Hybrid Event: Women in Dispute Resolution and the Courts
2026-03-19 10:30 - 12:00 (America/New_York)
**Program hosted in (ET) Time Zone**
Join us for this year’s NGO CSW 70 program entitled, ‘Women in Alternative Dispute Resolution and the Courts.’ We’ll explore how judges, and specifically women, support access to justice and advance the rule of law through innovative means in courthouses worldwide. As described in the 2016 UNDP Annual Report on The Rule of Law and Human Rights, Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16) – for peaceful, just, and inclusive societies – ushers in a new kind of development, one where people can influence the decisions that affect their lives and create communities that thrive. SDG 16 explains how fair governance plays a crucial role in promoting peaceful, just, and inclusive societies, as well as ensuring sustainable development. The program will bring together courthouse leaders from around the world to discuss how the use of alternatives to dispute resolution, such as mediation and arbitration, in the courthouse is helping to improve access to justice for vulnerable litigants in various contexts.
Attendance is free for anyone interested, and we encourage you to invite your networks to participate. The program is in-person for those local to New York City, and virtual for those unable to join in-person on March 19, 2026, from 10:30 am –12:00 pm ET
To participate in-person: This event is an official Parallel Event being held at the NGO CSW Site across the street from the United Nations. In-person attendees must register directly with the NGO CSW Forum HERE.
Note: Participation in this event will not enable you to attend events within the United Nations Building itself. Here is the address for this event:
Church Center For the United Nations (CCUN)
777 United Nations Plz., 11th Floor,
New York, NY 10017
Virtual Registration Here!
Sponsored by the Federal Bar Association’s Judiciary Division,
Co-sponsors:

FBA Alternative Dispute Resolution Section (confirmed)
FBA International Law Section (confirmed)
National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) (confirmed)
International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) (confirmed)
ABA, Judicial Division, National Conference of the Administrative Law Judiciary (NCALJ) (confirmed)
Association of European Administrative Judges (confirmed)
Academy of Court Appointed Neutrals (confirmed)
ABA Dispute Resolution Section (awaiting confirmation)
Fordham Law School (confirmed)
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (awaiting confirmation)
ABA Labor and Employment Section, International Committee (confirmed)

OPENING REMARKS

Speakers

Hon. Mimi Tsankov (Ret.)
Ms. Tsankov is a certified mediator and arbitrator based in New York City. Since retiring from the bench after nearly two decades in the federal administrative judiciary, she now serves on a wide range of national and state mediation and arbitration panels.
Her many years of public service included serving as Assistant District Counsel and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice as well as an Attorney Advisor with the Peace Corps. She has also worked for over a decade in private law practice.
Recognized both at the court and throughout various legal organizations for her work as a judge and as a leader in the international legal community, Ms. Tsankov has held multiple elected and appointed roles for decades in leading organizations, including the American Bar Association (ABA), the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), Judicial Council 2 (National Association of Immigration Judges, a national labor organization affiliated with the AFL-CIO), the Federal Bar Association (FBA), and the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ).
She’s received multiple ABA Presidential Appointments to the UN Representatives Department of Global Communications, been elected Vice President for Publications at the NAWJ, and been elected to the FBA’s Board of Directors for a three-year term. She has chaired both the ABA’s Judicial Division’s National Conference of the Administrative Law Judiciary, and the FBA’s Judiciary Division.
Currently, she’s an appointed Board Member of the New York City Bar Association’s Commercial Law and Uniform State Law Committee (CLUSL), its Arbitration Committee, and is active in the ABA’s Dispute Resolution Section.
In the labor field, Ms. Tsankov served as a prominent nationally-elected leader for four years at the IFPTE’s Judicial Council 2, bringing significant public attention to rule of law issues of national interest. She now participates in multiple chapters of the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA), and the New York State Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section. She holds leadership roles in the ABA’s Labor and Employment Section.
Ms. Tsankov contributed to ongoing labor-related discussions by testifying before immigration-focused Judiciary Subcommittees of both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, and has met regularly with Congressional leaders, published numerous labor-related articles in legal periodicals and in a variety of law journals, served on national and international education panels (U.S., Canada, and Europe) and been a trusted resource to members of all major media outlets (print, TV, and radio).
With a focus on keeping the community informed, she’s also provided expert background information for theatrical and museum immigration-labor related releases explaining the nuances of labor issues in the immigration context.
Throughout her career, Ms. Tsankov has received many honors, awards, and citations from the U.S. Department of Justice, the ABA, the FBA, and others.
For years, she has been serving on the Adjunct Law Faculty at Fordham Law School in New York teaching International Law and Justice, and has been on the adjunct faculty of Colorado Law School and the Sturm College of Law in Denver, Colorado. Ms. Tsankov publishes regularly in peer-reviewed, and general interest journals.
She completed her J.D. at the University of Virginia School of Law and was awarded an M.A. in International Relations at the University of Virginia Graduate School of Politics.

