused on violence against women as the Attorney General’s Women’s Policy Advisor.  In that role she led statewide efforts to improve laws, services and systems for abused women and their children.  For example, she created and introduced the order of protection short form notification to law enforcement agencies throughout the state. Ms. Welch continues to monitor policies and legislation impacting women and children and participates on numerous boards and advisory councils such as the Illinois Department of Human Services Domestic Violence Advisory Council.

Ms. Welch came to the Office of Attorney General Madigan after nine years as the Executive Director of the Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women=s Network.  As the Networks Director Ms. Welch coordinated public policy and system-wide advocacy efforts of more than 50 organizations plus individual members.  She led the successful campaign for a new domestic violence court in Cook County, Illinois.  Ms. Welch also developed the city of Chicago Domestic Violence Help Line in partnership with the Chicago Mayor's Office on Domestic Violence. Prior to working at the Battered Womens Network she was a founding member of the Illinois Clemency Project for Battered Women.  Ms. Welch holds a JD from the Chicago-Kent College of Law and received her undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

In 2000, he was appointed to the National Advisory Council on Domestic Violence by the US Secretary of Health and Human Services and US Attorney General. In 2009 participated in a Roundtable with the US Attorney General on issues related to fatherhood and participated in a Whitehouse Roundtable on Fatherhood and Domestic Violence. He has conducted training for the US Military Family Advocacy programs both in the United States and Abroad. Dr. Williams' extensive research and publications in scholarly journals and books have centered on creating service delivery strategies to reduce violent behavior. Dr. Williams received a bachelor's degree in social work from Michigan State University; a Masters in Social Work from Western Michigan University; a Masters in Public Health and a PH.D in Social Work both from the University of Pittsburgh.