Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, T-Mobile
As Senior Vice President, Government Affairs for T-Mobile, Kathleen O’Brien Ham is the chief public policy advocate for the Un-carrier. Kathleen manages all public policy issues before federal and state governments impacting the company. Her team regularly engages Congress, the FCC, state agencies, and other governmental bodies on a wide range of regulatory and policy issues, including spectrum, consumer, public safety, and competition matters. She has led numerous successful efforts to gain additional radio spectrum for the company, including most recently, the acquisition of 600 MHz frequencies to expand T-Mobile’s coverage and deploy 5G technology. She has also testified before Congress numerous times in support of the company’s public policy positions.
Prior to joining T-Mobile, she worked for fourteen years at the FCC in several top policy positions, including Deputy Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. She was the first Chief of the FCC’s Spectrum Auctions Program where she was responsible for the early landmark PCS spectrum auctions. She also served on the FCC’s Spectrum Management Task Force and was involved in the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee that negotiated the reallocation of third generation (3G) wireless spectrum from government to commercial use.
A graduate of Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law, she received her undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado, with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. For several years, she taught telecommunications as an adjunct professor at Catholic University. She has received numerous industry honors and recognition, most recently being named as one of 50 of the Most Influential Women in Wireless to Watch in 2017 by Global Telecoms Business. The Hill named her as one of the Top Lobbyists in 2016. In 2014 the Competitive Carriers Association celebrated her contributions to the industry with an Outstanding Achievement Award for her work in support of spectrum auction rules that benefit smaller carriers and help promote competition in the wireless ecosystem. And, since 2010 she has been named four times as one of the Most Influential Women in Wireless by FierceWireless.
President & CEO, Center for Democracy & Technology
Nuala O’Connor is the President & CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology, a global nonprofit committed to advancing our digital rights. She is a vocal advocate for harnessing the potential of the internet and emerging technologies to increase equality, amplify voices, and promote human rights. At CDT, Nuala leads a diverse team that is driving policy solutions that advance the rights of the individual in the digital age. Her experience working in the federal government, multinational corporations, tech start-ups, and noted law firms informs her innovative and collaborative leadership approach.
Nuala began her career in the private sector, working at the law firms of Venable, Hudson Cook, and Sidley. She entered the technology sector when she joined the start-up DoubleClick as Deputy General Counsel. While there, and in her later position as Vice President & Chief Privacy Officer of Email & Emerging Technologies, she worked on numerous class actions, a multistate settlement with state attorneys general, and an FTC investigation before helping to create the company’s privacy compliance department, which still serves as an influential model for companies in the technology sector and beyond. She later served as Global Privacy Leader at General Electric (GE) and was responsible for privacy policy and practices across GE’s numerous divisions. Her most recent corporate experience was at Amazon.com, where she served as Vice President, Compliance & Consumer Trust, and Associate General Counsel Data & Privacy Protection.
Between her stints in the private sector, Nuala served in various capacities within the federal government. At the U.S. Department of Commerce she worked on global technology policy, including internet governance and industry best practices, in her roles as Deputy Director of the Office of Policy & Strategic Planning, Chief Privacy Officer, and Chief Counsel for the Technology Administration. She later became the first statutorily appointed Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) in federal service when she was named as CPO at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). At DHS she was responsible for groundbreaking policy creation and implementation regarding the use of personal information in national security and law enforcement. Under her leadership, the DHS Privacy Office issued a seminal report criticizing the use of private-sector data in national security efforts.
Nuala serves on several nonprofit boards, and is the recipient of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) Vanguard Award, the Executive Women’s Forum’s Woman of Influence Award, and was named as “Geek of the Week” by the Minority Media & Telecom Council. She served as a member of the board of the IAPP for six years, including a term as chairman. Nuala has also been known to serve as a “class mom” on more than one occasion.
Nonresident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Ajit Pai, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on issues pertaining to technology and innovation, telecommunications regulatory policy, and market-based incentives for investment in broadband deployment. Concurrently, he is a partner at Searchlight Capital Partners, a global investment firm.
Mr. Pai’s distinguished career at the FCC includes two leadership roles following presidential appointments. He was appointed commissioner by President Barack Obama in 2012, designated chairman by President Donald Trump in 2017, and twice confirmed by the US Senate. While at the helm of the FCC, Mr. Pai had a transformative impact on the future of US technology and communications policy, implementing major initiatives to help close the digital divide; advance US leadership in 5G and other wireless technologies; promote innovation; protect consumers, public safety, and national security; and make the agency itself more open, transparent, and data-driven.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Pai served in various public-sector positions in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel, the US Department of Justice, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He also worked as a partner at Jenner & Block and associate general counsel at Verizon Communications.
Mr. Pai graduated with honors from Harvard University, where he received a bachelor’s degree, and from the University of Chicago Law School, where he received a law degree and was an editor on the University of Chicago Law Review.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Judge Smith was appointed U.S. Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit by President Reagan and entered on duty in January 1988. He attended public schools in Lubbock, Texas, and graduated from Yale University, receiving a B.A. in 1969 and a J.D. in 1972.
Judge Smith was a Law Clerk to U.S. District Judge Halbert Woodward, Northern District of Texas, 1972-1973; with the Houston law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski as an Associate, 1973-1981, and as Partner, 1981-1984; and as City Attorney, City of Houston, 1984-1988. He was Chairman, Civil Service Commission, City of Houston, 1982-1984; and a Director, Harris County Housing Authority, 1978-1980.
Judge Smith lives in Houston and is married to Mary Jane Smith and has four children: Ruth Ann, Clark, J.J., and Brandon. He formerly was Chair of the Advisory Committee on Federal Rules of Evidence of the Judicial Conference of the United States. He assists LexisNexis/Matthew Bender & Co. in periodic revisions of several chapters of Moore’s Federal Practice.
President & CEO, Internet Association
K. Dane Snowden is the President and CEO of Internet Association. Under his leadership, IA advocates for public policy that fosters innovation, promotes economic growth, and empowers people through a free and open internet.
Prior to joining IA, Dane served as Chief Operating Officer of The Internet & Television Association (NCTA). In this position, he led the Association’s day-to-day operations including its policy planning and strategic initiatives.
His past experience also includes a tenure at CTIA – The Wireless Association as Vice President of External and State Affairs where he focused on promoting policies to grow the wireless ecosystem. Dane’s government experience features his appointment as Chief of the Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer & Governmental Bureau where he was responsible for the development and execution of vision, strategic direction, telecommunication policy, and management of the Bureau’s activities and 300 employees. He began his career working in the private and non-profit sectors for MissionFish.com, America’s Promise- The Alliance for Youth, and the United Negro College Fund. He is a graduate of The College of William and Mary.
