Dr. Julie Macfarlane is a Professor of Law and a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Windsor. Julie has researched and written extensively on dispute resolution and in particular the role of lawyers (for example her best-selling 2008 book The New Lawyer : How Settlement is Transforming the Practice of Law). She became interested in learning more about the personal experiences of self-represented litigants as they become a increasingly significant interest group in the justice system, leading to the National Self-Represented Litigants Research Study (2013). Julie is an experienced mediator, facilitator and conflict resolution educator who is committed to access to justice, the modernization of the justice system and public engagement in legal system reform. For more information about Julie, please see her university webpage.