Rachel Irura, Regional Ombudsman, Nairobi, United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services (UNOMS).
Rachel Irura joined the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services (UNOMS) in December 2022 as the
Regional Ombudsman and Head of the Regional Ombudsman branch in Nairobi, Kenya. Rachel is an accredited civil and commercial mediator and served on the Staff Union of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the Hague, the Netherlands. Her most recent role was the Head of the Witness Support and Protection Unit (WISP) in Arusha, Tanzania, and the Head of the Kigali Field Office of the United Nations Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (“Mechanism”) in Kigali, supporting witnesses who testified before the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (UNIRMCT). Rachel also worked for CIVICUS, an umbrella body for civil society organizations in Johannesburg, South Africa. She began her career with the United Nations in January
2005 as a Legal Assistant with the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), in Freetown, Sierra Leone. She subsequently worked as a Human Rights Officer with the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), in Fishtown,
Liberia. Ms. Irura also worked as a Court Officer with the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), Sub-office in the
Hague, the Netherlands. She served as a Legal Officer at the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) from June 2011 to February 2020. She holds a Master of Laws (LLM) Degree in Human Rights and Democratization in Africa from the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Judge Elizabeth Stong, U.S. Bankruptcy Court (EDNY)
Hon. Elizabeth Stong has been a United States bankruptcy judge in New York since 2003. A former litigator, she is a frequent speaker and author and an adjunct law professor at Brooklyn Law School, and holds leadership roles in several international, national, and regional organizations and bar associations. Judge Stong has trained judges in case management, commercial and business rescue law, and dispute resolution, including mediation and arbitration, in more than 25 countries on five continents, with the World Bank, the U.S. Commerce Department, and several other intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, most recently at World Bank’s regional judicial colloquium and Africa Roundtable in South Africa.
Judge Stong is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, an elected member of the American Law Institute and European Law Institute, and a member of the Board of Governors of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges representing the Second Circuit, among other positions. She is also a regular NGO delegate to UNCITRAL’s Working Groups addressing dispute resolution and insolvency. In addition, she is an active volunteer in her community and has coordinated the interfaith homeless shelter there for many years. She has received many awards for her work to improve access to justice.
In her ABA activities, Judge Stong presently serves as Chair of the Rule of Law Initiative Middle East North Africa Council and recently completed terms as Chair of the Standing Committee on Continuing Legal Education and Chair of the Judicial Division’s National Conference of Federal Trial Judges, among other roles.
Judge Stong received her AB from Harvard University magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in the history of science, and her JD from Harvard Law School where she served as President of the global alumni association.

The Honorable Col. Linda Murnane, Associate Justice, University of Cincinnati College of Law, J.D. 1981
Linda recently completed two years as an Associate Justice serving on the High Court of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Her previous judicial experience included ten consecutive years as a military judge and chief circuit military judge for the United States Air Force. She served in a variety of United Nations positions at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, including service in Trial Chamber 3 as the Senior Legal Officer, three years as the Chief Court Management Services, and short terms as the Acting Head of Chambers and Acting Deputy Registrar. She also served three years as the Chief, Court Management Services at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
She currently serves on the Board of Governors for the American Bar Association (ABA) and American Judges Association (AJA) and is the co-District Director for District 7 of the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ). She previously served as Chair of the ABA Judicial Division and National Conference of Specialized Court Judges, as the Chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Armed Forces Law, and as an ABA UN Representative and Special Observer. She served on the ABA International Law Section’s Executive Council for six years. She is an ABA Sustaining Life Fellow, and a past recipient of the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement and International Law Section’s Mayre Rasmussen Award.
Justice Murnane is the editor of “Women’s Voices: A Global Perspective on the Right to Vote”, and is a chapter contributor to “Her Honor” both published by ABA Publications.
She is a retired colonel in the United States Air Force and is married to Kevin M. Murnane, USAF, Ret. They have two daughter, Rachel Manuel and Christina Veillon, who are both teachers, and three grandchildren, Abrial, Cody and Aidan.

