Partner, Williams & John LTD
David L. Applegate is a partner of Williams & John Ltd., where he chairs the firm's intellectual property practice group and is a member of the commercial litigation practice group. He focuses his practice on patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, unfair competition, and business litigation and arbitration, and on U. S. Supreme Court and related amicus brief practice.
Mr. Applegate is a Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America, the Intellectual Property Institute, and the Diversity Law Institute; a Senior Master Member of the Richard Linn American Inn of Court; a Past President of the Chicago Lincoln American Inn of Court; and a Legal Policy Advisor to The Heartland Institute. He is "AV Preeminent" peer review rated by Martindale-Hubbell, reflecting the highest peer recognition for both ethical standards and legal ability, and has been named by his peers for inclusion in Illinois Leading Lawyers and IllinoisSuper Lawyers in both commercial and intellectual property litigation for decades.
Throughout his career, Mr. Applegate has represented corporations and individuals as both plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal litigation at the trial and appellate levels. He has tried multiple cases to verdict in both jury and bench trials nationwide and has argued appeals in the Illinois appellate courts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh and Federal Circuits; his amicus brief was cited twice in the U. S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 majority opinion in the Janus case. Mr. Applegate also has extensive commercial arbitration and private mediation experience in both national and international dispute resolution forums, and is a former member of the Chicago International Dispute Resolution Association. In 2001, the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association recognized him for his outstanding individual commitment to pro bono service to indigent clients throughout the Northern District of Illinois.
In addition to his legal practice, Mr. Applegate has written and spoken frequently on matters of law and public policy, including on both local and national television and radio. He is an avid collector and amateur historian of original comic strip and editorial cartoon art, and has written extensively in that field as well for over three decades.
Attorney Advisor, Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
William H. Pryor Jr. serves as Chief Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
In 2013–18, he served on the United States Sentencing Commission and, in 2017–18, served as Acting Chair.
He has taught as a visiting professor at the University of Alabama School of Law and previously taught as an adjunct professor at the Cumberland School of Law of Samford University.
He served as the 45th Attorney General of Alabama from 1997 to 2004. When he took office, he was the youngest attorney general in the nation. In his reelection, he received the highest percentage of votes of any statewide candidate.
He graduated magna cum laude from Tulane Law School where he finished first in the common-law curriculum and was editor in chief of the Tulane Law Review. He then served as a law clerk for Judge John Minor Wisdom of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
He is a member of The American Law Institute and an Adviser for the RESTATEMENT OF THE LAW THIRD, CONFLICT OF LAWS. He is a coauthor with Bryan Garner, Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, and several other judges of a treatise, THE LAW OF JUDICIAL PRECEDENT. He has published in the Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, Virginia Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Yale Law & Policy Review, George Mason Law Review, Florida Law Review, Alabama Law Review, Case Western Reserve Law Review, and Tulane Law Review. He has published op-eds in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, National Review, and USA Today. He has debated at National Lawyers’ Conventions of the Federalist Society (including on National Public Radio) and at the Oxford Union in the United Kingdom. And he is listed among several “widely admired judicial writers” in Bryan Garner’s The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style.
He is a member of the Tulane Law School Hall of Fame and has received the Defender of the Constitution Award from the Heritage Foundation, the Jurist of the Year Award from the Texas Review of Law & Politics, and the St. Thomas More Award from the St. Thomas More Society of Atlanta. Judge Pryor is also a proud member of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Board Member, Center for Equal Opportunity
Roger Clegg is a Board Member at and former President and General Counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity. He focuses on legal issues arising from civil rights laws--including the regulatory impact on business and the problems in higher education created by affirmative action. A former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Reagan and Bush administrations, Clegg held the second highest positions in both the Civil Rights Division (1987-91) and in the Environment and Natural Resources Division (1991-93). He has held several other positions at the U.S. Justice Department, including Assistant to the Solicitor General (1985-87), Associate Deputy Attorney General (1984-85), and Acting Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy (1984). Clegg is a graduate of Yale University Law School (1981).
Engage Volume 5, Issue 1, April 2004
Administrative Law & Regulation Independent Peer Review: The Sine Qua Non of Information Quality by...
Independent Peer Review: The Sine Qua Non of Information Quality
Jeffrey Ladik
In September 2003, the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory...
David Applegate Reviews "Substantial Similarity in Copyright Law" - By Robert C. Osterberg and Eric C. Osterberg
David L. Applegate
Copyright law, like the law of contracts, is deceptively complex. What appear on the surface...
Reid Alan Cox Reviews "Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, and Seminar Papers" By Eugene Volokh
Reid Alan Cox
In the forward to Professor Eugene Volokh’s new book, Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles,...
Thor Halvorssen Reviews "You Can't Say That: The GRowing Threat to Civil Liberties From Antidiscrimination Laws" By David Bernstein
Thor Halvorssen
A judge in Pennsylvania ruled that by printing Christian- themed verses on company paychecks, a...
The Tempting of Western Civilization: A Revire of Robert H. Bork's Coercing Virtue: The Worldwide Rule of Judges
William H. Pryor
Judge Robert Bork’s latest book, Coercing Virtue: The Worldwide Rule of Judges, is by far...
Minority Job Fairs for Law Students
Roger B. Clegg
“Minority job fairs” are prevalent at our nation’s law schools. As this article discusses, minority...
An Uncertain Trumpet: Delaware Hears the Call of Corporate Governance Reform
Daniel Fisher
Delaware, the home of 60% of the Fortune 500, is synonymous with corporate activity and...
The SEC's Proposed Shareholder Nomination Rules: A Dialogue
Joseph McLaughlin
Americans are traditionally wary of large aggregations of economic power. The antitrust laws are one...
Bar Watch Bulletin March 2004
Civil Unions, Liability, Flag Amendment
--Dennis Archer submitted a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil...