Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania
Makan Delrahim is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania.
Previously he served as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, Deputy Assistant to the President, and Deputy White House Counsel. Mr. Delrahim’s rich antitrust background covers the full range of industries, issues, and institutions touched upon by the work of the Antitrust Division. He is a former partner in the Los Angeles office of a national law firm. He served in the Antitrust Division from 2003 to 2005 as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General, overseeing the Appellate, Foreign Commerce, and Legal Policy sections. During that time, he played an integral role in building the Antitrust Division’s engagement with its international counterparts and was involved in civil and criminal matters. He has served on the Attorney General’s Task Force on Intellectual Property and as Chairman of the Merger Working Group of the International Competition Network. Mr. Delrahim was also a Commissioner on the Antitrust Modernization Commission from 2004 to 2007. Earlier in his career, Mr. Delrahim served as antitrust counsel, and later as the Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
U.S. Court of Federal Claims and Jurist-In-Residence Professor of Law, The University of Akron School of Law
Judge Ryan T. Holte was sworn in as a judge on the United States Court of Federal Claims in July 2019. Prior to confirmation he served as the David L. Brennan Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law and Technology at The University of Akron School of Law (2017-2019) and an assistant professor of law at Southern Illinois University School of Law (2013-2017). Judge Holte has written and presented widely on patent law subjects and empirical legal studies of Federal Circuit and district court patent law cases. His most recent articles were published in the Iowa Law Review (2019), George Mason Law Review (2018), and Washington Law Review (2017).
In practice, Judge Holte served for six years as general counsel and partner of an electrical engineering technology company and is co-inventor of multiple patents related to Systems and Methods for Countering Satellite-Navigated Munitions. Prior to entering academia, Judge Holte practiced as a litigation attorney at the Federal Trade Commission and an associate in the Intellectual Property Practice Group at Jones Day. Prior to practice, he served as a law clerk to Judge Stanley F. Birch, Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and as a law clerk to Judge Loren A. Smith on the United States Court of Federal Claims.
Judge Holte received his JD from the University of California Davis School of Law and his BS, magna cum laude, in engineering from the California Maritime Academy where he was a First Class graduate of the Corps of Cadets Third Engineering Division and sailed as a U.S. Merchant Marine oiler.
Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Andrei Iancu is a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and one of the leading voices in intellectual property law and innovation policy. He is a former Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a position to which he was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. Andrei has decades of experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in IP matters across the technical and scientific spectra, including medical devices, genetic testing, therapeutics, the Internet, telephony, TV broadcasting, video game systems and computer peripherals. He represents clients in litigation and trials before the district courts, the U.S. International Trade Commission and the USPTO, the Federal Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court, and also counsels clients on obtaining, licensing, enforcing and defending against IP rights globally.
Stevenson Bernard Professor, George Washington University Law School
The Honorable F. Scott Kieff is the Stevenson Bernard Professor at George Washington University Law School and a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
He served as Commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission from 2013-2017. He also served during the Bush, Obama, and Trump Administrations in the part-time leadership of the national security defense-intelligence community.
He was previously a professor of law and medicine at Washington University in Saint Louis and a Senior Fellow at Hoover. A former law clerk to U.S. Circuit Judge Giles S. Rich, he is a graduate of Penn Law School and MIT, where he studied molecular biology and microeconomics. He was elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2012 and the Academia Europaea in 2024.
His private sector work through Kieff Strategies LLC (www.kieffstrategies.com) provides neutral services including mediation and compliance, and expert services including crisis management, advising, and testimony.
Professor of Law, American University
Christine Haight Farley is a Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law. She specializes in information law and teaches courses on contract law, intellectual property, advertising law, and art law. Her current research focuses on branding in the age of data-driven advertising and the over protection of design. She serves as Co-Faculty Director of the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property and previously served as Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs. Farley has received the Excellence in Teaching Award and the Edwin A. Mooers Scholarship Award at American. She has been a visiting professor at Boston University, the University of Paris West, the University of Puerto Rico, the University of Havana, Monash University, and the National Law University in Lucknow, India, and has given lectures on intellectual property in more than twenty-five countries. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for Inter-American Legal Education, and has served on the Executive Committees of the Intellectual Property and the Art Law Sections of the American Association of Law Schools and as a member of a presidential task force of the International Trademark Association. She is the recipient of a Fulbright Senior Specialist grant to teach U.S. intellectual property law to foreign law students. Before teaching, she was an associate specialized in trademark and copyright litigation with Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman in New York. She holds a B.A. (Binghamton), J.D. (Buffalo), LL.M. (Columbia), and a J.S.D. (Columbia).
Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania
Makan Delrahim is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania.
