Assistant Professor, Florida Coastal School of Law
Professor Rod Sullivan practiced maritime law for 25 years before joining the faculty at Florida Coastal School of Law and is a Board Certified specialist in Admiralty and Maritime Law. During his years of practice he tried over 100 jury and non-jury cases in both federal and state courts in Florida and Georgia.
Professor Sulivan regularly teaches Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Admiralty and Maritime Law, and the global Climate Change Seminar.
Professor Sullivan successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of Edgar Townsend in the case of Atlantic Sounding, Inc. v. Townsend, 129 S. Ct. 2561 (2009). In a 5-4 decision written by Justice Clarence Thomas the Supreme Court decided that a seaman who was wrongfully denied medical care by his employer could seek punitive damages.
Professor Sullivan appeared as counsel for certain voters in Nassau County, Florida in the 2000 Presidential Election recount case in Tallahassee, Florida which came to be known as Bush v. Gore. He also served in the Merchant Marine Ready Reserve program of the U. S. Naval Reserve, earning the rank of Lieutenant.
Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law (Retired)
Gail Heriot is a recently retired law professor from the University of San Diego. She also served as a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 2007 to 2025. She is also the chairman of the board of the American Civil Rights Project and the chair emerita of the Civil Rights practice group at the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy.
Professor Heriot is a prolific writer in the area of civil rights. She is the author of many law review articles. She is also the editor (along with Maimon Schwarzschild) of the 2021 anthology, A Dubious Expediency: How Race Preferences Damage Higher Education. Her upcoming book is entitled, Why We Walk on Eggshell: How Our Civil Rights Laws Helped Bring About the Woke Era—And the Trump Era, Too.
Her writings for a general audience have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the National Review and many other newspapers and magazines.
In 1996, she co-chaired the successful “Yes on Proposition 209” campaign, which amended the California Constitution to prohibit state-sponsored discrimination or preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin. In 2020, she co-chaired the “No on Proposition 16” campaign, which successfully prevented Proposition 209’s repeal.
Deputy District Attorney, Philadelphia District Attorney's Office
Ronald Eisenberg heads the Law Division of the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. The 60 lawyers in the division handle appeals, habeas corpus and civil litigation, and legislative matters. Mr. Eisenberg has appeared at all levels of the state and federal court system, and has argued several cases in the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Eisenberg is a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Investigating Grand Jury Task Force and the Advisory Committee for the Pennsylvania Suggested Standard Criminal Jury Instructions. He has represented his office on the Pennsylvania Advisory Committee on Wrongful Convictions, was an adjunct professor at Temple University School of Law, teaching legal writing and research, and has served on the Pennsylvania Criminal Rules and Appellate Rules Committees. He is a past president and current board member of the Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation, a national organization of capital prosecutors.
Mr. Eisenberg received his bachelor's degree from Haverford College in 1978 and his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1981.
J.D., University of Pennsylvania
B.A., Haverford College
Director, Independent Women's Law Center, Independent Women's
Jennifer C. Braceras, a member of the Federalist Society Board of Visitors, is the director of Independent Women’s Law Center and a former member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Ms. Braceras is a graduate of the Harvard Law School, where she served as an editor of the Law Review. After law school, she clerked for two federal judges and practiced labor and employment law with the Boston law firm Ropes & Gray.
A long time political columnist and editor, Ms. Braceras's writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, the Hill, and National Review Online. She co-hosts At the Bar, a bimonthly virtual happy hour discussion about issues at the intersection of law, politics, and culture.
Vice President for Education and Employment, National Women's Law Center
Founder and Co-President Emerita, National Women's Law Center
Described as "guiding the battles of the women's rights movement" by the New York Times, Marcia Greenberger is the founder and Co-President of the National Women's Law Center. The creation of the Center forty years ago established her as the first full-time women's rights legal advocate in Washington, D.C.
