Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Jennifer Walker Elrod is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She was nominated to the Fifth Circuit in 2007, and she served as a Circuit Judge on the court until assuming the role of Chief Judge in October 2024. Prior to serving as a Circuit Judge, Chief Judge Elrod was appointed and then twice elected Judge of the 190th District Court of Harris County, Texas, where she spent over five years presiding over more than 200 jury and non-jury trials.
Chief Judge Elrod graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she was an active member of the Harvard Federalist Society, an Ames Moot Court finalist, and a Senior Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. She clerked for the Honorable Sim Lake in the Southern District of Texas. Before serving as a judge, Chief Judge Elrod worked in private practice, focusing on civil litigation, antitrust, and employment matters.
She has been repeatedly recognized for her work as a jurist, as well as for her pro bono work and contributions to the community. She has been named the 2022 Texas Review of Law & Politics’ Jurist of the Year, the 2018 Harvard Federalist Society’s Alumni of the Year, the 2016–17 Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists’ Appellate Judge of the Year, and the 2008 Mexican-American Bar Association of Texas’s Judge of the Year.
Chief Judge Elrod is actively engaged in the academic and legal communities. Chief Judge Elrod currently serves on the Board of Directors and as the Jurist-in-Residence at the South Texas College of Law, where she teaches civil procedure and First Amendment law. She is also a member of the American Law Institute and of the Board of Advisors for the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and she is a former member of the Board of Regents of her alma mater, Baylor University, and the Board of Visitors at Brigham Young University Law School. She previously served as the Chair of the Codes of Conduct Committee for the Judicial Conference of the United States. She has also served as the M.D. Anderson Visiting Public Service Professor at the Texas Tech University School of Law and as Jurist-in-Residence at Brigham Young University Law School, and she has taught legal writing at the University of Houston Law Center. She presented the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Distinguished Lecture at the Washington and Lee University School of Law and is a frequent speaker on the topics of trial and appellate procedure, ethics, employment law, and constitutional law. Chief Judge Elrod also serves on the board of the Garland R. Walker Inn of Court, and co-produces an annual musical CLE, for which her pupilage group has won multiple national awards.
Chief Judge Elrod’s publications include: Trial by Siri: AI Comes to the Courtroom; Don’t Mess with Texas Judges: In Praise of the State Judiciary; For Good: Enriching Your Practice and Your Life Through Pro Bono and Community Service; Is the Jury Still Out?: A Case for the Continued Viability of the American Jury; and W(h)ither the Jury? The Diminishing Role of the Jury Trial in our Legal System.
Director of Litigation and Senior Attorney, Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute
Theodore H. Frank is director at the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute and the Center for Class Action Fairness. Frank founded and ran CCAF as a non-profit, public interest law firm in 2009.
Frank has won several landmark appeals and tens of millions of dollars for consumers and other plaintiffs through his class action work. Adam Liptak of The New York Times calls Frank “the leading critic of abusive class action settlements” and the American Lawyer Litigation Daily referred to him as “the indefatigable scourge of underwhelming class action settlements.”
Previously, Frank clerked for the Honorable Frank H. Easterbrook on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and was a litigator at firms in Washington and Los Angeles and a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Frank is a frequent public speaker and has testified before Congress multiple times on legal issues. He has been profiled by The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, GQ, and the ABA Journal, among other publications.
In 2008, Frank was elected to membership in the American Law Institute. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society Litigation Practice Group. Frank graduated from The University of Chicago Law School in 1994 with high honors and as a member of the Order of the Coif and the Law Review. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the state bars of California and Illinois.
Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School
Professor of Law Michael S. Greve joined the faculty of the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University in fall 2012 after having served as John G. Searle Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he specialized in constitutional law, courts, and business regulation and served as chairman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Prior to joining AEI, Greve was founder and co-director of the Center for Individual Rights, a public interest law firm specializing in constitutional litigation.
