Name: Fines and Fines Reform: Opportunities and Lessons Learned
Start: 2026-05-15T10:00:00-0400
End: 2026-05-15T11:15:00-0400

Fines and Fines Reform: Opportunities and Lessons Learned

Friday May 15, 2026 10:00am - 11:15am EDT

Governers 1&2

Court fines and fees can have a devastating impact on court users with collateral consequences beyond a criminal case, including ramifications for housing and credit. This session will focus on the civil implications of court fines and fees, civil legal strategies to address the impact of court fines and fees, reform initiatives, and tools and resources developed by the recent national CCJ/COSCA Task Force on fines, fees, and pretrial reform. It will also focus on current political challenges related to fines and fees reform and the impact on civil legal justice.

Speakers

Grace Spulak

Principal Court Management Consultant, National Center for State Courts

Grace Spulak, JD, is a Senior Court Management Consultant with the National Center for State Courts where she works on a variety of access to justice issues, including the use of remote hearings, rural justice, process simplification, user-testing, and regulatory reform. Grace is... Read More →

Lisa Foster

Co-founder and Senior Advisor, Fines and Fees Justice Center

Lisa Foster is the Co-Founder and Senior Advisor at the Fines and Fees Justice Center (FFJC), where she leads the organization’s work with the judiciary and courts. A retired judge and the former Director of the Office for Access to Justice at the United States Department of Justice... Read More →

Alisha Clegg

Associate Director of Legal Impact, Oklahoma Access to Justice Foundation

Thomas More Donnelly

A Cook County Circuit Judge, Thomas More Donnelly, was sworn in as a judge more than 25 years ago on January 7, 2000. He has received over four hundred jury verdicts. He currently sits in the Law Division, Commercial Calendar, deciding motions, convening settlement conferences, and... Read More →

Bob Glaves

Executive Director, The Chicago Bar Foundation

Bob Glaves has been Executive Director of The Chicago Bar Foundation since October of 1999, prior to which he had a successful nine-year career as a civil litigator in private practice. As Executive Director of the CBF, Glaves is responsible for leading and overseeing the CBF’s... Read More →

Friday May 15, 2026 10:00am - 11:15am EDT
Governers 1&2

Sessions

2026 Equal Justice Conference

Grace Spulak

Lisa Foster

Alisha Clegg

Thomas More Donnelly

Bob Glaves

Attendees (47)

Get help with the event

2026 Equal Justice Conference

Grace Spulak

Lisa Foster

Alisha Clegg

Thomas More Donnelly

Bob Glaves

Attendees (47)

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