Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Director, Classical Liberal Institute, Civitas Institute University of Texas at Austin
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, at New York University, a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas Austin, and a senior Lecturer, the University of Chicago. He received an LL.D., h.c . from the University of Ghent, 2003 , and an LLD h.c . from the University of Siegen in 2018 and the Bradley Prize in 2011. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985. He has edited both the Journal of Legal Studies (1981-1991) and the Journal of Law and Economics (1991-2001). He is also a founder and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU Law School. His most recent book is The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (2014). His other books include Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain ( 1985); Bargaining with the State (1993); Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty and the Common Good (1998); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Theory of Classical Liberalism (2003); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (2011), and most recently, The Myth of Birthright citizenship—and Beyond (2026). He has taught courses in , administrative law, antitrust, constitutional, contracts, environmental law, land use planning; real property, torts and water law. He has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics, and is writes a regular column for Defining Ideas.
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Sandra Segal Ikuta was confirmed as a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on June 19, 2006. She filled a judgeship vacant since September 1, 2000, when Chief Judge Emeritus James R. Browning took senior status.
Before becoming a U.S. Circuit Judge, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed her to be deputy secretary and general counsel of the California Resources Agency in January 2004.
Prior to her political appointment, Judge Ikuta was a partner at the Los Angeles office of O'Melveny & Myers LLP. She joined the law firm in 1990 as an associate and became a partner in 1997. She specialized in environmental and natural resources law and co-chaired the firm's environmental practice group. She previously served as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, 1989-90, and Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1988-89.
Prior to her legal career, Judge Ikuta took an unorthodox career path, which included serving as the first female editor-in-chief of a national martial arts magazine.
She received her J.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law and a Master of Science from Columbia University School of Journalism. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1976.
In addition to her duties as an active U.S. Circuit Judge, Judge Ikuta was an appointed member of the Judicial Conference of the U.S. Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules.
John Paul Stevens Professor of Law, Northwestern University School of Law
Andrew Koppelman is John Paul Stevens Professor of Law, Professor (by courtesy) of Political Science, and Philosophy Department Affiliated Faculty at Northwestern University. He received the Walder Award for Research Excellence from Northwestern, the Hart-Dworkin award in legal philosophy from the Association of American Law Schools, and the Edward S. Corwin Prize from the American Political Science Association. His scholarship focuses on issues at the intersection of law and political philosophy. He has written more than 100 scholarly articles and eight books, most recently Burning Down the House: How Libertarian Philosophy Was Corrupted by Delusion and Greed, (St. Martin’s Press). His column appears regularly at The Hill. You can find his recent work at andrewkoppelman.com.
Co-Chairman, The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies
Leonard is Co-Chairman and former Executive Vice President of the Federalist Society, joining the organization over 25 years ago. Since that time he has been instrumental in helping the organization top 70,000, focusing on the growth of lawyers membership, operations and activities advancing limited, constitutional government. In addition to his work at the Society, Leonard has advised President Trump on judicial selection, assisted with the Gorsuch and Kavanaugh Supreme Court selection and confirmation process, and served as a member of the transition team. He also organized the outside coalition efforts in support of the Roberts and Alito U.S. Supreme Court confirmations. Leonard was appointed by President George W. Bush to three terms to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom as chairman. He was also a U.S. Delegate to the UN Council and UN Commission on Human Rights during the Bush Administration. Leonard was the recipient of the 2009 Bradley Prize, along with the other founders and directors of the Federalist Society, for his work in advancing freedom and the rule of law. He is the coeditor of Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House, as well as the author of opinion editorials in the New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. Leonard holds degrees from Cornell University and Cornell Law School. He presently resides in Northern Virginia, where he and his wife Sally have raised their seven children.
Richard and Frances Mallery Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Constitutional Law Center, Stanford Law School
Michael W. McConnell is the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and Faculty Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. From 2002 to 2009, he served as a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He was nominated by President George W. Bush, a Republican, and confirmed by a Democratic Senate by unanimous consent. McConnell has previously held chaired professorships at the University of Chicago and the University of Utah, and visiting professorships at Harvard and NYU. He teaches courses on constitutional law, constitutional history, First Amendment, and interpretive theory. He has published widely in the fields of constitutional law and theory, especially church and state, equal protection, and separation of powers. His book, “The President Who Would Not Be King: Executive Power Under the Constitution,” was published by Princeton University Press in 2020, based on the Tanner Lectures in Human Values, which he delivered at Princeton in 2019. His latest book, co-authored with Nathan Chapman, “Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Protects Religious Diversity and Freedom of Conscience,” was published by Oxford University Press in mid-2023. McConnell has argued sixteen cases in the United States Supreme Court, most recently Carney v. Adams (2020). defending a provision of the Delaware Constitution requiring political balance on that state’s courts. More recently, he was co-counsel in Gonzalez v. Google. He earned his B.A. from Michigan State University and his J.D. from the University of Chicago, and has received honorary degrees from Notre Dame University and Michigan State. He served as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. and D.C. Circuit Chief Judge J. Skelly Wright. He has been Assistant General Counsel of the Office of Management & Budget, Assistant to the Solicitor General of the Department of Justice, and a member of the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board. He is Senior of Counsel to the law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, and is co-chair of Meta’s Oversight Review Board.
George C. Dix Professor in Constitutional Law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
John O. McGinnis is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He also has an MA degree from Balliol College, Oxford, in philosophy and theology. Professor McGinnis clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. From 1987 to 1991, he was deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice. He is the author of Accelerating Democracy: Transforming Government Through Technology (Princeton 2013) and Originalism and the Good Constitution (Harvard 2013) (with M. Rappaport). He is a past winner of the Paul Bator award given by the Federalist Society to an outstanding academic under 40. He has been listed by the United States on the roster of panelists who may be called upon to decide World Trade Organization Disputes.
Professor of History and Charles O. Lee and Louise K. Lee Chair in the Western Heritage, Hillsdale College
After reading Litterae Humaniores at Wadham College, Oxford, on a Rhodes Scholarship from 1971-1974, Paul A. Rahe completed a Ph.D. in ancient history at Yale University under the direction of Donald Kagan in 1977. In subsequent years, he taught at Cornell University, Franklin and Marshall College, and the University of Tulsa, where he spent twenty-four years before accepting a position at Hillsdale College, where he is Professor of History and Political Science and holds The Charles O. Lee and Louise K. Lee Chair in the Western Heritage.