Previously he served as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, Deputy Assistant to the President, and Deputy White House Counsel. Mr. Delrahim’s rich antitrust background covers the full range of industries, issues, and institutions touched upon by the work of the Antitrust Division. He is a former partner in the Los Angeles office of a national law firm. He served in the Antitrust Division from 2003 to 2005 as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General, overseeing the Appellate, Foreign Commerce, and Legal Policy sections. During that time, he played an integral role in building the Antitrust Division’s engagement with its international counterparts and was involved in civil and criminal matters. He has served on the Attorney General’s Task Force on Intellectual Property and as Chairman of the Merger Working Group of the International Competition Network. Mr. Delrahim was also a Commissioner on the Antitrust Modernization Commission from 2004 to 2007. Earlier in his career, Mr. Delrahim served as antitrust counsel, and later as the Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
Professor of Law, American University
Christine Haight Farley is a Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law. She specializes in information law and teaches courses on contract law, intellectual property, advertising law, and art law. Her current research focuses on branding in the age of data-driven advertising and the over protection of design. She serves as Co-Faculty Director of the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property and previously served as Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs. Farley has received the Excellence in Teaching Award and the Edwin A. Mooers Scholarship Award at American. She has been a visiting professor at Boston University, the University of Paris West, the University of Puerto Rico, the University of Havana, Monash University, and the National Law University in Lucknow, India, and has given lectures on intellectual property in more than twenty-five countries. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for Inter-American Legal Education, and has served on the Executive Committees of the Intellectual Property and the Art Law Sections of the American Association of Law Schools and as a member of a presidential task force of the International Trademark Association. She is the recipient of a Fulbright Senior Specialist grant to teach U.S. intellectual property law to foreign law students. Before teaching, she was an associate specialized in trademark and copyright litigation with Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman in New York. She holds a B.A. (Binghamton), J.D. (Buffalo), LL.M. (Columbia), and a J.S.D. (Columbia).
U.S. Court of Federal Claims and Jurist-In-Residence Professor of Law, The University of Akron School of Law
Judge Ryan T. Holte was sworn in as a judge on the United States Court of Federal Claims in July 2019. Prior to confirmation he served as the David L. Brennan Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law and Technology at The University of Akron School of Law (2017-2019) and an assistant professor of law at Southern Illinois University School of Law (2013-2017). Judge Holte has written and presented widely on patent law subjects and empirical legal studies of Federal Circuit and district court patent law cases. His most recent articles were published in the Iowa Law Review (2019), George Mason Law Review (2018), and Washington Law Review (2017).
In practice, Judge Holte served for six years as general counsel and partner of an electrical engineering technology company and is co-inventor of multiple patents related to Systems and Methods for Countering Satellite-Navigated Munitions. Prior to entering academia, Judge Holte practiced as a litigation attorney at the Federal Trade Commission and an associate in the Intellectual Property Practice Group at Jones Day. Prior to practice, he served as a law clerk to Judge Stanley F. Birch, Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and as a law clerk to Judge Loren A. Smith on the United States Court of Federal Claims.
Judge Holte received his JD from the University of California Davis School of Law and his BS, magna cum laude, in engineering from the California Maritime Academy where he was a First Class graduate of the Corps of Cadets Third Engineering Division and sailed as a U.S. Merchant Marine oiler.
Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Andrei Iancu is a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and one of the leading voices in intellectual property law and innovation policy. He is a former Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a position to which he was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. Andrei has decades of experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in IP matters across the technical and scientific spectra, including medical devices, genetic testing, therapeutics, the Internet, telephony, TV broadcasting, video game systems and computer peripherals. He represents clients in litigation and trials before the district courts, the U.S. International Trade Commission and the USPTO, the Federal Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court, and also counsels clients on obtaining, licensing, enforcing and defending against IP rights globally.
Stevenson Bernard Professor, George Washington University Law School
The Honorable F. Scott Kieff is the Stevenson Bernard Professor at George Washington University Law School and a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
He served as Commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission from 2013-2017. He also served during the Bush, Obama, and Trump Administrations in the part-time leadership of the national security defense-intelligence community.
He was previously a professor of law and medicine at Washington University in Saint Louis and a Senior Fellow at Hoover. A former law clerk to U.S. Circuit Judge Giles S. Rich, he is a graduate of Penn Law School and MIT, where he studied molecular biology and microeconomics. He was elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2012 and the Academia Europaea in 2024.
His private sector work through Kieff Strategies LLC (www.kieffstrategies.com) provides neutral services including mediation and compliance, and expert services including crisis management, advising, and testimony.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
Michael B. Brennan was confirmed and sworn in as a Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in May 2018.
