Partner, Briscoe Prows Kao Ivester & Bazel LLP
Tony Francois is experienced in Water and Real Property Law, Land Use and Zoning, Environmental Regulation, Natural Resources Development, Agricultural Law, and Constitutional Law. He has represented homeowners, builders, farmers and ranchers, trade associations, and water districts in administrative, civil, and criminal proceedings before state and federal administrative agencies and state and federal trial and appellate courts. He is a member of the California State Bar and the Northern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California and the Districts of New Mexico and North Dakota, and has litigated cases in federal courts in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia, as well as the Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals. He has appeared before the Supreme Courts of California, Idaho, Nevada, and the United States.
Prior to attending law school, he served as an infantry officer in the United States Army, and was stationed in the former West Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Tony was an Attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation from 2012 to 2021. He was a lobbyist for 10 years, first with California Farm Bureau Federation from 2003 to 2007, and then with KP Public Affairs from 2007 to 2012. He was an attorney at McQuaid, Bedford & Van Zandt in San Francisco from 1999 – 2003.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Christina Martin is a Senior Attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation where she leads its initiative to end home equity theft—predatory tax-foreclosure laws that allow the government to take valuable homes and all equity in those homes as payment for debts as small as $8.
Christina's victories as lead counsel include Tyler v. Hennepin County in the U.S. Supreme Court, Hall v. Meisner in the Sixth Circuit, Rafaeli, LLC v. Oakland County in the Michigan Supreme Court, and New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau v. U.S. Department of the Interior in the Tenth Circuit. She also served as second chair in Knick v. Township of Scott, a landmark Supreme Court case that opened up the federal courthouse doors to takings plaintiffs.
Christina is admitted to the state bars of Washington, Oregon, and Florida, as well as a number of federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Washington. She earned her J.D. from Ave Maria School of Law, where she was an editor of the Ave Maria Law Review.
Partner, Briscoe Prows Kao Ivester & Bazel LLP
Tony Francois is experienced in Water and Real Property Law, Land Use and Zoning, Environmental Regulation, Natural Resources Development, Agricultural Law, and Constitutional Law. He has represented homeowners, builders, farmers and ranchers, trade associations, and water districts in administrative, civil, and criminal proceedings before state and federal administrative agencies and state and federal trial and appellate courts. He is a member of the California State Bar and the Northern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California and the Districts of New Mexico and North Dakota, and has litigated cases in federal courts in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia, as well as the Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals. He has appeared before the Supreme Courts of California, Idaho, Nevada, and the United States.
Prior to attending law school, he served as an infantry officer in the United States Army, and was stationed in the former West Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Tony was an Attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation from 2012 to 2021. He was a lobbyist for 10 years, first with California Farm Bureau Federation from 2003 to 2007, and then with KP Public Affairs from 2007 to 2012. He was an attorney at McQuaid, Bedford & Van Zandt in San Francisco from 1999 – 2003.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Christina Martin is a Senior Attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation where she leads its initiative to end home equity theft—predatory tax-foreclosure laws that allow the government to take valuable homes and all equity in those homes as payment for debts as small as $8.
Christina's victories as lead counsel include Tyler v. Hennepin County in the U.S. Supreme Court, Hall v. Meisner in the Sixth Circuit, Rafaeli, LLC v. Oakland County in the Michigan Supreme Court, and New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau v. U.S. Department of the Interior in the Tenth Circuit. She also served as second chair in Knick v. Township of Scott, a landmark Supreme Court case that opened up the federal courthouse doors to takings plaintiffs.
Christina is admitted to the state bars of Washington, Oregon, and Florida, as well as a number of federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Washington. She earned her J.D. from Ave Maria School of Law, where she was an editor of the Ave Maria Law Review.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
David (Dave) Breemer developed a passion for liberty while reading classics such as John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government and Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man, as he pursued a Master’s Degree in American Political Theory at University of California, Davis. During this time, Dave began to believe that individual freedom and choice is a God-given and inviolable gift that cannot be taken away through governmental power.