A recognized expert on women and the law, particularly in the areas of education and employment, health and reproductive rights, and family economic security, Ms. Greenberger has been a leader in securing the passage of major legislation, counsel in landmark litigation establishing new legal protections for women, and the author of numerous published articles. Examples include the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 providing critical protections against sexual harassment on the job, and Supreme Court victories strengthening protections for students and teachers against sex discrimination in schools.
Her leadership and contributions are reflected in the professional honors she has received and the numerous boards on which she has served. She has been given the James Wilson Award and the Alumni Award of Merit from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women "Beacon" Leadership Award, the American Bar Association Margaret Brent Award for 2012, the National Association of Women Lawyers' Arabella Babb Mansfield Award, and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Lafayette College as well as the Woman Lawyer of the Year Award by the D.C. Women's Bar Association and the William J. Brennan, Jr. Award by the District of Columbia Bar. Additionally, she has been recognized by Working Woman Magazine as one of the 25 heroines whose activities over 25 years have helped women in the workplace, by Washingtonian Magazine as one of Washington, D.C.'s most powerful women, by Legal Times as a "Top Lawyer" and one of its "30 Champions", and by Legal Times and The National Law Journal as one of "Washington's Most Influential Women Lawyers." She has received the Dr. Jane Evans Pursuit of Justice Award from Women of Reform Judaism, A Woman of Genius Award from Trinity College, the "21 Leaders of the 21st Century" Award from Womens eNews, and the Woman of Distinction Award from Soroptimist International of the Americas. She was elected to the Court of Honor of the Philadelphia High School for Girls, received the Hope Award from Calvary Women's Shelter and awards from the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association and the Center for Law and Social Policy. She received a Presidential appointment to the National Skill Standards Board, and currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
Ms. Greenberger received her B.A. with honors and J.D. cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. She practiced law with the Washington, D.C., firm of Caplin and Drysdale before she started and became Director of the Women's Rights Project of the Center for Law and Social Policy, which became the National Women's Law Center in 1981.
President, Committee for Justice
Curt Levey is President of the Committee For Justice, an organization devoted to advancing constitutionally limited government and individual liberty. He is a veteran of Supreme Court and other judicial confirmation battles and serves on the executive committee of the Federalist Society's Civil Rights Practice Group.
After graduating Harvard Law School with honors and clerking for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Mr. Levey served as Director of Legal & Public Affairs at the Center for Individual Rights (CIR). There he worked on landmark Supreme Court cases, including the University of Michigan affirmative action cases and the successful constitutional challenge to the Violence Against Women Act. After CIR, Mr. Levey headed the Title IX policy group at the U.S. Department of Education.
Before attending law school, Mr. Levey earned an M.S. and B.A. in computer science from Brown University and worked in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). He invented a new type of AI technology, for which he wrote a successful patent application.
Executive Director, Independent Women's Forum
Sabrina L. Schaeffer is the managing partner of Evolving Strategies. Prior to launching Evolving Strategies, Sabrina worked in numerous communications positions. She served as the speechwriter for Senator George Voinovich of Ohio, the Director of Media Relations and Public Affairs at the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington, DC, where she frequently served as a spokeswoman for the organization, and a member of the communications team for Bob McEwen's primary campaign in Ohio's second district. As a Communications Associate at the White House Writers Group, Sabrina worked extensively on designing and orchestrating projects for a range of intellectual, government, and corporate clients on issues including energy policy, transportation policy, and telecommunication deregulation. While working for the White House Writers Group, she also acted as a liaison at the U.S. Department of Labor, where she helped launch "The Skilled Trades Initiative." Sabrina began her career in Washington as an assistant to former United Nations Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick at the American Enterprise Institute. She has commented on politics and political culture in publications such as Forbes, The Weekly Standard, The Washington Times, Foxnews.com, Philanthropy Magazine, National Review Online, Doublethink, Policy Review, Tech Central Station, and American Enterprise Online as well as on NBC, MSNBC, Fox News Channel and radio stations across the country. Sabrina received her M.A. in Politics from the University of Virginia, where she focused on media effects and political behavior. Her thesis utilized data from a survey experiment to explore how different message frames regarding social security reform impacted public opinion. Sabrina also earned an M.A. in American History also at UVA. Sabrina currently lives in Arlington, VA with her husband Adam and their three energetic children.