He previously worked as a partner in the Milwaukee law firm of Gass Weber Mullins LLC, where he tried cases and handled appeals in federal and state courts, as a judge on the Milwaukee County Circuit, where he presided over a variety of criminal and civil calendars, and as an assistant district attorney in the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office.
Brennan’s undergraduate degree is from the University of Notre Dame, and his law degree from Northwestern University School of Law, where he was an editor on the law review and the moot court champion. He served as a law clerk on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Partner, Jones Day
Eric Dreiband represents clients in investigations, litigation, and counseling in civil rights, employment discrimination, whistleblower, wage and hour, and other matters. Prior to rejoining Jones Day in 2021, Eric served as the 18th Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and he also served as the 12th General Counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Under Eric's leadership, DOJ's Civil Rights Division set enforcement records for prosecutions of law enforcement officers and sexual harassment, religious liberty, and servicemember cases; charged the highest number of hate crimes cases in decades; significantly expanded resources for human trafficking prosecutions; prosecuted race and other forms of illegal discrimination in education, employment, housing, lending, and voting; reached historic disability rights settlements with several states; opposed unlawful COVID-19-related civil liberty restrictions; and successfully litigated to protect the Constitutional and civil rights of all people in the United States.
As EEOC general counsel, Eric led the Commission's litigation of the federal employment antidiscrimination laws, and he issued the Regional Attorneys' Manual, which established the policies of EEOC's litigation program. Eric also served at the Department of Labor (DOL) as deputy wage and hour administrator and directed DOL's enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and other laws.
From 1997 to 2000, Eric served as a prosecutor in the Office of Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr.
Eric has spoken and written extensively about civil rights and other employment laws, and he has testified about these subjects before committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
Former Director, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, U.S. Department of Labo
Shareholder, Ogletree Deakins
Brian Hayes is a Shareholder in the Washington, DC office of Ogletree Deakins and serves as Co-Chair of the law firm’s Traditional Labor Practice Group. Immediately prior to his joining the firm he was a Member of the National Labor Relations Board. He was confirmed to that post by the United States Senate in 2010 and his term ended in December of 2012. He is currently a Member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Litigation Advisory Committee and was recently named Chairman of the U.S. Chamber’s Subcommittee on the National Labor Relations Act. He also serves as editor in chief for The Practical NLRB Advisor.
Prior to his nomination and confirmation to the NLRB, Brian Hayes served as the Republican Labor Policy Director for the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. He came to Capitol Hill in 2005 after nearly thirty years in private legal practice devoted exclusively to representing management clients in labor and employment matters. While in private practice he represented clients in scores of cases before NLRB, state and federal courts, and a host of other federal agencies such as the EEOC, OFCCP, OSHA, the Department of Labor and their state counterparts. He also has had extensive private practice experience representing employers in collective-bargaining negotiations, arbitrations and other forms of dispute resolution. In addition to his private practice, he served as Counsel to the Employers’ Association of the Northeast, editor-in-chief and contributor to The Health Care Labor Manual, and also served on the adjunct faculty of Western New England Law School teaching courses in labor law, and collective-bargaining, arbitration and employment litigation. Before entering private practice he began his legal career at the NLRB working as a law clerk to the Chief Administrative Law Judge while in law school and subsequently as counsel to the then-Board Chairman. He is a graduate of Boston College and of Georgetown University Law School.
Chief Counsel, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center
Steven P. Lehotsky has significant experience developing and executing litigation strategies to help businesses and trade associations address their most important regulatory and public-policy challenges.
Before founding Lehotsky Keller LLP, Mr. Lehotsky directed the litigation strategy of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world's leading business federation, where he worked from 2013-2021. While at the U.S. Chamber’s Litigation Center, he served as chief litigation counsel. Mr. Lehotsky led the Chamber's efforts to bring successful challenges to federal, state, and local regulations of business. He also directed the U.S. Chamber's efforts to defend pro-growth regulatory reforms. Mr. Lehotsky also led and implemented the U.S. Chamber’s strategies for filing hundreds of amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court, federal appellate and district courts, and state supreme and appellate courts. He is a frequent speaker at events and conferences on litigation and regulatory trends.
Mr. Lehotsky previously was an attorney at WilmerHale LLP in both the Washington D.C. and Boston offices, where he practiced government and regulatory litigation, appellate litigation, and counseling on constitutional, statutory, and regulatory issues for clients across a wide variety of industry sectors. He also previously practiced as a commercial litigator at Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston.
In addition, Mr. Lehotsky was an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2006-2009, advising the White House and executive departments and agencies on constitutional and statutory issues relating to national security, immigration, international sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and other programs, the response to the 2008 financial crisis, pandemic influenza and infectious-disease mitigation, cybersecurity, and congressional investigations, among many other subjects.
