15th Annual Rebuilding Justice Award Dinner

April 20, 2023

Each year, IAALS recognizes individuals and groups who exemplify the spirit of innovation and leadership that we champion as we work toward building a legal system that is accessible, fair, reliable, and accountable. We celebrated the 2023 Rebuilding Justice Award and Alli Gerkman Legal Visionary Award honorees, and everyone who has joined together with IAALS to advance justice we can believe in.

6:00 p.m. - Cocktails
7:00 p.m. - Dinner and Program

IAALS was proud to give the Rebuilding Justice Award to former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack in recognition of her leadership, innovation, and service in fostering broad reform in our justice system and legal profession. She has worked tirelessly to ensure a system that is more accessible, more transparent, more data driven, and more efficient. In addition to leading key initiatives within our courts, her work and commitment has extended to innovation in legal education and the legal profession. Chief Justice McCormack serves as a model and inspiration for the judiciary, the bar, our court system, legal innovation organizations like IAALS, and the public.

At the event, we also presented the Alli Gerkman Legal Visionary Award to Ariadna M. Godreau-Aubert, founder and executive director of Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico, for her efforts to promote access to justice and defend fundamental rights through community legal education, advocacy, and direct services. The award is designed to encourage and showcase innovators, risk takers, visionaries, and emerging leaders who bring a different perspective and a reform-minded approach to the improvement of our legal system, and who are early in their legal careers.

We thank Impact Sponsor, Moye White, for their support of IAALS and our awardees.

And we thank all our incredible sponsors for making this event—and our work—possible.

"headshot of Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack" Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack joined the Michigan Supreme Court in January 2013, and became chief justice in January 2019. After retiring from the bench in 2022, she now serves as CEO and president of the American Arbitration Association. She is also a strategic advisor to the Future of the Profession Initiative at Penn Carey Law School and frequent speaker and writer about access to justice and the changing legal profession.

"headshot of Ariadna M. Godreau-Aubert" Ariadna M. Godreau-Aubert is the founder and executive director of Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico, an award-winning organization that promotes access to justice and defends fundamental rights through community legal education, advocacy, and direct services. She also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Puerto Rico, where she teaches courses on human rights, political theory, and international relations. Godreau-Aubert received her law degree from the University of Puerto Rico and a Master of Laws in Human Rights from the University of Oxford. She has published multiple articles focused on gender, austerity, and debt in Puerto Rico, as well as the book The Own: Notes for a Pedagogy of Debt in March 2018.