Hon. J. Michael Joiner is chair of the All Rise Board of Directors. He practiced law in Shelby County, Alabama, for 10 years before being elected as a circuit judge in 1992, serving as presiding judge from 2005 until 2011. He served on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals from 2011 to 2019. While on the Court of Criminal Appeals, he also served as chief judge of the court of the judiciary from 2013 to 2018. As an active member of the Alabama legal community, he is semi-retired and serves as the judge for the Shelby County Drug Court, which he implemented in 2002. The program served as a model for similar courts statewide, and in 2007, Judge Joiner was appointed co-chair of an Alabama drug court task force which helped implement treatment courts in 65 of the state’s 67 counties.

Judge Joiner is also the co-founder and past president of the Alabama Association of Drug Court Professionals. He previously served on the executive committee of the Circuit Judges Association as well as on the Alabama Public Safety and Sentencing Coalition. He received a bachelor of arts degree in history from Samford University and a juris doctor degree from the Cumberland School of Law.