Legislative Director for Senator Marsha Blackburn, U.S. Senate
Jamie Susskind is the Legislative Director for Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). Prior to becoming Legislative Director, she served for two years as the Senator’s Technology Policy Advisor. In that role, she advised on issues such as data privacy, cybersecurity, broadband, spectrum, content moderation, and antitrust, in addition to staffing the Senator on the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security. Susskind previously worked on the Hill as Chief Counsel to Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) and as an FCC Detailee for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. She also served as Chief of Staff to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and as Vice President of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at the Consumer Technology Association. A native Michigander, Susskind earned a Juris Doctor from the Antonin Scalia Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!).
Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, T-Mobile
As Senior Vice President, Government Affairs for T-Mobile, Kathleen O’Brien Ham is the chief public policy advocate for the Un-carrier. Kathleen manages all public policy issues before federal and state governments impacting the company. Her team regularly engages Congress, the FCC, state agencies, and other governmental bodies on a wide range of regulatory and policy issues, including spectrum, consumer, public safety, and competition matters. She has led numerous successful efforts to gain additional radio spectrum for the company, including most recently, the acquisition of 600 MHz frequencies to expand T-Mobile’s coverage and deploy 5G technology. She has also testified before Congress numerous times in support of the company’s public policy positions.
Prior to joining T-Mobile, she worked for fourteen years at the FCC in several top policy positions, including Deputy Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. She was the first Chief of the FCC’s Spectrum Auctions Program where she was responsible for the early landmark PCS spectrum auctions. She also served on the FCC’s Spectrum Management Task Force and was involved in the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee that negotiated the reallocation of third generation (3G) wireless spectrum from government to commercial use.
A graduate of Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law, she received her undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado, with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. For several years, she taught telecommunications as an adjunct professor at Catholic University. She has received numerous industry honors and recognition, most recently being named as one of 50 of the Most Influential Women in Wireless to Watch in 2017 by Global Telecoms Business. The Hill named her as one of the Top Lobbyists in 2016. In 2014 the Competitive Carriers Association celebrated her contributions to the industry with an Outstanding Achievement Award for her work in support of spectrum auction rules that benefit smaller carriers and help promote competition in the wireless ecosystem. And, since 2010 she has been named four times as one of the Most Influential Women in Wireless by FierceWireless.
President & CEO, Center for Democracy & Technology
Nuala O’Connor is the President & CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology, a global nonprofit committed to advancing our digital rights. She is a vocal advocate for harnessing the potential of the internet and emerging technologies to increase equality, amplify voices, and promote human rights. At CDT, Nuala leads a diverse team that is driving policy solutions that advance the rights of the individual in the digital age. Her experience working in the federal government, multinational corporations, tech start-ups, and noted law firms informs her innovative and collaborative leadership approach.
Nuala began her career in the private sector, working at the law firms of Venable, Hudson Cook, and Sidley. She entered the technology sector when she joined the start-up DoubleClick as Deputy General Counsel. While there, and in her later position as Vice President & Chief Privacy Officer of Email & Emerging Technologies, she worked on numerous class actions, a multistate settlement with state attorneys general, and an FTC investigation before helping to create the company’s privacy compliance department, which still serves as an influential model for companies in the technology sector and beyond. She later served as Global Privacy Leader at General Electric (GE) and was responsible for privacy policy and practices across GE’s numerous divisions. Her most recent corporate experience was at Amazon.com, where she served as Vice President, Compliance & Consumer Trust, and Associate General Counsel Data & Privacy Protection.
Between her stints in the private sector, Nuala served in various capacities within the federal government. At the U.S. Department of Commerce she worked on global technology policy, including internet governance and industry best practices, in her roles as Deputy Director of the Office of Policy & Strategic Planning, Chief Privacy Officer, and Chief Counsel for the Technology Administration. She later became the first statutorily appointed Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) in federal service when she was named as CPO at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). At DHS she was responsible for groundbreaking policy creation and implementation regarding the use of personal information in national security and law enforcement. Under her leadership, the DHS Privacy Office issued a seminal report criticizing the use of private-sector data in national security efforts.
Nuala serves on several nonprofit boards, and is the recipient of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) Vanguard Award, the Executive Women’s Forum’s Woman of Influence Award, and was named as “Geek of the Week” by the Minority Media & Telecom Council. She served as a member of the board of the IAPP for six years, including a term as chairman. Nuala has also been known to serve as a “class mom” on more than one occasion.
Nonresident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Ajit Pai, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on issues pertaining to technology and innovation, telecommunications regulatory policy, and market-based incentives for investment in broadband deployment. Concurrently, he is a partner at Searchlight Capital Partners, a global investment firm.
Mr. Pai’s distinguished career at the FCC includes two leadership roles following presidential appointments. He was appointed commissioner by President Barack Obama in 2012, designated chairman by President Donald Trump in 2017, and twice confirmed by the US Senate. While at the helm of the FCC, Mr. Pai had a transformative impact on the future of US technology and communications policy, implementing major initiatives to help close the digital divide; advance US leadership in 5G and other wireless technologies; promote innovation; protect consumers, public safety, and national security; and make the agency itself more open, transparent, and data-driven.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Pai served in various public-sector positions in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel, the US Department of Justice, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He also worked as a partner at Jenner & Block and associate general counsel at Verizon Communications.
Mr. Pai graduated with honors from Harvard University, where he received a bachelor’s degree, and from the University of Chicago Law School, where he received a law degree and was an editor on the University of Chicago Law Review.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Judge Smith was appointed U.S. Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit by President Reagan and entered on duty in January 1988. He attended public schools in Lubbock, Texas, and graduated from Yale University, receiving a B.A. in 1969 and a J.D. in 1972.
Judge Smith was a Law Clerk to U.S. District Judge Halbert Woodward, Northern District of Texas, 1972-1973; with the Houston law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski as an Associate, 1973-1981, and as Partner, 1981-1984; and as City Attorney, City of Houston, 1984-1988. He was Chairman, Civil Service Commission, City of Houston, 1982-1984; and a Director, Harris County Housing Authority, 1978-1980.
Judge Smith lives in Houston and is married to Mary Jane Smith and has four children: Ruth Ann, Clark, J.J., and Brandon. He formerly was Chair of the Advisory Committee on Federal Rules of Evidence of the Judicial Conference of the United States. He assists LexisNexis/Matthew Bender & Co. in periodic revisions of several chapters of Moore’s Federal Practice.
President & CEO, Internet Association
K. Dane Snowden is the President and CEO of Internet Association. Under his leadership, IA advocates for public policy that fosters innovation, promotes economic growth, and empowers people through a free and open internet.
Prior to joining IA, Dane served as Chief Operating Officer of The Internet & Television Association (NCTA). In this position, he led the Association’s day-to-day operations including its policy planning and strategic initiatives.
His past experience also includes a tenure at CTIA – The Wireless Association as Vice President of External and State Affairs where he focused on promoting policies to grow the wireless ecosystem. Dane’s government experience features his appointment as Chief of the Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer & Governmental Bureau where he was responsible for the development and execution of vision, strategic direction, telecommunication policy, and management of the Bureau’s activities and 300 employees. He began his career working in the private and non-profit sectors for MissionFish.com, America’s Promise- The Alliance for Youth, and the United Negro College Fund. He is a graduate of The College of William and Mary.