Greve has served previously as an adjunct professor at a number of universities, including Cornell and Johns Hopkins Universities, and has been a visiting professor at Boston College since 2004. He was awarded a PhD and an MA in government by Cornell University. Greve also earned a Diploma from the University of Hamburg in Germany.
A prolific writer, Greve is the author of nine books and a multitude of articles appearing in scholarly publications, as well as numerous editorials, short articles, and book reviews. He is a frequent speaker for professional and scholarly organizations and has made many appearances on radio and television.
In addition Greve has provided congressional and state legislative testimony, has lobbied and consulted in federal agency proceedings, and has provided litigation services and management in over 30 cases, including matters before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Senior Fellow, Ave Maria School of Law and Host of the Four Boxes Diner Second Amendment Channel
Mark W. Smith is Visiting Fellow in Pharmaceutical Public Policy and Law in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford; Presidential Scholar and a Senior Fellow in Law and Public Policy at The King’s College; and Distinguished Scholar and Senior Fellow of Law and Public Policy at the Ave Maria School of Law.
He is a constitutional attorney and Host of the Four Boxes Diner YouTube channel—which provides scholarly and historical analyses of the Second Amendment. Mark is also a New York Times bestselling author.
Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Jennifer Walker Elrod is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She was nominated to the Fifth Circuit in 2007, and she served as a Circuit Judge on the court until assuming the role of Chief Judge in October 2024. Prior to serving as a Circuit Judge, Chief Judge Elrod was appointed and then twice elected Judge of the 190th District Court of Harris County, Texas, where she spent over five years presiding over more than 200 jury and non-jury trials.
Chief Judge Elrod graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she was an active member of the Harvard Federalist Society, an Ames Moot Court finalist, and a Senior Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. She clerked for the Honorable Sim Lake in the Southern District of Texas. Before serving as a judge, Chief Judge Elrod worked in private practice, focusing on civil litigation, antitrust, and employment matters.
She has been repeatedly recognized for her work as a jurist, as well as for her pro bono work and contributions to the community. She has been named the 2022 Texas Review of Law & Politics’ Jurist of the Year, the 2018 Harvard Federalist Society’s Alumni of the Year, the 2016–17 Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists’ Appellate Judge of the Year, and the 2008 Mexican-American Bar Association of Texas’s Judge of the Year.
Chief Judge Elrod is actively engaged in the academic and legal communities. Chief Judge Elrod currently serves on the Board of Directors and as the Jurist-in-Residence at the South Texas College of Law, where she teaches civil procedure and First Amendment law. She is also a member of the American Law Institute and of the Board of Advisors for the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and she is a former member of the Board of Regents of her alma mater, Baylor University, and the Board of Visitors at Brigham Young University Law School. She previously served as the Chair of the Codes of Conduct Committee for the Judicial Conference of the United States. She has also served as the M.D. Anderson Visiting Public Service Professor at the Texas Tech University School of Law and as Jurist-in-Residence at Brigham Young University Law School, and she has taught legal writing at the University of Houston Law Center. She presented the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Distinguished Lecture at the Washington and Lee University School of Law and is a frequent speaker on the topics of trial and appellate procedure, ethics, employment law, and constitutional law. Chief Judge Elrod also serves on the board of the Garland R. Walker Inn of Court, and co-produces an annual musical CLE, for which her pupilage group has won multiple national awards.
Chief Judge Elrod’s publications include: Trial by Siri: AI Comes to the Courtroom; Don’t Mess with Texas Judges: In Praise of the State Judiciary; For Good: Enriching Your Practice and Your Life Through Pro Bono and Community Service; Is the Jury Still Out?: A Case for the Continued Viability of the American Jury; and W(h)ither the Jury? The Diminishing Role of the Jury Trial in our Legal System.
Director of Litigation and Senior Attorney, Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute
Theodore H. Frank is director at the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute and the Center for Class Action Fairness. Frank founded and ran CCAF as a non-profit, public interest law firm in 2009.
