Breakout Session Speaker Details

Gayl Y. Branum Carr has been a Judge of the Commonwealth of Virginia's 19th Judicial District since 1994 serving in the Fairfax Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court. She was elected Chief Judge in 2004-2006.

Judge Carr is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University where she received a Bachelor of Social Work degree in 1984. She received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Richmond School of Law in 1987.

Prior to law school, Judge Carr served as a Child Welfare Worker, Virginia Department of Social Services in the Child Protective Services section. After law school, she entered the private practice of law primarily handling both criminal and civil matters in state and federal court. She also represented parents and children in child dependency matters in courts across the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Subsequently she was appointed Assistant Attorney General, Commonwealth of Virginia, representing the Virginia Department of Corrections and the Virginia Parole Board in both state and federal courts including appellate litigation. In 1991, she was appointed Assistant County Attorney, County of Fairfax where she represented the local child welfare agency in child dependency petitions involving child abuse and neglect, foster care, termination of residual parental rights and guardianship petitions involving adults.

Judge Carr is President of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), the nation's oldest judicial membership organization in the country. She is a Fellow of the Judicial Engagement Network. She has been involved with numerous agencies and organizations at the local, state, and national levels including the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the National Association of Women Judges, and the American Bar Association. Judge Carr is a Master, George Mason American Inn of Court, American Inns Of Court. Judge Carr has been active as the Lead Judge for her court's Dual Status Youth Initiative with the Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice.

In Virginia, Judge Carr is a Mentor Judge for newly elected Virginia judges. She is also a certified Coach. Currently, she is Chair of the Child Support Liaison committee of the Virginia Council of Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judges ("the Council") and previously served as its President. Previously, she served as Chair of the Education Committee of the Judicial Conference for District Court Judges and also served on its Executive Committee. Judge Carr has served as a faculty member of the Virginia State Bar, Harry L. Carrico Professionalism Course. She is also a member of the Healthy Families Fairfax Advisory Council and a Board member of the Advisory Committee of the Fairfax County Stronger Together Supervised Visitation 1 and Exchange Program. Judge Carr has been the Lead Judge of the Fairfax Best Practice Court since 1997.

Judge Carr is active in teaching and training. She currently teaches new Virginia Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Judges each year on the subject of child support. She frequently trains and teaches judges, lawyers, teachers, social workers, law enforcement officers, clerks of court, probation officers and Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) among others. Judge Carr previously served as Adjunct Faculty, teaching criminal justice and Forensic Social Work Practice, at George Mason University, Northern Virginia Community College, and Strayer University. Judge Carr also trains and teaches new judges from across the country through her work with the NCJFCJ.

Judge Carr is a nationally recognized speaker across the county and in the Commonwealth of Virginia. She has presented at numerous legal conferences on topics ranging from juvenile justice, child dependency, trauma informed/responsive courts, domestic violence, family law matters, judicial leadership, implicit bias, Diversity Equity and Inclusion, among other topics.

Judge Carr has received numerous awards and accolades throughout her tenure as a judge. In October 2023, she received the Fairfax County Domestic Violence/Sexual Violence Community Vanguard Award in recognition of her long-standing work in changing the landscape of domestic violence. In 2023, she was inducted into the Virginia Lawyers Hall of Fame. Prior awards include Judge of the Year, the Ebone Image Award, the Law Service Award: Inspiring the Youth of Fairfax County and induction as an Honorary Member, Chi Chapter, Phi Alpha Honor Society, George Mason University. A more detailed biography is available.

Ryan Park is the Solicitor General of North Carolina, where he serves as the State's chief appellate lawyer and advises Attorney General Josh Stein on legal policy and constitutional issues. He has previously practiced at a national law firm, worked as an attorney-adviser at the U.S. Department of State, and clerked for Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter, Judge Robert A. Katzmann on the Second Circuit and Judge Jed S. Rakoff on the Southern District of New York. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard Law School and with distinction from Amherst College, and has worked in South Korea on a Fulbright Fellowship. He has written on law and society for popular publications, including the Atlantic, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, and also teaches North Carolina Constitutional Law at UNC Law School. Recently, Park represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Supreme Court case Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina.

Judge Louis A. Trosch, Jr., is a Superior Court Judge in the 26th Judicial District in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Judge Trosch received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Washington & Lee University in 1988 and his Juris Doctor in 1992 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, where he graduated Order of the Coif. He served as District Court Judge in the Juvenile and Family Courts from 1999 until he joined the Superior Court bench. In July of 2010 Judge Trosch became the first Judge in North Carolina to be certified by the National Association of Counsel for Children as a Child Welfare Law Specialist.

During his tenure on the bench Judge Trosch has served in all of the varied Courts with distinction and was awarded the NC Distinguished Jurist Award in October 2011 by the NC District Court Judges’ Association. Beginning in 2002 Judge Trosch was selected to oversee the 26th Judicial District’s Juvenile Court. He continues to lead many collaborative reform efforts in Mecklenburg County. Judge Trosch previously served for a decade as Co-chair of the Race Matters for Juvenile Justice Initiative (RMJJ), which is a judge lead collaboration dedicated to ending disparate outcomes for children in the 26th Judicial District. Judge Trosch is also active in the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), having held numerous leadership positions including his service on the NCJFCJ Board of Trustees from July 2008 through July 2015. He further served on the National Steering Committee for the Courts Catalyzing Change Project, designed to reduce the overrepresentation of children of color in abuse and neglect courts across the country, and has served as his Model Court’s Lead Judge.

In May of 2012, Judge Trosch was presented with the Lucille P. Giles Volunteerism Award by Florence Crittendon Services for his collaborative work on behalf of children and families. In addition to being a sought after speaker about the impacts of Implicit Bias across court systems, Judge Trosch is also a nationally recognized expert regarding the impacts of collaboration between court systems and various community groups. He has traveled across the United States to speak on these topics and twice testified before Congress. Because of his many efforts both inside and outside the courtroom Judge Trosch was recognized as a North Carolina Leader in the Law by NC Lawyers Weekly on September 23, 2016.

Angie Weis Gammell is a nationally recognized criminal justice policy expert and currently serves as the Policy Director for the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law. In that role, she leads the Center’s efforts to translate its research and expertise into impact and reform across its three focus areas: accuracy of evidence, equity in criminal outcomes, and behavioral health.

Prior to joining the Wilson Center, Angie was the Senior Advisor for Public Safety Policy and Operations in the Chicago Mayor’s Office where her portfolio focused on police reform, violence prevention, and gun regulation. Prior to that role, she was the General Counsel and Chief of Staff for the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA), which houses public safety and victim services research and grant-making for the state. At ICJIA Angie’s work touched almost all aspects of Illinois’ public safety system. The organization helped shape broad changes in victim services, sentencing, and state and local criminal justice during her tenure. Angie started her career as a litigation associate at Sidley Austin LLP, where she maintained an active pro bono criminal appellate practice. Angie has been involved with the John Howard Association of Illinois — a nonpartisan prison watchdog organization — for over a decade and currently serves as a member of their Board of Directors.

Angie received her BSM magna cum laude from Tulane University with majors in Finance and Legal Studies in Business. She received her JD cum laude from Duke University School of Law, where she was an Executive Editor of the Duke Law Journal.

Elizabeth Thornton Trosch was appointed by former Chief Justice Cheri Beasley as the Chief District Court Judge for Mecklenburg County. She has been a district court judge since 2008. Judge Trosch is a graduate of Hollins College where she earned a B.A. in Philosophy and Social Psychology. She earned her law degree at Wake Forest University School of Law. Judge Trosch has presided over a broad range of matters, including: domestic violence, criminal proceedings, juvenile delinquency, custody, abuse and neglect proceedings as well as a variety of civil cases.

She was appointed by Governor Cooper to the North Carolina Human Relations Commission. Judge Trosch serves on the North Carolina Human Trafficking Task Force Public Safety Committee, the Mecklenburg County Anti-human Trafficking Committee and the North Carolina Interagency Collaborative. Judge Trosch has spearheaded court reform in criminal and juvenile courts. She is the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Mecklenburg County School-Justice Partnership and the Co-Chair of the Mecklenburg County Racial and Ethnic Disparities Reduction Workgroup.

Judge Trosch has worked to implement pretrial release policy reforms and criminal justice debt reforms. She has served on the Mecklenburg County Domestic Violence Advisory Board and as lead domestic violence judge for Mecklenburg County. She is a member of the Race Matters for Juvenile Justice Leadership Team. She served on the Child Fatality Prevention and Protection Team and has served as lead juvenile judge for Mecklenburg County. Judge Trosch has served as the Charlotte Model Court Lead Judge working to carry out systems change that positively impacts outcomes in child welfare cases. She has presented on the topic of trauma informed court practices, the school-to-prison-pipeline and implicit bias at state and national conferences. Judge Trosch is a recipient of the North Carolina State Bar Pro Bono Service Award.

Judge Trosch is married to Eric Carl Trosch. They have two sons, ages 18 and 16 and an adult niece whom they raised.