Director, Independent Women's Law Center, Independent Women's
Jennifer C. Braceras, a member of the Federalist Society Board of Visitors, is the director of Independent Women’s Law Center and a former member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Ms. Braceras is a graduate of the Harvard Law School, where she served as an editor of the Law Review. After law school, she clerked for two federal judges and practiced labor and employment law with the Boston law firm Ropes & Gray.
A long time political columnist and editor, Ms. Braceras's writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, the Hill, and National Review Online. She co-hosts At the Bar, a bimonthly virtual happy hour discussion about issues at the intersection of law, politics, and culture.
Vice President for Education and Employment, National Women's Law Center
Founder and Co-President Emerita, National Women's Law Center
Described as "guiding the battles of the women's rights movement" by the New York Times, Marcia Greenberger is the founder and Co-President of the National Women's Law Center. The creation of the Center forty years ago established her as the first full-time women's rights legal advocate in Washington, D.C.
A recognized expert on women and the law, particularly in the areas of education and employment, health and reproductive rights, and family economic security, Ms. Greenberger has been a leader in securing the passage of major legislation, counsel in landmark litigation establishing new legal protections for women, and the author of numerous published articles. Examples include the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 providing critical protections against sexual harassment on the job, and Supreme Court victories strengthening protections for students and teachers against sex discrimination in schools.
Her leadership and contributions are reflected in the professional honors she has received and the numerous boards on which she has served. She has been given the James Wilson Award and the Alumni Award of Merit from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women "Beacon" Leadership Award, the American Bar Association Margaret Brent Award for 2012, the National Association of Women Lawyers' Arabella Babb Mansfield Award, and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Lafayette College as well as the Woman Lawyer of the Year Award by the D.C. Women's Bar Association and the William J. Brennan, Jr. Award by the District of Columbia Bar. Additionally, she has been recognized by Working Woman Magazine as one of the 25 heroines whose activities over 25 years have helped women in the workplace, by Washingtonian Magazine as one of Washington, D.C.'s most powerful women, by Legal Times as a "Top Lawyer" and one of its "30 Champions", and by Legal Times and The National Law Journal as one of "Washington's Most Influential Women Lawyers." She has received the Dr. Jane Evans Pursuit of Justice Award from Women of Reform Judaism, A Woman of Genius Award from Trinity College, the "21 Leaders of the 21st Century" Award from Womens eNews, and the Woman of Distinction Award from Soroptimist International of the Americas. She was elected to the Court of Honor of the Philadelphia High School for Girls, received the Hope Award from Calvary Women's Shelter and awards from the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association and the Center for Law and Social Policy. She received a Presidential appointment to the National Skill Standards Board, and currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
Ms. Greenberger received her B.A. with honors and J.D. cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. She practiced law with the Washington, D.C., firm of Caplin and Drysdale before she started and became Director of the Women's Rights Project of the Center for Law and Social Policy, which became the National Women's Law Center in 1981.
President, Committee for Justice
Curt Levey is President of the Committee For Justice, an organization devoted to advancing constitutionally limited government and individual liberty. He is a veteran of Supreme Court and other judicial confirmation battles and serves on the executive committee of the Federalist Society's Civil Rights Practice Group.
After graduating Harvard Law School with honors and clerking for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Mr. Levey served as Director of Legal & Public Affairs at the Center for Individual Rights (CIR). There he worked on landmark Supreme Court cases, including the University of Michigan affirmative action cases and the successful constitutional challenge to the Violence Against Women Act. After CIR, Mr. Levey headed the Title IX policy group at the U.S. Department of Education.
Before attending law school, Mr. Levey earned an M.S. and B.A. in computer science from Brown University and worked in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). He invented a new type of AI technology, for which he wrote a successful patent application.