Professor Rahe’s entire scholarly career has been focused on studying the origins and evolution of self-government within the West. His range is considerable. His first book, Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution (1992), was 1200 pages in length and surveyed the origins and development of self-government in ancient Greece and Rome, its re-emergence in a new form in the Middle Ages, the transformation it underwent at the hands of the political philosophers of early modernity, and the statesmanship of the American Founding Fathers. Within the first thirteen months of publication, the hardback edition sold out. Thereafter, it reappeared as an alternative selection of the History Book Club. In 1994, it was reissued in a three-volume paperback edition by the University of North Carolina Press, and it remains in print.
In the course of his career, Professor Rahe has published dozens of chapters on related subjects in edited books and scholarly articles in journals such as The American Journal of Philology, Historia, The American Journal of Archaeology, The American Historical Review, The Review of Politics, The American Journal of Business and Professional Ethics, The Journal of the Historical Society, The National Interest, The Woodrow Wilson Quarterly, and History of Political Thought. He spent two years in Istanbul, Turkey in the mid-1980s as a fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs; he has been awarded research fellowships by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Earhart Foundation; and he has held research fellowships at the Center for Hellenic Study, the National Humanities Center, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D. C. , Clare College at Cambridge University, All Souls College at Oxford University, and the American Academy in Berlin; and he has given a host of public lectures at universities in the United States and abroad – most recently at the Hebrew University and at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, at the Sorbonne in Paris, at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in England and the Free University in Berlin. In 1997-98, he was named to the Templeton Honor Rolls for Education in a Free Society by The John M. Templeton Foundation, and in 2006 the Society for French Historical Studies awarded him the Koren Prize for the Best Article Published in French History the preceding year.
Professor Rahe co-edited Montesquieu’s Science of Politics: Essays on the Spirit of Laws(2001) with David W. Carrithers and Michael A. Mosher, and he edited Machiavelli’s Liberal Republican Legacy (2006). His second book, Against Throne and Altar: Machiavelli and Political Theory under the English Republic, which examines the political thought inspired by the abortive republican experiment that took place in England in the period stretching from 1649 to 1660, was published by Cambridge University Press in April, 2008. His third and fourth books, Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty: War, Religion, Commerce, Climate, Terrain, Technology, Uneasiness of Mind, the Spirit of Political Vigilance, and the Foundations of the Modern Republic and Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Tocqueville on the Modern Prospect, were published by Yale University Press in 2009. For his fifth book, The Spartan Way of War, which he hopes to have finished by the end of 2010, Professor Rahe has received a contract from Yale University Press.
Professor of Philosophy, St. John
Douglas Rasmussen has been a member of the Philosophy Department since 1981. Dr. Rasmussen has authored numerous articles in such journals as American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, American Philosophical Quarterly, International Philosophical Quarterly, The New Scholasticism, The Personalist, Public Affairs Quarterly, The Review of Metaphysics, Social Philosophy and Policy, The Thomist, and in many scholarly anthologies. He guest-edited TELEOLOGY & THE FOUNDATION OF VALUE—the January 1992 (Volume 75, No. 1) issue of The Monist.
Dr. Rasmussen has been awarded grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute for Humane Studies, and the Earhart Foundation. He was a Visiting Research Scholar at the following institutions: Social Philosophy and Policy Center, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, in the spring of 2001 and the summer of 2008; the Université Pantheon—Assas Paris II in the summer of 2002; Liberty Fund, Indianapolis, for 1998–1999; and the Heritage Foundation in the spring of 1989. He received that Matchette Award twice from the American Catholic Philosophical Association for outstanding paper by a younger scholar. Dr. Rasmussen has lectured widely throughout the United States and Europe and has directed numerous colloquia and symposia for various educational foundations. He has served on the Steering Committee of the Ayn Rand Society and is a member of the Executive Council of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.
He received the Medal for Outstanding Faculty Achievement from St. John’s University, Honors Convocation, June 1994. Recently, his co-authored book, Norms of Liberty, was the subject of a new book, Reading Rasmussen and Den Uyl: Critical Essays on "Norms of Liberty" (2008), edited by Aeon J. Skoble.
Dr. Rasmussen is currently working on two books: The Perfectionist Turn and The Illiberality of Human Capabilities Liberalism.
Associate Professor of Political Science, Brown University
John Tomasi is Associate Professor of Political Science at Brown University and Director of the Political Theory Project at Brown University. He is author of Liberalism Beyond Justice: Citizens Society and the Boundaries of Political Theory (Princeton University Press, 2001), and numerous articles.
He received his B.A. from Colby College, his M.A. from the University of Arizona (1990), and his B. Phil., D. Phil. from Oxford University (1993). He has had previous appointments at Princeton University and Stanford University. His specializations are political theory and ethics and public policy.
Liberal regimes shape the ethical outlook of their citizens, relentlessly influencing their most personal commitments over time. This fact raises pressing questions: If liberals cannot prevent the spillover of public values into nonpublic domains, how accommodating of diversity can a liberal regime actually be? To what degree can a liberal society be a home even to the people whose viewpoints it was formally designed to include?
Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Director, Classical Liberal Institute, Civitas Institute University of Texas at Austin
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, at New York University, a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas Austin, and a senior Lecturer, the University of Chicago. He received an LL.D., h.c . from the University of Ghent, 2003 , and an LLD h.c . from the University of Siegen in 2018 and the Bradley Prize in 2011. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985. He has edited both the Journal of Legal Studies (1981-1991) and the Journal of Law and Economics (1991-2001). He is also a founder and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU Law School. His most recent book is The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (2014). His other books include Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain ( 1985); Bargaining with the State (1993); Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty and the Common Good (1998); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Theory of Classical Liberalism (2003); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (2011), and most recently, The Myth of Birthright citizenship—and Beyond (2026). He has taught courses in , administrative law, antitrust, constitutional, contracts, environmental law, land use planning; real property, torts and water law. He has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics, and is writes a regular column for Defining Ideas.
Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, U.S. Chamber Of Commerce
Dr. Martin A. Regalia is senior vice president for economic and tax policy and chief economist at the United States Chamber of Commerce.
Prior to coming to the Chamber in April 1993, Regalia served as the director of research for the Savings and Community Bankers of America (SCBA). Before that, in June 1992 when the group was founded, Regalia was executive vice president of policy development and chief economist for the National Council of Community Bankers—one of SCBA’s predecessor organizations.
Regalia also served as a principal analyst in the Fiscal Analysis Division at the Congressional Budget Office, as an economist for the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System in both the Banking and Capital Markets Sections, and as a financial economist for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
In addition, he served as a consultant to the Thrift Institutions Advisory Council to the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System and was a visiting instructor at The George Washington University School of Government and Business.
Regalia appears regularly on national television news and debate programs, testifies before congressional committees, authors articles and publications on a variety of economic topics, and speaks to many groups across the country.
USA Today named Regalia one of the top 10 economists in the nation. Regalia and the other economic experts received this recognition for the accuracy of their 2008 forecasts.
Regalia has a B.A. with honors in economics from the University of Santa Clara as well as an M.A. in economics and a Ph.D. in monetary economics from the University of Wisconsin.
Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Judge Sentelle was appointed United States Circuit Judge in October 1987, served as Chief Judge from February 11, 2008 until February 11, 2013, and took senior status on February 12, 2013. He is a 1968 graduate of the University of North Carolina Law School. Following law school, he practiced with the firm of Uzzell & DuMont until he became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Charlotte, N.C. in 1970. From 1974 to 1977, he served as a North Carolina State District Judge but left the bench in 1977 to become a partner with the firm of Tucker, Hicks, Sentelle, Moon & Hodge. In 1985, Judge Sentelle joined the U.S. District Court, Western District of North Carolina, in Asheville, where he served until his appointment to the D.C. Circuit. Judge Sentelle was the Presiding Judge of the Special Division for the Purpose of Appointing Independent Counsels (1992-2006). He also served as the Chair of the U.S. Judicial Conference's Executive Committee (2010-2013). Judge Sentelle served for over 20 years as President of the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of the American Inns of Court.
Senior Legal and Policy Adviser, Office of Investment, AFL-CIO
Heather Slavkin is the Senior Legal and Policy Advisor for the AFL-CIO Office of Investment. Ms. Slavkin's work focuses on legal, regulatory and corporate governance issues that impact union- and other worker-based pension, health and savings funds. She is the lead policy advisor on financial regulatory reform for the AFL-CIO and focuses on issues related to hedge funds and private equity, derivatives, systemic risk and corporate governance. Ms. Slavkin works with legislators, political organizations, pension funds and union affiliates to build support for policies that improve investor protections and regulatory oversight. She is also the chair of the Americans for Financial Reform task force on derivatives regulation.
Prior to joining the AFL-CIO, Ms. Slavkin was Assistant Counsel at BISYS Fund Services where she provided legal services related to establishing and maintaining mutual funds, money market funds and registered hedge funds of funds. Ms. Slavkin received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law and a B.S. in journalism from the University of Florida.
Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Director, Classical Liberal Institute, Civitas Institute University of Texas at Austin
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, at New York University, a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas Austin, and a senior Lecturer, the University of Chicago. He received an LL.D., h.c . from the University of Ghent, 2003 , and an LLD h.c . from the University of Siegen in 2018 and the Bradley Prize in 2011. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985. He has edited both the Journal of Legal Studies (1981-1991) and the Journal of Law and Economics (1991-2001). He is also a founder and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU Law School. His most recent book is The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (2014). His other books include Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain ( 1985); Bargaining with the State (1993); Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty and the Common Good (1998); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Theory of Classical Liberalism (2003); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (2011), and most recently, The Myth of Birthright citizenship—and Beyond (2026). He has taught courses in , administrative law, antitrust, constitutional, contracts, environmental law, land use planning; real property, torts and water law. He has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics, and is writes a regular column for Defining Ideas.
Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, U.S. Chamber Of Commerce
Dr. Martin A. Regalia is senior vice president for economic and tax policy and chief economist at the United States Chamber of Commerce.
Prior to coming to the Chamber in April 1993, Regalia served as the director of research for the Savings and Community Bankers of America (SCBA). Before that, in June 1992 when the group was founded, Regalia was executive vice president of policy development and chief economist for the National Council of Community Bankers—one of SCBA’s predecessor organizations.
Regalia also served as a principal analyst in the Fiscal Analysis Division at the Congressional Budget Office, as an economist for the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System in both the Banking and Capital Markets Sections, and as a financial economist for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
In addition, he served as a consultant to the Thrift Institutions Advisory Council to the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System and was a visiting instructor at The George Washington University School of Government and Business.
Regalia appears regularly on national television news and debate programs, testifies before congressional committees, authors articles and publications on a variety of economic topics, and speaks to many groups across the country.
USA Today named Regalia one of the top 10 economists in the nation. Regalia and the other economic experts received this recognition for the accuracy of their 2008 forecasts.
Regalia has a B.A. with honors in economics from the University of Santa Clara as well as an M.A. in economics and a Ph.D. in monetary economics from the University of Wisconsin.
Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Judge Sentelle was appointed United States Circuit Judge in October 1987, served as Chief Judge from February 11, 2008 until February 11, 2013, and took senior status on February 12, 2013. He is a 1968 graduate of the University of North Carolina Law School. Following law school, he practiced with the firm of Uzzell & DuMont until he became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Charlotte, N.C. in 1970. From 1974 to 1977, he served as a North Carolina State District Judge but left the bench in 1977 to become a partner with the firm of Tucker, Hicks, Sentelle, Moon & Hodge. In 1985, Judge Sentelle joined the U.S. District Court, Western District of North Carolina, in Asheville, where he served until his appointment to the D.C. Circuit. Judge Sentelle was the Presiding Judge of the Special Division for the Purpose of Appointing Independent Counsels (1992-2006). He also served as the Chair of the U.S. Judicial Conference's Executive Committee (2010-2013). Judge Sentelle served for over 20 years as President of the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of the American Inns of Court.
Senior Legal and Policy Adviser, Office of Investment, AFL-CIO
Heather Slavkin is the Senior Legal and Policy Advisor for the AFL-CIO Office of Investment. Ms. Slavkin's work focuses on legal, regulatory and corporate governance issues that impact union- and other worker-based pension, health and savings funds. She is the lead policy advisor on financial regulatory reform for the AFL-CIO and focuses on issues related to hedge funds and private equity, derivatives, systemic risk and corporate governance. Ms. Slavkin works with legislators, political organizations, pension funds and union affiliates to build support for policies that improve investor protections and regulatory oversight. She is also the chair of the Americans for Financial Reform task force on derivatives regulation.
Prior to joining the AFL-CIO, Ms. Slavkin was Assistant Counsel at BISYS Fund Services where she provided legal services related to establishing and maintaining mutual funds, money market funds and registered hedge funds of funds. Ms. Slavkin received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law and a B.S. in journalism from the University of Florida.
Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Director, Classical Liberal Institute, Civitas Institute University of Texas at Austin
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, at New York University, a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas Austin, and a senior Lecturer, the University of Chicago. He received an LL.D., h.c . from the University of Ghent, 2003 , and an LLD h.c . from the University of Siegen in 2018 and the Bradley Prize in 2011. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985. He has edited both the Journal of Legal Studies (1981-1991) and the Journal of Law and Economics (1991-2001). He is also a founder and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU Law School. His most recent book is The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (2014). His other books include Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain ( 1985); Bargaining with the State (1993); Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty and the Common Good (1998); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Theory of Classical Liberalism (2003); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (2011), and most recently, The Myth of Birthright citizenship—and Beyond (2026). He has taught courses in , administrative law, antitrust, constitutional, contracts, environmental law, land use planning; real property, torts and water law. He has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics, and is writes a regular column for Defining Ideas.
Earl Warren Professor of Public Law (Emeritus), UC Berkeley School of Law
Jesse Choper served as law clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren of the U.S. Supreme Court following graduation from law school. He taught at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania from 1957 to 1960, and at the University of Minnesota Law School from 1961 to 1965. He joined the Berkeley Law faculty in 1965. Choper has been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, Fordham Law School, University of Milan, Free University in Amsterdam, Autonoma University in Barcelona, University of New South Wales in Sydney, University of Lucerne in Switzerland, and Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon and Porto. He served as Berkeley Law’s dean from 1982 to 1992.
From 1979 to 1998, Choper was one of the three major lecturers at U.S. Law Week’s Annual Constitutional Law Conference in Washington, D.C. He has delivered 20 titled lectures at major universities throughout the country, including the Cooley Lectures at Michigan, the Stevens Lecture at Cornell, the Baum Lecture at Illinois, and the Lockhart Lecture at Minnesota. He has served on the executive committee of the Association of American Law Schools, and on the executive council of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (of which he was vice president for more than ten years). He was national president of the Order of the Coif and is a member of the American Law Institute. In 1998 he received the UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award and the Rutter Award for Teaching Distinction at Berkeley Law in 2006. In 2005 the Berkeley Law Alumni Association presented Choper with the Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award and the University of Pennsylvania Law School gave him the James Wilson Award, its highest award for alumni.
Choper’s major publications include the books, Judicial Review and the National Political Process: A Functional Reconsideration of the Role of the Supreme Court, which received the Order of the Coif Triennial Book Award in 1982, and Securing Religious Liberty: Principles for Judicial Interpretation of the Religion Clauses. His recent publications include the thirteenth edition of his Constitutional Law casebooks; the eighth edition of his Corporations casebook; the second edition of The Supreme Court and Its Justices; “The Political Question Doctrine: Suggested Criteria,” in Duke Law Journal (2005); “Wartime Process: A Dialogue on Congressional Power to Remove Issues From the Federal Courts,” in California Law Review (2007) (co-author); and “Who’s Afraid of the Eleventh Amendment? The Limited Impact of the Court’s Sovereign Immunity Rulings,” in Columbia Law Review (2006) (co-author).
Partner, Crowell & Moring LLP, Crowell & Moring LLP
Trevor K. Copeland is a partner in the law firm of Crowell & Moring LLP (formerly Brinks Gilson & Lione PC).
His patent prosecution experience includes work on medical devices, sunglasses, footwear, sprinklers and irrigation equipment, decorative statuary and water gardens, biotechnology and general mechanical arts. He works closely with clients having products in these areas to develop intellectual property acquisition and management strategies, as well as to protect new ideas and products while respecting the rights of others.
Mr. Copeland's further practice includes design protection, whereby clients are able to protect the unique and valuable ornamental designs of their products using patent, copyright, and/or trademark. He has also litigated utility patents on clients' behalf, and has worked on preliminary injunction lawsuits for both design and utility patents, including winning a preliminary injunction against a foreign company preparing to launch an infringing laser-level device with a suction base.
Mr. Copeland has former experience as a high school biology and chemistry teacher, and as a visiting scientist with a Fungal Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Laboratory Group.
Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Director, Classical Liberal Institute, Civitas Institute University of Texas at Austin
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, at New York University, a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas Austin, and a senior Lecturer, the University of Chicago. He received an LL.D., h.c . from the University of Ghent, 2003 , and an LLD h.c . from the University of Siegen in 2018 and the Bradley Prize in 2011. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985. He has edited both the Journal of Legal Studies (1981-1991) and the Journal of Law and Economics (1991-2001). He is also a founder and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU Law School. His most recent book is The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (2014). His other books include Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain ( 1985); Bargaining with the State (1993); Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty and the Common Good (1998); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Theory of Classical Liberalism (2003); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (2011), and most recently, The Myth of Birthright citizenship—and Beyond (2026). He has taught courses in , administrative law, antitrust, constitutional, contracts, environmental law, land use planning; real property, torts and water law. He has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics, and is writes a regular column for Defining Ideas.
Associate Professor of Law, New York Law School
James Grimmelmann is Associate Professor at New York Law School and a member of its Institute for Information Law and Policy. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of LawMeme and a member of the Yale Law Journal. Prior to law school, he received an A.B. in computer science from Harvard College and worked as a programmer for Microsoft. He has served as a Resident Fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale, as a legal intern for Creative Commons and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and as a law clerk to the Honorable Maryanne Trump Barry of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
He studies how the law governing the creation and use of computer software affects individual freedom and the distribution of wealth and power in society. As a lawyer and technologist, he aims to help these two groups speak intelligibly to each other. He writes about intellectual property, virtual worlds, search engines, online privacy, and other topics in computer and Internet law. Recent publications include The Internet Is a Semicommons, 78 Fordham L. Rev. 2799 (2010), Saving Facebook, 94 Iowa L. Rev. 1137 (2009), and The Ethical Visions of Copyright Law, 77 Fordham L. Rev. 2005 (2009).
He has been blogging since 2000 at the Laboratorium (http://laboratorium.net/). His home page is at http://james.grimmelmann.net/.
Assistant Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School
Jonathan Masur received a BS in physics and an AB in political science from Stanford University in 1999 and his JD from Harvard Law School in 2003. After graduating from law school, he clerked for Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and for Chief Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He taught at the Law School as a Bigelow Fellow and Lecturer in Law before joining the faculty in 2007.
His research and teaching interests include administrative law, legislation, behavioral law and economics, patent law, and criminal law.
President, TechFreedom
Berin Szoka serves as President of TechFreedom. Previously, he was a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Center for Internet Freedom at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Before joining PFF, he was an Associate in the Communications Practice Group at Latham & Watkins LLP, where he advised clients on regulations affecting the Internet and telecommunications industries. Before joining Latham's Communications Practice Group, Szoka practiced at Lawler Metzger Milkman & Keeney, LLC, a boutique telecommunications law firm in Washington, and clerked for the Hon. H. Dale Cook, Senior U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Szoka received his Bachelor's degree in economics from Duke University and his juris doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as Submissions Editor of the Virginia Journal of Law and Technology. He is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and California (inactive).
