Partner, Givens Pursley LLP
Jeff Beelaert is a partner at Givens Pursley LLP in Boise, Idaho, with a distinguished background of public service and extensive experience with trial and appellate litigation. As lead counsel, Jeff has achieved success for clients in high-stakes, complex cases at every level of state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
Before joining Givens Pursley, Jeff previously held several posts at the United States Department of Justice.
Jeff previously worked as an associate at Sidley Austin in DC, where he drafted Supreme Court briefs and handled white collar matters and investigations.
Associate, Covington & Burling LLP
Eli Nachmany is an associate at Covington & Burling LLP in the Washington, DC, office. He clerked for Judge Steven J. Menashi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Eli graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Prior to law school, Eli served as the speechwriter to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and as a domestic policy aide in the White House Office of American Innovation. He graduated summa cum laude from New York University with a B.S. in Sports Management. Eli’s scholarship on administrative law and executive power has appeared in the BYU Law Review, George Mason Law Review, Wake Forest Law Review, and Yale Law Journal Forum.
Partner, Givens Pursley LLP
Jeff Beelaert is a partner at Givens Pursley LLP in Boise, Idaho, with a distinguished background of public service and extensive experience with trial and appellate litigation. As lead counsel, Jeff has achieved success for clients in high-stakes, complex cases at every level of state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
Before joining Givens Pursley, Jeff previously held several posts at the United States Department of Justice.
Jeff previously worked as an associate at Sidley Austin in DC, where he drafted Supreme Court briefs and handled white collar matters and investigations.
Associate, Covington & Burling LLP
Eli Nachmany is an associate at Covington & Burling LLP in the Washington, DC, office. He clerked for Judge Steven J. Menashi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Eli graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Prior to law school, Eli served as the speechwriter to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and as a domestic policy aide in the White House Office of American Innovation. He graduated summa cum laude from New York University with a B.S. in Sports Management. Eli’s scholarship on administrative law and executive power has appeared in the BYU Law Review, George Mason Law Review, Wake Forest Law Review, and Yale Law Journal Forum.
Partner, Givens Pursley LLP
Jeff Beelaert is a partner at Givens Pursley LLP in Boise, Idaho, with a distinguished background of public service and extensive experience with trial and appellate litigation. As lead counsel, Jeff has achieved success for clients in high-stakes, complex cases at every level of state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
Before joining Givens Pursley, Jeff previously held several posts at the United States Department of Justice.
Jeff previously worked as an associate at Sidley Austin in DC, where he drafted Supreme Court briefs and handled white collar matters and investigations.
Associate, Jones Day
Harry Graver works on appeals and motions practice, with a focus on federal overreach. He has argued multiple successful cases before the federal appellate courts. And he has briefed matters at all levels of the judiciary.
Before joining Jones Day in 2021, Harry served as a law clerk to Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh of the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Harry graduated from Harvard Law School, where he received the Fay Diploma for being first in his class. He also serves as an adjunct professor at the Scalia Law School at George Mason University, teaching a course on the separation of powers.
Associate Dean and William T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Wyoming College of Law
Sam Kalen joined the University of Wyoming College of Law faculty in 2009, and he is the William T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law and Associate Dean, as well as the founder and co-director of the School’s Center for Law and Energy Resources in the Rockies. Sam earned his B.A. from Clark University in Worcester, Mass., his J.D. from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, and he spent a year studying legal history and constitutional thought in a PhD program at the University of Virginia. Before joining UW, Sam taught as a visitor or adjunct at a number of other law schools, he also served in the Solicitor’s Office at the Department of the Interior during the Clinton administration, and he practiced for many years with a Washington, D.C., law firm. Immediately after law school, he clerked at the Missouri Supreme Court.
Sam is passionate about teaching and writing in a variety of areas that impact environmental, public lands and natural resources, energy, and administrative law. He spent years practicing in each of these areas, including working with Indigenous Peoples and Tribal Nations, and attempts to explore these areas in both the classroom and in his scholarship. He is the author and co-author of numerous law review articles, including one that was cited and quoted in a Supreme Court opinion. His most recent law review article appeared in Maryland Law Review, on "Public Land Management’s Future Place: Envisioning a Paradigm Shift" (Vol 82, page 240, 2023). He also is a co-author of the American Bar Association’s Endangered Species Basic Practice Series book (2nd edition), a co-author of Natural Resources Law and Policy (3rd ed. Foundation Press), and a co-author Energy Follies: Missteps, Fiascos, and Successes of America’s Energy Policy (Cambridge U. Press 2018).