Executive Director, Independent Women's Forum
Sabrina L. Schaeffer is the managing partner of Evolving Strategies. Prior to launching Evolving Strategies, Sabrina worked in numerous communications positions. She served as the speechwriter for Senator George Voinovich of Ohio, the Director of Media Relations and Public Affairs at the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington, DC, where she frequently served as a spokeswoman for the organization, and a member of the communications team for Bob McEwen's primary campaign in Ohio's second district. As a Communications Associate at the White House Writers Group, Sabrina worked extensively on designing and orchestrating projects for a range of intellectual, government, and corporate clients on issues including energy policy, transportation policy, and telecommunication deregulation. While working for the White House Writers Group, she also acted as a liaison at the U.S. Department of Labor, where she helped launch "The Skilled Trades Initiative." Sabrina began her career in Washington as an assistant to former United Nations Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick at the American Enterprise Institute. She has commented on politics and political culture in publications such as Forbes, The Weekly Standard, The Washington Times, Foxnews.com, Philanthropy Magazine, National Review Online, Doublethink, Policy Review, Tech Central Station, and American Enterprise Online as well as on NBC, MSNBC, Fox News Channel and radio stations across the country. Sabrina received her M.A. in Politics from the University of Virginia, where she focused on media effects and political behavior. Her thesis utilized data from a survey experiment to explore how different message frames regarding social security reform impacted public opinion. Sabrina also earned an M.A. in American History also at UVA. Sabrina currently lives in Arlington, VA with her husband Adam and their three energetic children.
Former Secretary; U.S. Department of Labor
Rene Alexander Acosta is an American attorney and politician, who served as the 27th United States Secretary of Labor from 2017 to 2019.
Secretary Acosta is the son of Cuban refugees, a native of Miami, and first-generation college graduate. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University.
Following law school, he worked as a law clerk for Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He then worked at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis and went on to teach at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law.
Secretary Acosta has served in three presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed positions. In 2002, he was appointed to serve as a member of the National Labor Relations Board, where he participated in or authored more than 125 opinions. In 2003, he was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and from 2005 to 2009 he served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
Prior to his tenure at the Department of Labor, Secretary Acosta served as the dean of the FIU College of Law.
Secretary Acosta has twice been named one of the nation’s 50 most influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business magazine. He was also named to the list of 100 most influential individuals in business ethics in 2008. In 2013, the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce presented him with the Chairman’s Higher Education Award in recognition of his “outstanding achievements, leadership and determination throughout a lifetime of caring and giving back to the community.”
Secretary Acosta and his wife enjoy spending time together as a family, raising their two daughters.
Milton R. Underwood Chair in Free Enterprise, Vanderbilt University Law School
Brian Fitzpatrick is the Milton R. Underwood Chair in Free Enterprise and Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School, where his research focuses on class action litigation, federal courts, judicial selection, and constitutional law. He is best known for his empirical studies of class action settlements as well as his book The Conservative Case for Class Actions (University of Chicago Press, 2019). Professor Fitzpatrick joined Vanderbilt's law faculty in 2007 after serving as the John M. Olin Fellow at New York University School of Law. He graduated first in his class from Harvard Law School and went on to clerk for Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court. After his clerkships, Professor Fitzpatrick practiced commercial and appellate litigation for several years at Sidley Austin in Washington, D.C., and served as Special Counsel for Supreme Court Nominations to U.S. Senator John Cornyn. Before earning his law degree, Fitzpatrick graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's of science in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame. He has received the Hall-Hartman Outstanding Professor Award, which recognizes excellence in classroom teaching, for his Civil Procedure and Federal Courts courses.
Shareholder, Jones Foster Johnson & Stubbs PA
Scott Hawkins, the firm's Vice-Chair (and Shareholder since 1990) and the President of The Florida Bar (2011 - 2012), is Florida Bar Board Certified in Business Litigation and practices commercial litigation with an emphasis on intellectual property, trade secret disputes, covenants not to compete and real estate litigation. He also has significant civil and administrative litigation experience in areas involving environmental and land use disputes and disputes involving claims arising under ERISA Plans. His clients include technology companies (internet technology, software development, pharmaceutical product development), major property land owners and insurance companies. Mr. Hawkins graduated the University of Florida in 1980 with a degree in Economics, with honors, earned his J.D. from the University of Florida in 1983, and graduated with his Masters of Business Administration from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland as a Rotary International Foundation Scholar.
A member of the ABA House of Delegates, Mr. Hawkins is a former President of the Palm Beach County Bar Association. He was awarded Palm Beach Atlantic University’s American Free Enterprise Day Companion Medal in 2003. Mr. Hawkins was named "Most Productive Young Lawyer" by The Florida Bar's Young Lawyers Section in 1995. He is listed as aCorporate Counsel Super Lawyer and a Florida Super Lawyerby Law & Politics Super Lawyers Magazine;and is listed inThe Best Lawyers in America (designated a Bet the Company Litigator). Mr. Hawkins also has been recognized as one of the Top Lawyers in South Floridaby the South Florida Legal Guide and listed as one of Florida Trend Magazine's Legal Elite.
Owner, The Knight Law Firm
A lawyer since 1981, Mr. Knight is rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell. Mr. Knight has vast experience in complex litigation, corporate law, and international transactions. He practices in the fields of Aviation, Bankruptcy, Corporate, Commercial, and International Law. He also handles luxury car and RV Lemon Law claims.
Prior to founding his own firm in 1992, he was with the venerable Miami firms Walton Lantaff and Blackwell Walker. He has represented financial institutions, manufacturers, air carriers, repair stations, and wealthy investors from the US, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Far East.
He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and in all three Federal District and Bankruptcy Courts in Florida.
Mr. Knight graduated in 1981 from the University of Miami School of Law, where he served as the Executive Editor of the International Law Journal. During law school he clerked with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
He earned a B.A. degree from Vanderbilt University in 1978, with majors in Philosophy, Political Science, and Spanish, as well as minors in French and History. Also during his undergraduate years, he attended the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, Spain, Georgetown University, and Vanderbilt's institute at Aix-en-Provence, France.
Mr. Knight is licensed to pilot both helicopters and airplanes. In addition to flying, his interests include karate, skiing, hunting, fishing and military history. He is a member of the Miami Rotary Club.
Mr. Knight has lectured on "Aircraft and Engine Liens in and out of Bankruptcy Court" (Miami Aircraft Maintenance Council, May 2001) "Election Law Ethics" (RNLA, Orlando, June 2004), "Fundamentals of Election Law" (RNLA, Orlando, January 2006), "The Help America Vote Act" (RNLA, Miami, September 2008), Moderator RNLA Florida Election Law School, Orlando, September 2010.
Mr. Knight served as Chair of the RNLA's Florida Chapter from the April 2004 through April 2006, and as Co-Chair from April 2006 until April 2009. In June 2004 he was the Director of and organized RNLA's first Florida Election Law School. During the 2002 election cycle he was a member of the Miami-Dade County Legal Team's Executive Committee. In 2000 he served as a member of the Bush-Cheney "Recount" Team.
Former Secretary; U.S. Department of Labor
Rene Alexander Acosta is an American attorney and politician, who served as the 27th United States Secretary of Labor from 2017 to 2019.
Secretary Acosta is the son of Cuban refugees, a native of Miami, and first-generation college graduate. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University.
Following law school, he worked as a law clerk for Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He then worked at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis and went on to teach at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law.
Secretary Acosta has served in three presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed positions. In 2002, he was appointed to serve as a member of the National Labor Relations Board, where he participated in or authored more than 125 opinions. In 2003, he was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and from 2005 to 2009 he served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
Prior to his tenure at the Department of Labor, Secretary Acosta served as the dean of the FIU College of Law.
Secretary Acosta has twice been named one of the nation’s 50 most influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business magazine. He was also named to the list of 100 most influential individuals in business ethics in 2008. In 2013, the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce presented him with the Chairman’s Higher Education Award in recognition of his “outstanding achievements, leadership and determination throughout a lifetime of caring and giving back to the community.”