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
Diane P. Wood received her BA in 1971 and her JD in 1975 from the University of Texas at Austin. After graduation, she clerked for Judge Irving L. Goldberg of the Fifth Circuit and for Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court. She then worked briefly for the U.S. State Department on international investment, antitrust, and transfer of technology issues. Moving on to Covington & Burling, Judge Wood continued a more general antitrust and commercial litigation practice until June 1980. In 1980–81, she was an assistant professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. In 1981, she joined the faculty of the Law School. She spent 1985–86 on leave as a Visiting Professor at Cornell Law School, and she was on leave during the fall quarter 1986, while she worked on the project to revise the Department of Justice Antitrust Guide for International Operations. She served as Associate Dean from 1989 through 1992. From 1993 until 1995, she was deputy assistant general in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice with responsibility for the Division's International, Appellate, and Legal Policy matters. Before becoming a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 1995, Judge Wood was the Harold J. and Marion F. Green Professor of International Legal Studies.
Judge Wood's research interests include antitrust (both international and general), federal civil procedure, and international trade and business. She has taught in all three fields.
Partner, Crowell & Moring LLP, Crowell & Moring LLP
Trevor K. Copeland is a partner in the law firm of Crowell & Moring LLP (formerly Brinks Gilson & Lione PC).
His patent prosecution experience includes work on medical devices, sunglasses, footwear, sprinklers and irrigation equipment, decorative statuary and water gardens, biotechnology and general mechanical arts. He works closely with clients having products in these areas to develop intellectual property acquisition and management strategies, as well as to protect new ideas and products while respecting the rights of others.
Mr. Copeland's further practice includes design protection, whereby clients are able to protect the unique and valuable ornamental designs of their products using patent, copyright, and/or trademark. He has also litigated utility patents on clients' behalf, and has worked on preliminary injunction lawsuits for both design and utility patents, including winning a preliminary injunction against a foreign company preparing to launch an infringing laser-level device with a suction base.
Mr. Copeland has former experience as a high school biology and chemistry teacher, and as a visiting scientist with a Fungal Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Laboratory Group.
Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Director, Classical Liberal Institute, Civitas Institute University of Texas at Austin
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, at New York University, a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas Austin, and a senior Lecturer, the University of Chicago. He received an LL.D., h.c . from the University of Ghent, 2003 , and an LLD h.c . from the University of Siegen in 2018 and the Bradley Prize in 2011. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985. He has edited both the Journal of Legal Studies (1981-1991) and the Journal of Law and Economics (1991-2001). He is also a founder and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU Law School. His most recent book is The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (2014). His other books include Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain ( 1985); Bargaining with the State (1993); Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty and the Common Good (1998); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Theory of Classical Liberalism (2003); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (2011), and most recently, The Myth of Birthright citizenship—and Beyond (2026). He has taught courses in , administrative law, antitrust, constitutional, contracts, environmental law, land use planning; real property, torts and water law. He has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics, and is writes a regular column for Defining Ideas.
Associate Professor of Law, New York Law School
James Grimmelmann is Associate Professor at New York Law School and a member of its Institute for Information Law and Policy. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of LawMeme and a member of the Yale Law Journal. Prior to law school, he received an A.B. in computer science from Harvard College and worked as a programmer for Microsoft. He has served as a Resident Fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale, as a legal intern for Creative Commons and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and as a law clerk to the Honorable Maryanne Trump Barry of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
He studies how the law governing the creation and use of computer software affects individual freedom and the distribution of wealth and power in society. As a lawyer and technologist, he aims to help these two groups speak intelligibly to each other. He writes about intellectual property, virtual worlds, search engines, online privacy, and other topics in computer and Internet law. Recent publications include The Internet Is a Semicommons, 78 Fordham L. Rev. 2799 (2010), Saving Facebook, 94 Iowa L. Rev. 1137 (2009), and The Ethical Visions of Copyright Law, 77 Fordham L. Rev. 2005 (2009).
He has been blogging since 2000 at the Laboratorium (http://laboratorium.net/). His home page is at http://james.grimmelmann.net/.
Assistant Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School
Jonathan Masur received a BS in physics and an AB in political science from Stanford University in 1999 and his JD from Harvard Law School in 2003. After graduating from law school, he clerked for Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and for Chief Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He taught at the Law School as a Bigelow Fellow and Lecturer in Law before joining the faculty in 2007.
His research and teaching interests include administrative law, legislation, behavioral law and economics, patent law, and criminal law.
President, TechFreedom
Berin Szoka serves as President of TechFreedom. Previously, he was a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Center for Internet Freedom at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Before joining PFF, he was an Associate in the Communications Practice Group at Latham & Watkins LLP, where he advised clients on regulations affecting the Internet and telecommunications industries. Before joining Latham's Communications Practice Group, Szoka practiced at Lawler Metzger Milkman & Keeney, LLC, a boutique telecommunications law firm in Washington, and clerked for the Hon. H. Dale Cook, Senior U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Szoka received his Bachelor's degree in economics from Duke University and his juris doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as Submissions Editor of the Virginia Journal of Law and Technology. He is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and California (inactive).
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
Diane P. Wood received her BA in 1971 and her JD in 1975 from the University of Texas at Austin. After graduation, she clerked for Judge Irving L. Goldberg of the Fifth Circuit and for Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court. She then worked briefly for the U.S. State Department on international investment, antitrust, and transfer of technology issues. Moving on to Covington & Burling, Judge Wood continued a more general antitrust and commercial litigation practice until June 1980. In 1980–81, she was an assistant professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. In 1981, she joined the faculty of the Law School. She spent 1985–86 on leave as a Visiting Professor at Cornell Law School, and she was on leave during the fall quarter 1986, while she worked on the project to revise the Department of Justice Antitrust Guide for International Operations. She served as Associate Dean from 1989 through 1992. From 1993 until 1995, she was deputy assistant general in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice with responsibility for the Division's International, Appellate, and Legal Policy matters. Before becoming a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 1995, Judge Wood was the Harold J. and Marion F. Green Professor of International Legal Studies.
Judge Wood's research interests include antitrust (both international and general), federal civil procedure, and international trade and business. She has taught in all three fields.
Earl Warren Professor of Public Law (Emeritus), UC Berkeley School of Law
Jesse Choper served as law clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren of the U.S. Supreme Court following graduation from law school. He taught at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania from 1957 to 1960, and at the University of Minnesota Law School from 1961 to 1965. He joined the Berkeley Law faculty in 1965. Choper has been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, Fordham Law School, University of Milan, Free University in Amsterdam, Autonoma University in Barcelona, University of New South Wales in Sydney, University of Lucerne in Switzerland, and Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon and Porto. He served as Berkeley Law’s dean from 1982 to 1992.