Dave then traveled throughout North America for several years as an adventure tour guide, discussing American ideas of freedom with groups of young people form Europe, Australia, and Japan while rafting, skydiving, and hiking in places like Monument Valley, Las Vegas, and Alaska.
In 1998, Dave went to law school at the University of Hawaii where he studied and co-authored several property rights-oriented law reviews with Professor David L. Callies, a noted land use authority. In 2001, Dave graduated summa cum laude from law school, second in his class, and returned to California to work as an attorney for PLF.
Since joining PLF, Dave has worked as an attorney in PLF’s property rights group. In that capacity, he has litigated numerous federal and state court cases vindicating constitutional rights, particularly those related to the ability to use and enjoy private property. Examples include: Knick v. Township of Scott, U.S. Supreme Court No. 17-647; MVA v. Minnesota, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 16-1435; Levin v. City and County of San Francisco, 71 F. Supp. 3d 1072 (N.D. Cal., 2014); Sansotta v. Town of Nags Head, 724 F.3d 533 (4th Cir. 2013); Severance v. Patterson, 390 S.W.3d 705 (Tex. 2012); Severance v. Patterson, 566 F.3d 490 (5th Cir. 2009); Crown Point Dev., Inc. v. City of Sun Valley, 506 F.3d 851 (9th Cir. 2007).
In his time at PLF, Dave has also written many law review articles about the Supreme Court’s property rights jurisprudence. He continues to believe that property rights are vital to securing other rights—such as privacy, self-expression, and financial freedom—and as a result, he continues to be passionate about securing the right to use and enjoy property for all Americans in the courts of this nation.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Christina Martin is a Senior Attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation where she leads its initiative to end home equity theft—predatory tax-foreclosure laws that allow the government to take valuable homes and all equity in those homes as payment for debts as small as $8.
Christina's victories as lead counsel include Tyler v. Hennepin County in the U.S. Supreme Court, Hall v. Meisner in the Sixth Circuit, Rafaeli, LLC v. Oakland County in the Michigan Supreme Court, and New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau v. U.S. Department of the Interior in the Tenth Circuit. She also served as second chair in Knick v. Township of Scott, a landmark Supreme Court case that opened up the federal courthouse doors to takings plaintiffs.
Christina is admitted to the state bars of Washington, Oregon, and Florida, as well as a number of federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Washington. She earned her J.D. from Ave Maria School of Law, where she was an editor of the Ave Maria Law Review.
Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
ILYA SOMIN is Professor of Law at George Mason University and the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute. His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, democratic theory, federalism, and migration rights. He is the author of Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom (Oxford University Press, revised and expanded edition, 2022), Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter (Stanford University Press, revised and expanded second edition, 2016), and The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain (University of Chicago Press, 2015, rev. paperback ed., 2016), coauthor of A Conspiracy Against Obamacare: The Volokh Conspiracy and the Health Care Case (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), and co-editor of Eminent Domain: A Comparative Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Democracy and Political Ignorance has been translated into Italian and Japanese.
Somin’s work has appeared in numerous scholarly journals, including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Critical Review, and others. Somin has also published articles in a variety of popular press outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, CNN, NBC, The Atlantic, USA Today, Boston Globe, US News and World Report, South China Morning Post, National Law Journal and Reason. He has been quoted or interviewed by the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, The Economist, the Christian Science Monitor, the Financial Times, The Guardian, the Associated Press, CBS, MSNBC, NPR, BBC, Reuters, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Al Jazeera, and the Voice of America, among other media.
Somin’s writings have been cited in decisions by the United States Supreme Court, multiple state supreme courts and lower federal courts, and the Supreme Court of Israel. He is co-counsel for the plaintiffs in VOS Selections, Inc. v. Trump, a case challenging the constitutionality of President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. Somin has testified on the use of drones for targeted killing in the War on Terror before the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights. In 2009, he testified on property rights issues at the United States Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Somin writes regularly for the popular Volokh Conspiracy law and politics blog, now affiliated with Reason magazine (previously affiliated with the Washington Post from 2014 to 2017). From 2006 to 2013, he served as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review, one of the country’s top-rated law and economics journals.