Sam alternates teaching a variety of courses, including Environmental Law, Administrative Law, Legislation, Legal History, Public Lands & Natural Resources, Energy Law, Energy & Climate Law & Policy, and Indian Law. He also has taught field courses, including courses exploring energy and natural resource issues in Wyoming, as well as a course on Public Lands and Natural Resources in Grand Teton National Park. Professor Kalen also has worked collaboratively with the University’s Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources.
Partner, Givens Pursley LLP
Jeff Beelaert is a partner at Givens Pursley LLP in Boise, Idaho, with a distinguished background of public service and extensive experience with trial and appellate litigation. As lead counsel, Jeff has achieved success for clients in high-stakes, complex cases at every level of state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
Before joining Givens Pursley, Jeff previously held several posts at the United States Department of Justice.
Jeff previously worked as an associate at Sidley Austin in DC, where he drafted Supreme Court briefs and handled white collar matters and investigations.
Associate, Jones Day
Harry Graver works on appeals and motions practice, with a focus on federal overreach. He has argued multiple successful cases before the federal appellate courts. And he has briefed matters at all levels of the judiciary.
Before joining Jones Day in 2021, Harry served as a law clerk to Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh of the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Harry graduated from Harvard Law School, where he received the Fay Diploma for being first in his class. He also serves as an adjunct professor at the Scalia Law School at George Mason University, teaching a course on the separation of powers.
Associate Dean and William T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Wyoming College of Law
Sam Kalen joined the University of Wyoming College of Law faculty in 2009, and he is the William T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law and Associate Dean, as well as the founder and co-director of the School’s Center for Law and Energy Resources in the Rockies. Sam earned his B.A. from Clark University in Worcester, Mass., his J.D. from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, and he spent a year studying legal history and constitutional thought in a PhD program at the University of Virginia. Before joining UW, Sam taught as a visitor or adjunct at a number of other law schools, he also served in the Solicitor’s Office at the Department of the Interior during the Clinton administration, and he practiced for many years with a Washington, D.C., law firm. Immediately after law school, he clerked at the Missouri Supreme Court.
Sam is passionate about teaching and writing in a variety of areas that impact environmental, public lands and natural resources, energy, and administrative law. He spent years practicing in each of these areas, including working with Indigenous Peoples and Tribal Nations, and attempts to explore these areas in both the classroom and in his scholarship. He is the author and co-author of numerous law review articles, including one that was cited and quoted in a Supreme Court opinion. His most recent law review article appeared in Maryland Law Review, on "Public Land Management’s Future Place: Envisioning a Paradigm Shift" (Vol 82, page 240, 2023). He also is a co-author of the American Bar Association’s Endangered Species Basic Practice Series book (2nd edition), a co-author of Natural Resources Law and Policy (3rd ed. Foundation Press), and a co-author Energy Follies: Missteps, Fiascos, and Successes of America’s Energy Policy (Cambridge U. Press 2018).
Sam alternates teaching a variety of courses, including Environmental Law, Administrative Law, Legislation, Legal History, Public Lands & Natural Resources, Energy Law, Energy & Climate Law & Policy, and Indian Law. He also has taught field courses, including courses exploring energy and natural resource issues in Wyoming, as well as a course on Public Lands and Natural Resources in Grand Teton National Park. Professor Kalen also has worked collaboratively with the University’s Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources.
Partner, Givens Pursley LLP
Jeff Beelaert is a partner at Givens Pursley LLP in Boise, Idaho, with a distinguished background of public service and extensive experience with trial and appellate litigation. As lead counsel, Jeff has achieved success for clients in high-stakes, complex cases at every level of state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
Before joining Givens Pursley, Jeff previously held several posts at the United States Department of Justice.
Jeff previously worked as an associate at Sidley Austin in DC, where he drafted Supreme Court briefs and handled white collar matters and investigations.
Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC
Trent McCotter is a partner with Boyden Gray PLLC. He previously served as Deputy Associate Attorney General of the United States and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.
Mr. McCotter maintains an extensive appellate practice. He has considerable experience identifying and briefing cases that draw the Supreme Court’s attention, having persuaded the Court to grant certiorari in numerous cases raising issues of sovereignty, constitutional rights, due process, and criminal law. He has authored and submitted over 60 briefs at the Court.
He has also personally argued more than fifteen federal appeals across the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Ninth, Eleventh, Federal, and D.C. Circuits—including once arguing three separate appeals in just four days. He has also twice argued before the 17-judge en banc Fifth Circuit. He has been counsel in over 50 other appeals raising matters from FOIA and the APA to constitutional rights and statutory construction.
As Deputy Associate Attorney General, Mr. McCotter oversaw DOJ’s Civil Appellate and Federal Programs branches, which are responsible for defending nearly all major litigation against the federal government. During his three years as a federal trial attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia’s “Rocket Docket,” Mr. McCotter won the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service.
During his DOJ tenures, Mr. McCotter also assisted with the confirmations of two Supreme Court justices and over a dozen lower-court judges.
Mr. McCotter served as an inaugural clerk to the Hon. Steven J. Menashi on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and also clerked for the Hon. R. Lanier Anderson III on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Attorney, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Devin Watkins is an attorney at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Devin Watkins previously worked at the Cato Institute as a legal associate and interned at the Institute for Justice. At the Cato Institute, Watkins worked on a variety of Supreme Court cases, and one of the briefs he worked on was cited by the Court. His op-eds have appeared in National Review Online, The Hill, Time, and The Federalist among others.
Watkins holds a Juris Doctor cum laude from George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School, where he was the development editor on the Mason Law Review. Prior to his legal career Watkins was a senior software developer at Intel and WebMD. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Watkins is a member of the Virginia State Bar, the District of Columbia Bar, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Bar, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Bar.
Partner, Givens Pursley LLP
Jeff Beelaert is a partner at Givens Pursley LLP in Boise, Idaho, with a distinguished background of public service and extensive experience with trial and appellate litigation. As lead counsel, Jeff has achieved success for clients in high-stakes, complex cases at every level of state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
Before joining Givens Pursley, Jeff previously held several posts at the United States Department of Justice.
Jeff previously worked as an associate at Sidley Austin in DC, where he drafted Supreme Court briefs and handled white collar matters and investigations.
Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC
Trent McCotter is a partner with Boyden Gray PLLC. He previously served as Deputy Associate Attorney General of the United States and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.
Mr. McCotter maintains an extensive appellate practice. He has considerable experience identifying and briefing cases that draw the Supreme Court’s attention, having persuaded the Court to grant certiorari in numerous cases raising issues of sovereignty, constitutional rights, due process, and criminal law. He has authored and submitted over 60 briefs at the Court.
He has also personally argued more than fifteen federal appeals across the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Ninth, Eleventh, Federal, and D.C. Circuits—including once arguing three separate appeals in just four days. He has also twice argued before the 17-judge en banc Fifth Circuit. He has been counsel in over 50 other appeals raising matters from FOIA and the APA to constitutional rights and statutory construction.
As Deputy Associate Attorney General, Mr. McCotter oversaw DOJ’s Civil Appellate and Federal Programs branches, which are responsible for defending nearly all major litigation against the federal government. During his three years as a federal trial attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia’s “Rocket Docket,” Mr. McCotter won the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service.
During his DOJ tenures, Mr. McCotter also assisted with the confirmations of two Supreme Court justices and over a dozen lower-court judges.
Mr. McCotter served as an inaugural clerk to the Hon. Steven J. Menashi on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and also clerked for the Hon. R. Lanier Anderson III on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Attorney, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Devin Watkins is an attorney at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Devin Watkins previously worked at the Cato Institute as a legal associate and interned at the Institute for Justice. At the Cato Institute, Watkins worked on a variety of Supreme Court cases, and one of the briefs he worked on was cited by the Court. His op-eds have appeared in National Review Online, The Hill, Time, and The Federalist among others.
