Secretary of State, Commonwealth of Kentucky
Partner, Covington & Burling LLP
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Judge Nelson was confirmed to the Ninth Circuit in October 2018, as the youngest Circuit Judge to serve from Idaho and he has chambers in his hometown of Idaho Falls. Prior to his confirmation, Judge Nelson served for nine years as General Counsel of Idaho Falls-based Melaleuca, Inc., a consumer goods company. He previously worked in Washington, DC, where he served in all three branches of the federal government, including as Special Counsel for Supreme Court nominations to the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; Deputy General Counsel to the White House Office of Management and Budget; Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice; and a law clerk to Judge Henderson of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He has argued in most of the federal courts of appeals and worked on dozens of Supreme Court briefs. He started in the Washington, DC office of Sidley Austin as an appellate lawyer, after clerking for Judges Mosk and Brower of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal at The Hague, and for now-Judge Tom Griffith, then-Senate Legal Counsel, during the impeachment trial of President Clinton. Judge Nelson earned his B.A. from Brigham Young University and his J.D., with honors, from BYU Law School. Judge Nelson has been a member of the Federalist Society since 1998.
Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus, UCLA School of Law
Eugene Volokh is the Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution (Stanford), as well as the Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus and Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA School of Law. He recently retired from teaching at UCLA, after 30 years there, and is now focusing on research.
Volokh is the author of the textbooks The First Amendment and Related Statutes (8th ed. 2023), and Academic Legal Writing (5th ed. 2016), as well as over 100 academic law journal articles, mostly on First Amendment law. He is a member of The American Law Institute; the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Free Speech Law; and the creator and coauthor of The Volokh Conspiracy, a leading legal blog founded in 2002 (hosted at the Washington Post from 2014 to 2017 and now at Reason Magazine).
John Marshall Professor of Government and Citizenship, William & Mary Law School
Tim Zick is the John Marshall Professor of Government & Citizenship at William & Mary Law School, where he teaches First Amendment and other constitutional law courses. Professor Zick is the author of five university press books on the First Amendment and co-author of a First Amendment casebook. His most recent book, TRUMP 2.0: EXECUTIVE POWER AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT, is forthcoming with Carolina Academic Press. Professor Zick is a frequent commentator on First Amendment issues in local, national, and international media and has published commentaries on free speech and other issues in The Atlantic, Slate, and other media. He testified before the United States House of Representatives regarding the First Amendment and public protest.
Chief Legal Officer, Paradigm
Chief Legal Officer, Coinbase
Paul Grewal is the Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase Global, Inc., where he is responsible for Coinbase’s legal, compliance, global intelligence and government relations groups. Before joining Coinbase, Paul was Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Facebook and served as United States Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Paul was previously a partner at Howrey LLP . He received his JD from the University of Chicago Law School and his SB from MIT.
President & CEO, Conference of State Bank Supervisors
Brandon Milhorn is the president and chief executive officer of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), the national association representing state financial regulators and a champion for the system of state financial supervision. He was appointed by the CSBS Board of Directors in December 2023. CSBS supports state regulators by advocating for responsible policy; engaging with federal regulatory counterparts, the Administration, and Congress; providing research on economic matters, industry trends, and best practices; conducting training and professional development; and developing transformative supervisory technology, such as the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry.
Milhorn previously held leadership roles at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), serving as deputy to Vice Chairman Travis Hill and as chief of staff and deputy to Chairman Jelena McWilliams. Before the FDIC, he spent seven years in the private sector with Raytheon Corporation. Before Raytheon, he held numerous positions over a decade of public service, including as staff director and chief counsel for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, general counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and as an attorney at the CIA. He began his career with two federal clerkships.
Milhorn holds a B.S. in economics from East Tennessee State University and a J.D. from Cornell Law School.