Somin has served as a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He has also been a visiting professor or scholar at the Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Hamburg, Germany, the University of Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Uriel Reichman University in Israel, and Zhengzhou University in China. He is a University Affiliate of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, and an affiliated faculty member of the George Mason University Institute for Immigration Research. Before joining the faculty at George Mason, Somin was the John M. Olin Fellow in Law at Northwestern University Law School in 2002-2003. In 2001-2002, he clerked for the Hon. Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Professor Somin earned his B.A., Summa Cum Laude, at Amherst College, M.A. in Political Science from Harvard University, and J.D. from Yale Law School.
Executive Director, State and Local Legal Center
Lisa Soronen is the Executive Director of the SLLC. Prior to joining the SLLC, Lisa worked for the National School Boards Association, the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, and clerked for the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. She earned her J.D. at the University of Wisconsin Law School and is a graduate of Central Michigan University.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
David (Dave) Breemer developed a passion for liberty while reading classics such as John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government and Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man, as he pursued a Master’s Degree in American Political Theory at University of California, Davis. During this time, Dave began to believe that individual freedom and choice is a God-given and inviolable gift that cannot be taken away through governmental power.
Dave then traveled throughout North America for several years as an adventure tour guide, discussing American ideas of freedom with groups of young people form Europe, Australia, and Japan while rafting, skydiving, and hiking in places like Monument Valley, Las Vegas, and Alaska.
In 1998, Dave went to law school at the University of Hawaii where he studied and co-authored several property rights-oriented law reviews with Professor David L. Callies, a noted land use authority. In 2001, Dave graduated summa cum laude from law school, second in his class, and returned to California to work as an attorney for PLF.
Since joining PLF, Dave has worked as an attorney in PLF’s property rights group. In that capacity, he has litigated numerous federal and state court cases vindicating constitutional rights, particularly those related to the ability to use and enjoy private property. Examples include: Knick v. Township of Scott, U.S. Supreme Court No. 17-647; MVA v. Minnesota, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 16-1435; Levin v. City and County of San Francisco, 71 F. Supp. 3d 1072 (N.D. Cal., 2014); Sansotta v. Town of Nags Head, 724 F.3d 533 (4th Cir. 2013); Severance v. Patterson, 390 S.W.3d 705 (Tex. 2012); Severance v. Patterson, 566 F.3d 490 (5th Cir. 2009); Crown Point Dev., Inc. v. City of Sun Valley, 506 F.3d 851 (9th Cir. 2007).
In his time at PLF, Dave has also written many law review articles about the Supreme Court’s property rights jurisprudence. He continues to believe that property rights are vital to securing other rights—such as privacy, self-expression, and financial freedom—and as a result, he continues to be passionate about securing the right to use and enjoy property for all Americans in the courts of this nation.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Christina Martin is a Senior Attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation where she leads its initiative to end home equity theft—predatory tax-foreclosure laws that allow the government to take valuable homes and all equity in those homes as payment for debts as small as $8.
Christina's victories as lead counsel include Tyler v. Hennepin County in the U.S. Supreme Court, Hall v. Meisner in the Sixth Circuit, Rafaeli, LLC v. Oakland County in the Michigan Supreme Court, and New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau v. U.S. Department of the Interior in the Tenth Circuit. She also served as second chair in Knick v. Township of Scott, a landmark Supreme Court case that opened up the federal courthouse doors to takings plaintiffs.
Christina is admitted to the state bars of Washington, Oregon, and Florida, as well as a number of federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Washington. She earned her J.D. from Ave Maria School of Law, where she was an editor of the Ave Maria Law Review.
Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
ILYA SOMIN is Professor of Law at George Mason University and the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute. His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, democratic theory, federalism, and migration rights. He is the author of Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom (Oxford University Press, revised and expanded edition, 2022), Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter (Stanford University Press, revised and expanded second edition, 2016), and The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain (University of Chicago Press, 2015, rev. paperback ed., 2016), coauthor of A Conspiracy Against Obamacare: The Volokh Conspiracy and the Health Care Case (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), and co-editor of Eminent Domain: A Comparative Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Democracy and Political Ignorance has been translated into Italian and Japanese.
Somin’s work has appeared in numerous scholarly journals, including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Critical Review, and others. Somin has also published articles in a variety of popular press outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, CNN, NBC, The Atlantic, USA Today, Boston Globe, US News and World Report, South China Morning Post, National Law Journal and Reason. He has been quoted or interviewed by the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, The Economist, the Christian Science Monitor, the Financial Times, The Guardian, the Associated Press, CBS, MSNBC, NPR, BBC, Reuters, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Al Jazeera, and the Voice of America, among other media.
Somin’s writings have been cited in decisions by the United States Supreme Court, multiple state supreme courts and lower federal courts, and the Supreme Court of Israel. He is co-counsel for the plaintiffs in VOS Selections, Inc. v. Trump, a case challenging the constitutionality of President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. Somin has testified on the use of drones for targeted killing in the War on Terror before the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights. In 2009, he testified on property rights issues at the United States Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Somin writes regularly for the popular Volokh Conspiracy law and politics blog, now affiliated with Reason magazine (previously affiliated with the Washington Post from 2014 to 2017). From 2006 to 2013, he served as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review, one of the country’s top-rated law and economics journals.
Somin has served as a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He has also been a visiting professor or scholar at the Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Hamburg, Germany, the University of Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Uriel Reichman University in Israel, and Zhengzhou University in China. He is a University Affiliate of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, and an affiliated faculty member of the George Mason University Institute for Immigration Research. Before joining the faculty at George Mason, Somin was the John M. Olin Fellow in Law at Northwestern University Law School in 2002-2003. In 2001-2002, he clerked for the Hon. Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Professor Somin earned his B.A., Summa Cum Laude, at Amherst College, M.A. in Political Science from Harvard University, and J.D. from Yale Law School.
Executive Director, State and Local Legal Center
Lisa Soronen is the Executive Director of the SLLC. Prior to joining the SLLC, Lisa worked for the National School Boards Association, the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, and clerked for the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. She earned her J.D. at the University of Wisconsin Law School and is a graduate of Central Michigan University.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Christina Martin is a Senior Attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation where she leads its initiative to end home equity theft—predatory tax-foreclosure laws that allow the government to take valuable homes and all equity in those homes as payment for debts as small as $8.
Christina's victories as lead counsel include Tyler v. Hennepin County in the U.S. Supreme Court, Hall v. Meisner in the Sixth Circuit, Rafaeli, LLC v. Oakland County in the Michigan Supreme Court, and New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau v. U.S. Department of the Interior in the Tenth Circuit. She also served as second chair in Knick v. Township of Scott, a landmark Supreme Court case that opened up the federal courthouse doors to takings plaintiffs.
Christina is admitted to the state bars of Washington, Oregon, and Florida, as well as a number of federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Washington. She earned her J.D. from Ave Maria School of Law, where she was an editor of the Ave Maria Law Review.
Judge, Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal
In April 2023, Judge Jordan E. Pratt was commissioned as a member of the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal following his appointment by Governor Ron DeSantis.
Before joining the court, Judge Pratt worked as senior counsel at First Liberty Institute and served in various roles in state and federal government: as senior counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice, deputy general counsel in the U.S. Small Business Administration, and deputy solicitor general in the Florida Office of the Attorney General. As a deputy solicitor general, he defended significant Florida legislation and executive actions at every level of the state and federal court systems, with successful arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the Florida Supreme Court, and Florida’s First District Court of Appeal.