Frank has won several landmark appeals and tens of millions of dollars for consumers and other plaintiffs through his class action work. Adam Liptak of The New York Times calls Frank “the leading critic of abusive class action settlements” and the American Lawyer Litigation Daily referred to him as “the indefatigable scourge of underwhelming class action settlements.”
Previously, Frank clerked for the Honorable Frank H. Easterbrook on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and was a litigator at firms in Washington and Los Angeles and a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Frank is a frequent public speaker and has testified before Congress multiple times on legal issues. He has been profiled by The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, GQ, and the ABA Journal, among other publications.
In 2008, Frank was elected to membership in the American Law Institute. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society Litigation Practice Group. Frank graduated from The University of Chicago Law School in 1994 with high honors and as a member of the Order of the Coif and the Law Review. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the state bars of California and Illinois.
Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School
Professor of Law Michael S. Greve joined the faculty of the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University in fall 2012 after having served as John G. Searle Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he specialized in constitutional law, courts, and business regulation and served as chairman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Prior to joining AEI, Greve was founder and co-director of the Center for Individual Rights, a public interest law firm specializing in constitutional litigation.
Greve has served previously as an adjunct professor at a number of universities, including Cornell and Johns Hopkins Universities, and has been a visiting professor at Boston College since 2004. He was awarded a PhD and an MA in government by Cornell University. Greve also earned a Diploma from the University of Hamburg in Germany.
A prolific writer, Greve is the author of nine books and a multitude of articles appearing in scholarly publications, as well as numerous editorials, short articles, and book reviews. He is a frequent speaker for professional and scholarly organizations and has made many appearances on radio and television.
In addition Greve has provided congressional and state legislative testimony, has lobbied and consulted in federal agency proceedings, and has provided litigation services and management in over 30 cases, including matters before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Senior Fellow, Ave Maria School of Law and Host of the Four Boxes Diner Second Amendment Channel
Mark W. Smith is Visiting Fellow in Pharmaceutical Public Policy and Law in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford; Presidential Scholar and a Senior Fellow in Law and Public Policy at The King’s College; and Distinguished Scholar and Senior Fellow of Law and Public Policy at the Ave Maria School of Law.
He is a constitutional attorney and Host of the Four Boxes Diner YouTube channel—which provides scholarly and historical analyses of the Second Amendment. Mark is also a New York Times bestselling author.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Judge Carlos Bea serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He received his Bachelor's Degree from Stanford University in 1956 and his J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1958. Judge Bea was born in San Sebastian, Spain, and immigrated with his family to Cuba in 1939. In 1952, he represented Cuba on the Cuban National basketball team in the Helsinki Olympics. Judge Bea became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1958. He engaged in private practice in San Francisco, principally in the area of civil trials (jury and non-jury), from 1959-75 at Dunne, Phelps & Mills and from 1975-90 at Carlos Bea, A Law Corporation. He taught courses in civil litigation advocacy at Hastings College of Law and Stanford Law School. From 1990 to 2003, Judge Bea served as a judge of the San Francisco Superior Court. He was nominated by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and was confirmed in 2003.
Judge Bea and his wife Louise reside in San Francisco, where they raised their four sons, Sebastian, Alexander, Nicholas, and Dominic.
Member, NLRB
Bill works with a broad range of clients, including trade associations, hospitals and other health care institutions, school districts, transportation and logistics companies and manufacturing companies.
He is a member of Littler Mendelson's Traditional Labor Practice Group and editor of the firm's traditional labor blog, Labor Relations Counsel. He also authored several amicus curiae briefs on behalf of trade associations in cases challenging state laws that allow labor unions to trespass on the private property of employers, including a landmark case now pending at the California Supreme Court.
Chief Economist and Head of Analytics, Trulia
As chief economist and head of analytics, Jed oversees Trulia’s research programs. Applying a background in economic development and research methods, he transforms real estate data, economic trends and public policy debate into digestible insights for home buyers, sellers and renters.