Secretary Acosta and his wife enjoy spending time together as a family, raising their two daughters.
Milton R. Underwood Chair in Free Enterprise, Vanderbilt University Law School
Brian Fitzpatrick is the Milton R. Underwood Chair in Free Enterprise and Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School, where his research focuses on class action litigation, federal courts, judicial selection, and constitutional law. He is best known for his empirical studies of class action settlements as well as his book The Conservative Case for Class Actions (University of Chicago Press, 2019). Professor Fitzpatrick joined Vanderbilt's law faculty in 2007 after serving as the John M. Olin Fellow at New York University School of Law. He graduated first in his class from Harvard Law School and went on to clerk for Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court. After his clerkships, Professor Fitzpatrick practiced commercial and appellate litigation for several years at Sidley Austin in Washington, D.C., and served as Special Counsel for Supreme Court Nominations to U.S. Senator John Cornyn. Before earning his law degree, Fitzpatrick graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's of science in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame. He has received the Hall-Hartman Outstanding Professor Award, which recognizes excellence in classroom teaching, for his Civil Procedure and Federal Courts courses.
Shareholder, Jones Foster Johnson & Stubbs PA
Scott Hawkins, the firm's Vice-Chair (and Shareholder since 1990) and the President of The Florida Bar (2011 - 2012), is Florida Bar Board Certified in Business Litigation and practices commercial litigation with an emphasis on intellectual property, trade secret disputes, covenants not to compete and real estate litigation. He also has significant civil and administrative litigation experience in areas involving environmental and land use disputes and disputes involving claims arising under ERISA Plans. His clients include technology companies (internet technology, software development, pharmaceutical product development), major property land owners and insurance companies. Mr. Hawkins graduated the University of Florida in 1980 with a degree in Economics, with honors, earned his J.D. from the University of Florida in 1983, and graduated with his Masters of Business Administration from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland as a Rotary International Foundation Scholar.
A member of the ABA House of Delegates, Mr. Hawkins is a former President of the Palm Beach County Bar Association. He was awarded Palm Beach Atlantic University’s American Free Enterprise Day Companion Medal in 2003. Mr. Hawkins was named "Most Productive Young Lawyer" by The Florida Bar's Young Lawyers Section in 1995. He is listed as aCorporate Counsel Super Lawyer and a Florida Super Lawyerby Law & Politics Super Lawyers Magazine;and is listed inThe Best Lawyers in America (designated a Bet the Company Litigator). Mr. Hawkins also has been recognized as one of the Top Lawyers in South Floridaby the South Florida Legal Guide and listed as one of Florida Trend Magazine's Legal Elite.
Owner, The Knight Law Firm
A lawyer since 1981, Mr. Knight is rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell. Mr. Knight has vast experience in complex litigation, corporate law, and international transactions. He practices in the fields of Aviation, Bankruptcy, Corporate, Commercial, and International Law. He also handles luxury car and RV Lemon Law claims.
Prior to founding his own firm in 1992, he was with the venerable Miami firms Walton Lantaff and Blackwell Walker. He has represented financial institutions, manufacturers, air carriers, repair stations, and wealthy investors from the US, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Far East.
He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and in all three Federal District and Bankruptcy Courts in Florida.
Mr. Knight graduated in 1981 from the University of Miami School of Law, where he served as the Executive Editor of the International Law Journal. During law school he clerked with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
He earned a B.A. degree from Vanderbilt University in 1978, with majors in Philosophy, Political Science, and Spanish, as well as minors in French and History. Also during his undergraduate years, he attended the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, Spain, Georgetown University, and Vanderbilt's institute at Aix-en-Provence, France.
Mr. Knight is licensed to pilot both helicopters and airplanes. In addition to flying, his interests include karate, skiing, hunting, fishing and military history. He is a member of the Miami Rotary Club.