From 1979 to 1998, Choper was one of the three major lecturers at U.S. Law Week’s Annual Constitutional Law Conference in Washington, D.C. He has delivered 20 titled lectures at major universities throughout the country, including the Cooley Lectures at Michigan, the Stevens Lecture at Cornell, the Baum Lecture at Illinois, and the Lockhart Lecture at Minnesota. He has served on the executive committee of the Association of American Law Schools, and on the executive council of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (of which he was vice president for more than ten years). He was national president of the Order of the Coif and is a member of the American Law Institute. In 1998 he received the UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award and the Rutter Award for Teaching Distinction at Berkeley Law in 2006. In 2005 the Berkeley Law Alumni Association presented Choper with the Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award and the University of Pennsylvania Law School gave him the James Wilson Award, its highest award for alumni.
Choper’s major publications include the books, Judicial Review and the National Political Process: A Functional Reconsideration of the Role of the Supreme Court, which received the Order of the Coif Triennial Book Award in 1982, and Securing Religious Liberty: Principles for Judicial Interpretation of the Religion Clauses. His recent publications include the thirteenth edition of his Constitutional Law casebooks; the eighth edition of his Corporations casebook; the second edition of The Supreme Court and Its Justices; “The Political Question Doctrine: Suggested Criteria,” in Duke Law Journal (2005); “Wartime Process: A Dialogue on Congressional Power to Remove Issues From the Federal Courts,” in California Law Review (2007) (co-author); and “Who’s Afraid of the Eleventh Amendment? The Limited Impact of the Court’s Sovereign Immunity Rulings,” in Columbia Law Review (2006) (co-author).
Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Director, Classical Liberal Institute, Civitas Institute University of Texas at Austin
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, at New York University, a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas Austin, and a senior Lecturer, the University of Chicago. He received an LL.D., h.c . from the University of Ghent, 2003 , and an LLD h.c . from the University of Siegen in 2018 and the Bradley Prize in 2011. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985. He has edited both the Journal of Legal Studies (1981-1991) and the Journal of Law and Economics (1991-2001). He is also a founder and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU Law School. His most recent book is The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (2014). His other books include Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain ( 1985); Bargaining with the State (1993); Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty and the Common Good (1998); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Theory of Classical Liberalism (2003); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (2011), and most recently, The Myth of Birthright citizenship—and Beyond (2026). He has taught courses in , administrative law, antitrust, constitutional, contracts, environmental law, land use planning; real property, torts and water law. He has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics, and is writes a regular column for Defining Ideas.
Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Director, Classical Liberal Institute, Civitas Institute University of Texas at Austin
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, at New York University, a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas Austin, and a senior Lecturer, the University of Chicago. He received an LL.D., h.c . from the University of Ghent, 2003 , and an LLD h.c . from the University of Siegen in 2018 and the Bradley Prize in 2011. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985. He has edited both the Journal of Legal Studies (1981-1991) and the Journal of Law and Economics (1991-2001). He is also a founder and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU Law School. His most recent book is The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (2014). His other books include Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain ( 1985); Bargaining with the State (1993); Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty and the Common Good (1998); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Theory of Classical Liberalism (2003); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (2011), and most recently, The Myth of Birthright citizenship—and Beyond (2026). He has taught courses in , administrative law, antitrust, constitutional, contracts, environmental law, land use planning; real property, torts and water law. He has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics, and is writes a regular column for Defining Ideas.
Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
William H. Rehnquist Professor of Law, Pepperdine University School of Law
Professor Nelson joined the Pepperdine faculty in 2007 as the William H. Rehnquist Professor of Law. Before coming to Pepperdine, Professor Nelson was on the faculty at UCLA School of Law since 1991 and taught Real Estate Finance, Advanced Real Estate Transactions, Property, Land Use Regulation, and Remedies. He was the recipient of the UCLA School of Law's Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2000 and the UCLA University's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2002. UCLA Law graduates selected him as "Professor of the Year" in 2004, 2005 and 2007.
He was the co-reporter for the American Law Institute's Restatement of Property (Third)--Mortgages (1997), served on the Law School Editorial Advisory Board of the West Publishing Company, and as a commissioner of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.
While in law school, Professor Nelson was an editor on the Minnesota Law Review. After serving as an officer in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era, he practiced real estate finance at Faegre and Benson, a large Minneapolis law firm. He taught at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law for twenty-four years, where he was the Enoch H. Crowder & Earl F. Nelson Professor of Law and was elected Outstanding Professor by three classes. He was also Professor of the Year at two other law schools where he was visiting.
Professor Nelson has published many books and articles on real estate finance law, property, and remedies, the most recent of which include: Real Estate Finance Law(with Dale A. Whitman), 5th ed. West Publishing (2007); Contemporary Property (with W. Stoebuck and Dale A. Whitman), 3rd ed. West Publishing (2008); and Real Estate Transfer, Finance and Development (with Dale A. Whitman, Ann Burkhart & Wilson Freyermuth), 8th ed. West Group (2009).
DeMuth Chair of Business Law, University of Colorado Law School
Andrew A. Schwartz joined the Colorado Law faculty in 2008 and was promoted to full professor in 2017. He teaches and publishes on corporate, securities and contract law, and has become an internationally recognized expert on investment crowdfunding. In 2017, Professor Schwartz served as a Fulbright Research Scholar and visiting professor at the University of Auckland Law School in New Zealand.
Professor Schwartz earned an Sc.B. in Civil Engineering from Brown University and a J.D. from Columbia University, where he served on the Columbia Law Review and was named a James Kent Scholar (top honors) all three years. Before entering academia, he clerked for Judge William A. Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Following his clerkships, Professor Schwartz practiced corporate law in New York at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Professor Schwartz is the author of one book, Investment Crowdfunding, forthcoming from the Oxford University Press, as well as more than forty scholarly publications. His major articles have appeared in leading flagship law reviews including the UCLA Law Review, Minnesota Law Review, and Notre Dame Law Review, top specialty journals such as the Yale Journal on Regulation and Harvard Business Law Review, and peer-reviewed journals like the New Zealand Law Review.
Professor Schwartz has won numerous national awards for his scholarship, including the AALS Scholarly Paper Competition and the Federalist Society Young Legal Scholars Paper Competition. At Colorado Law, Professor Schwartz has received the Provost's Award for Faculty Achievement, the Gilbert Goldstein Faculty Fellowship, and the Outstanding New Faculty Award. His research is frequently cited and relied upon by courts and commentators across the country and around the world, including numerous citations by the Delaware Court of Chancery, the nation's leading venue for corporate law.
Professor of Law, Brigham Young University
Professor Paul Stancil joined the Brigham Young University law faculty in 2014. Prior to this, Professor Stancil was a professor at Illinois University College of Law and a shareholder at Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. (Milwaukee), where his practice focused on antitrust and trade regulation matters. Professor Stancil teaches Antitrust Law, Civil Procedure, Public Choice Theory, and Mergers & Acquisitions.