Legislative Director for Senator Marsha Blackburn, U.S. Senate
Jamie Susskind is the Legislative Director for Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). Prior to becoming Legislative Director, she served for two years as the Senator’s Technology Policy Advisor. In that role, she advised on issues such as data privacy, cybersecurity, broadband, spectrum, content moderation, and antitrust, in addition to staffing the Senator on the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security. Susskind previously worked on the Hill as Chief Counsel to Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) and as an FCC Detailee for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. She also served as Chief of Staff to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and as Vice President of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at the Consumer Technology Association. A native Michigander, Susskind earned a Juris Doctor from the Antonin Scalia Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!).
Nonresident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Ajit Pai, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on issues pertaining to technology and innovation, telecommunications regulatory policy, and market-based incentives for investment in broadband deployment. Concurrently, he is a partner at Searchlight Capital Partners, a global investment firm.
Mr. Pai’s distinguished career at the FCC includes two leadership roles following presidential appointments. He was appointed commissioner by President Barack Obama in 2012, designated chairman by President Donald Trump in 2017, and twice confirmed by the US Senate. While at the helm of the FCC, Mr. Pai had a transformative impact on the future of US technology and communications policy, implementing major initiatives to help close the digital divide; advance US leadership in 5G and other wireless technologies; promote innovation; protect consumers, public safety, and national security; and make the agency itself more open, transparent, and data-driven.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Pai served in various public-sector positions in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel, the US Department of Justice, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He also worked as a partner at Jenner & Block and associate general counsel at Verizon Communications.
Mr. Pai graduated with honors from Harvard University, where he received a bachelor’s degree, and from the University of Chicago Law School, where he received a law degree and was an editor on the University of Chicago Law Review.
General Counsel, Hyperloop One
Marvin Ammori is the General Counsel of Hyperloop One.
He is widely regarded as one of the top lawyers and political strategists in the US, and is best known for leading the most important, successful, and unlikely political victories determining the Internet’s future, including the net neutrality campaigns. Time Magazine calls him “a prominent First Amendment lawyer and Internet policy expert,” the San Jose Mercury News calls him “a well-known advocate for Internet freedom,” while Fast Company calls him Silicon Valley’s “go-to First Amendment guy.” In private practice, he has represented Apple, Google, Dropbox, eBay, Automattic, Tumblr, Twitter, the National Association of Realtors, and others. He helped them stop “inevitable” legislation and to overcome widely believed “impossible” odds on issues of international significance, even when few in DC saw a path to victory.
For his pioneering work advancing Internet freedom, Ammori has been named to POLITICO 50’s “list of thinkers, doers, and dreamers” “transforming politics,” Washingtonian Magazine’s “Tech Titans,” Fast Company Magazine’s “100 Most Creative People in Business,” one of the top five tech lawyers by the World Technology Network, and is a recipient of the Nyan Cat Medal of Internet Awesomeness. His work has been profiled on the front pages of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.
Ammori helped lead the online movement that killed the proposed SOPA bill in 2012 as well as the movements defending network neutrality. He was a key organizational and intellectual force behind the FCC’s Comcast/BitTorrent decision in 2008 (he authored the complaint) and the key advocate behind the White House and FCC’s decision to back strong “Title II” rules in 2015. Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson has called him the “net neutrality whisperer”; Tim Wu wrote that Ammori “deserves enormous credit for leading the march to Title II”; and Kickstarter’s communications head declared that, “No one deserves more credit for the Net neutrality victory than” Ammori. Reviewing the decade-long fight for net neutrality, Salon’s Matt Stoller wrote, “if there’s one person who really operated with superb strategic insight and tenacity this whole time, it would be superlawyer Marvin Ammori.”
Ammori has published articles in the New York Times, USA Today, the Atlantic, Wired, Slate, Forbes, and the Harvard Law Review, and authored a book On Internet Freedom. He has appeared as an expert on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NPR, and other TV and radio outlets. Ammori has also keynoted conferences in Germany, Portugal, Brussels, Taiwan, has spoken at TEDx U-Michigan,three Federalist Society National Lawyer Conventions, and has testified before several government bodies.
Ammori has also served as a Senior Fellow to the Democracy Fund, as well as a Future Tense and Schwartz Fellow at New America, one of the nation’s most prominent think tanks. He serves on the boards of the nonprofit advocacy groups Fight for the Future, Demand Progress, and Engine Advocacy. He also serves as an Affiliate Scholar of the Stanford Law School Center for Internet & Society. Ammori was a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the Americas Business Council Foundation. In 2008, he served as an advisor to the Obama campaign and the transition team.
Nonresident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Ajit Pai, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on issues pertaining to technology and innovation, telecommunications regulatory policy, and market-based incentives for investment in broadband deployment. Concurrently, he is a partner at Searchlight Capital Partners, a global investment firm.
Mr. Pai’s distinguished career at the FCC includes two leadership roles following presidential appointments. He was appointed commissioner by President Barack Obama in 2012, designated chairman by President Donald Trump in 2017, and twice confirmed by the US Senate. While at the helm of the FCC, Mr. Pai had a transformative impact on the future of US technology and communications policy, implementing major initiatives to help close the digital divide; advance US leadership in 5G and other wireless technologies; promote innovation; protect consumers, public safety, and national security; and make the agency itself more open, transparent, and data-driven.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Pai served in various public-sector positions in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel, the US Department of Justice, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He also worked as a partner at Jenner & Block and associate general counsel at Verizon Communications.
Mr. Pai graduated with honors from Harvard University, where he received a bachelor’s degree, and from the University of Chicago Law School, where he received a law degree and was an editor on the University of Chicago Law Review.
Chair, Global Antitrust Law Practice Group, Morrison Foerster
Alex Okuliar is Co-Chair of Morrison Foerster’s Global Antitrust Law Practice Group. He is the former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Antitrust Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Justice and a former advisor at the Federal Trade Commission.
Alex’s practice spans merger review, civil litigation, and criminal investigations. Over his twenty-five-year career, Alex has worked on nearly one thousand deals. He has deep experience guiding clients through the complex global merger clearance process and has litigated agency merger challenges through trial. He has also helped clients succeed in a wide range of federal and state cases, including class actions and private party disputes alleging price fixing, monopolization, group boycotts, market allocation, and tying. His understanding of the agency processes from the inside allows him to offer expert, timely, and practical advice to clients navigating merger and conduct investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, state Attorneys General, and foreign agencies. Alex’s work has been recognized by leading industry publications such as Chambers, The Legal 500 U.S., and Global Competition Review.
Outside of client work, Alex is a prolific thought leader and was recognized as a 2024 Top Author for Antitrust & Trade Regulation by JD Supra’s Readers’ Choice Awards. He currently serves as the co-chair of the ABA Antitrust Law Section’s Joint Conduct Committee and is the former chair of the Section’s Intellectual Property Committee and co-chair of the 2023 Antitrust Fall Forum on Artificial Intelligence. He is also a member of the Corporations, Securities & Antitrust Executive Committee of The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.
