IJA Board News

July 14-19, 2013 Attendee Biographies

The Honorable M. Monica Zamora

New Mexico Court of Appeals

M. Monica Zamora was elected to the New Mexico Court of Appeals in November 2012. She officially began her position as an appellate judge on December 28, 2012. Judge Zamora is one of ten judges whose jurisdiction is statewide. This court reviews civil; non-capital criminal; and juvenile cases, as well as interlocutory decisions and administrative agency appeals.

Judge Zamora previously served as a District Court Judge in the Second Judicial District Court, the largest jurisdiction in the State of New Mexico. She was assigned to the Children’s Court Division and served as its presiding judge for five years. As a District Court Judge, her caseload consisted of abuse and neglect proceedings; delinquency proceedings; adoptions; and emancipations. Judge Zamora also served as the Juvenile Drug Court Judge.

Prior to her appointment to the District Court bench in November 2005, Judge Zamora practiced for over 18 years representing plaintiffs in the areas of personal injury and wrongful death matters. Her practice also included domestic, step-parent, co-parent, grandparent, relative, and international adoptions. She also practiced in the areas of insurance defense and defense of governmental entities in areas of civil rights; employment law, contracts, and personal injury.

Judge Zamora graduated from the University Of New Mexico School Of Law in 1987. She was admitted to practice in the State of New Mexico in 1987; the U.S. Federal District Court for the District of New Mexico in 1988; in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in 1988; and in the United States Supreme Court in 2000. In 2008, Judge Zamora received the Governor’s Award for Outstanding New Mexico Women. In July 2012, she received the CLE Summit Award for Ethics & Professionalism Credit awarded by the State Bar of New Mexico and The Center for Legal Education.

Evan R. Chesler – was appointed Chairman of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of the New York Public Library, and given the Judge Joseph M. Proskauer Award, UJA-Federation of New York, and was recognized as a “Super Lawyer” in Business Litigation.

Hon. Harry Edwards – was appointed to serve on Committee on Science, Technology, and Law at the National Academy of Sciences.

Robert Long – was awarded the “Legal Champion” award from the National Law Journal, as well as the “Appellate MVP” award from Law 360.

Trevor Morrison – published Presidential Power, Historical Practice, and Legal Constraint, 113 Columbia Law Review 1097 (2013) (with Curtis A. Bradley), The Presumption of Constitutionality and the Individual Mandate, 81 Fordham Law Review 1715 (2013) (with Gillian E. Metzger), Historical Gloss and the Separation of Powers, 126 Harvard Law Review 411 (2012) (with Curtis A. Bradley), and co-edited The Health Care Case: The Supreme Court’s Decision and Its Implications co-editor (with Nathaniel Persily and Gillian E. Metzger) (Oxford University Press, 2013).