Lecturing Fellow, Duke University
Lee Reiners is a lecturing fellow at the Duke Financial Economics Center at Duke University. At Duke, Reiners has taught classes on FinTech Law and Policy, Cryptocurrency Law and Policy, Financial Regulatory Policy, Climate Change and Financial Markets, and Cybersecurity Law and Policy. Reiners is widely recognized for his unbiased commentary and analysis on cryptocurrency regulation, and he has testified three times on the subject before the U.S. Congress.
Partner, Fusion Law, PLLC
Paul is the founding partner of Fusion Law, PLLC. He has extensive experience with state, federal, and global regulators building coalitions and implementing policies to promote innovation in financial services. He is responsible for designing and implementing the first state (Arizona) and federal (CFPB) FinTech sandboxes in the United States. He also designed the CFPB no-action letter and trial disclosure policies. He helped found the first global regulatory innovation coalition (Global Financial Innovation Network) and led the founding of the first U.S. regulatory innovation coalition (American Consumer Financial Innovation Network). He served on the Financial Stability Oversight Council subcommittee on digital assets. He also has drafted state-level laws on blockchain and utility tokens.
Paul also has significant enforcement and litigation experience. He led many multi-state consumer protection enforcement matters as Civil Litigation Division Chief at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
Prior to his government service, Paul practiced law in the areas of securities litigation and transactional work for approximately six years at two well-known law firms. He also clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Judge, United States District Court, Western District of Oklahoma
Patrick Wyrick serves as a United States District Court Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma. He was nominated for that position by the President, and assumed duty on April 12, 2019. Before being appointed a federal judge, Wyrick served as Vice Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Prior to his appointment to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, Wyrick served six years as Oklahoma's Solicitor General.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
Britt C. Grant is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Judge Grant was appointed to the federal bench in August 2018 after serving as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Georgia. Prior to her judicial appointment, she served as the Solicitor General of Georgia and practiced in the Washington, D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Grant served as a law clerk to then-Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She earned her J.D., with distinction, from Stanford Law School, where she was the Co-Founder of the Stanford National Security and the Law Society, and the President of the Stanford Law chapter of the Federalist Society. Before enrolling in law school, Judge Grant served in The White House in a variety of domestic policy roles as well as on the staff of Congressman Nathan Deal. Judge Grant earned her B.A., summa cum laude, from Wake Forest University, where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She now lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and three children.
Founder and Executive Director, Israel Law and Liberty Forum
President, France Law and Liberty Circle
President, Brazil Law and Liberty Society; Teaching Fellow, The Catholic University of America
Associate Deputy Attorney General, United States Department of Justice
Deputy Secretary of Transportation, US Department of Transportation
Steven G. Bradbury was sworn in as the Deputy Secretary of Transportation on March 13, 2025, following his confirmation by the U.S. Senate on March 11, 2025. In this role, he oversees the Department’s operating administrations and spearheads initiatives to ensure a safe, efficient, and modern transportation system that strengthens economic productivity and global competitiveness. Deputy Secretary Bradbury also assists Secretary Duffy in managing the Department’s activities, including its workforce of over 58,000 employees and an annual budget exceeding $109 billion.
Bradbury previously served as the 23rd General Counsel of the Department of Transportation from 2017 to 2021, as the Acting Deputy Secretary from 2019, and as Acting Secretary of Transportation in 2021. As General Counsel, he was the chief legal officer, advising on all legal matters and ensuring the integrity and compliance of the Department’s policies and programs.
Before rejoining DOT, Bradbury was a Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation from December 2022 to March 2025. He has extensive experience in the public and private sector, having served as Principal Deputy and Acting Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice and as a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Dechert LLP. Earlier in his career, he clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas and Judge James L. Buckley.
Bradbury holds a J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.A. in English from Stanford University.
Judge, United States District Court, District of Columbia
Judge Trevor N. McFadden was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in 2017. He received his B.A. in 2001 from Wheaton College, IL, magna cum laude. In 2006, he received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he graduated Order of the Coif and was an editor for the Virginia Law Review.