Mr. Lehotsky was a law clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States and Chief Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Chief Legal and Government Affairs Officer, BrightStar Care
Cheryl M. Stanton is Chief Legal and Government Affairs Officer at BrightStar Care. Prior to joining BrightStar Care, she served as Administrator of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. She was sworn in as WHD’s Administrator by U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta on April 29, 2019.
Stanton brought a wealth of experience to WHD, most recently having served as the Executive Director of the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce. Under her leadership, South Carolina’s jobless rate dropped to its lowest point in at least 50 years. During that time period, South Carolina’s workforce system helped place over 500,000 South Carolinians into jobs. Stanton also partnered with her colleague at the Department of Corrections to create a job re-entry program for ex-offenders, receiving national accolades. She also oversaw two major information technology modernization projects that improved customer service and increased efficiencies for employees.
Stanton served as the White House’s principal legal liaison to the DOL under President George W. Bush. She is a graduate of Williams College, and earned her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
Michael B. Brennan was confirmed and sworn in as a Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in May 2018.
He previously worked as a partner in the Milwaukee law firm of Gass Weber Mullins LLC, where he tried cases and handled appeals in federal and state courts, as a judge on the Milwaukee County Circuit, where he presided over a variety of criminal and civil calendars, and as an assistant district attorney in the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office.
Brennan’s undergraduate degree is from the University of Notre Dame, and his law degree from Northwestern University School of Law, where he was an editor on the law review and the moot court champion. He served as a law clerk on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Partner, Jones Day
Eric Dreiband represents clients in investigations, litigation, and counseling in civil rights, employment discrimination, whistleblower, wage and hour, and other matters. Prior to rejoining Jones Day in 2021, Eric served as the 18th Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and he also served as the 12th General Counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Under Eric's leadership, DOJ's Civil Rights Division set enforcement records for prosecutions of law enforcement officers and sexual harassment, religious liberty, and servicemember cases; charged the highest number of hate crimes cases in decades; significantly expanded resources for human trafficking prosecutions; prosecuted race and other forms of illegal discrimination in education, employment, housing, lending, and voting; reached historic disability rights settlements with several states; opposed unlawful COVID-19-related civil liberty restrictions; and successfully litigated to protect the Constitutional and civil rights of all people in the United States.
As EEOC general counsel, Eric led the Commission's litigation of the federal employment antidiscrimination laws, and he issued the Regional Attorneys' Manual, which established the policies of EEOC's litigation program. Eric also served at the Department of Labor (DOL) as deputy wage and hour administrator and directed DOL's enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and other laws.
From 1997 to 2000, Eric served as a prosecutor in the Office of Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr.
Eric has spoken and written extensively about civil rights and other employment laws, and he has testified about these subjects before committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
Former Director, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, U.S. Department of Labo
Shareholder, Ogletree Deakins
Brian Hayes is a Shareholder in the Washington, DC office of Ogletree Deakins and serves as Co-Chair of the law firm’s Traditional Labor Practice Group. Immediately prior to his joining the firm he was a Member of the National Labor Relations Board. He was confirmed to that post by the United States Senate in 2010 and his term ended in December of 2012. He is currently a Member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Litigation Advisory Committee and was recently named Chairman of the U.S. Chamber’s Subcommittee on the National Labor Relations Act. He also serves as editor in chief for The Practical NLRB Advisor.
Prior to his nomination and confirmation to the NLRB, Brian Hayes served as the Republican Labor Policy Director for the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. He came to Capitol Hill in 2005 after nearly thirty years in private legal practice devoted exclusively to representing management clients in labor and employment matters. While in private practice he represented clients in scores of cases before NLRB, state and federal courts, and a host of other federal agencies such as the EEOC, OFCCP, OSHA, the Department of Labor and their state counterparts. He also has had extensive private practice experience representing employers in collective-bargaining negotiations, arbitrations and other forms of dispute resolution. In addition to his private practice, he served as Counsel to the Employers’ Association of the Northeast, editor-in-chief and contributor to The Health Care Labor Manual, and also served on the adjunct faculty of Western New England Law School teaching courses in labor law, and collective-bargaining, arbitration and employment litigation. Before entering private practice he began his legal career at the NLRB working as a law clerk to the Chief Administrative Law Judge while in law school and subsequently as counsel to the then-Board Chairman. He is a graduate of Boston College and of Georgetown University Law School.
Chief Counsel, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center
Steven P. Lehotsky has significant experience developing and executing litigation strategies to help businesses and trade associations address their most important regulatory and public-policy challenges.