Mr. Knight has lectured on "Aircraft and Engine Liens in and out of Bankruptcy Court" (Miami Aircraft Maintenance Council, May 2001) "Election Law Ethics" (RNLA, Orlando, June 2004), "Fundamentals of Election Law" (RNLA, Orlando, January 2006), "The Help America Vote Act" (RNLA, Miami, September 2008), Moderator RNLA Florida Election Law School, Orlando, September 2010.
Mr. Knight served as Chair of the RNLA's Florida Chapter from the April 2004 through April 2006, and as Co-Chair from April 2006 until April 2009. In June 2004 he was the Director of and organized RNLA's first Florida Election Law School. During the 2002 election cycle he was a member of the Miami-Dade County Legal Team's Executive Committee. In 2000 he served as a member of the Bush-Cheney "Recount" Team.
Senior Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General of Virginia
Ms. Burnett is a Senior Assistant Attorney General with the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia and has served as the Director of the office’s Capital Litigation Unit for twelve years, supervising the litigation in all death penalty direct appeals, and in all post-conviction/habeas corpus actions involving death-row inmates. She has broad appellate and post-conviction/habeas corpus experience in the Commonwealth’s lower and appellate courts, the United States District Courts, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. She has argued five death penalty cases in the Supreme Court of the United States. She is a past President of the national Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation, and has served on its board for several years. She regularly speaks at seminars on death penalty issues. She joined the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia in 1985 after receiving her law degree from the University of Richmond T.C. Williams School of Law. As an undergraduate student, she attended the University of South Carolina and Mary Baldwin College and received her Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, in 1982 from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Lecturer in Law, Michigan State University College of Law
Professor Pucillo comes to Michigan State University College of Law from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where he taught Civil Procedure and Constitutional Law as a visiting professor during the 2009-10 academic year. He spent the previous academic year teaching Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Constitutional Litigation, and Federal Courts at Tulane University Law School. Prior to those appointments, he served on the faculty of Ave Maria School of Law in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was awarded tenure.
Before he began teaching law, Professor Pucillo practiced as a litigation associate in the Washington, D.C., office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. He also completed several judicial clerkships, including one with Judge Ronald Lee Gilman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Professor Pucillo's primary area of scholarly interest is federal jurisdiction and procedure, especially in the appellate realm. His most recent publications have appeared in the Tulane Law Review, the Rutgers Law Review, and the Oklahoma Law Review.
National Affairs Columnist, National Review
John Fund is National Affairs Columnist for National Review magazine and a on-air analyst on the Fox News Channel. He is considered a notable expert on American politics and the nexus between politics and economics.
He previously served as a columnist and editorial board member for The Wall Street Journal. He is the author of several books, including Who's Counting: Bow Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote At Risk (Encounter Books, 2012); Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy (Encounter Books, 2008) and The Dangers of Regulation Through Litigation (ATRA Press, 2008). He worked as a research analyst for the California Legislature in Sacramento before beginning his journalism career as a reporter for the syndicated columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak.
Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, called him "the Tom Paine of the modern Congressional reform movement." He has won awards from the Institute for Justice, The School Choice Aliance and the Warren Brooks award for journalistic excellence from the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Director, Center for Representative Government, Cato Institute
John Samples directs Cato's Center for Representative Government, which studies campaign finance regulation, delegation of legislative authority, term limits, and the political culture of limited government and the civic virtues necessary for liberty. He is an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University. Samples is the author of The Struggle to Limit Government: A Modern Political History and The Fallacy of Campaign Finance Reform. Prior to joining Cato, Samples served eight years as director of Georgetown University Press, and before that, as vice president of the Twentieth Century Fund. He has published scholarly articles in Society, History of Political Thought, and Telos. Samples has also been featured in mainstream publications like USA Today, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. He has appeared on NPR, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. Samples received his Ph.D. in political science from Rutgers University.