Following graduation from law school, Judge McFadden clerked for Judge Steven Colloton, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He then joined the U.S. Department of Justice, where he served as Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General and as Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia. Judge McFadden subsequently became a partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP in Washington, DC, where he focused on white collar investigations. He is also co-author of a treatise, Corporate Settlement Tools: DPAs, NPAs, and Cooperation Agreements.
After four years in private practice, Judge McFadden returned to the U.S. Department of Justice, where he was Deputy Assistant Attorney General and acted as the second-in-command of the Department's Criminal Division. As Deputy Assistant Attorney General, he managed the Division's Fraud and Appellate Sections.
Judge McFadden also has extensive experience in law enforcement. He served as an officer with the Fairfax County, VA, Police Department and as a deputy sheriff in Madison County, VA.
Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice
Brett A. Shumate was sworn in as the Civil Division’s 36th Assistant Attorney General on June 11, 2025. He previously served in the Civil Division from 2017 to 2019 as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Federal Programs Branch. Prior to rejoining the Department, Mr. Shumate was a partner at Jones Day in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Shumate clerked for Judge Edith H. Jones on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He graduated from Wake Forest University School of Law and Furman University.
Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Judge Stephen Alexander Vaden was appointed as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture on July 7, 2025. Alongside Secretary Brooke L. Rollins, Deputy Secretary Vaden leads the Department’s operations and implements policies that support America’s food and farm systems. A native of Union City, Tennessee, Deputy Secretary Vaden brings expertise in agricultural policy, law, and rural development. Previously, he served as a judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade and as General Counsel of USDA. Throughout Deputy Secretary Vaden’s time as General Counsel, he led successful Supreme Court litigation, advanced regulatory reform, and supported the implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and Vanderbilt University. A public servant with strong agricultural roots, Deputy Secretary Vaden is committed to revitalizing rural America and ensuring an abundant, affordable, and safe U.S. food supply.
Deputy Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Michael Ellis was sworn in as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on February 10, 2025. Deputy Director Ellis has held a variety of senior national security positions, including General Counsel of the National Security Agency and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs at the National Security Council.
Deputy Director Ellis previously served in the White House Counsel's Office, providing legal advice on national security and foreign relations. Prior to the White House, he was General Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
Before returning to government, Deputy Director Ellis was the General Counsel of Rumble, a publicly traded video sharing platform and cloud services provider.
Deputy Director Ellis is a graduate of Yale Law School and Dartmouth College. Following law school, he served as a clerk to two federal judges. He is a "Jeopardy!" champion.
President, Michigan Student Chapter
Matthew Holmes is a 3L at the University of Michigan Law School, where he serves as the President of the Federalist Society Student Chapter and as an Articles Editor for the Michigan Journal of Law Reform. He is also an Associate Editor for the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.
Matthew graduated from Concordia University Nebraska, where he played quarterback on the football team. Before law school, he taught middle school science and high school history at one of San Diego's leading classical schools.
At Michigan, Matthew founded "Courtside", a video series where he interviews Federal Judges and other "preeminent legal minds in some of the greatest athletic venues across the country." The series was designed to make the judiciary more accessible to the public and has attracted tens of thousands of views across platforms.
Matthew spent his 1L summer at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of California and his 2L summer at O’Melveny & Myers in Newport Beach.
In his spare time, Matthew enjoys serving as a high school football official, an experience that continues to shape his appreciation for fairness and the consistent application of rules.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
Judge Paul Matey was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 2019 by President Trump.
Before his judicial service, Judge Matey was a partner at Lowenstein Sandler in New Jersey where he practiced complex commercial litigation and criminal defense. Earlier, Judge Matey was the Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for University Hospital Newark, an academic medical center and teaching hospital.
He also served as the Deputy Chief Counsel to Governor Chris Christie, and as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of New Jersey, where he was awarded the Justice Department’s Director’s Award for Superior Performance. He also practiced at the Washington D.C. firm of Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, and served as a law clerk to judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Scranton, a Jesuit University, in 1993, and his juris doctorate, summa cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law in 2001, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Seton Hall Law Review.