Before founding Lehotsky Keller LLP, Mr. Lehotsky directed the litigation strategy of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world's leading business federation, where he worked from 2013-2021. While at the U.S. Chamber’s Litigation Center, he served as chief litigation counsel. Mr. Lehotsky led the Chamber's efforts to bring successful challenges to federal, state, and local regulations of business. He also directed the U.S. Chamber's efforts to defend pro-growth regulatory reforms. Mr. Lehotsky also led and implemented the U.S. Chamber’s strategies for filing hundreds of amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court, federal appellate and district courts, and state supreme and appellate courts. He is a frequent speaker at events and conferences on litigation and regulatory trends.
Mr. Lehotsky previously was an attorney at WilmerHale LLP in both the Washington D.C. and Boston offices, where he practiced government and regulatory litigation, appellate litigation, and counseling on constitutional, statutory, and regulatory issues for clients across a wide variety of industry sectors. He also previously practiced as a commercial litigator at Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston.
In addition, Mr. Lehotsky was an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2006-2009, advising the White House and executive departments and agencies on constitutional and statutory issues relating to national security, immigration, international sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and other programs, the response to the 2008 financial crisis, pandemic influenza and infectious-disease mitigation, cybersecurity, and congressional investigations, among many other subjects.
Mr. Lehotsky was a law clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States and Chief Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Chief Legal and Government Affairs Officer, BrightStar Care
Cheryl M. Stanton is Chief Legal and Government Affairs Officer at BrightStar Care. Prior to joining BrightStar Care, she served as Administrator of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. She was sworn in as WHD’s Administrator by U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta on April 29, 2019.
Stanton brought a wealth of experience to WHD, most recently having served as the Executive Director of the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce. Under her leadership, South Carolina’s jobless rate dropped to its lowest point in at least 50 years. During that time period, South Carolina’s workforce system helped place over 500,000 South Carolinians into jobs. Stanton also partnered with her colleague at the Department of Corrections to create a job re-entry program for ex-offenders, receiving national accolades. She also oversaw two major information technology modernization projects that improved customer service and increased efficiencies for employees.
Stanton served as the White House’s principal legal liaison to the DOL under President George W. Bush. She is a graduate of Williams College, and earned her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.
Partner, Gibson Dunn
David P. Burns is a litigation partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. His practice focuses on white-collar criminal defense, internal investigations, national security, and regulatory enforcement matters. Mr. Burns represents corporations and executives in federal, state, and regulatory investigations involving securities and commodities fraud, sanctions and export controls, theft of trade secrets and economic espionage, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, accounting fraud, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, international and domestic cartel enforcement, health care fraud, government contracting fraud, and the False Claims Act.
Prior to re-joining the firm, Mr. Burns served in senior positions in both the Criminal Division and National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Most recently, he served as Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, where he led more than 600 federal prosecutors who conducted investigations and prosecutions involving securities fraud, health care fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, public corruption, cybercrime, intellectual property theft, money laundering, Bank Secrecy Act violations, child exploitation, international narcotics trafficking, human rights violations, organized and transnational crime, gang violence, and other crimes, as well as matters involving international affairs and sensitive law enforcement techniques. Prior to joining the Criminal Division, Mr. Burns served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the National Security Division from September 2018 to December 2020. In that role, he supervised the Division’s investigations and prosecutions, including counterterrorism, counterintelligence, economic espionage, cyber hacking, FARA, disclosure of classified information, and sanctions and export controls matters. He also spent five years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, Criminal Division, from 2000 to 2005.
Counsel, Debevoise & Plimpton
Carter Burwell is a litigation counsel based in the Washington, D.C. office of Debevoise & Plimpton and a member of the firm’s White Collar & Regulatory Defense practice. His practice focuses on white collar criminal defense, government investigations and internal investigations, and national security matters.
Mr. Burwell joins Debevoise with more than 15 years of experience in senior roles across the federal government. Most recently, Mr. Burwell served as Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Finance Intelligence, where he advised on matters involving financial sanctions and illicit finance, international corruption and human rights abuses and digital assets. At Treasury, Mr. Burwell worked directly with the National Security Council, other senior executive branch officials, foreign leaders and the private sector to develop and implement policies to protect domestic and international financial systems from national security threats. He also participated in the CFIUS review process and advanced anti-money laundering reforms under the Bank Secrecy Act.