Watkins holds a Juris Doctor cum laude from George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School, where he was the development editor on the Mason Law Review. Prior to his legal career Watkins was a senior software developer at Intel and WebMD. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Watkins is a member of the Virginia State Bar, the District of Columbia Bar, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Bar, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Bar.
Partner, Givens Pursley LLP
Jeff Beelaert is a partner at Givens Pursley LLP in Boise, Idaho, with a distinguished background of public service and extensive experience with trial and appellate litigation. As lead counsel, Jeff has achieved success for clients in high-stakes, complex cases at every level of state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
Before joining Givens Pursley, Jeff previously held several posts at the United States Department of Justice.
Jeff previously worked as an associate at Sidley Austin in DC, where he drafted Supreme Court briefs and handled white collar matters and investigations.
Of Counsel, Spencer Fane LLP
Anthony J. “A.J.” Ferate has built a multi-faceted background in the areas of the law, policy, energy, campaigns and elections, and defense over the last 20 years.
Through recent representation as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association (“OIPA”), A.J. held responsibilities over government efforts outside of the legislative branch on matters as broad as water, electric generation, commodity marketing, land matters, and seismicity. A.J. also maintained responsibility for legal matters at OIPA, including amicus briefing in appellate matters. A.J.’s extensive experience also includes management of public policy strategy for a Fortune 500 company.
For the past eleven years, A.J. has volunteered as General Counsel and spokesman for the Oklahoma Republican Party and has represented a number of elected officials, including U.S. Senator James Lankford, former statewide elected officials, a number of state legislators, and members of Congress.
Additionally, A.J. has assisted elected officials serve their constituents in all branches of government. Early in his career, A.J. held legislative aide duties in the Nebraska Legislature, then went on to work for former Nebraska Treasurer David Heineman. A.J. gained experience in the judiciary while serving Judge Gary L. Lumpkin at the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest criminal appellate court in Oklahoma. Following this service, A.J. began work with Denise A. Bode of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, assisting her in her duties regulating 70 percent of Oklahoma’s economy, including oil and gas and electric utilities.
A.J. honorably served ten years as an intelligence analyst for the United States Naval Reserve, including time at the Office of Naval Intelligence in the greater Washington DC area.
Opinion pieces authored or ghostwritten by A.J. have been published in the Seattle Times, Politico, Law360, The Oklahoman, Tulsa World and The Journal Record. A.J. has also been interviewed by national and international newspapers, and has also appeared on national radio programs including NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show and On Point with Tom Ashbrook.
Supreme Court Correspondent, The New York Times
Adam Liptak covers the Supreme Court for The New York Times. Liptak’s column on legal affairs, “Sidebar,” appears every other Tuesday.
A graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School, Liptak practiced law at a large New York City law firm and in the legal department of The New York Times Company before joining the paper’s news staff in 2002.
Liptak was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting in 2009 for “American Exception,” a series of articles examining ways in which the American legal system differs from those of other developed nations. He received the 2010 Scripps Howard Award for Washington reporting for a five-part series on the Roberts Court.
He is the author of “To Have and Uphold: The Supreme Court and the Battle for Same-Sex Marriage.”
His journalism has appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Business Week and Rolling Stone, and he has published articles in The Arizona Law Review, The Michigan Law Review and The New York University Annual Survey of American Law.
Liptak has taught courses at Yale, Columbia, the University of Chicago, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Southern California and U.C.L.A. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Solicitor General, Louisiana
In 2016, Attorney General Jeff Landry appointed Liz Murrill as the first Solicitor General for Louisiana. She has more than 25 years of experience working in diverse state and federal government legal environments and has experience handling complex litigation, state and federal appeals, and complex government transactions. Liz most recently served as the Louisiana Department of Justice's Director of Administration and, before that, Director of the Civil Division. She previously served former Governor Bobby Jindal as Executive Counsel and was Executive Counsel to the Commissioner of Administration. Liz was counsel for the Office of the Governor in the BP Oil Spill litigation and has served as a member and counsel to several state boards and commissions. She was a United States Supreme Court Judicial Fellow in 2007-08 at the Federal Judicial Center and taught appellate advocacy and legal writing at the Louisiana State University Law Center for more than ten years. Liz earned her bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University, law degree from the Louisiana State University Law Center where she was Editor-In-Chief of the Law Review, and Master of Laws in Alternative Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University School of Law. She clerked for U.S. District Judge Frank J. Polozola and Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Melvin Shortess. Liz has argued three cases at the United States Supreme Court (including June Medical v. Russo and Ramos v. Louisiana) and many others at the Louisiana Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the District of Columbia Circuit, and multiple state and federal courts. Additionally, she has filed briefs in courts across the country on a wide variety of constitutional issues.