Before law school, Alex co-founded and sold an online technology company. Alex received his B.S. in economics and B.A. with distinction in history from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School.
Nonresident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Ajit Pai, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on issues pertaining to technology and innovation, telecommunications regulatory policy, and market-based incentives for investment in broadband deployment. Concurrently, he is a partner at Searchlight Capital Partners, a global investment firm.
Mr. Pai’s distinguished career at the FCC includes two leadership roles following presidential appointments. He was appointed commissioner by President Barack Obama in 2012, designated chairman by President Donald Trump in 2017, and twice confirmed by the US Senate. While at the helm of the FCC, Mr. Pai had a transformative impact on the future of US technology and communications policy, implementing major initiatives to help close the digital divide; advance US leadership in 5G and other wireless technologies; promote innovation; protect consumers, public safety, and national security; and make the agency itself more open, transparent, and data-driven.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Pai served in various public-sector positions in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel, the US Department of Justice, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He also worked as a partner at Jenner & Block and associate general counsel at Verizon Communications.
Mr. Pai graduated with honors from Harvard University, where he received a bachelor’s degree, and from the University of Chicago Law School, where he received a law degree and was an editor on the University of Chicago Law Review.
Chair, Global Antitrust Law Practice Group, Morrison Foerster
Alex Okuliar is Co-Chair of Morrison Foerster’s Global Antitrust Law Practice Group. He is the former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Antitrust Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Justice and a former advisor at the Federal Trade Commission.
Alex’s practice spans merger review, civil litigation, and criminal investigations. Over his twenty-five-year career, Alex has worked on nearly one thousand deals. He has deep experience guiding clients through the complex global merger clearance process and has litigated agency merger challenges through trial. He has also helped clients succeed in a wide range of federal and state cases, including class actions and private party disputes alleging price fixing, monopolization, group boycotts, market allocation, and tying. His understanding of the agency processes from the inside allows him to offer expert, timely, and practical advice to clients navigating merger and conduct investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, state Attorneys General, and foreign agencies. Alex’s work has been recognized by leading industry publications such as Chambers, The Legal 500 U.S., and Global Competition Review.
Outside of client work, Alex is a prolific thought leader and was recognized as a 2024 Top Author for Antitrust & Trade Regulation by JD Supra’s Readers’ Choice Awards. He currently serves as the co-chair of the ABA Antitrust Law Section’s Joint Conduct Committee and is the former chair of the Section’s Intellectual Property Committee and co-chair of the 2023 Antitrust Fall Forum on Artificial Intelligence. He is also a member of the Corporations, Securities & Antitrust Executive Committee of The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.
Before law school, Alex co-founded and sold an online technology company. Alex received his B.S. in economics and B.A. with distinction in history from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School.
Partner, Antitrust and Competition, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Maureen Ohlhausen is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she advises industry-leading clients on complex antitrust and litigation matters, with a focus on high-profile cases. Sought after for her depth of experience on antitrust and Federal Trade Commission (FTC)-related issues, Maureen is known for her relationships with officials in the U.S. and abroad.
After finishing law school and clerking at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Maureen joined the FTC in 1997. She held a series of roles at the agency over the next 12 years, rising to the position of Director of the FTC Office of Policy Planning, where she led the agency’s work on e-commerce and headed the FTC’s Internet Access Task Force, which produced an influential report analyzing competition and consumer protection legal issues in the broadband and internet sectors. She then went into private practice at a leading telecommunications law firm, where she headed the FTC practice group.
In 2012, Maureen was confirmed by the Senate as a Commissioner of the FTC and was appointed Acting Chairman in January 2017, a role she held until May 2018. As Acting Chairman, Maureen directed all aspects of the agency’s antitrust work, including merger review, conduct enforcement, and all consumer protection enforcement, with an emphasis on privacy and technology issues. Under her leadership, the FTC won several influential merger challenges in court and reached a number of key digital privacy settlements.
To date, Maureen is the only FTC Commissioner to have received the Robert Pitofsky Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her contributions to the FTC.
Following the end of her term at the FTC, and immediately prior to joining Wilson Sonsini, Maureen was chair of the global antitrust and competition practice at Baker Botts, based in that firm’s Washington, D.C., office.
A recognized thought leader, Maureen is a frequent author and speaker, and is often quoted by leading print and broadcast media on antitrust, FTC, and privacy and data security matters. She has published dozens of articles on antitrust, privacy, intellectual property, regulation, FTC litigation, telecommunications, and international law issues in prestigious publications. During her tenure at the FTC and in private practice, she testified more than two dozen times before Congress, including before the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Antitrust Sub-Committee. She also testified before the Antitrust Modernization Commission.
Nonresident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Ajit Pai, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on issues pertaining to technology and innovation, telecommunications regulatory policy, and market-based incentives for investment in broadband deployment. Concurrently, he is a partner at Searchlight Capital Partners, a global investment firm.
Mr. Pai’s distinguished career at the FCC includes two leadership roles following presidential appointments. He was appointed commissioner by President Barack Obama in 2012, designated chairman by President Donald Trump in 2017, and twice confirmed by the US Senate. While at the helm of the FCC, Mr. Pai had a transformative impact on the future of US technology and communications policy, implementing major initiatives to help close the digital divide; advance US leadership in 5G and other wireless technologies; promote innovation; protect consumers, public safety, and national security; and make the agency itself more open, transparent, and data-driven.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Pai served in various public-sector positions in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel, the US Department of Justice, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He also worked as a partner at Jenner & Block and associate general counsel at Verizon Communications.
Mr. Pai graduated with honors from Harvard University, where he received a bachelor’s degree, and from the University of Chicago Law School, where he received a law degree and was an editor on the University of Chicago Law Review.
Nonresident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Ajit Pai, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on issues pertaining to technology and innovation, telecommunications regulatory policy, and market-based incentives for investment in broadband deployment. Concurrently, he is a partner at Searchlight Capital Partners, a global investment firm.
Mr. Pai’s distinguished career at the FCC includes two leadership roles following presidential appointments. He was appointed commissioner by President Barack Obama in 2012, designated chairman by President Donald Trump in 2017, and twice confirmed by the US Senate. While at the helm of the FCC, Mr. Pai had a transformative impact on the future of US technology and communications policy, implementing major initiatives to help close the digital divide; advance US leadership in 5G and other wireless technologies; promote innovation; protect consumers, public safety, and national security; and make the agency itself more open, transparent, and data-driven.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Pai served in various public-sector positions in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel, the US Department of Justice, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He also worked as a partner at Jenner & Block and associate general counsel at Verizon Communications.
Mr. Pai graduated with honors from Harvard University, where he received a bachelor’s degree, and from the University of Chicago Law School, where he received a law degree and was an editor on the University of Chicago Law Review.