Prior to his role at the Treasury Department, Mr. Burwell served as one of the top lawyers on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, including as Chief Counsel to former Assistant Majority Leader and U.S. Senator John Cornyn and as Counsel to former Chairman and U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley. In the Senate, Mr. Burwell worked on bipartisan efforts to modernize national security and technology laws, reform the criminal justice system and conduct rigorous oversight of government officials and the private sector on matters of national consequence. Mr. Burwell also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Violent Crime and Terrorism Unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) and in the National Security and International Crimes Unit in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA). As a federal prosecutor at EDNY and EDVA, Mr. Burwell supervised and participated in a wide variety of investigations and prosecutions involving international and domestic terrorist groups, international cartels and racketeering organizations, as well as financial and cyber crimes. He successfully tried numerous cases to verdict and briefed and argued appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Earlier on in his career, Mr. Burwell served as a law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Gleeson, now a Debevoise litigation partner, before going on to clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for the Hon. Judge Karen Henderson. Mr. Burwell was also a litigation associate at another international law firm.
He received his J.D. from the University Virginia School of Law in 2002, an M.Phil from the University of Cambridge in 1998, and his B.A. from Columbia College in 1996.
Chair, Public Interest Declassification Board
Ezra A. Cohen is chair of the Public Interest Declassification Board and an adjunct fellow at Hudson Institute, focusing on intelligence policy.
Prior to joining Hudson Institute, Mr. Cohen was the acting under secretary of defense for intelligence and security and director for defense intelligence at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. In this role, Mr. Cohen served as the principal civilian intelligence advisor to the secretary of defense on all military intelligence related matters, including signals intelligence, human intelligence, sensitive activities, geospatial intelligence, sensitive reconnaissance, counterintelligence, law enforcement, and security. In this role he exercised supervision and control of the Defense Intelligence Enterprise including the National Security Agency, Central Security Service, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency.
Before becoming acting under secretary for intelligence, Mr. Cohen was the acting assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict (SO/LIC); principal deputy assistance secretary of defense for SO/LIC; deputy assistant secretary of defense for counter-narcotics and global threats. As ASD SO/LIC, Mr. Cohen was responsible for all policy formulation and oversight of Department of Defense counterterrorism, special operations, personnel recovery, hostage rescue, counter-narcotics, detainee affairs, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, and stability operations. Further, Mr. Cohen provided administrative oversight and control of all organize, train, and equip activities for United States Special Operations Command.
Mr. Cohen also served on the National Security Council Staff, as the special assistant to the president and senior director for intelligence programs. In this role, he was principally responsible for the implementation of the president’s national security objectives through the vast array of intelligence community capabilities. As senior director, he was the United States Government’s strategic level policy coordinator for all intelligence programs and sensitive activities, including covert action. While at the National Security Council, Mr. Cohen, under his counterintelligence remit, initiated the comprehensive interagency review of Chinese malign activity.
Before joining the National Security Council, Mr. Cohen served at the Department of Defense in a number of international and domestic operational positions.
Former Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel to the President, Former NSC Legal Advisor
Senior Director, Liberty & National Security Program, Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School
Elizabeth (Liza) Goitein is senior director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty & National Security Program.
Goitein is a nationally-recognized expert on presidential emergency powers, government surveillance, and government secrecy. Her writing has been featured in major newspapers and magazines including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic Magazine, and The New Republic, and she has appeared frequently on MSNBC, CNN, and NPR. She has testified on several occasions before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees.
Before coming to the Brennan Center, Goitein served as counsel to Senator Russ Feingold, chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and as a trial attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. Goitein graduated from Yale Law School and clerked for the Honorable Michael Daly Hawkins on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In 2021–22, she was a member of the inaugural class of Senior Practitioner Fellows at the University of Chicago’s Center for Effective Government.
Senior Project Director and In Residence Adjunct, American University Washington College of Law
Alex Joel is a Scholar-in-Residence and Adjunct Professor at the Washington College of Law. He is conducting research, developing programming, and teaching courses focused on the intersections between the law, national security, technology, and privacy. Previously, he was a senior officer with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), where until June 2019 he served as the Chief of the Office of Civil Liberties, Privacy and Transparency (CLPT). CLPT works to ensure that the Intelligence Community carries out its national security mission in a manner that protects privacy and civil liberties, and provides appropriate public transparency. As Chief of CLPT, Mr. Joel was the ODNI’s Civil Liberties Protection Officer, a position established by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Protection Act of 2004. Mr. Joel served in that position since the ODNI stood up in 2005.
Since 2015, he also served as the ODNI’s Chief Transparency Officer, appointed to the position by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Mr. Joel formerly served on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, the world’s largest association of privacy professionals. Previously, Mr. Joel worked as an attorney at the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of General Counsel. Before that, he worked in private practice, as a technology attorney at the law firm of Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge in Washington, D.C. (now Pillsbury Winthrop), and as the privacy, technology, and e-commerce attorney for Marriott International, Inc. Mr. Joel began his legal career as an officer in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
Vice President, Global Head of Public Policy, Cloudfare, Inc.