In Jed’s prior role as associate director and research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, he led research projects and advised policymakers and business leaders on economic, housing and technology policies. Before his work at PPIC, Jed directed Forrester Research’s consumer-technology market research, advising corporate executives on technology adoption and demand. Jed has also held positions at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (now FHFA), the World Bank and the Progressive Policy Institute.
Jed earned his bachelor’s degree in social studies and his doctorate in economics at Harvard University.
Co-Chairman, The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies
Leonard is Co-Chairman and former Executive Vice President of the Federalist Society, joining the organization over 25 years ago. Since that time he has been instrumental in helping the organization top 70,000, focusing on the growth of lawyers membership, operations and activities advancing limited, constitutional government. In addition to his work at the Society, Leonard has advised President Trump on judicial selection, assisted with the Gorsuch and Kavanaugh Supreme Court selection and confirmation process, and served as a member of the transition team. He also organized the outside coalition efforts in support of the Roberts and Alito U.S. Supreme Court confirmations. Leonard was appointed by President George W. Bush to three terms to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom as chairman. He was also a U.S. Delegate to the UN Council and UN Commission on Human Rights during the Bush Administration. Leonard was the recipient of the 2009 Bradley Prize, along with the other founders and directors of the Federalist Society, for his work in advancing freedom and the rule of law. He is the coeditor of Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House, as well as the author of opinion editorials in the New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. Leonard holds degrees from Cornell University and Cornell Law School. He presently resides in Northern Virginia, where he and his wife Sally have raised their seven children.
Attorney, Spiro Moss LLP
Mr. Leviant is a civil litigation attorney with over 11 years of experience (10 as an attorney) handling complex and class action matters. Over the last five years, Mr. Leviant litigated class actions at several large plaintiffs' firms. Before that, Mr. Leviant worked at the small civil litigation firm Stanbury & Fishelman, Inc., where he handled increasingly sophisticated matters, including complex commercial litigations, class actions, appellate matters and civil trials.
Mr. Leviant has obtained several published appellate decisions, including Ghazaryan v. Diva Limousine, Ltd. 169 Cal. App. 4th 1524 (2009), which reversed a denial of class certification and obtained an Order of the Court of Appeal directing certification of the proposed class, Laliberte v. Pacific Mercantile Bank, 147 Cal. App. 4th 1 (2007), which reversed an adverse trial court ruling and reaffirmed the expansive nature of the “community of interest” concept in California class actions, andJohnson v. Glaxosmithkline, Inc., 166 Cal. App. 4th 1497 (2008), as modified (October 14, 2008), rev. denied, which reversed an adverse trial court ruling and questioned the rationale and viability of Alvarez v. May Dept. Stores Co., 143 Cal. App. 4th 1223 (2006).
Mr. Leviant is also the founder, primary author and Editor-in-Chief of The Complex Litigator, a legal blog focusing on developments in the areas of class action practice, complex litigation, and technology for small firms. In addition to his blog, Mr. Leviant has authored or co-authored various published articles.
Mr. Leviant is in his third year of service on the Board of Governors for the Consumer Attorneys of California.
Mr. Leviant is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth and Ninth Circuits, the United States District Courts for the Central, Southern and Northern Districts of California and all California Courts.
Mr. Leviant received his undergraduate degree from Occidental College. Graduating cum laude, Mr. Leviant majored in economics and received a “minor” emphasis in mathematics. Along with his study of economics and mathematics, he also had an emphasis in physics. This combination of scientific and economic education has been of assistance during his litigation of complex civil actions. Mr. Leviant received his law degree from the University of Southern California Law Center.
Partner, Irell & Manella LLP
David Schwarz is a member of the litigation practice group. Although he has represented clients in a broad range of complex commercial disputes and internal investigations, a primary focus of Mr. Schwarz's practice has been the defense of class actions, with emphasis on securities and shareholder claims against public corporations and parallel SEC investigations and enforcement actions. He has litigated a wide range of federal and state class actions alleging anti-discrimination claims, unfair labor practices, wage-and-hour disputes, anti-trust and unfair business claims.
