The Strengthening Justice Summit is a two-day summit focused on transforming Virginia’s legal system through data-driven solutions, collaborative policy reform, and community-centered practice around pretrial practices and fines and fees in the Commonwealth.
Sponsored by:
Legal Aid Justice Center
The Commonwealth Institute
New Virginia Majority
Fines and Fees Justice Center
Arnold Ventures
October 16 and 17, 2025
Library of Virginia
800 E Broad St, Richmond, VA 23219
Who should attend the Strengthening Justice Summit?
Impacted people, state agency staff, judges, lawyers, policy makers, impacted people, advocates, researchers, students
Why should you attend the Strengthening Justice Summit?
Network with justice leaders
Gain actionable insights into innovative practices
Earn continuing education credits (if applicable)
Contribute to policy and practice
VIEW FULL AGENDA
Day 1 – Pretrial Justice – Thursday October 16
8:30 – 9:30 Registration, Breakfast, and Networking
9:30 – 9:40 Welcome by Maisie Osteen, Legal Aid Justice Center
9:40 – 10:00 VISIONARY VOICE: Kenneth Hunter, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy
10:00 – 10:45 KEYNOTE: Jonathan Rapping, Gideon’s Promise
10:45 – 12:00 Counsel at First Appearance Panel: What is Happening in Virginia
Moderator: Maisie Osteen
Panelists:
Judge William Jarvis, Prince William General District Court Judge
Tracey Lenox, Public Defender Prince William
Nate Green, Williamsburg James City County Commonwealth’s Attorney
Bryan Kennedy, Fairfax Public Defender
Description: Panelists will discuss the successes, benefits, and lessons learned of implementing counsel at first appearance in Virginia localities and roadblocks along the way. Panelists will explore different strategies for implementation in jurisdictions both with and without public defenders, as well as the drawbacks of different approaches.
12:00-12:45 Catered lunch by local business
12:45 – 2:00 Pretrial Legislative Panel
Moderator: Dom Martin
Panelists:
Delegate Patrick Hope, District 1
Delegate Rae Cousins, District 79
Sheba Williams, Nolef Turns
Description: Give legislative updates around recent law changes regarding the pretrial system, explore potential shortcomings in our current system, and engage in conversation around legislative reforms.
2:10 – 3:10 Innovative Ways to Increase Court Appearance Rates and Reduce Harms
Moderator: Andrea Fenster
Panelists:
Michelle Russell, The Pew Charitable Trusts
My’chael Jefferson-Reese, Chesterfield Public Defender
Wendy Shang, PJI
Description: A detailed discussion among practitioners about current issues when people miss court, and how Virginia localities can implement new strategies to increase court appearance rates and decrease the number of failures to appear and the number of people held in Virginia jails and prisons for missing court dates. This session will cover innovative ideas for practice and an illustration of court collaboration.
3:20-4:30 Foundations of Pretrial System, Who is Affected – Storytelling Panel
Moderator: Taj Mahon-Haft, The Humanization Project
Panelists:
Kenneth Hunter, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy
Jared Rose, Department of Veteran’s Affairs
Bonnie Hoffman, National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys
Description: Panelists will share lived experiences with the criminal legal system in Virginia and how it has affected their lives, even after their contact with the criminal legal system ends. NACDL will have an attorney on the panel that will engage in these individual stories and illuminate the importance of client-centered, zealous representation. Stories will focus on (1) interactions in the pretrial system and how it affected case outcomes and everyday life, and (2) how Virginia’s fines and fees system traps people in a cycle of poverty after incarceration. Panelists will also discuss suggestions for reform.
4:30- 5:15 RECEPTION
Light hors d’oeuvres and non-alcoholic drinks
5:30-7:00 FILM VIEWING & PANEL
Partner: InThrive Film Festival
Where’s My Coffee Cup
DAY 2 – Fines & Fees Justice – Friday October 17
8:30 – 9:00 Registration, Breakfast, and Networking
9:00-9:05 Welcome
9:05-10:00 The True Cost of Court Debt
Moderator: Amy Wentz, The Commonwealth Institute
Panelists:
Alisha Smith, Peer Recover Specialist,
Shakil Ali, Help Me, Help You
Pat Levy-Lavelle, Legal Aid Justice Center
Description: Panelists will share lived experiences with the criminal legal system costs and the challenges for overcoming these costs. LAJC will have an attorney on the panel that will engage in these individual stories, talk about alternative statutory options, and illuminate the importance of process transparency.