Judge Pratt graduated as a co-valedictorian of his undergraduate class at the University of Florida. He then received his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Florida College of Law, where he was a law review editor and president of the school’s Federalist Society and Christian Legal Society chapters. During law school, he interned for the Hon. Jeffrey S. Sutton on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
After his graduation from law school, Judge Pratt served as a law clerk to the Hon. Harvey E. Schlesinger on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division. He then clerked for the Hon. Jennifer W. Elrod on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Judge Pratt has held several fellowships, including an Olin–Searle Fellowship at Florida State University’s College of Law, and has published scholarship in the Tennessee Law Review, the Nebraska Law Review, and the Mississippi Law Journal. He is a member of the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Studies, and he has held several leadership roles in the organization, including service as president of its Tallahassee Lawyers Chapter from 2016 to 2019.
Partner, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
Marc Williams is the managing partner in Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough’s West Virginia office.
Criminal Justice Task Force Director, American Legislative Exchange Council
Jason Bedrick is director of policy for EdChoice. Previously, he was policy analyst with the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom. He also served as a legislator in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and was an education policy research fellow at the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy.
Bedrick received his master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he was a fellow at the Taubman Center for State and Local Government. His thesis, “Choosing to Learn,” assessed scholarship tax credit programs operating in eight states, including their program design, impact on student performance, fiscal impact, and popularity.
Senior Education Policy Fellow, Kansas Policy Institute
David Dorsey is a Senior Education Policy Fellow with Kansas Policy Institute. His primary emphasis in this role is combining his time spent as a public school teacher with policy research on issues related to K-12 finance, student achievement, and education reform. Prior to joining KPI, David spent 20 years as a public school elementary teacher, seventeen in Kansas. He was both a classroom and specialty teacher and served in various leadership capacities in those schools. David finished his teaching career with eight years as a mathematics interventionist at Lowman Hill Elementary School in Topeka USD 501 working with at-risk students. Prior to teaching he spent 15 years working in state and local government in Arizona as a city administrator, research analyst for the Phoenix Police Department, and a program evaluator for the largest state agency in Arizona. He earned a Master of Arts in Political Science from Arizona State University with an emphasis on research and statistical analysis in 1980. David was born and raised in South Dakota and received a BS degree from the University of South Dakota in 1977 with a major in Political Science and a minor in Economics.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Christina Martin is a Senior Attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation where she leads its initiative to end home equity theft—predatory tax-foreclosure laws that allow the government to take valuable homes and all equity in those homes as payment for debts as small as $8.
Christina's victories as lead counsel include Tyler v. Hennepin County in the U.S. Supreme Court, Hall v. Meisner in the Sixth Circuit, Rafaeli, LLC v. Oakland County in the Michigan Supreme Court, and New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau v. U.S. Department of the Interior in the Tenth Circuit. She also served as second chair in Knick v. Township of Scott, a landmark Supreme Court case that opened up the federal courthouse doors to takings plaintiffs.
Christina is admitted to the state bars of Washington, Oregon, and Florida, as well as a number of federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Washington. She earned her J.D. from Ave Maria School of Law, where she was an editor of the Ave Maria Law Review.
Partner, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Andy excels at solving complex problems for his clients using a variety of effective strategies. As former Chief Deputy Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin, Andy Cook has extensive experience representing businesses before state Attorneys General involving investigations and lawsuits. His strong relationships with Attorneys General and their senior staff frequently facilitate the successful resolution of client issues through diplomacy and negotiations. When litigation becomes necessary, Andy effectively advocates for clients throughout the litigation process.
Andy combines his legal expertise in numerous areas of law covered by state Attorneys General, an understanding of how state AG offices operate, and vast knowledge of legal and regulatory issues facing his clients. This substantive and comprehensive legal approach is crucial to effectively representing clients before state Attorneys General. Andy also has substantial experience drafting and enacting complex civil liability reforms before state legislatures to successfully address client goals.