Robert F. Stanton Professor of Law, University of Maryland Carey School of Law
Robert V. Percival is the Robert F. Stanton Professor of Law and the Director of the Environmental Law Program at the University of Maryland School of Law. He received a B.A. summa cum laude from Macalester College, a J.D. from Stanford Law School and an M.A. in economics from Stanford University. At Stanford Percival was named the Nathan Abbott Scholar for graduating first in his law school class. Following graduation, he served as a law clerk for Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White. He joined the Maryland faculty in 1987 after serving as a senior attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund. Percival has served as a visiting professor of law at Harvard Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, the China University of Political Science and Law (Beijing), and Comenius University (Bratislava). He is the principal author of a leading environmental law casebook, now in its 9th edition, and the author of several articles about the Supreme Court and presidential authority over executive agencies. Percival wrote one of the first articles on the propriety of consent decrees to effectuate and enforce federal law “The Bounds of Consent: Consent Decrees, Settlements and Federal Environmental Policymaking,” 1987 Univ. Chic. Leg. F. 327 (1987). He also is the author of the first comprehensive analyses of what the papers of the late Justices Thurgood Marshall and Harry Blackmun reveal about the Supreme Court’s handling of environmental cases (“Environmental Law in the Supreme Court: Highlights from the Blackmun Papers,” 35 ELR 10637 (2005), and “Environmental Law in the Supreme Court: Highlights from the Marshall Papers,” 13 ELR 10606 (Oct. 1993)).
Partner, McDermott Will & Emery
Kenji M. Price focuses his practice on white-collar government investigations, internal investigations, compliance counseling, and complex civil litigation.
Prior to joining McDermott, Kenji served as the United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii. As the chief federal law enforcement officer in the district, Kenji led a team responsible for representing the United States in criminal and civil litigation in the district. In addition to leading the US Attorney’s Office in Hawaii, Kenji served as the Vice Chair of the Controlled Substances Subcommittee of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee.
Before serving as the US Attorney in Hawaii, Kenji also served as an Assistant US Attorney in the Eastern District of New York. While serving as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, Kenji handled criminal investigations and prosecutions involving diverse subject matters, while serving in the office’s General Crimes and International Narcotics and Money Laundering Sections.
In addition to his service as a federal prosecutor, Kenji served as an infantry officer in the US Army. During approximately four years of active duty service, Kenji deployed overseas on four occasions, leading soldiers in the 75th Ranger Regiment and 173rd Airborne Brigade. Kenji was twice awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his service during overseas deployments.
Kenji graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Following law school, Kenji clerked for Judge Robert B. Kugler of the US District Court for the District of New Jersey and Judge Kent A. Jordan of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Partner, Givens Pursley LLP
Jeff Beelaert is a partner at Givens Pursley LLP in Boise, Idaho, with a distinguished background of public service and extensive experience with trial and appellate litigation. As lead counsel, Jeff has achieved success for clients in high-stakes, complex cases at every level of state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
Before joining Givens Pursley, Jeff previously held several posts at the United States Department of Justice.
Jeff previously worked as an associate at Sidley Austin in DC, where he drafted Supreme Court briefs and handled white collar matters and investigations.
Of Counsel, Spencer Fane LLP
Anthony J. “A.J.” Ferate has built a multi-faceted background in the areas of the law, policy, energy, campaigns and elections, and defense over the last 20 years.
Through recent representation as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association (“OIPA”), A.J. held responsibilities over government efforts outside of the legislative branch on matters as broad as water, electric generation, commodity marketing, land matters, and seismicity. A.J. also maintained responsibility for legal matters at OIPA, including amicus briefing in appellate matters. A.J.’s extensive experience also includes management of public policy strategy for a Fortune 500 company.