Alissa Starzak is the Vice President and Global Head of Public Policy at Cloudflare, a security, performance, and reliability company that is on a mission to help build a better Internet. Prior to joining Cloudflare, Starzak served as the 21st General Counsel of the Department of the Army, after confirmation by the Senate. Before her appointment as Army General Counsel, Starzak also served in a variety of other national security positions, including at the U.S. Department of Defense and as Counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and in private practice.
Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings Institution
Sarah Binder is senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and professor of political science at George Washington University, where she specializes in Congress and legislative politics. Binder’s current research explores the historical and contemporary relationship between Congress and the Federal Reserve, and she is the co-author with Mark Spindel of The Myth of Independence: How Congress Governs the Federal Reserve (Princeton University Press, 2017). She is also an associate editor of The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog.
Binder is a former co-editor of Legislative Studies Quarterly, a co-author with Forrest Maltzman of Advice and Dissent: The Struggle to Shape the Federal Judiciary (Brookings, 2009), author of Stalemate: Causes and Consequences of Legislative Gridlock (Brookings, 2003), Minority Rights, Majority Rule: Partisanship and the Development of Congress (Cambridge University Press, 1997), and co-author with Steven S. Smith of Politics or Principle? Filibustering in the United States Senate (Brookings, 1997). Her other work on Congressional politics has appeared in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, and elsewhere.
Her book on legislative gridlock was awarded the 2003 Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Prize by the American Political Science Association for the best book published on legislative politics, and she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015.
Binder received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Minnesota in 1995 and B.A. from Yale University in 1986. She joined Brookings in 1995 and George Washington University in 1999. Between 1986 and 1990, she served as legislative aide and press secretary to Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Indiana).
Senior Counsel, Committee on Oversight and Accountability, U.S. House of Representatives
Daniel Flores is a Senior Counsel on the Republican staff of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to his current position, he served in the House as Chief Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law. Before coming to the House, he served as an Acting Associate Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and in other roles in EPA's Office of General Counsel, as a Senior Trial Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and as an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C. He serves as a House liaison to the Administrative Conference of the United States and has served on the Council of the American Bar Association’s Section on Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice
Judge, United States District Court, District of Columbia
Judge Trevor N. McFadden was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in 2017. He received his B.A. in 2001 from Wheaton College, IL, magna cum laude. In 2006, he received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he graduated Order of the Coif and was an editor for the Virginia Law Review.
Following graduation from law school, Judge McFadden clerked for Judge Steven Colloton, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He then joined the U.S. Department of Justice, where he served as Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General and as Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia. Judge McFadden subsequently became a partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP in Washington, DC, where he focused on white collar investigations. He is also co-author of a treatise, Corporate Settlement Tools: DPAs, NPAs, and Cooperation Agreements.
After four years in private practice, Judge McFadden returned to the U.S. Department of Justice, where he was Deputy Assistant Attorney General and acted as the second-in-command of the Department's Criminal Division. As Deputy Assistant Attorney General, he managed the Division's Fraud and Appellate Sections.
Judge McFadden also has extensive experience in law enforcement. He served as an officer with the Fairfax County, VA, Police Department and as a deputy sheriff in Madison County, VA.
Deputy Administrator, United States Environmental Protection Agency
David Fotouhi was sworn in as Deputy Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency on June 16, 2025.
Fotouhi is an experienced environmental attorney who previously served in senior roles at EPA. During the first term of the Trump Administration, Fotouhi served as EPA’s Acting General Counsel and Principal Deputy General Counsel. Prior to rejoining the agency, Fotouhi was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP practicing environmental law.
Fotouhi grew up in Oklahoma and holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Before entering private legal practice, Fotouhi served as a law clerk to the Honorable Raymond W. Gruender of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Lyle T. Alverson Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School
Professor Pierce is author of over twenty books and 130 articles on administrative law, government regulation, and the effects of various forms of government intervention on the performance of markets. His books and articles have been cited in hundreds of judicial opinions, including over a dozen opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
On March 20, 2018, Judge Elizabeth L. Branch (Lisa) was sworn in as a United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit.
Judge Branch attended and graduated from Davidson College in North Carolina (B.A., cum laude, 1990), and Emory University School of Law (J.D., with distinction, 1994).
After graduating from law school, Judge Branch served as a federal law clerk to The Honorable J. Owen Forrester of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia from 1994 to 1996. Following her clerkship, Judge Branch joined the litigation department of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP in Atlanta as an associate and then a partner.
From 2004 to 2008, Judge Branch was a senior official in the Administration of President George W. Bush in Washington, D.C. She served first as the Associate General Counsel for Rules and Legislation at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and then as the Counselor to the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the U. S. Office of Management and Budget.
She returned to Smith Gambrell in 2008 as a litigation partner. Judge Branch then was appointed to the Court of Appeals of Georgia by Governor Nathan Deal, taking office on September 4, 2012, where she served until March 19, 2018.
Judge Branch is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Atlanta Lawyers Chapter for the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.
Professor of Law, Widener University Commonwealth Law School
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.
Vice President for Legal Strategy, Stand Together
Casey Mattox is Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at
Americans for Prosperity. In these roles he advocates for and creates strategies and
partnerships to ensure a constitutionally limited government that protects the civil liberties of all
Americans. Prior to joining Stand Together and AFP Casey’s legal career focused on defending
the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, healthcare workers and religious organizations.
Casey has a J.D. from Boston College School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @CaseyMattox_ and on LinkedIn at
@Casey-Mattox-ST.
Professor of Law, Widener University Commonwealth Law School
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.
Vice President for Legal Strategy, Stand Together
Casey Mattox is Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at
Americans for Prosperity. In these roles he advocates for and creates strategies and
partnerships to ensure a constitutionally limited government that protects the civil liberties of all
Americans. Prior to joining Stand Together and AFP Casey’s legal career focused on defending
the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, healthcare workers and religious organizations.
Casey has a J.D. from Boston College School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @CaseyMattox_ and on LinkedIn at
@Casey-Mattox-ST.
Professor of Law, Widener University Commonwealth Law School
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.
Vice President for Legal Strategy, Stand Together
Casey Mattox is Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at
Americans for Prosperity. In these roles he advocates for and creates strategies and
partnerships to ensure a constitutionally limited government that protects the civil liberties of all
Americans. Prior to joining Stand Together and AFP Casey’s legal career focused on defending
the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, healthcare workers and religious organizations.
Casey has a J.D. from Boston College School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @CaseyMattox_ and on LinkedIn at
@Casey-Mattox-ST.
Competition and Innovation Policy for Tomorrow
Makan Delrahim, Ryan T. Holte, Andrei Iancu, F. Scott Kieff, Christine Haight Farley
2022 National Lawyer's Convention
As global crises abound, from pandemics to war, society cries out for myriad new technologies,...
Competition and Innovation Policy for Tomorrow
Makan Delrahim, Christine Haight Farley, Ryan T. Holte, Andrei Iancu, F. Scott Kieff
2022 National Lawyer's Convention
As global crises abound, from pandemics to war, society cries out for myriad new technologies,...
Regulatory Elephants in Statutory Mouse Holes?
Michael B. Brennan, Eric Dreiband, Ondray T. Harris, Brian E. Hayes, Steven Lehotsky, Cheryl M. Stanton
2022 National Lawyers Convention
When an agency claims “a merely plausible textual basis” for asserting “extravagant statutory power over...
Regulatory Elephants in Statutory Mouse Holes?
Michael B. Brennan, Eric Dreiband, Ondray T. Harris, Brian E. Hayes, Steven Lehotsky, Cheryl M. Stanton
2022 National Lawyers Convention
When an agency claims “a merely plausible textual basis” for asserting “extravagant statutory power over...
Reforming the Classification System: Challenges, Approaches, and Priorities
David P. Burns, Carter Burwell, Ezra Cohen, John Eisenberg, Elizabeth Goitein, Alex Joel, Alissa Starzak
Co-Sponsored with the ABA’s Standing Committee on Law & National Security
Our national security relies on the careful and deliberate creation, dissemination, and protection of classified...
Necessary & Proper Episode 81: Creatures of Statute III: Congress’ Responsibility to Answer the Major Questions
Sarah Binder, Daniel M. Flores, Trevor N. McFadden
On October 17, 2022, the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project and Capitol Hill Chapter hosted...
Necessary & Proper Episode 80: Creatures of Statute II: Administrative Agencies and Policymaking
David Fotouhi, Richard J. Pierce, Lisa Branch
This second event of a co-sponsored series on the Administrative State focused on the role...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: 303 Creative v. Elenis
Michael R. Dimino, Andrew Koppelman, Casey Mattox
On December 5,2022, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in 303 Creative LLC...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: 303 Creative v. Elenis
Michael R. Dimino, Andrew Koppelman, Casey Mattox
On December 5,2022, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in 303 Creative LLC...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: 303 Creative v. Elenis
Michael R. Dimino, Andrew Koppelman, Casey Mattox
On December 5,2022, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in 303 Creative LLC...