10:00 – 11:00 Rethinking Court Debt: Ability-to-Pay as a Path to Equitable Justice
Moderator: Emily King, Fines & Fees Justice Center
Presentation: Alex Kornya, Legal Aid Justice Center
Abigail Thibeault, Harrisonburg Public Defender
Ruby Cherian, Legal Aid Justice Center
Description: This session will lay out the federal standards for ability-to-pay hearings for low-income Virginians navigating the court system. It will also offer practical implementation strategies for local courts and individual practitioners to support their specific clients.
11:15 – 12:15 What’s Possible Under the Code: Creative Ways for Jurisdictions to Tackle Court Debt.
Moderator: Anna Kurien, Legal Aid Justice Center
Panelists:
Judge Mayer, Buena Vista General District Court Judge
Llezelle Dugger, Charlottesville Circuit Court
Leah Nelson, Alabama Appleseed
Description: A detailed discussion among practitioners on how Virginia localities can implement new strategies to ease the burden of court costs within the framework of current law. This session will cover innovative ideas for practice and an illustration of court collaboration.
12:15-1:15 Get lunch
1:15 – 1:20 Introduction: Anna Kurien, Legal Aid Justice Center
1:20 – 2:00 KEYNOTE LUNCH: Tony Messenger, Profits and Punishment
2:00 – 2:45 Who Pays for This?
Presentation: Megan Davis, The Commonwealth Institute
3:00-4:15 Fines and Fees Legislative Panel
Moderator: Kami Blatt, The Commonwealth Institute
Panelists:
Delegate Phil Hernandez, District 94
Delegate Michael Jones, District 77
Senator Creigh Deeds, District 11
Delegate Cia Price, District 85
Description: Give legislative updates around recent law changes regarding Virginia’s fines & fee system, explore potential shortcomings in our current system, and engage in conversation around legislative reforms.
Venue Name & Address
Library of Virginia, 800 E Broad Street, Richmond, VA, 23219
Travel Tips:
Public Parking Options:
The Library of Virginia offers limited free parking to visitors using the building during operating hours. Parking validations are given in the lobby when leaving the library. The parking deck is located underneath the library building. Entrances are located on 8th and 9th Streets. Please note that the parking deck has a height restriction of 7 feet.
Handicap Parking
There are reserved handicap parking spaces available.
Hotel Partners:
Featured Keynote Speakers
Visionary Voice: Kenneth Hunter
Kenneth Hunter is a leader in criminal legal system reform whose advocacy is shaped by lived experience. Incarcerated from age 21–43 for a nonviolent drug charge, he was only able to begin—but not complete—a college course due to repeated prison transfers. Dedicated to more humane justice policies, Kenneth built a professional career in sales, rising to senior management, and gained statewide recognition as a spoken word and rap artist. He now serves as the Higher Education in Prison Organizer at the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, and is recognized nationally as an expert in prison reform.
Pretrial Keynote Speaker: Jonathan Rapping
Jonathan Rapping is a Professor of Law at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School and founder of Gideon’s Promise, a nonprofit transforming criminal justice by supporting public defenders in under-resourced communities. He previously served as a public defender in Washington, DC, Training Director for Georgia’s Public Defender Standards Council, and helped rebuild New Orleans’ public defender office after Hurricane Katrina. His experiences across the South inspired Gideon’s Promise. Rapping is the author of Gideon’s Promise: A Public Defender Movement to Transform Criminal Justice, recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Grant, and a member of the American Law Institute. His work, featured nationally and in the HBO documentary Gideon’s Army, continues to shape conversations on justice reform.
Fines & Fees Keynote Speaker: Tony Messenger
Tony Messenger is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and metro columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, as well as the author of Profit and Punishment: How America Criminalizes the Poor in the Name of Justice. He won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for commentary for his series on debtors’ prisons in Missouri, the 2016 Missouri Honor Medal, the National Headliner Award, and the Sigma Delta Chi award, and was a 2015 Pulitzer finalist for his Ferguson editorials. An accomplished public speaker, Messenger addresses criminal justice reform, poverty, and race, drawing on his decades in journalism. He lives in Wildwood, Missouri, with his wife, two children, four grown children, and nine grandchildren.