Managing Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Bryan Tramont, the firm’s managing partner, offers strategic counsel to Fortune 100 companies and trade associations, as well as small and mid-sized telecommunications and media companies, on all aspects of communications law and regulation. He is regularly called on to advise companies as they develop and evaluate new business opportunities in the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Tramont also designs and leads the execution of the firm’s strategic plan and directs client management and development. Mr. Tramont has been recognized by leading publications like Legal 500, Chambers USA, and Washingtonian as one of the nation’s top communications lawyers. In 2017, he was named to the inaugural Legal 500 Hall of Fame List, which highlights individuals who have received constant praise by their clients and who have been recognized by the Legal 500 as an elite leading lawyer for six consecutive years. He has been awarded The Best Lawyers in America © 2017 “Lawyer of the Year” for Media Law and “Lawyer of the Year" in Communications Law in 2016. In 2016, he was also named one of the Top 10 Washington, DC Super Lawyers.
Mr. Tramont serves on the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC), advising the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information at NTIA. Appointed under the Bush and Obama Administrations, he also served as the committee’s Co-Chairman from 2008-2010. In addition, Mr. Tramont is active in the Federal Communications Bar Association, where he served in a variety of leadership roles, including as President from 2010-11 and has been awarded the organization’s Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Tramont chairs the Federalist Society’s Telecommunications Practice Group Executive Committee, serves on the International Institute of Communications Canada Board of Directors, and previously served on the Governing Committee of the ABA Forum on Communications Law. Mr. Tramont currently is an adjunct law professor at The Catholic University of America as part of the Communications Law Institute, is a senior adjunct fellow at the University of Colorado, Boulder, has served as the Syracuse University Law School’s Practitioner in Residence, and is on the Board of Trustees at William Woods University. Mr. Tramont is the author of numerous articles on communications policy and is a frequent speaker and lecturer at academic and industry events. Prior to joining Wilkinson Barker Knauer, Mr. Tramont served as Chief of Staff of the Federal Communications Commission under Chairman Michael Powell. As Chief of Staff, Mr. Tramont managed all aspects of the agency’s operations and directed FCC staff in implementing all components of the agency’s policy portfolio including media, broadband, mobility, and traditional telephone services. Before being elevated to Chief of Staff, Mr. Tramont was Chairman Powell’s Senior Legal Advisor, advising him on strategic policy matters and on wireless, international, technology, satellite, and consumer issues. Mr. Tramont also served as Senior Legal Advisor to Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy and, before that, to Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth. He also served as a law clerk for the Honorable Duane Benton on the Supreme Court for his home state of Missouri. In addition, Mr. Tramont has served as an expert witness in a number of communications-related litigation matters.
Bryan Tramont graduated summa cum laude from The George Washington University with a degree in political science. He earned his law degree from Yale Law School, where he served as editor of the Yale Law & Policy Review.
General Counsel, Hyperloop One
Marvin Ammori is the General Counsel of Hyperloop One.
He is widely regarded as one of the top lawyers and political strategists in the US, and is best known for leading the most important, successful, and unlikely political victories determining the Internet’s future, including the net neutrality campaigns. Time Magazine calls him “a prominent First Amendment lawyer and Internet policy expert,” the San Jose Mercury News calls him “a well-known advocate for Internet freedom,” while Fast Company calls him Silicon Valley’s “go-to First Amendment guy.” In private practice, he has represented Apple, Google, Dropbox, eBay, Automattic, Tumblr, Twitter, the National Association of Realtors, and others. He helped them stop “inevitable” legislation and to overcome widely believed “impossible” odds on issues of international significance, even when few in DC saw a path to victory.
For his pioneering work advancing Internet freedom, Ammori has been named to POLITICO 50’s “list of thinkers, doers, and dreamers” “transforming politics,” Washingtonian Magazine’s “Tech Titans,” Fast Company Magazine’s “100 Most Creative People in Business,” one of the top five tech lawyers by the World Technology Network, and is a recipient of the Nyan Cat Medal of Internet Awesomeness. His work has been profiled on the front pages of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.
Ammori helped lead the online movement that killed the proposed SOPA bill in 2012 as well as the movements defending network neutrality. He was a key organizational and intellectual force behind the FCC’s Comcast/BitTorrent decision in 2008 (he authored the complaint) and the key advocate behind the White House and FCC’s decision to back strong “Title II” rules in 2015. Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson has called him the “net neutrality whisperer”; Tim Wu wrote that Ammori “deserves enormous credit for leading the march to Title II”; and Kickstarter’s communications head declared that, “No one deserves more credit for the Net neutrality victory than” Ammori. Reviewing the decade-long fight for net neutrality, Salon’s Matt Stoller wrote, “if there’s one person who really operated with superb strategic insight and tenacity this whole time, it would be superlawyer Marvin Ammori.”
Ammori has published articles in the New York Times, USA Today, the Atlantic, Wired, Slate, Forbes, and the Harvard Law Review, and authored a book On Internet Freedom. He has appeared as an expert on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NPR, and other TV and radio outlets. Ammori has also keynoted conferences in Germany, Portugal, Brussels, Taiwan, has spoken at TEDx U-Michigan,three Federalist Society National Lawyer Conventions, and has testified before several government bodies.
Ammori has also served as a Senior Fellow to the Democracy Fund, as well as a Future Tense and Schwartz Fellow at New America, one of the nation’s most prominent think tanks. He serves on the boards of the nonprofit advocacy groups Fight for the Future, Demand Progress, and Engine Advocacy. He also serves as an Affiliate Scholar of the Stanford Law School Center for Internet & Society. Ammori was a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the Americas Business Council Foundation. In 2008, he served as an advisor to the Obama campaign and the transition team.
Partner, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Miguel A. Estrada is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
Mr. Estrada has represented clients before federal and state courts throughout the country in a broad range of matters. He has argued 24 cases before the United States Supreme Court, and briefed many others. He has also argued dozens of appeals in the lower federal courts.
Best Lawyers® recognized Mr. Estrada as a 2020 Lawyer of the Year in Intellectual Property Litigation and as a Lawyer of the Year in Appellate Practice. He has been recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a 2020 U.S. Appellate Litigation “Star”. In 2014, The American Lawyer named Mr. Estrada a “Litigator of the Year,” praising his “brains and tenacity” and noting he is the lawyer to call for “a tough, potentially unwinnable case.” From 2014-2021, Chambers & Partners has named him as one of a handful of attorneys that it ranked in the top tier among the nation’s leading appellate lawyers. Chambers & Partners noted that “clients are impressed by his intellect and ability, with one saying, ‘His papers are just blindingly clear in what they say and devastating in how they marshal the arguments.’” The Atlantic described his oral argument in a 2014 high-profile separation-of-powers case as “one of the most dazzling arguments the marble chamber has heard in many years.”