For the past eleven years, A.J. has volunteered as General Counsel and spokesman for the Oklahoma Republican Party and has represented a number of elected officials, including U.S. Senator James Lankford, former statewide elected officials, a number of state legislators, and members of Congress.
Additionally, A.J. has assisted elected officials serve their constituents in all branches of government. Early in his career, A.J. held legislative aide duties in the Nebraska Legislature, then went on to work for former Nebraska Treasurer David Heineman. A.J. gained experience in the judiciary while serving Judge Gary L. Lumpkin at the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest criminal appellate court in Oklahoma. Following this service, A.J. began work with Denise A. Bode of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, assisting her in her duties regulating 70 percent of Oklahoma’s economy, including oil and gas and electric utilities.
A.J. honorably served ten years as an intelligence analyst for the United States Naval Reserve, including time at the Office of Naval Intelligence in the greater Washington DC area.
Opinion pieces authored or ghostwritten by A.J. have been published in the Seattle Times, Politico, Law360, The Oklahoman, Tulsa World and The Journal Record. A.J. has also been interviewed by national and international newspapers, and has also appeared on national radio programs including NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show and On Point with Tom Ashbrook.
Supreme Court Correspondent, The New York Times
Adam Liptak covers the Supreme Court for The New York Times. Liptak’s column on legal affairs, “Sidebar,” appears every other Tuesday.
A graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School, Liptak practiced law at a large New York City law firm and in the legal department of The New York Times Company before joining the paper’s news staff in 2002.
Liptak was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting in 2009 for “American Exception,” a series of articles examining ways in which the American legal system differs from those of other developed nations. He received the 2010 Scripps Howard Award for Washington reporting for a five-part series on the Roberts Court.
He is the author of “To Have and Uphold: The Supreme Court and the Battle for Same-Sex Marriage.”
His journalism has appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Business Week and Rolling Stone, and he has published articles in The Arizona Law Review, The Michigan Law Review and The New York University Annual Survey of American Law.
Liptak has taught courses at Yale, Columbia, the University of Chicago, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Southern California and U.C.L.A. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Solicitor General, Louisiana
In 2016, Attorney General Jeff Landry appointed Liz Murrill as the first Solicitor General for Louisiana. She has more than 25 years of experience working in diverse state and federal government legal environments and has experience handling complex litigation, state and federal appeals, and complex government transactions. Liz most recently served as the Louisiana Department of Justice's Director of Administration and, before that, Director of the Civil Division. She previously served former Governor Bobby Jindal as Executive Counsel and was Executive Counsel to the Commissioner of Administration. Liz was counsel for the Office of the Governor in the BP Oil Spill litigation and has served as a member and counsel to several state boards and commissions. She was a United States Supreme Court Judicial Fellow in 2007-08 at the Federal Judicial Center and taught appellate advocacy and legal writing at the Louisiana State University Law Center for more than ten years. Liz earned her bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University, law degree from the Louisiana State University Law Center where she was Editor-In-Chief of the Law Review, and Master of Laws in Alternative Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University School of Law. She clerked for U.S. District Judge Frank J. Polozola and Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Melvin Shortess. Liz has argued three cases at the United States Supreme Court (including June Medical v. Russo and Ramos v. Louisiana) and many others at the Louisiana Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the District of Columbia Circuit, and multiple state and federal courts. Additionally, she has filed briefs in courts across the country on a wide variety of constitutional issues.
Robert F. Stanton Professor of Law, University of Maryland Carey School of Law
Robert V. Percival is the Robert F. Stanton Professor of Law and the Director of the Environmental Law Program at the University of Maryland School of Law. He received a B.A. summa cum laude from Macalester College, a J.D. from Stanford Law School and an M.A. in economics from Stanford University. At Stanford Percival was named the Nathan Abbott Scholar for graduating first in his law school class. Following graduation, he served as a law clerk for Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White. He joined the Maryland faculty in 1987 after serving as a senior attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund. Percival has served as a visiting professor of law at Harvard Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, the China University of Political Science and Law (Beijing), and Comenius University (Bratislava). He is the principal author of a leading environmental law casebook, now in its 9th edition, and the author of several articles about the Supreme Court and presidential authority over executive agencies. Percival wrote one of the first articles on the propriety of consent decrees to effectuate and enforce federal law “The Bounds of Consent: Consent Decrees, Settlements and Federal Environmental Policymaking,” 1987 Univ. Chic. Leg. F. 327 (1987). He also is the author of the first comprehensive analyses of what the papers of the late Justices Thurgood Marshall and Harry Blackmun reveal about the Supreme Court’s handling of environmental cases (“Environmental Law in the Supreme Court: Highlights from the Blackmun Papers,” 35 ELR 10637 (2005), and “Environmental Law in the Supreme Court: Highlights from the Marshall Papers,” 13 ELR 10606 (Oct. 1993)).