In 2019, Judge Matey was elected to membership in the American Law Institute and, since 2020, has lectured on administrative law and the American legal history at Seton Hall.
Principal, Spero Law LLC
Christopher Mills is the founder of Spero Law LLC. He was previously a partner at a national law firm and a Constitutional Law Fellow at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. He served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas on the U.S. Supreme Court during October Term 2018. He also clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle, then-Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He has authored briefs and motions in the Supreme Court, courts of appeals, and trial courts, and successfully argued before the D.C. Circuit. He has served as special counsel to South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, and is an Adjunct Professor at the Charleston School of Law.
A 2012 magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Christopher was a senior editor of the Harvard Law Review, an editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and served on the Executive Board of the Harvard Federalist Society. In 2009, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude with a degree in economics from Furman University.
Christopher lives in Charleston, South Carolina with his wife, children, and golden retriever.
Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Rachel N. Morrison is an attorney and Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where she directs EPPC’s Administrative State Accountability Project. Her legal and policy work focuses on religious liberty, health care rights of conscience, the right to life, nondiscrimination, and civil rights.
Before joining EPPC, Ms. Morrison served as an Attorney Advisor and Special Assistant to General Counsel Sharon Fast Gustafson at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where she focused on religious discrimination issues and was a member of the General Counsel’s Religious Discrimination Work Group. Before that, she served as Litigation Counsel for Americans United for Life and as a Constitutional Law Fellow at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, defending the right to life and religious freedom for all. She also clerked on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Ms. Morrison’s legal analysis has been published in the Seton Hall Law Review, the Pepperdine Law Review, and the Ave Maria Law Review, as well as various other print media outlets.
Ms. Morrison earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from the Pepperdine University School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as an editor for the Pepperdine Law Review and the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. She received her B.A. in Mathematics and Speech Communication, summa cum laude, from Whitworth University (Spokane, WA). She is a member of the District of Columbia and the Washington State bars.
Ms. Morrison lives with her husband and daughter in Virginia.
James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Senior Litigation Counsel, Washington Legal Foundation
Zac joined WLF in 2025 as Senior Litigation Counsel. In that role, he regularly represents WLF and other clients as counsel of record in cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal appellate courts. Before arriving at WLF, Zac served as counsel to Commissioner Allen Dickerson of the Federal Election Commission. Zac also spent eight years litigating First Amendment cases as a staff attorney for the Institute for Free Speech, where he represented clients in federal and state cases across the country. He received his J.D. from George Mason University’s School of Law, where he participated in GMU’s Wiley Rein Supreme Court clinic.
Associate Professor of Law, Temple University Beasley School of Law
Jacob Schuman is an Associate Professor at Temple University Beasley School of Law, where he teaches Constitutional Law, Evidence, and the Law of the Police. His scholarship focuses on the law of community supervision and has been published or is forthcoming in the Stanford Law Review, New York University Law Review, Michigan Law Review, Virginia Law Review, American Criminal Law Review, Philadelphia Inquirer, and New Republic.
Professor Schuman’s scholarship is regularly cited by courts, scholars, journalists, and advocates, including by federal judges on the Second, Fourth, and Seventh Circuit U.S. Courts of Appeals. It has also won plaudits across the ideological spectrum, from the American Constitution Society to the Federalist Society. He has filed amicus briefs based on his work on behalf of clients such as the National Association of Federal Defenders and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Prior to joining Temple Law, Professor Schuman served in the appellate unit of the Federal Community Defender Office in Philadelphia, where he represented indigent criminal defendants before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He also worked as a white-collar criminal defense lawyer in Washington, D.C. After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, he clerked for the Honorable Michael Boudin on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the Honorable James Boasberg on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Legal Counsel, Center for Free Speech, Alliance Defending Freedom
Logan Spena serves as legal counsel for the Center for Free Speech at Alliance Defending Freedom, where he works to defend free speech and combat global censorship and coercion.