Mr. Estrada was selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Appellate Law, in addition to previous recognition by the publication in the specialties of Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation and Criminal Defense: White Collar, Intellectual Property Litigation, and Regulatory Enforcement Litigation in the areas of SEC, Telecom, and Energy. In 2017, he was elected as a member of the American Law Institute. In 2021, Mr. Estrada was named among the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America. In 2004, Legal Times named him one of the top 12 appellate litigators in the D.C. area, noting that “people who follow appellate practice in Washington have known for several years that Estrada . . . is one of the best around.” Also in 2004, Washingtonian Magazine named him one of the top constitutional law lawyers “who could become one of the legends of the Supreme Court bar.”
Mr. Estrada joined Gibson Dunn in 1997, after serving for five years as Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States. He previously served as Assistant U.S. Attorney and Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York. In those capacities, Mr. Estrada represented the government in numerous jury trials and in many appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Estrada practiced corporate law in New York with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Mr. Estrada is a Trustee of the Supreme Court Historical Society. He was formerly a member of the Board of Visitors of Harvard Law School.
Mr. Estrada served as a law clerk to the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy in the U.S. Supreme Court from 1988 to 1989 and to the Honorable Amalya L. Kearse in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1986 to 1987. He received a J.D. degree magna cum laude in 1986 from Harvard Law School, where he was editor of the Harvard Law Review. Mr. Estrada graduated with an A.B. degree magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1983 from Columbia College, New York. He is fluent in Spanish and proficient in French.
Representative Supreme Court matters include:
In 2011, the Supreme Court appointed Mr. Estrada to brief and argue two criminal cases –Dorsey v. United States and Hill v. United States – in which the Solicitor General declined to defend the judgments of the court of appeals. Mr. Estrada was appointed to argue the position that the Solicitor General had declined to defend.
Mr. Estrada was also part of the team that successfully presented then Governor Bush’s position to the Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore (2000). Other cases that Mr. Estrada handled in the Supreme Court include Granholm v. Heald (2005) (dormant Commerce Clause and Twenty-First Amendment), Vermont Agency of Natural Resources v. United States ex rel. Stevens (2000) (False Claims Act, Article III standing and Eleventh Amendment immunity), Old Chief v. United States (1997) (rules of evidence), United States v. Mezzanatto (1995) (evidence and plea bargaining), United States v. Robertson (1995) (constitutional limits on Congress’s Commerce Clause powers), Citizens Bank of Maryland v. Strumpf (1995) (bankruptcy law), and NOW, Inc. v. Scheidler (1994) (RICO).
Recent Court of Appeals matters include:
In addition, Mr. Estrada is lead appellate counsel to Vivendi S.A. in two securities-fraud appeals from jury verdicts that are currently pending in the Second Circuit, and to the National Association of Broadcasters in a challenge to certain procedures promulgated by the FCC in connection with the upcoming Spectrum Auction. Mr. Estrada also recently presented argument before the D.C. Circuit on behalf of the tobacco industry in a first amendment challenge to certain compelled disclosures that were imposed as part of the government’s long-running civil RICO case against the industry.
Other matters:
Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh was born in Washington, D.C., on February 12, 1965. He married Ashley Estes in 2004, and they have two daughters - Margaret and Liza. He received a B.A. from Yale College in 1987 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1990. He served as a law clerk for Judge Walter Stapleton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1990-1991, for Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1991-1992, and for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court during the 1993 Term. In 1992-1993, he was an attorney in the Office of the Solicitor General of the United States. From 1994 to 1997 and for a period in 1998, he was Associate Counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel. He was a partner at a Washington, D.C., law firm from 1997 to 1998 and again from 1999 to 2001. From 2001 to 2003, he was Associate Counsel and then Senior Associate Counsel to President George W. Bush. From 2003 to 2006, he was Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary for President Bush. He was appointed a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2006. President Donald J. Trump nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and he took his seat on October 6, 2018.
Consultant in Media Policy and Law
Jane Mago began her communications law career in 1978 as a staff attorney at the Federal Communications Commission. She stayed at the FCC for more than 26 years, serving in many high level roles, including General Counsel, Chief of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, Deputy Chief of the Enforcement Bureau, Chief of Staff for Commissioners Rachelle Chong and Michael Powell, and Legal Advisor to Commissioner Anne Jones. During her FCC career, she also worked as an appellate litigator defending the FCC’s decisions in such matters as Radio and TV Deregulation, Broadcast Indecency and Must-Carry Rules.
Jane joined the National Association of Broadcasters in 2004 where she stayed until retiring in October 2014 as the Executive Vice President and General Counsel. She led the NAB legal team during many significant shifts in the regulatory landscape, including two rounds of review of the broadcast ownership rules.
Jane is a member of the New York Bar. She has an extensive background in appellate litigation and expertise in Constitutional issues (particularly First Amendment matters), FCC ownership rules, political broadcasting, EEO, administrative law, enforcement and licensing matters.
Jane holds BA, MA and JD degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Nonresident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Ajit Pai, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on issues pertaining to technology and innovation, telecommunications regulatory policy, and market-based incentives for investment in broadband deployment. Concurrently, he is a partner at Searchlight Capital Partners, a global investment firm.
Mr. Pai’s distinguished career at the FCC includes two leadership roles following presidential appointments. He was appointed commissioner by President Barack Obama in 2012, designated chairman by President Donald Trump in 2017, and twice confirmed by the US Senate. While at the helm of the FCC, Mr. Pai had a transformative impact on the future of US technology and communications policy, implementing major initiatives to help close the digital divide; advance US leadership in 5G and other wireless technologies; promote innovation; protect consumers, public safety, and national security; and make the agency itself more open, transparent, and data-driven.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Pai served in various public-sector positions in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel, the US Department of Justice, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He also worked as a partner at Jenner & Block and associate general counsel at Verizon Communications.
Mr. Pai graduated with honors from Harvard University, where he received a bachelor’s degree, and from the University of Chicago Law School, where he received a law degree and was an editor on the University of Chicago Law Review.
General Counsel, Hyperloop One
Marvin Ammori is the General Counsel of Hyperloop One.
He is widely regarded as one of the top lawyers and political strategists in the US, and is best known for leading the most important, successful, and unlikely political victories determining the Internet’s future, including the net neutrality campaigns. Time Magazine calls him “a prominent First Amendment lawyer and Internet policy expert,” the San Jose Mercury News calls him “a well-known advocate for Internet freedom,” while Fast Company calls him Silicon Valley’s “go-to First Amendment guy.” In private practice, he has represented Apple, Google, Dropbox, eBay, Automattic, Tumblr, Twitter, the National Association of Realtors, and others. He helped them stop “inevitable” legislation and to overcome widely believed “impossible” odds on issues of international significance, even when few in DC saw a path to victory.
For his pioneering work advancing Internet freedom, Ammori has been named to POLITICO 50’s “list of thinkers, doers, and dreamers” “transforming politics,” Washingtonian Magazine’s “Tech Titans,” Fast Company Magazine’s “100 Most Creative People in Business,” one of the top five tech lawyers by the World Technology Network, and is a recipient of the Nyan Cat Medal of Internet Awesomeness. His work has been profiled on the front pages of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.
Ammori helped lead the online movement that killed the proposed SOPA bill in 2012 as well as the movements defending network neutrality. He was a key organizational and intellectual force behind the FCC’s Comcast/BitTorrent decision in 2008 (he authored the complaint) and the key advocate behind the White House and FCC’s decision to back strong “Title II” rules in 2015. Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson has called him the “net neutrality whisperer”; Tim Wu wrote that Ammori “deserves enormous credit for leading the march to Title II”; and Kickstarter’s communications head declared that, “No one deserves more credit for the Net neutrality victory than” Ammori. Reviewing the decade-long fight for net neutrality, Salon’s Matt Stoller wrote, “if there’s one person who really operated with superb strategic insight and tenacity this whole time, it would be superlawyer Marvin Ammori.”
Ammori has published articles in the New York Times, USA Today, the Atlantic, Wired, Slate, Forbes, and the Harvard Law Review, and authored a book On Internet Freedom. He has appeared as an expert on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NPR, and other TV and radio outlets. Ammori has also keynoted conferences in Germany, Portugal, Brussels, Taiwan, has spoken at TEDx U-Michigan,three Federalist Society National Lawyer Conventions, and has testified before several government bodies.
Ammori has also served as a Senior Fellow to the Democracy Fund, as well as a Future Tense and Schwartz Fellow at New America, one of the nation’s most prominent think tanks. He serves on the boards of the nonprofit advocacy groups Fight for the Future, Demand Progress, and Engine Advocacy. He also serves as an Affiliate Scholar of the Stanford Law School Center for Internet & Society. Ammori was a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the Americas Business Council Foundation. In 2008, he served as an advisor to the Obama campaign and the transition team.
Partner, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Miguel A. Estrada is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
Mr. Estrada has represented clients before federal and state courts throughout the country in a broad range of matters. He has argued 24 cases before the United States Supreme Court, and briefed many others. He has also argued dozens of appeals in the lower federal courts.
Best Lawyers® recognized Mr. Estrada as a 2020 Lawyer of the Year in Intellectual Property Litigation and as a Lawyer of the Year in Appellate Practice. He has been recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a 2020 U.S. Appellate Litigation “Star”. In 2014, The American Lawyer named Mr. Estrada a “Litigator of the Year,” praising his “brains and tenacity” and noting he is the lawyer to call for “a tough, potentially unwinnable case.” From 2014-2021, Chambers & Partners has named him as one of a handful of attorneys that it ranked in the top tier among the nation’s leading appellate lawyers. Chambers & Partners noted that “clients are impressed by his intellect and ability, with one saying, ‘His papers are just blindingly clear in what they say and devastating in how they marshal the arguments.’” The Atlantic described his oral argument in a 2014 high-profile separation-of-powers case as “one of the most dazzling arguments the marble chamber has heard in many years.”
Mr. Estrada was selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Appellate Law, in addition to previous recognition by the publication in the specialties of Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation and Criminal Defense: White Collar, Intellectual Property Litigation, and Regulatory Enforcement Litigation in the areas of SEC, Telecom, and Energy. In 2017, he was elected as a member of the American Law Institute. In 2021, Mr. Estrada was named among the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America. In 2004, Legal Times named him one of the top 12 appellate litigators in the D.C. area, noting that “people who follow appellate practice in Washington have known for several years that Estrada . . . is one of the best around.” Also in 2004, Washingtonian Magazine named him one of the top constitutional law lawyers “who could become one of the legends of the Supreme Court bar.”
Mr. Estrada joined Gibson Dunn in 1997, after serving for five years as Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States. He previously served as Assistant U.S. Attorney and Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York. In those capacities, Mr. Estrada represented the government in numerous jury trials and in many appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Estrada practiced corporate law in New York with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Mr. Estrada is a Trustee of the Supreme Court Historical Society. He was formerly a member of the Board of Visitors of Harvard Law School.
Mr. Estrada served as a law clerk to the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy in the U.S. Supreme Court from 1988 to 1989 and to the Honorable Amalya L. Kearse in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1986 to 1987. He received a J.D. degree magna cum laude in 1986 from Harvard Law School, where he was editor of the Harvard Law Review. Mr. Estrada graduated with an A.B. degree magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1983 from Columbia College, New York. He is fluent in Spanish and proficient in French.
Representative Supreme Court matters include:
In 2011, the Supreme Court appointed Mr. Estrada to brief and argue two criminal cases –Dorsey v. United States and Hill v. United States – in which the Solicitor General declined to defend the judgments of the court of appeals. Mr. Estrada was appointed to argue the position that the Solicitor General had declined to defend.
Mr. Estrada was also part of the team that successfully presented then Governor Bush’s position to the Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore (2000). Other cases that Mr. Estrada handled in the Supreme Court include Granholm v. Heald (2005) (dormant Commerce Clause and Twenty-First Amendment), Vermont Agency of Natural Resources v. United States ex rel. Stevens (2000) (False Claims Act, Article III standing and Eleventh Amendment immunity), Old Chief v. United States (1997) (rules of evidence), United States v. Mezzanatto (1995) (evidence and plea bargaining), United States v. Robertson (1995) (constitutional limits on Congress’s Commerce Clause powers), Citizens Bank of Maryland v. Strumpf (1995) (bankruptcy law), and NOW, Inc. v. Scheidler (1994) (RICO).
Recent Court of Appeals matters include:
In addition, Mr. Estrada is lead appellate counsel to Vivendi S.A. in two securities-fraud appeals from jury verdicts that are currently pending in the Second Circuit, and to the National Association of Broadcasters in a challenge to certain procedures promulgated by the FCC in connection with the upcoming Spectrum Auction. Mr. Estrada also recently presented argument before the D.C. Circuit on behalf of the tobacco industry in a first amendment challenge to certain compelled disclosures that were imposed as part of the government’s long-running civil RICO case against the industry.
Other matters:
Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh was born in Washington, D.C., on February 12, 1965. He married Ashley Estes in 2004, and they have two daughters - Margaret and Liza. He received a B.A. from Yale College in 1987 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1990. He served as a law clerk for Judge Walter Stapleton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1990-1991, for Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1991-1992, and for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court during the 1993 Term. In 1992-1993, he was an attorney in the Office of the Solicitor General of the United States. From 1994 to 1997 and for a period in 1998, he was Associate Counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel. He was a partner at a Washington, D.C., law firm from 1997 to 1998 and again from 1999 to 2001. From 2001 to 2003, he was Associate Counsel and then Senior Associate Counsel to President George W. Bush. From 2003 to 2006, he was Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary for President Bush. He was appointed a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2006. President Donald J. Trump nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and he took his seat on October 6, 2018.
