Advancing Innovation: A National Summit and Webinar Series on Judicial Leadership
The National Summit on Judicial Leadership, co-hosted by IAALS and the Berkeley Judicial Institute (BJI), brought together judicial leaders at an in-person, invite-only event in September 2024. Building on the momentum of the summit, IAALS and BJI launched a dynamic webinar series designed to equip judges with the practical tools and insights needed to drive meaningful innovation in the courts.
Webinar Dates:
- June 4, 2025 (Watch the recording) - Cultivating Public Trust through Innovation
- August 27, 2025 (Watch the recording) - Finding Your Center: Mindfulness for Innovative Leaders
- November 12, 2025 (Watch the recording) - Overcoming Resistance and Building Buy-In
- February 11, 2026 - Staying the Course: Strategies for Sustaining Change
- May 13, 2026 - Collaborative Leadership: Building Coalitions for Innovation
- August 12, 2026 - Measuring What Matters: Evaluating the Impact of Innovations
The Summit
The National Summit on Judicial Leadership featured keynote addresses from judicial leaders and change experts as well as interactive opportunities for peer collaboration that enabled judges to learn from one another; discuss the challenges and opportunities they face; and understand the knowledge, skills, and abilities critical to transformative leadership.
The summit empowered robust and resilient judicial leaders to thrive in the midst of challenges, respond to crises, and drive change at the speed and scale needed to tackle the mounting challenges facing the legal system. By allowing judges to step out of their silos and focus energy on collaborative problem-solving, the summit has inspired a new wave of innovations taking root in courts across the country.
"The Judicial Leadership Summit inspired me to create instructional videos for litigants using an AI avatar of myself, which are now an approved pilot project by the Illinois Supreme Court. Without attending, I would not have known that this was even a possibility. Thank you for expanding my vision and imagination!" — Judge Maryam Ahmad, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois
The Webinars
The webinar series will go beyond theory and dive deep into strategies that will empower judges to navigate change, build trust, and foster a more accessible justice system for all.
This series is open to all judges seeking to become catalysts for positive change in the legal system. Free registration available below.
For more information, please contact Danielle Kalil at danielle.kalil@du.edu.
The Blueprint for Judicial Innovation
In November 2025, IAALS and BJI—with support from the State Justice Institute—published A Blueprint for Judicial Innovation, which distills insights from the summit and offers concrete guidance for judges who are ready to drive people-centered reform across our justice system.