IACA Podcast Presenters December 2020

Sheryl Loesch

Sheryl Loesch - IACA’s President, Sheryl Loesch is currently the Clerk of the United States Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida and has held that position since April 2017. For the previous 18 years, Ms. Loesch served as the Clerk of the District Court, Middle District of Florida. Prior to that time, Ms. Loesch served as the Chief Deputy Clerk for the District of Kansas for three years.

Ms. Loesch began her career in the judiciary serving as the Deputy in Charge of the Jacksonville Division of the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida from 1989-1996. Ms. Loesch currently serves as Clerk liaison on behalf of the Federal Court Clerks Association to the International Judicial Relations Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. She is currently the President of the International Association for Court Administration. She is a Past President of the Federal Court Clerks Association. She has served on a court management review team and as a faculty member for the Federal Judicial Center.

Ms. Loesch has served as a consultant to international courts, traveling to Egypt, Montenegro, Slovenia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Namibia, Mali, and Bahrain to work on court reform and court enhancement projects and to conduct judicial management seminars.

Ms. Loesch holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor’s Degree in Social and Behavioral Science both from the University of South Florida in Tampa.


Peter KieferPeter Kiefer - Peter C. Kiefer is a career court veteran with over 40 years experience working with trial courts in Oregon, Arizona, and California.  He has been an administrator in general jurisdiction and limited jurisdiction trial courts; he has also worked for state court administrative offices in both Oregon and California.  He has consulted with the judicial systems in Liberia, Moldova, and Beirut, Lebanon, as well as being a member of a NACM delegation to visit the People’s Republic of China.  Peter graduated from Santa Clara University with his bachelor’s degree in Political Science, received his Master’s of Public Administration with a specialty in Court Administration from the University of Southern California.  In 2016 he became a Fellow of the Institute for Court Management.  In 2015 Peter was given the NACM Award of Merit.  Peter currently hosts the Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast in cooperation with that National Association for Court Management.  Access the link https://nacmnet.org/podcasts.

Janet CornellJanet Cornell - Janet Cornell has over 35 years in court leadership including service in general and limited jurisdiction courts. She is a founding and contributing member to www.courtleader.net. She has a Masters in Public Administration from Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, and is a Fellow of the National Center for State Courts, Institute for Court Management in Williamsburg, VA, along with certificates from the Leader Coach Institute, Scottsdale, AZ, and the Leadership Institute for Judicial Education, Memphis, TN. Currently she serves as a consultant, faculty, and author on court administration, leadership, governance, caseflow management, performance measurement, operational assessment, access for self-represented litigants, and court reengineering with projects across the US and internationally.

Hon. Sidney Stein Honorable Sidney H. Stein - Judge Stein has been a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York by appointment of the President of the United States since 1995. He received an A.B. degree from Princeton University and a J.D. degree from Yale Law School.

Following his graduation, he was a clerk to the Chief Judge of the State of New York and Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. Judge Stein was a partner in a litigation firm he founded from 1981 until his induction as a United States District Judge in 1995. Judge Stein was a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Special Commission on the Practical Operation of the Hague Convention in 2001 and was the recipient of the Stanley H. Fuld Award of the New York State Bar Association in 2003 and the Edward Weinfeld Award of the New York County Lawyers’ Association in 2012. Judge Stein is also a member of the American Law Institute and the board of directors of the Greater New York Councils of the Boy Scouts of America. He is currently Chair of the International Judicial Relations Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

As a federal trial judge, he presides over both civil and criminal litigations, including cases involving intellectual property; contracts; commercial transactions; conspiracy; securities, bank, wire, and tax fraud; Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations proceedings; bribery and official corruption matters; and a wide range of other federal claims.

Judge Stein has authored more than 900 judicial opinions and has given more than 130 lectures and presentations at a variety of professional organizations and law schools, both in the U.S. and abroad. Judge Stein has been participating in judicial exchanges, workshops, and programs with judges, academics, practitioners, and government officials in a number of countries on topics such as procedural innovation and judicial fairness; automation; case administration; establishing commercial courts; criminal rights and procedures; arbitration and mediation; civil procedure; judicial independence; counter terrorism; the common law; provisional civil remedies; and intellectual property.

Hon. Belen Salepara-Carasig

Judge Belen G. Salespara-Carasig - Judge Salespara-Carasig is the Presiding Judge of the Regional Trial Court Branch 296, Paranaque City. She is an alumna of the University of Santo Tomas Facultad de Derecho Civil. Upon her graduation in 2004, she took the Bar Examinations where she garnered a general weighted average of 80.55%.

Her first foray into the practice of law was in government gervice, where she worked as Court Attorney IV in the Office of the Presiding Justice of Court of Appeals Justice Romeo A. Brawner. With the appointment of Justice Romeo Brawner as one of the Commissioners of the Commission on Elections, he took with her Judge Belen Carasig as his Chief of Staff (Atty. VI).

She continued to work before the Commission on Elections as Attorney IV under Commissioner Lucenito N. Tagle, retired Court of Appeals Justice until her appointment to the Judiciary in 2012.

Upon her assumption into office, her Court was designated as a Special Election Court for Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Election Cases in addition to her regular case load as a MeTC Court. On top of that, her Court was also among the pilot courts for the Speedy and Continuous Trial under AM 15-06-10 SC. In recognition of her experience as one of the trial judges of the pilot courts and the revolutionary innovations she adopted in case management, she was appointed as one of the members of the Technical Working Group for the Revised Rules on Continuous Trial.

Her vast experience before the Commission on Elections, and her court being a Special Election Court, Judge Belen Carasig was designated in 2018 as member of the Technical Working Group for the revision of the Rules on Electoral Contests before the Courts under AM No. 07-4-15 SC.

Judge Carasig was awarded by the Society for Judicial Excellence as 2019 Outstanding Metropolitan Trial Court (METC) Judge.

This year, She was nominated and appointed as member of the Board of the International Institute for Justice Excellence (IIJE).

Prior to her appointment to the Regional Trial Court, She is an active member of the Metropolitan and City Judges Association of the Philippines Inc. where She served as Vice President for the NCJR Chapter as the Philippine Women Judges Association Inc., and the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ).

She is married to Atty. Roy Alfert M. Carasig and has two children, namely, Jose Maria Rafael S. Carasig and Maria Rome Ysabel S. Carasig.

Hon. Ali Al MadhaniHonorable Ali Al Madhani - In January 2008, H.E. Ali Shamis Al Madhani was sworn in as a Judge of the DIFC Courts, and in April 2008 he was appointed and sworn in as a Judge of the DIFC Courts Court of Appeal. He was later appointed as a member of the Joint Committee of the Dubai Courts. H.E. Judge Ali is currently a Senior Judge of Court of Appeal and Head of International Relations of Judicial Affairs.

He began his judicial career in 1994 until 1998 as a Public Prosecutor for Dubai Public Prosecution. In 1998, he was appointed by the Ruler of Dubai to serve as a Judge in the Dubai Courts. During his tenure as a Dubai Courts’ Judge, he was adjudicated over a large number of major commercial, criminal and civil cases.


Noora AarnioNoora Aarnio - Ms. Noora  Aarnio currently serves as the Senior Specialist, International Affairs, at the National Courts Administration office in Helsinki, Finland.  She is tasked with maintaining a high level of quality in the exercise of the judicial powers by the courts as well as the efficient and appropriate organization of their administration.  Her responsibilities have one thing in common - the international aspect. Noora serves as a bridge for great ideas and good practices to and from Finland.