Before joining ADF, Spena served as Deputy Policy Director in the Missouri governor’s office where he oversaw the state’s regulatory reform efforts and worked to approve legislation on many issues including education, foster care, and protecting the unborn.
Spena graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2016, where he served on the Editorial Board of the Virginia Law Review. Spena earned his B.A. in Government: Political Theory from Patrick Henry College in 2012. Spena is a member of the bars of Virginia and Missouri.
Director of Clinical and Experiential Learning, Clinical Professor of Law & Director of the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Clinic, University of Chicago Law School
Erica Zunkel is a Clinical Professor of Law and directs the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Clinic. Under Professor Zunkel’s supervision, law students represent indigent individuals in criminal trial courts, on appeal, and in post-conviction proceedings, and pursue policy and impact projects to effect system change. Professor Zunkel’s Excessive Sentences Project is an initiative that aims to free prisoners serving lengthy sentences through the use of second look mechanisms such as compassionate release, parole, and clemency. Zunkel and her clinic students have secured the early release of 17 individuals, resulting in hundreds of years in prison saved for their clients. In recognition of her post-conviction work, Zunkel received the 2024 Excellence in Pro Bono Service Award from the United States Northern District of Illinois District Court and the Federal Bar Association.
Zunkel’s case and research interests include post-conviction remedies for excessive sentences in the federal and state systems, mandatory minimums, and sentencing. In 2022, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker appointed Professor Zunkel to be a Commissioner on the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission, which examines claims of police torture.
Before coming to the Law School in 2012, Professor Zunkel was a federal public defender in San Diego, California and a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Martha Vázquez in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She received her B.A. from Cornell University and her J.D. from the University of California-Berkeley School of Law.
Judicial Oversight of District Courts After CASA
Federalism & Separation of Powers Practice Group
CLE credit for this event is available at On-Demand CLE. In recent years, leaders of both...
Delaware and Texas: The Future of Corporate Law and Business Courts
Corporations & Securities Practice Group
CLE credit for this event is available at On-Demand CLE. The status quo shows signs of...
Foreign Free Speech: Rights at the Water’s Edge
Michael G. Adams, Robert Kelner, Ryan D. Nelson, Eugene Volokh, Tim Zick
Free Speech Practice Group
It is well-established that the First Amendment protects speech on U.S. soil, whether undertaken by...
Digital Assets at the Crossroads: Innovation, Protection, and Policy
Katie Biber, Paul Grewal, Brandon L. Milhorn, Lee A. Reiners, Paul N. Watkins, Patrick Wyrick
Financial Services Practice Group
CLE credit for this event is available at On-Demand CLE. This panel will consider the legal...
National Sovereignty and Global Governance: Emerging Fault Lines In International Law
Britt C. Grant, Aylana Meisel-Diament, Thibault Mercier, Jose Freire Nunes
International Chapters
Are international authorities, in the name of “global governance,” encroaching on national sovereignty? Three recent...
Inside the Administration's Legal Priorities: Business Developments, National Security, and America's Heartland
Ketan Bhirud, Steven Gill Bradbury, Trevor N. McFadden, Brett Shumate, Stephen Alexander Vaden, Michael J. Ellis
In-House Counsel Network
This panel will offer a high-level examination of the legal developments driving the Trump Administration and...
SOC! Sidebar 1: Baseball Cards
Matthew Holmes, Paul B. Matey
2025 National Lawyers Convention
The Student Division and a rotating Student Chapter President will host a live event called...
Welcome & Opening Address
2025 National Lawyers Convention
Featuring: Hon. Patrick J. Bumatay, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Litigation Update: Lange v. Houston County
Christopher E. Mills, Rachel N. Morrison
Anna Lange, an employee with the Houston County Sheriff’s Office, sought “male-to-female sex change surgery.”...
A Seat at the Sitting - November 2025
Thomas C. Berg, Zac Morgan, Jacob Schuman, Logan Spena, Erica Zunkel
The November Docket in 90 Minutes or Less
Each month, a panel of constitutional experts convenes to discuss the Court’s upcoming docket sitting...