Asheville administrative law judge named secretary of The National Judicial College's board

A former Senior Vice President of a major insurer and Assistant District Attorney of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, Kim Dean Hogrefe has been elected Chair of the Board of Trustees of The National Judicial College, the nation’s oldest and largest institution of judicial education.

Hogrefe was among four board officers elected for the 2017-18 term at the trustees’ meeting in Reno, Nevada in June. The others are: Sandra S. Yamate, chair-elect; J. Matthew Martin, secretary; and Peter Bennett, treasurer.

Secretary Martin, an administrative law judge with the Social Security Administration in Asheville, North Carolina, joined the board in 2012. He first attended the College in 2002 before receiving a master’s in judicial studies through the NJC and the University of Nevada, Reno.

Martin also serves as the first ABA Tribal Courts Fellow. In 2013 he retired after a decade of service as an associate judge of the Cherokee Court for the Tribal Court for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Martin received his bachelor’s and law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“These four individuals represent four different areas of the law and have each demonstrated their dedication to the College’s mission of advancing justice through judicial education,” said NJC President Benes Z. Aldana. “We are in good hands with their leadership of our board.”

Hogrefe, a lawyer who lives in the Greater New York City area, joined the College’s board in 2013 and was named chair-elect in 2016. He previously served as Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee. Hogrefe succeeds Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III as chair. Robinson, a former president of the American Bar Association, passed away in April 2017. 

Hogrefe worked for property and casualty insurer Chubb & Son for nearly 30 years before retiring in 2016 as Worldwide Claim Technical Officer. His earlier positions included Worldwide Specialty Claim Manager, Claim Counsel and Manager of Chubb’s New York House Council Office.

Prior to joining Chubb & Son, he spent nine years as a trial attorney, supervisor and administrator in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. He is a member of the American Bar Association and has served as a financial officer of the ABA’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section. He is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Chair-elect Yamate, a trustee since 2014, serves as chief executive officer of the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession, an organization dedicated to creating diversity and inclusivity in the legal profession. Chair Hogrefe is a member of the institute’s board.

Previously, she was the director of the ABA’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity and the first executive director of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms. Prior to that, she was a litigator in Chicago for 10 years. She graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Harvard Law School.

Treasurer Bennett, an attorney from Portland, Maine, has been a member of the board since 2014. He also currently serves as managing partner of The Bennett Law Firm, which focuses on labor and employment law in the eastern United States.

Bennett currently serves as a member of the Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary and as a trustee with the Appellate Judges Education Institute. He is the past chair of the ABA’s Standing Committee on Judicial Independence and the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section. He graduated from Harvard College and Boston University School of Law.

The 21-member Board of Trustees sets policy and provides leadership in achieving the College’s mission. Members come from diverse fields, including the law and the judiciary, as well as business and corporate areas.