Andy’s main practice focuses on advising Fortune 500 companies before state Attorneys General in the areas of antitrust, consumer protection, False Claims Act, environmental law, and cybersecurity and data privacy. Andy, in collaboration with a team of attorneys, successfully navigated a client through antitrust regulatory review by state Attorneys General in one of the nation’s largest mergers of two major telecommunication companies. Andy also worked with a team of lawyers representing a large corporation involving the multistate opioids litigation brought by state Attorneys General.
Andy gained valuable experience serving as Deputy Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin where he was the second in command of the 700-plus state agency. In his role as Chief Deputy Attorney General, Andy oversaw the day-to-day operations at the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ); directed the State’s litigation strategy; negotiated, reviewed, and approved all settlements; drafted and reviewed attorney general opinions; managed the agency’s budget; oversaw civil and criminal investigations handled by DOJ; and managed DOJ’s legislative agenda.
Andy played college hockey and remains active by running, cross country skiing, and playing golf. On the weekends, Andy and his wife enjoy watching their kids’ sporting events, including soccer, baseball, gymnastics, and track. In his rare spare time, Andy reads history books.
Vice President for Litigation & Strategy, Pacific Legal Foundation
Larry Salzman leads PLF’s litigation program and is responsible for shaping the organization’s overall legal strategy to advance the principles of individual rights and limited government. He oversees the Supreme Court docket at PLF and helps its nearly 75 litigating attorneys and support staff bring cases to secure enduring legal change for liberty.
Larry has been a public interest litigator for nearly two decades, focusing on property rights and economic freedom. Recent highlights include Sheetz v. County of El Dorado and Tyler v. Hennepin County at the Supreme Court. He has been with PLF for more than a decade. Previously, he was a judicial clerk at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and a litigator at the Institute for Justice.
Between 2007 and 2011, Larry took a hiatus from litigation to work as CEO of an e-commerce company he had co-founded and built while attending law school at night. He loves his current role at PLF because it provides the rare opportunity to continue expressing dual passions for litigation and entrepreneurial management.
Larry’s commitment to liberty crystallized during college by studying philosophy and free-market economics. He experienced the importance of property rights in a very personal way in the 1990s when his family’s auto-repair business was taken by eminent domain and turned over by the city to a private developer on the promise that a big-box store would generate more tax revenue.
He graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law (J.D. 2002), where he was assistant editor of the San Diego Law Review. Larry was inspired in law school to pursue a career in public interest litigation while working as a research assistant to the late Bernard Siegan, a pioneer in the movement to revive constitutional protection for property rights and economic liberty. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Ayn Rand Institute. When not working, he enjoys travel, an annual pass to Disneyland with family, and learning and growing alongside his daughter.
Larry is a member of the bar only in the state of California.
Partner, Neilson Law Group P.C.
C. Thomas Ludden is the head of the Appellate Practice group at Lipson Neilson P.C. He has appeared before the United States Supreme Court, the Michigan Supreme Court, the Sixth and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeal and the Michigan Court of Appeals. Mr. Ludden is a 1990 graduate of the University of Michigan (J.D./M.B.A) and a 1986 graduate of Dickinson College (B.A.) where he majored in Latin, Ancient Greek and Economics.
Executive Vice President, Goldwater Institute
Christina Sandefur is the Executive Vice President at the Goldwater Institute. She develops policies and litigates cases advancing healthcare freedom, free enterprise, private property rights, free speech, and taxpayer rights.
Christina is a co-drafter of the Right to Try initiative, now federal law, which protects terminally ill patients' right to try safe investigational treatments that have been prescribed by their physician but are not yet FDA-approved. She has won important victories for property rights in Arizona and works nationally to promote the Institute's Private Property Rights Protection Act, a state-level reform that requires government to pay owners when regulations destroy property rights and reduce property values.