President, Constitutional Accountability Center
Elizabeth is Constitutional Accountability Center’s President. From 2008-2016, she served as CAC's Chief Counsel, representing the Center as well as clients including preeminent constitutional scholars and historians, state and local government organizations, and groups such as the League of Women Voters and the AARP. She frequently participates in Supreme Court litigation and her legal brief writing has been recognized as “exemplary” by the Green Bag Almanac & Reader. Elizabeth has also argued several important cases in the federal courts of appeals on a range of issues, including immigration law, habeas corpus, and sovereign immunity. She joined CAC from private practice at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in San Francisco, where she was an attorney working with former Stanford Law School Dean Kathleen Sullivan in the firm’s Supreme Court/appellate practice. Previously, Elizabeth was a supervising attorney and teaching fellow at the Georgetown University Law Center appellate litigation clinic, a law clerk for Judge James R. Browning of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and a lawyer at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, a law firm in Washington. She has appeared as a legal expert for NBC, ABC, PBS, CNN, Fox News, the BBC, Current TV, and NPR, among other outlets. Elizabeth has been quoted extensively in the print media and is a regular contributor to the ABA’s Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases. Her writings have appeared in The New York Times, Reuters, USA Today, Politico, CNN.com, Slate, and on numerous political and legal blogs, such as Huffington Post, SCOTUSblog, and ACSblog. She has also published in the UCLA Journal of Environmental Law & Policy, Syracuse Law Review, The Cato Institute’s Supreme Court Review, and the Yale Journal of International Law. Elizabeth is a graduate of Yale Law School.
Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, Florida - Post-Argument SCOTUScast
Rod Sullivan
SCOTUScast 10-15-12 featuring Rod Sullivan
On October 1, 2012, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Lozman v. City of Riviera...
Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin - Post-Argument SCOTUScast
Gail L. Heriot
SCOTUScast 10-12-12 featuring Gail Heriot
On October 10, 2012, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Fisher v. University of...
Tibbals v. Carter and Ryan v. Gonzales - Post-Argument SCOTUScast
Ronald Eisenberg
SCOTUScast 10-12-12 featuring Ron Eisenberg
On October 9, 2012, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Tibbals v. Carter and Ryan v. Gonzales....
Ledbetter and Beyond: Does the Media Oversimplify Gender Issues?
Jennifer C. Braceras, Fatima Goss Graves, Marcia D. Greenberger, Curt Levey, Sabrina L. Schaeffer
Civil Rights Practice Group and the Committee for Justice
Five years ago, in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire Corporation, the U.S. Supreme Court said paychecks...
Ledbetter and Beyond: Does the Media Oversimplify Gender Issues?
Jennifer C. Braceras, Fatima Goss Graves, Marcia D. Greenberger, Curt Levey, Sabrina L. Schaeffer
Civil Rights Practice Group and the Committee for Justice
Five years ago, in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire Corporation, the U.S. Supreme Court said paychecks...
35 Years of Retention Elections of Appellate Court Judges in Florida: Has the System Measured Up?
R. Alexander Acosta, Brian T. Fitzpatrick, Scott Hawkins, Jefferson P. Knight
Miami Lawyers Chapter
On September 11, 2012, the Miami Lawyers Chapter hosted a debate on "35 Years of...
35 Years of Retention Elections of Appellate Court Judges in Florida: Has the System Measured Up?
R. Alexander Acosta, Brian T. Fitzpatrick, Scott Hawkins, Jefferson P. Knight
Miami Lawyers Chapter
On September 11, 2012, the Miami Lawyers Chapter hosted a debate on "35 Years of...
Johnson v. Williams - Post-Argument SCOTUScast
Katherine Burnett
SCOTUScast 10-10-12 featuring Katherine Burnett
On October 3, 2012, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Johnson v. Williams. The question...
United States v. Bormes - Post-Argument SCOTUScast
Philip Pucillo
SCOTUScast 10-10-12 featuring Phil Pucillo
On October 2, 2012 the Supreme Court heard oral argument in United States v. Bormes. The...
Who's Counting?: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk
John Fund, John Samples, Elizabeth B. Wydra
Free Speech & Election Law Practice Group and Civil Rights Practice Group
In the past few years, various states, citing voter fraud and other concerns, have passed...