Partner, McDermott Will & Emery
Kenji M. Price focuses his practice on white-collar government investigations, internal investigations, compliance counseling, and complex civil litigation.
Prior to joining McDermott, Kenji served as the United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii. As the chief federal law enforcement officer in the district, Kenji led a team responsible for representing the United States in criminal and civil litigation in the district. In addition to leading the US Attorney’s Office in Hawaii, Kenji served as the Vice Chair of the Controlled Substances Subcommittee of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee.
Before serving as the US Attorney in Hawaii, Kenji also served as an Assistant US Attorney in the Eastern District of New York. While serving as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, Kenji handled criminal investigations and prosecutions involving diverse subject matters, while serving in the office’s General Crimes and International Narcotics and Money Laundering Sections.
In addition to his service as a federal prosecutor, Kenji served as an infantry officer in the US Army. During approximately four years of active duty service, Kenji deployed overseas on four occasions, leading soldiers in the 75th Ranger Regiment and 173rd Airborne Brigade. Kenji was twice awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his service during overseas deployments.
Kenji graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Following law school, Kenji clerked for Judge Robert B. Kugler of the US District Court for the District of New Jersey and Judge Kent A. Jordan of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Partner, Givens Pursley LLP
Jeff Beelaert is a partner at Givens Pursley LLP in Boise, Idaho, with a distinguished background of public service and extensive experience with trial and appellate litigation. As lead counsel, Jeff has achieved success for clients in high-stakes, complex cases at every level of state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
Before joining Givens Pursley, Jeff previously held several posts at the United States Department of Justice.
Jeff previously worked as an associate at Sidley Austin in DC, where he drafted Supreme Court briefs and handled white collar matters and investigations.
Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC
Trent McCotter is a partner with Boyden Gray PLLC. He previously served as Deputy Associate Attorney General of the United States and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.
Mr. McCotter maintains an extensive appellate practice. He has considerable experience identifying and briefing cases that draw the Supreme Court’s attention, having persuaded the Court to grant certiorari in numerous cases raising issues of sovereignty, constitutional rights, due process, and criminal law. He has authored and submitted over 60 briefs at the Court.
He has also personally argued more than fifteen federal appeals across the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Ninth, Eleventh, Federal, and D.C. Circuits—including once arguing three separate appeals in just four days. He has also twice argued before the 17-judge en banc Fifth Circuit. He has been counsel in over 50 other appeals raising matters from FOIA and the APA to constitutional rights and statutory construction.
As Deputy Associate Attorney General, Mr. McCotter oversaw DOJ’s Civil Appellate and Federal Programs branches, which are responsible for defending nearly all major litigation against the federal government. During his three years as a federal trial attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia’s “Rocket Docket,” Mr. McCotter won the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service.
During his DOJ tenures, Mr. McCotter also assisted with the confirmations of two Supreme Court justices and over a dozen lower-court judges.
Mr. McCotter served as an inaugural clerk to the Hon. Steven J. Menashi on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and also clerked for the Hon. R. Lanier Anderson III on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Attorney, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Devin Watkins is an attorney at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Devin Watkins previously worked at the Cato Institute as a legal associate and interned at the Institute for Justice. At the Cato Institute, Watkins worked on a variety of Supreme Court cases, and one of the briefs he worked on was cited by the Court. His op-eds have appeared in National Review Online, The Hill, Time, and The Federalist among others.
Watkins holds a Juris Doctor cum laude from George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School, where he was the development editor on the Mason Law Review. Prior to his legal career Watkins was a senior software developer at Intel and WebMD. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Watkins is a member of the Virginia State Bar, the District of Columbia Bar, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Bar, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Bar.
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