Consultant in Media Policy and Law
Jane Mago began her communications law career in 1978 as a staff attorney at the Federal Communications Commission. She stayed at the FCC for more than 26 years, serving in many high level roles, including General Counsel, Chief of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, Deputy Chief of the Enforcement Bureau, Chief of Staff for Commissioners Rachelle Chong and Michael Powell, and Legal Advisor to Commissioner Anne Jones. During her FCC career, she also worked as an appellate litigator defending the FCC’s decisions in such matters as Radio and TV Deregulation, Broadcast Indecency and Must-Carry Rules.
Jane joined the National Association of Broadcasters in 2004 where she stayed until retiring in October 2014 as the Executive Vice President and General Counsel. She led the NAB legal team during many significant shifts in the regulatory landscape, including two rounds of review of the broadcast ownership rules.
Jane is a member of the New York Bar. She has an extensive background in appellate litigation and expertise in Constitutional issues (particularly First Amendment matters), FCC ownership rules, political broadcasting, EEO, administrative law, enforcement and licensing matters.
Jane holds BA, MA and JD degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Nonresident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Ajit Pai, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on issues pertaining to technology and innovation, telecommunications regulatory policy, and market-based incentives for investment in broadband deployment. Concurrently, he is a partner at Searchlight Capital Partners, a global investment firm.
Mr. Pai’s distinguished career at the FCC includes two leadership roles following presidential appointments. He was appointed commissioner by President Barack Obama in 2012, designated chairman by President Donald Trump in 2017, and twice confirmed by the US Senate. While at the helm of the FCC, Mr. Pai had a transformative impact on the future of US technology and communications policy, implementing major initiatives to help close the digital divide; advance US leadership in 5G and other wireless technologies; promote innovation; protect consumers, public safety, and national security; and make the agency itself more open, transparent, and data-driven.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Pai served in various public-sector positions in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel, the US Department of Justice, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He also worked as a partner at Jenner & Block and associate general counsel at Verizon Communications.
Mr. Pai graduated with honors from Harvard University, where he received a bachelor’s degree, and from the University of Chicago Law School, where he received a law degree and was an editor on the University of Chicago Law Review.
Nonresident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Ajit Pai, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on issues pertaining to technology and innovation, telecommunications regulatory policy, and market-based incentives for investment in broadband deployment. Concurrently, he is a partner at Searchlight Capital Partners, a global investment firm.
Mr. Pai’s distinguished career at the FCC includes two leadership roles following presidential appointments. He was appointed commissioner by President Barack Obama in 2012, designated chairman by President Donald Trump in 2017, and twice confirmed by the US Senate. While at the helm of the FCC, Mr. Pai had a transformative impact on the future of US technology and communications policy, implementing major initiatives to help close the digital divide; advance US leadership in 5G and other wireless technologies; promote innovation; protect consumers, public safety, and national security; and make the agency itself more open, transparent, and data-driven.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Pai served in various public-sector positions in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel, the US Department of Justice, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He also worked as a partner at Jenner & Block and associate general counsel at Verizon Communications.
Mr. Pai graduated with honors from Harvard University, where he received a bachelor’s degree, and from the University of Chicago Law School, where he received a law degree and was an editor on the University of Chicago Law Review.
Associate General Counsel, Black hills Corporatioon
Greg Sopkin has been practicing energy and telecommunications law for over fifteen years. Sopkin has handled complex transmission, rate, generation, and communications regulatory cases, often in a first-chair capacity. He was the Chairman of the Colorado PUC from January 2003 until January 2007. While Chairman, Sopkin presided over numerous Phase I and II electric rate cases as well as integrated resource planning cycles; investigated service outages; guided the redrafting of the Commission's electric, gas and transmission rules; implemented a renewable energy initiative; and oversaw transmission line disputes, the electric price response pilot program, high cost fund administration and the Qwest deregulation case.
Greg also has represented energy and telecommunications clients at Squire Sanders and Gorsuch Kirgis LLP and represented the Colorado PUC as an assistant attorney general in the Colorado Attorney General's office. He taught at the University of Colorado and has been a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, serving on the telecommunications, energy and critical infrastructure committees; a member of the Federalist Society, serving on the telecommunications and electronic media practice group executive committee; and director of the Federation for Economically Rational Utility Policy. He received his J.D. in 1991 from the University of Colorado School of Law, where he was on the University of Colorado Law Review, and his BS, with high honors, in 1988 from the University of Illinois. Sopkin, his wife Rebecca and six children live in Lakewood, Colorado.
The Current Landscape of Telecommunications Law
Kathleen Ham, Nuala O'Connor, Ajit V. Pai, Jerry E. Smith, K. Dane Snowden, Jamie Susskind
2018 National Lawyers Convention
The Trump administration has emphasized the importance of ensuring existing regulations are not stifling innovation...
The Current Landscape of Telecommunications Law
Kathleen Ham, Nuala O'Connor, Ajit V. Pai, Jerry E. Smith, K. Dane Snowden, Jamie Susskind
2018 National Lawyers Convention
The Trump administration has emphasized the importance of ensuring existing regulations are not stifling innovation...
Should the Internet be Regulated Like a Utility?
Ajit V. Pai
Short video featuring Ajit Pai
What is the role of the FCC in regulating the Internet? FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai...
Is Net Neutrality Good Policy?
Marvin Ammori, Ajit V. Pai
Short video featuring Marvin Ammori and Ajit Pai
Is net neutrality good for innovation? Ajit Pai, Commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission and...
Commissioner Ajit Pai on the FCC Television Set-Top Box Proposal - Podcast
Alexander P. Okuliar, Ajit V. Pai
Telecommunications & Electronic Media Practice Group Podcast
In this teleforum, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai talked about the FCC’s proposed rulemaking to transform...
Tale of Two Agencies – Overlapping Jurisdiction of the FCC and FTC - Audio/Video
Alexander P. Okuliar, Maureen K. Ohlhausen, Ajit V. Pai
Telecommunications & Electronic Media Practice Group
With the adoption of the Open Internet Order, the Federal Communications Commission has potentially waded...
Commissioner Ajit Pai on Net Neutrality - Podcast
Ajit V. Pai, Bryan N. Tramont
Telecommunications & Electronic Media Practice Group Podcast
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai spoke to Telecommunications & Electronic Media Practice Group Chairman Bryan Tramont...
Telecommunications: FCC vs. the First Amendment
Marvin Ammori, Miguel A. Estrada, Brett M. Kavanaugh, Jane Mago, Ajit V. Pai
2013 National Lawyers Convention
Administrative agencies have long threatened First Amendment freedoms, and have been called to task for...
Telecommunications: FCC vs. the First Amendment
Marvin Ammori, Miguel A. Estrada, Brett M. Kavanaugh, Jane Mago, Ajit V. Pai
2013 National Lawyers Convention
Administrative agencies have long threatened First Amendment freedoms, and have been called to task for...
A Conversation with Federal Communications Commissioner Ajit Pai - Podcast
Ajit V. Pai, Gregory E. Sopkin
Telecommunications & Electronic Media Practice Group Podcast
Ajit Pai was nominated to the Federal Communications Commission by President Barack Obama and on...