Professor Stancil has broad research interests in law and economics, antitrust law, civil procedure, and public choice theory. He specializes in analyzing the complex incentives that motivate individuals and groups in both the creation and application of law. Professor Stancil has written on the legitimacy of statutory interpretation by courts and the economic incentives facing parties in civil and criminal litigation; he has also written articles exploring the influence of interest groups in various aspects of the political process. Professor Stancil’s research strives to connect a rich theoretical account of law and lawmaking with the complex and often messy dynamics of the real world. He is particularly interested in the role transaction costs play in motivating real-world individual and group behavior.
Professor Stancil’s articles have appeared in the Virginia Law Review, the William & Mary Law Review, the Cardozo Law Review, and the Baylor Law Review, among others.
Professor Stancil earned his B.A. in economics and Spanish from the University of Virginia and graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Virginia School of Law. After law school graduation, Professor Stancil worked for Baker Botts (Houston) and another small Texas firm as an antitrust and litigation associate before leaving to help start an antitrust practice group at Godfrey & Kahn.
Visiting Professor, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Robert E. Wagner is a Visiting Professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Before his appointment, Professor Wagner served as a member of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps of the U.S. Air Force for five years. He last held the position of Chief of Military Justice of the Little Rock Air Force Base and was in charge of all the criminal prosecutions on the base. He currently teaches Criminal Procedure, Business Associations, and the White Collar Crime research seminar. His scholarship has appeared in the University of Cincinnati Law Review and Nexus: Chapman's Journal of Law and Policy (symposium edition).
Assistant Professor of Law, University of Wisconsin Law School
Professor Yackee's research centers on international investment law, international economic relations, foreign arbitration, and administrative law and politics. He teaches Contracts, International Investment Law, International Arbitration, and International Business Transactions.
Professor Yackee graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa fromUniversity of Pittsburgh, earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science (International Relations) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and earned a J.D., summa cum laude and Order of the Coif, from Duke University School of Law where he was an editor for the Duke Law Journal. He has also studied French and European law at L'Universite Pantheon-Assas (Paris-2).
Professor Yackee has published articles in a variety of peer-reviewed social science journals, student-edited law reviews, and edited volumes, including volumes published by the Cambridge and Oxford University Presses. His latest article,"Do Bilateral Investment Treaties Promote Foreign Direct Investment? Some Hints from Alternative Evidence?", is forthcoming in the Virginia Journal of International Law, one of the most influential student-edited law reviews in its field.
Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Director, Classical Liberal Institute, Civitas Institute University of Texas at Austin
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, at New York University, a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas Austin, and a senior Lecturer, the University of Chicago. He received an LL.D., h.c . from the University of Ghent, 2003 , and an LLD h.c . from the University of Siegen in 2018 and the Bradley Prize in 2011. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985. He has edited both the Journal of Legal Studies (1981-1991) and the Journal of Law and Economics (1991-2001). He is also a founder and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU Law School. His most recent book is The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (2014). His other books include Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain ( 1985); Bargaining with the State (1993); Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty and the Common Good (1998); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Theory of Classical Liberalism (2003); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (2011), and most recently, The Myth of Birthright citizenship—and Beyond (2026). He has taught courses in , administrative law, antitrust, constitutional, contracts, environmental law, land use planning; real property, torts and water law. He has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics, and is writes a regular column for Defining Ideas.
Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
William H. Rehnquist Professor of Law, Pepperdine University School of Law
Professor Nelson joined the Pepperdine faculty in 2007 as the William H. Rehnquist Professor of Law. Before coming to Pepperdine, Professor Nelson was on the faculty at UCLA School of Law since 1991 and taught Real Estate Finance, Advanced Real Estate Transactions, Property, Land Use Regulation, and Remedies. He was the recipient of the UCLA School of Law's Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2000 and the UCLA University's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2002. UCLA Law graduates selected him as "Professor of the Year" in 2004, 2005 and 2007.
He was the co-reporter for the American Law Institute's Restatement of Property (Third)--Mortgages (1997), served on the Law School Editorial Advisory Board of the West Publishing Company, and as a commissioner of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.
While in law school, Professor Nelson was an editor on the Minnesota Law Review. After serving as an officer in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era, he practiced real estate finance at Faegre and Benson, a large Minneapolis law firm. He taught at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law for twenty-four years, where he was the Enoch H. Crowder & Earl F. Nelson Professor of Law and was elected Outstanding Professor by three classes. He was also Professor of the Year at two other law schools where he was visiting.
Professor Nelson has published many books and articles on real estate finance law, property, and remedies, the most recent of which include: Real Estate Finance Law(with Dale A. Whitman), 5th ed. West Publishing (2007); Contemporary Property (with W. Stoebuck and Dale A. Whitman), 3rd ed. West Publishing (2008); and Real Estate Transfer, Finance and Development (with Dale A. Whitman, Ann Burkhart & Wilson Freyermuth), 8th ed. West Group (2009).
DeMuth Chair of Business Law, University of Colorado Law School
Andrew A. Schwartz joined the Colorado Law faculty in 2008 and was promoted to full professor in 2017. He teaches and publishes on corporate, securities and contract law, and has become an internationally recognized expert on investment crowdfunding. In 2017, Professor Schwartz served as a Fulbright Research Scholar and visiting professor at the University of Auckland Law School in New Zealand.
Professor Schwartz earned an Sc.B. in Civil Engineering from Brown University and a J.D. from Columbia University, where he served on the Columbia Law Review and was named a James Kent Scholar (top honors) all three years. Before entering academia, he clerked for Judge William A. Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Following his clerkships, Professor Schwartz practiced corporate law in New York at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Professor Schwartz is the author of one book, Investment Crowdfunding, forthcoming from the Oxford University Press, as well as more than forty scholarly publications. His major articles have appeared in leading flagship law reviews including the UCLA Law Review, Minnesota Law Review, and Notre Dame Law Review, top specialty journals such as the Yale Journal on Regulation and Harvard Business Law Review, and peer-reviewed journals like the New Zealand Law Review.
Professor Schwartz has won numerous national awards for his scholarship, including the AALS Scholarly Paper Competition and the Federalist Society Young Legal Scholars Paper Competition. At Colorado Law, Professor Schwartz has received the Provost's Award for Faculty Achievement, the Gilbert Goldstein Faculty Fellowship, and the Outstanding New Faculty Award. His research is frequently cited and relied upon by courts and commentators across the country and around the world, including numerous citations by the Delaware Court of Chancery, the nation's leading venue for corporate law.
Professor of Law, Brigham Young University
Professor Paul Stancil joined the Brigham Young University law faculty in 2014. Prior to this, Professor Stancil was a professor at Illinois University College of Law and a shareholder at Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. (Milwaukee), where his practice focused on antitrust and trade regulation matters. Professor Stancil teaches Antitrust Law, Civil Procedure, Public Choice Theory, and Mergers & Acquisitions.