Christina is the co-author of the book Cornerstone of Liberty: Private Property Rights in 21st Century America (2016). She is a frequent guest on national television and radio programs, has provided expert legal testimony to various legislative committees, and is a frequent speaker at conferences. She is the recipient of the 2018 Buckley Award in recognition of her leadership in the freedom movement, and she is an Advisory Board Member of the Network of enlightened Women. Christina serves on the board of the Phoenix Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society and is a member of the executive committee for the Federalist Society's Regulatory Transparency Project: FDA & Health.
Christina is a graduate of Michigan State University College of Law and Hillsdale College.
Deputy Counsel and Litigation Manager, Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty
Mr. Kamenick joined WILL at its founding in the summer of 2011. He graduated magna cum laude from Marquette Law School in 2009. During law school, he interned at the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He also served as an editor of the Marquette Law Review and a volunteer tax preparer.
Prior to joining WILL, Mr. Kamenick worked as a law clerk for Justice Michael J. Gableman on the Wisconsin Supreme Court (2009-2010 term), as a tax consultant for Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, s.c., and as a research assistant for Marquette Law School’s dean, Joseph Kearney. He is currently on the faculty of Wisconsin Lutheran College, teaching business law.
Mr. Kamenick lives in Saukville with his wife and two children. He enjoys giving back to his community, serving as a member of Saukville’s Public Safety Committee and a board member of Musical Masquers, a theater company based in West Bend. He also performs in community theater and his church’s handbell choirs.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Christina Martin is a Senior Attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation where she leads its initiative to end home equity theft—predatory tax-foreclosure laws that allow the government to take valuable homes and all equity in those homes as payment for debts as small as $8.
Christina's victories as lead counsel include Tyler v. Hennepin County in the U.S. Supreme Court, Hall v. Meisner in the Sixth Circuit, Rafaeli, LLC v. Oakland County in the Michigan Supreme Court, and New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau v. U.S. Department of the Interior in the Tenth Circuit. She also served as second chair in Knick v. Township of Scott, a landmark Supreme Court case that opened up the federal courthouse doors to takings plaintiffs.
Christina is admitted to the state bars of Washington, Oregon, and Florida, as well as a number of federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Washington. She earned her J.D. from Ave Maria School of Law, where she was an editor of the Ave Maria Law Review.
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Tyler v. Hennepin County
Tony Francois, Christina Martin
On Wednesday, April 26th, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Tyler v. Hennepin County, Minnesota. ...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Tyler v. Hennepin County
Tony Francois, Christina Martin
On Wednesday, April 26th, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Tyler v. Hennepin County, Minnesota. ...
Knick v. Scott Township: Post-Argument Recap & Debate
J. David Breemer, Christina Martin, Ilya Somin, Lisa Soronen
George Mason Student Chapter and Pacific Legal Foundation
On October 3, 2018, the Federalist Society's student chapter at George Mason's Antonin Scalia Law...
Knick v. Scott Township: Post-Argument Recap & Debate
J. David Breemer, Christina Martin, Ilya Somin, Lisa Soronen
George Mason Student Chapter and Pacific Legal Foundation
On October 3, 2018, the Federalist Society's student chapter at George Mason's Antonin Scalia Law...
Courthouse Steps: Knick v. Township of Scott Oral Argument
Christina Martin
A Teleforum co-sponsored by the Federalism & Separation of Powers Practice Group
In Knick v. Township of Scott, the Supreme Court will consider overturning a 33-year old...
State Court Docket Watch 2017
Jordan E. Pratt, Marc E. Williams, Ronald Joseph Lampard, Jason Bedrick, David Dorsey, Christina Martin, Andrew Cook, Joel Burcat, Larry Salzman, C. Thomas Ludden, Christina Sandefur, Thomas C. Kamenick
State Court Docket Watch
Florida League of Women Voters v. Scott by Jordan E. Pratt – pg. 2 West...
Bogorff v. Scott
Christina Martin
In Bogorff v. Scott, the Florida Supreme Court revealed the difficulty many property owners face when...
Docket Watch: Bogorff v. Scott
In Bogorff v. Scott, the Florida Supreme Court revealed the difficulty many property owners face...