Mr. Schwarz’s appellate experience in state and federal courts is extensive, and includes two matters now before the California Supreme Court, as well as numerous appeals pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and in the California Courts of Appeal. His current representations include the successful defense of Gerawan Farming, Inc., the nation’s largest grower of peaches, in two precedent-setting constitutional challenges to the compulsory arbitration procedures under the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act (ALRA). He also represents the City of San Jose in appellate proceedings challenging the constitutionality of the City’s 2012 landmark pension reform referendum.
Recognized as a leading trade secrets litigator by The Legal 500, Mr. Schwarz has litigated numerous cases involving idea submission and trade secret mis-appropriation in industries ranging from avionics and rocket propulsion systems to consumer goods and food processing techniques. Prior representations include Space Exploration Technologies Corporation ("SpaceX"), Eclipse Aviation, Pacific Scientific Aerospace, Marquez Brothers International, Williams-Sonoma, and Pottery Barn.
Mr. Schwarz also represents clients in matters relating to IP disputes, involving patent infringement and patent licensing, trademarks and copyright. In the area of trademarks, recent representative matters include KFC National Council and Advertising Cooperative, Inc. v. KFC Corporation (Delaware Court of Chancery), in which Mr. Schwarz successfully defended KFC Corp.'s right to maintain control over brand advertising funded through a Delaware corporation jointly managed by KFC franchisees and the company.
Mr. Schwarz has written on a variety of topics relating to securities litigation, securities reform legislation, white-collar criminal defense, and the defense of attorneys, accountants, and other professionals in securities class actions. Past speaking engagements include the Practicing Law Institute, the California Society of CPAs, and the Class and Derivative Litigation Institute. He served as a member of the Advisory Board of the Duke University Global Capital Markets Center and was a featured panelist at the Directors' Education Institute at Duke University and the Smith School of Business Corporate Governance Program (University of Maryland).
Mr. Schwarz also served as the Special Assistant to the Staff Director of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Following graduation from Duke University School of Law, Mr. Schwarz clerked for the Honorable Alex Kozinski, former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, after which he served as Special Assistant to the Honorable Morris B. Abram, the United States Permanent Representative to the European Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations. In that capacity, Mr. Schwarz advised U.S. delegations on a wide range of public international law issues. He also served as U.S. Delegate to a number of International and United Nations conferences, including the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the World Intellectual Property Conference, and the International Labor Conference.
Mr. Schwarz was appointed in 2001 by President George W. Bush as U.S. Delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. He is also a former Trustee of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Mr. Schwarz served two terms (2007-2016) as a gubernatorial appointee and Vice-Chairman of the Milton Marks "Little Hoover" Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy, an independent, bi-partisan government oversight board.
Mr. Schwarz is former chair and currently a member of the Firm's Pro Bono Committee. Public Counsel named him its "Advocate of the Year" for his work in the area of elder law advocacy. Mr. Schwarz is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Debate League, which is focused on bringing competitive debate to inner-city schools, and serves on the board of LDOS Media Lab, a non-profit whose mission is the development of science curriculum in public schools.
Conservative Public-Interest Litigation in the Modern Era
Jennifer Walker Elrod, Theodore "Ted" Frank, Michael S. Greve, Kate Comerford Todd, Mark W. Smith
2017 National Lawyers Convention
A number of conservative and libertarian organizations have engaged in litigation against regulatory overreach in...
Conservative Public-Interest Litigation in the Modern Era
Jennifer Walker Elrod, Theodore "Ted" Frank, Michael S. Greve, Kate Comerford Todd, Mark W. Smith
2017 National Lawyers Convention
A number of conservative and libertarian organizations have engaged in litigation against regulatory overreach in...
California in Crisis: Are People and Jobs Leaving for Better Pastures?
Carlos T. Bea, William J. Emanuel, Jed Kolko, Leonard A. Leo, Scott Leviant, David A. Schwarz, Kate Comerford Todd
Sixth Annual Western Conference
Much has been written lately about companies’ unwillingness to invest or create new jobs in...