Professor Stancil has broad research interests in law and economics, antitrust law, civil procedure, and public choice theory. He specializes in analyzing the complex incentives that motivate individuals and groups in both the creation and application of law. Professor Stancil has written on the legitimacy of statutory interpretation by courts and the economic incentives facing parties in civil and criminal litigation; he has also written articles exploring the influence of interest groups in various aspects of the political process. Professor Stancil’s research strives to connect a rich theoretical account of law and lawmaking with the complex and often messy dynamics of the real world. He is particularly interested in the role transaction costs play in motivating real-world individual and group behavior.
Professor Stancil’s articles have appeared in the Virginia Law Review, the William & Mary Law Review, the Cardozo Law Review, and the Baylor Law Review, among others.
Professor Stancil earned his B.A. in economics and Spanish from the University of Virginia and graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Virginia School of Law. After law school graduation, Professor Stancil worked for Baker Botts (Houston) and another small Texas firm as an antitrust and litigation associate before leaving to help start an antitrust practice group at Godfrey & Kahn.
Visiting Professor, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Robert E. Wagner is a Visiting Professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Before his appointment, Professor Wagner served as a member of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps of the U.S. Air Force for five years. He last held the position of Chief of Military Justice of the Little Rock Air Force Base and was in charge of all the criminal prosecutions on the base. He currently teaches Criminal Procedure, Business Associations, and the White Collar Crime research seminar. His scholarship has appeared in the University of Cincinnati Law Review and Nexus: Chapman's Journal of Law and Policy (symposium edition).
Assistant Professor of Law, University of Wisconsin Law School
Professor Yackee's research centers on international investment law, international economic relations, foreign arbitration, and administrative law and politics. He teaches Contracts, International Investment Law, International Arbitration, and International Business Transactions.
Professor Yackee graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa fromUniversity of Pittsburgh, earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science (International Relations) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and earned a J.D., summa cum laude and Order of the Coif, from Duke University School of Law where he was an editor for the Duke Law Journal. He has also studied French and European law at L'Universite Pantheon-Assas (Paris-2).
Professor Yackee has published articles in a variety of peer-reviewed social science journals, student-edited law reviews, and edited volumes, including volumes published by the Cambridge and Oxford University Presses. His latest article,"Do Bilateral Investment Treaties Promote Foreign Direct Investment? Some Hints from Alternative Evidence?", is forthcoming in the Virginia Journal of International Law, one of the most influential student-edited law reviews in its field.
Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Director, Classical Liberal Institute, Civitas Institute University of Texas at Austin
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, at New York University, a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas Austin, and a senior Lecturer, the University of Chicago. He received an LL.D., h.c . from the University of Ghent, 2003 , and an LLD h.c . from the University of Siegen in 2018 and the Bradley Prize in 2011. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985. He has edited both the Journal of Legal Studies (1981-1991) and the Journal of Law and Economics (1991-2001). He is also a founder and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU Law School. His most recent book is The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (2014). His other books include Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain ( 1985); Bargaining with the State (1993); Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty and the Common Good (1998); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Theory of Classical Liberalism (2003); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (2011), and most recently, The Myth of Birthright citizenship—and Beyond (2026). He has taught courses in , administrative law, antitrust, constitutional, contracts, environmental law, land use planning; real property, torts and water law. He has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics, and is writes a regular column for Defining Ideas.
Showcase Panel II: Political Philosophy and Classical Liberalism Roundtable
Richard A. Epstein, Sandra Segal Ikuta, Andrew Koppelman, Leonard A. Leo, Michael W. McConnell, John O. McGinnis, Paul Rahe, Douglas B. Rasmussen, John Tomasi
2011 National Lawyers Convention
This year, two books are being published defending classical liberalism: one by Richard Epstein and...
Corporations: Deficit Reduction and the Role of the Federal Government in Regulating Business
Richard A. Epstein, Martin A. Regalia, David B. Sentelle, Heather L. Slavkin
2011 National Lawyers Convention
The Corporations, Securities & Antitrust Practice Group hosted this panel on "Deficit Reduction and the...
Corporations: Deficit Reduction and the Role of the Federal Government in Regulating Business
Richard A. Epstein, Martin A. Regalia, David B. Sentelle, Heather L. Slavkin
2011 National Lawyers Convention
The Corporations, Securities & Antitrust Practice Group hosted this panel on "Deficit Reduction and the...
The Constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Richard A. Epstein, Jesse H. Choper
Engage Volume 12, Issue 2, September 2011
The topic of the discussion between Professor Jesse Choper and myself is the Commerce Clause...
The First Amendment Online: Search, Privacy & Personalization
Trevor K. Copeland, Richard A. Epstein, James Grimmelmann, Jonathan Masur, Berin Szóka, Diane P. Wood
The Chicago Lawyers Chapter and the Corporations, Securities and Antitrust, Intellectual Property and Telecommunications Practice Groups
Congress is aflutter with online privacy bills, while arguments for regulating search engines, social networks...
The First Amendment Online: Search, Privacy & Personalization
Trevor K. Copeland, Richard A. Epstein, James Grimmelmann, Jonathan Masur, Berin Szóka, Diane P. Wood
The Chicago Lawyers Chapter and the Corporations, Securities and Antitrust, Intellectual Property and Telecommunications Practice Groups
Congress is aflutter with online privacy bills, while arguments for regulating search engines, social networks...
Debate on Obamacare
Jesse H. Choper, Richard A. Epstein
California-Berkeley Student Chapter
On March 10, 2011, the California-Berkeley Student Chapter hosted this debate on Obamacare between Prof. Richard Epstein of NYU School...
Young Legal Scholars Paper Presentations
Richard A. Epstein, Rebecca Kysar, Grant S. Nelson, Andrew A. Schwartz, Paul J. Stancil, Robert Wagner, Jason Yackee
13th Annual Faculty Conference
Prof. Rebecca Kysar, Brooklyn Law School, "Lasting Legislation" Prof. Andrew Schwartz, University of Colorado Law...
Young Legal Scholars Paper Presentations
Richard A. Epstein, Rebecca Kysar, Grant S. Nelson, Andrew A. Schwartz, Paul J. Stancil, Robert Wagner, Jason Yackee
13th Annual Faculty Conference
Prof. Rebecca Kysar, Brooklyn Law School, "Lasting Legislation" Prof. Andrew Schwartz, University of Colorado Law...
The Spurious Constitutional Distinction Between Takings and Regulation
Richard A. Epstein
Engage Volume 11, Issue 3, December 2010
The major question that I shall address in this short talk concerns a fundamental fault...