Luminaries in Law

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  Margarette May Macaulay

  Seattle University School of Law

  Margarette May Macaulay is one of Jamaica’s most experienced advocates and jurists, as well as a leading human rights advocate. She has long lobbied for and assisted in the reform of the existing laws of Jamaica through the repeal of archaic provisions and for the enactment of new legislation to ensure the protection of the human rights of all persons in Jamaica.

  Macaulay was in 2006 elected to serve as a judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights from 2007 to 2012. She served with distinction, sometimes heading the court’s delegation to have discussions with other such organizations. She worked diligently, participated in the hearing of every case, applications for provisional measures, and in the preparation of all judgments and decisions. Macaulay acted as rapporteur judge in certain cases and also in the hearings for monitoring of the compliance or non-compliance by State Parties with the judgments and/or provisional measures. She also contributed to the formulation of the amended Court Rules in 2010.

  She was in 2015 elected as a commissioner of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights by the Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly. In January 2016, Macaulay was elected and served as the second vice president, in 2017 as first vice president, and in 2018 as president. She served as the rapporteur of women’s rights, as the rapporteur for the rights of Afro-Descendants and against racism, and as the rapporteur for the rights of migrants. She worked diligently and passionately to increase the involvement of the Caribbean state parties in the commission’s work as best as their small staff permitted, as well as for changes within the commission to ensure more diversity through inclusion of Indigenous and Afro-Descendant persons in the staff complement.

  Macaulay was in in 2018 re-elected by the OAS General Assembly to a second term as commissioner. She continued her work as commissioner and in her rapporteurships, save that she switched women’s rights for the rights of older persons, which she continued through 2023. She was elected and served as the second vice president in 2022 and as president in 2023.

  In December 2017, Macaulay was selected as an honoured member of the Gender Justice Legacy Group of notable women rights advocates who have worked and effected important changes. She was also acknowledged for her work on the elaboration of the Rules of Procedure and the Elements of Crimes for the International Criminal Court (ICC) during the Preparatory Sessions at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

  In the course of her work for the rights of women and children, as a volunteer, she headed for more than six years the National Women’s Rights and the National Children’s Rights Organizations in Jamaica, as well as the Caribbean Organization on Women’s Rights, Research and Action, which served all four languages of the sub-region.

  Macaulay has served the longest of everyone in the Americas in the two juridical organs of the OAS. Human Rights is her passion.

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  Fred Rivera

  Seattle University School of Law

  Fred Rivera is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the Seattle Mariners. Fred joined the Mariners in 2017 from the Perkins Coie law firm, where he served as the Seattle Office Managing Partner. In addition to overseeing the Mariners’ legal affairs, Fred is responsible for the team’s community impact and philanthropic efforts, government affairs, and real estate development. Fred previously served as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (1993-1998) and Vice President at Fannie Mae (2006-2008). Fred is on the Board of Directors of Olympia-based Heritage Financial Corp., and its subsidiary Heritage Bank, and OAC Services, Inc. He also serves on several non-profit and business organization boards, including the United Way of King County, Legal Foundation of Washington, Association of Washington Business, and Downtown Seattle Association. He is the past president of the Latina/o Bar Association of Washington and regional president of the Hispanic National Bar Association.

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  Julie Nordstrom

  Seattle University School of Law

  Julie Anne Nordstrom '90 is a retired attorney, having practiced law in Washington state. She has spent the past 20 years serving on governance boards and has recently completed a graduate program at Stanford Universityʼs Distinguished Careers Institute.

  Nordstorm is personally committed to the not-for-profit sector focusing on improving education, health equity and cancer care. She is currently Chair of the Patient Quality and Safety committee of the Fred Hutch Cancer Center, an NCI designated comprehensive cancer center providing research, education and clinical care. Nordstrom is also Chair of the Head Start Board for Save The Children, US, whose focus is on providing early child development and learning to children in rural communities of need in the southern United States.

  Additionally, she serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Health Metrics and Evalution supporting the mission to deliver timely, relevant and scientifically valid evidence to improve health policy and practice worldwide. She recently completed multiple terns on the University of Washington Medicine Board, previously as Chair of the system board and Chair of the University of Washington Medical Center Board, advising management on strategic initiatives, operations, and financial performance.

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  Benes Z. Aldana

  Seattle University School of Law

  Benes Aldana '91 ('94 JD, University of Washington School of Law) serves as the eleventh president and CEO of The National Judicial College (NJC). Prior to joining the NJC in 2017, he served for 22 years in the United States Coast Guard in various leadership roles, retiring as a captain (O-6) and as the first Asian Pacific American to serve as chief trial judge of a U.S. military branch. Under his visionary and transformative leadership, NJC has seen unprecedented growth, innovative program development, and a record-breaking enrollment surge in 2020 through online programming responsive to contemporary challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic and social justice concerns. His initiatives - such as the first-of-its-kind Judicial Academy for aspiring judges and courses addressing contemporary issues like artificial intelligence, climate science, and anti-racism – highlight his dedication to evolving judicial education to meet modern challenges.

  Judge Meng Li Che '01 was appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee to fill a vacant position on Washington’s Court of Appeals bench in 2022 and was elected to the position earlier this month. Judge Che grew up in Tacoma in an immigrant family and worked in the family’s restaurant starting in her early childhood, along with her sister and two brothers. After graduating from the University of San Diego, she returned to Washington and in 2001 earned her law degree at Seattle University School of Law. While Judge Che is also a member of the California Bar, she chose to center her legal career in Washington and spent seven years as a public defender in Pierce County before moving to the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals, where she attained the position of assistant chief Industrial Insurance Appeals judge. There, she presided over issues of workers’ compensation and workplace safety. She is a member of The Hon. Robert J. Bryan American Inn of Court, a senior fellow with American Leadership Forum Tacoma Pierce County, and is a long-serving leader in her church’s Children’s Ministry program.

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  Dahlia Lithwick

  Seattle University School of Law

  Dahlia Lithwick is the senior legal correspondent at Slate and host of Amicus, Slate’s award-winning biweekly podcast about the law. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The New Republic, and Commentary, among other places. Lithwick won a 2013 National Magazine Award for her columns on the Affordable Care Act. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in October, 2018. She is the author of “Lady Justice.”