About this Event
2026 Alabama Judicial Education Conference
Join us for the fifth-annual Alabama Judicial Education Conference, a must-attend event for Alabama judges! This exciting in-person conference will be held at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center in Montgomery, Alabama and will offer an impressive agenda that will earn you 14 hours of continuing education credit.
We hope to see you there!
If you have any questions, please contact event coordinator, Susan Carothers at [email protected].
Wednesday, November 18
🕑: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Registration
🕑: 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Welcoming Luncheon
Info: Governor Kay Ivey, House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, Associate Justice Will Sellers
🕑: 12:30 PM - 01:45 PM
The Patent Playbook: How Brands Keep Generics on the Bench
Info: S. Sean Tu, University of Alabama Professor of Law
🕑: 01:45 PM - 03:00 PM
Land Use Planning and Restricting Data Center Development
Info: Donald J. Kochan, George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at George
Mason University Antonin Scalia School of Law and Executive Director of the Law &
Economics Center
🕑: 03:05 PM - 04:20 PM
Law, Regulation, and Macroeconomics
Info: Todd J. Zywicki, George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at George Mason
University Antonin Scalia School of Law
🕑: 04:25 PM - 05:40 PM
Implications of Contributory vs. Comparative Negligence
Info: J. Shahar Dillbary, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research and Faculty
Development at George Mason University Antonin Scalia School of Law
🕑: 06:15 PM
Reception and Dinner: Strategic Silence as a Tool to Advance U.S. Foreign Poli
Info: Alley Ballroom – 130 Commerce Street - William F Harlow, Ph.D., Professor of Organizational Leadership
Air Command and Staff College
Air University, Maxwell AFB
Thursday, November 19
🕑: 07:30 AM - 09:00 AM
Breakfast
Info: General Counsels' Roundtable – A Perspective on Healthcare
Moderator: Paul A. Pinyan – Alabama Farmers Federation;
Simeon F. Penton, II – Baptist Hospital; Dorothy D. Pak - UAB Health System;
William C. McGowin - Inspirien;
Scott W. Donaldson - The University of Alabama School of Law
🕑: 09:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Artificial Intelligence and the Justice System: Shaping The Legal Landscape
Info: Scott U. Schlegel, Judge, Division “F"
Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal
🕑: 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM
Confronting Mental Health Issues in Court
Info: Will Rutland, Director: UAB Medicine Psychiatry Residency Program
🕑: 11:15 AM - 12:00 PM
Ethical Issues from Tom Girardi’s Fall from Grace
Info: Sharon D. Stuart, Partner, Christian and Small
🕑: 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Luncheon
Info: Hon. Corey L. Maze, United States Federal District Judge for the Northen
District of Alabama
🕑: 01:15 PM - 02:30 PM
The Path of Law and Economics
Info: Professor Zywicki
🕑: 02:45 PM - 03:45 PM
What Every Judge Needs to Know about the Alabama State Bar
Info: Hon. Terri Bozeman Lovell, Executive Director, Alabama State Bar
Jana Russell Garner, President, Alabama State Bar; George R. Parker, President-elect, Alabama State Bar
🕑: 03:45 PM
Closing Remarks
Info: Justice Will Sellers
Event venue & nearby stays
Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center, Tallapoosa Street, Montgomery, AL, USA, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.