Giuseppe De Palo, Esq., Mediator at JAMS; President of the Dialogue Through Conflict Foundation
Giuseppe De Palo is an international mediator at JAMS and president of the Dialogue Through Conflict Foundation. A former senior official of the United Nations, he has advised the European Parliament and national parliaments worldwide on mediation policy. His publications have been translated into several languages. Mr. De Palo is at the forefront of AI integration in dispute resolution, having conceived the first live “human-versus-AI” mediation competition, now staged across multiple continents. This work explores whether technology can replicate the nuances of facilitated negotiation and has sparked dialogue among practitioners, policymakers, and technologists about responsible AI adoption in ADR. He has mediated more than 2,500 disputes across 60 countries, spanning commercial contracts, trade conflicts, and multi-stakeholder ESG matters.

Lady Justice Joyce Aluoch, Former First Vice-President of the International Criminal Court and Patron of Women in ADR Kenya (WADR)
Lady Justice Joyce Aluoch CBS, EBS, Trailblazer, is a former Judge and First Vice-President of the International Criminal Court at The Hague in The Netherlands.
Certified International Mediator(IMI), Accredited Mediator, Certified Advanced Mediator, Chartered Mediator, Member, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators-London, and the Kenya branch.
She holds a Master of Arts Degree (GMAP) from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University in Boston-USA, Law Degree from the University of Nairobi, and a Professional Certificate from the Kenya School of Law.
Upon completion of her tenure at the ICC in 2018, she successfully moved her legal profession to other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution, particularly mediation and peacebuilding. She conducts International and continental mediations, Court Annexed Mediations in Kenya, and private mediations.
In July 2022,she was appointed by Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), as a member of the Judicial Reform Committee under the Revitalized(power sharing) Agreement for the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan, a country that had been in conflict for over 20 years. Using her mediation skills whilst conducting public consultations to establish the reforms the people of South Sudan wanted, her committee visited most parts of the country and produced a draft report which was subjected to a three-day validation workshop. The draft report was validated by over 100 people including the leaders who attended the workshop. The Committee produced a final report containing recommendations for the reform of the judiciary of South Sudan. The report was handed over to HE President Salva Kiir Mayardit at state house Juba on December 20, 2024.
In January 2024, Lady Justice Aluoch was appointed a member of the jury of the Simplicemente Donna International Award and in March 2024, she was appointed to the Global Advisory Council of G100 Networking.
The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators-London appointed her a member of Professional Conduct Committee which investigates, and if necessary facilitates disciplinary and or expulsion of any member through an independent and impartial system of disciplinary proceedings.
She serves in many international and regional organizations. She is a co-chair of the Board of Directors of Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI), Board Member of Dialogue through Conflict Foundation, Patron, Women in Alternative Dispute Resolution-Kenya, and the immediate past member of International Advisory Board, Office of the Ombudsperson of the United Nations Funds and Programs.
She is a recipient of both International and National Awards including International Peace Award from Premio Internazionale Simplicente Donna, awarded in Florence-Italy in November 2023 in recognition of the work on judicial reforms she was conducting in the Republic of South Sudan.
In Kenya, she is a recipient of the national Awards of CBS,EBS and Trailblazer( CBS) awarded by the last three Presidents of the Republic of Kenya, for her illustrious judicial career.

Merril Hirsh (CIArb), Executive Director, Academy of Court-Appointed Neutrals
Merril Hirsh of HirshADR PLLC and the Law Office of Merril Hirsh PLLC in Washington, D.C. is an arbitrator, hearing examiner, mediator and the Executive Director of the Academy of Court-Appointed Neutrals as well as Chair of the ABA Judicial Division Lawyers Conference Court-Appointed Neutrals Committee and a member of its Executive Committee. He has litigated cases on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants as well as the United States government in federal or state courts for over 40 years and in over 40 states.
He is also a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Academy of Court-Appointed Neutrals, a member of the Council of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, a hearing committee chair for the DC Board of Professional Responsibility, a hearing examiner for the Architect of the Capitol, an arbitrator, a private commercial mediator and a family law mediator for DC Superior Court. He received the 2024 Nachtigal Award from the American Judges Association for service to the administration of justice, the 2023 Lawyer as Problem Solver Award from the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution and twice received the Civil Justice Award from the Academy of Court-Appointed Neutrals. He graduated with a BA, with high honors in Government, from Oberlin College in 1979 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude in 1982.

Hon. Pam Washington, National Association of Women Judges
Pamela Scott Washington is a retired Alaska District Court Judge and currently serves as President of the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ). She retired from the bench on October 31, 2025, concluding a distinguished judicial career in Anchorage, Alaska, where she most recently served as Deputy Presiding Judge of the Anchorage District Court. During her tenure, she managed high-volume criminal and civil dockets and presided over Anchorage’s Coordinated Resource Project, commonly known as the Mental Health Court.
Judge Washington has held numerous national and international leadership roles advancing justice, equity, and judicial excellence. Her service includes the Alaska Supreme Court Fairness, Diversity & Equality Commission; the International Association of Women Judges; the National Center for State Courts Blueprint for Racial Justice workgroup; the American Bar Association Judicial Editorial Board; and the United States Chapter of the Committee of Pan American Judges on Social Justice. She was a conference speaker at the Vatican addressing social justice concerns in 2023 and 2025.
As the first African American woman appointed to the judiciary in Alaska, Judge Washington has been a catalyst for increasing diversity on the bench, expanding implicit bias education, and strengthening public confidence in the fair and impartial administration of justice. Her honors include the Alaska Supreme Court Community Service Award, the North to the Future Business and Professional Woman in History Award, NAWJ’s Justice Vaino Spencer Leadership Award, and recognition as a Congressional Coalition Angels in Adoption Honoree for her advocacy in Alaska’s foster care system. A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Judge Washington has called Alaska home since 1975. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Telecommunications from Northern Arizona University and a Juris Doctor from Arizona State University. She is married to Dr. Stephen Washington, a mental health clinician, and they have three adult children, five grandsons, and one granddaughter
Student Speakers
Panel Speaker Introductions

Miruna Iosub is an LL.M. student in International Law and Justice at Fordham University School of Law. She is originally from Romania, where she earned her law degree and wrote her bachelor’s thesis on international cooperation among states for the maintenance of international peace and security. Miruna currently serves as a student representative at the New York City Bar Association and is a staff member of the Fordham International Law Society Journal.

Joshua Wiafe Frimpong is a Climate Justice and Policy Advisor, Executive Director of Eco-Africa Network, and LL.M. Candidate in International Law & Justice at Fordham University, where his work centers on climate justice, just transitions, and climate governance. He leads youth-driven climate action across Africa- mobilizing thousands of young people, convening landmark platforms such as the 2025 Climate Justice Conference and National Universities Climate Debate, and advancing climate education through policy advocacy, media engagement, and innovative digital solutions. He has spoken at major regional and global platforms including the United Nations General Assembly 80th Session, UNFCCC COP29, Oxford Africa Conference 2025, and leading climate and energy forums, and currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Net-Zero Carbon Emissions Project (Ghana- NCEP), advancing evidence-based pathways toward a just and inclusive net-zero future.

Milagros Lee is an LL.M. candidate in International Law and Justice at Fordham University School of Law and a full-tuition scholar at the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice. She has professional experience in international legal analysis and institutional work, including with diplomatic missions and UN-affiliated bodies. Her academic and professional interests focus on public international law, international institutions, and the implementation of international legal frameworks in complex global contexts.

Grace Frederica Lutterodt is a lawyer admitted to practice law in The Gambia and Ghana. She is currently an LL.M. candidate studying International Law and Justice at Fordham University School of Law. She has over three years of professional and internship experience with the African Centre of International Criminal Justice(ACICJ) and the African Centre on Law and Ethics(ACLE). Grace’s academic and professional interests include criminal law, ethics, constitutional law, and dispute resolution. She is committed to developing her skills, embracing professional challenges, and contributing meaningfully to justice systems both domestically and internationally.

Registration
Register Now!
Attendance is free for anyone interested, and we encourage you to invite your networks to participate. The program is in-person for those local to New York City, and virtual for those unable to join in-person on March 19, 2026, from 10:30–12:00 ET
To participate in-person: This event is an official Parallel Event being held at the NGO CSW Site across the street from the United Nations. In-person attendees must register directly with the NGO CSW Forum here on their website. Note: Participation in this event will not enable you to attend events within the United Nations Building itself. Here is the address for this event:
Church Center for the United Nations (CCUN)
777 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
11th Floor – Assigned room is TBD
