Megan M. Carpenter is dean of the University of New Hampshire School of Law. Dean Carpenter is an internationally known expert in intellectual property, with particular interests in entrepreneurship, branding, and the arts.
Prior to joining UNH Law, Dean Carpenter was founder and co-director of the Center for Law and Intellectual Property at Texas A&M University School of Law, where she also served as Professor of Law and Faculty Director of three intellectual property and entrepreneurship-related clinical programs.
Dean Carpenter has extensive experience in institution-building; her talent for driving initiatives from concept to execution has helped to establish successful programs both within law schools and universities generally. She has spearheaded the creation of innovative academic programs, including experiential learning initiatives, joint degree programs, study abroad, regular conferences and symposia, certificate programs, and interdisciplinary programs with various colleges across university campuses. A hallmark of her leadership is a collaborative and student-centered approach.
She writes and publishes in the area of intellectual property and innovation, including the book, Evolving Economies: The Role of Law in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. She has written multiple book chapters and published works in the Hastings Law Journal, Fordham Law Review, Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts, Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law, and the Yale Journal of Human Rights and Development.
Dean Carpenter believes that learning best takes place at the intersection of theory, policy, and practice. She has received multiple awards for her dedication to students, her skills in program development, and her service to the university and the community, including the Texas A&M University System Distinguished Faculty Award, the President’s Grand Challenge Award, the Judith Kuhn & Stephen R. Alton Service Award, and the United States Association for Small Business & Entrepreneurship (USASBE) Best Workshop Award. Throughout her career, Dean Carpenter has engaged intellectual property law with underserved communities such as early-stage entrepreneurs, musicians, and grassroots arts organizations.
Dean Carpenter practiced law at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart (now K&L Gates), where she represented clients on a variety of intellectual property and technology-related issues.
Professor Stacey Dogan is a leading scholar in intellectual property and competition law. Her recent articles explore cutting-edge topics in trademark, copyright, and right of publicity law, including questions of intermediary liability, the rights of trademark parodists, and evolving norms underlying trademark law.
Professor Dogan has presented her research at numerous national and international conferences, and her writings have appeared in journals including the Stanford Law Review, Emory Law Journal, Iowa Law Review and Texas Law Review. She has served as chair of the Intellectual Property Section of the Association of American Law Schools, and was co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Copyright Society from 2008 to 2011. Dogan is an active participant in educational programs with the local bar, leading seminars and discussions for the Boston Bar Association, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education and the Massachusetts Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.
Before joining the BU faculty, Professor Dogan taught for more than a decade at Northeastern University School of Law, where she focused on intellectual property and antitrust law. She came to teaching after several years of practicing law with the Washington, DC law firm of Covington & Burling, where she specialized in antitrust, trademark, and copyright law. After law school, she practiced with Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe in San Francisco and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Judith Rogers of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
Biography
Stephanos Bibas is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Judge Bibas was previously a professor of law and criminology at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. As director of the Penn Law Supreme Court Clinic, he argued six cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and filed briefs in dozens of others. He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University in 1989 with a B.A. in political theory and from Oxford University in 1991 with a B.A. in jurisprudence. He then earned his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1994.
After graduating from Yale Law, Judge Bibas clerked for Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court and was a litigation associate at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, D.C. Thereafter, Judge Bibas served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he successfully prosecuted the world’s leading expert in Tiffany stained glass for hiring a grave robber to steal priceless Tiffany windows from cemeteries. Before his tenure at Penn Law, Judge Bibas taught at the University of Chicago Law School and the University of Iowa College of Law and was a research fellow at Yale Law School. He has published two books and seventy scholarly articles.
Assistant U.S. Attorney, Appellate Chief, Middle District of Alabama
Speaker Information
Prerak Shah
Of Counsel, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Biography
Prerak Shah is Of Counsel at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He was most recently the Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, leading a team of approximately 120 Assistant U.S. Attorneys handling a wide range of cases, including securities fraud, health care fraud, the False Claims Act, computer crime, national security, tax fraud, money laundering, public corruption, and terrorism. Mr. Shah previously held several leadership positions at the Department of Justice, including Deputy Associate Attorney General in the office overseeing the work of the Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment & Natural Resources, and Tax Divisions. Before joining the Justice Department, Mr. Shah served as Chief of Staff to Senator Ted Cruz and as a Chief Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and clerked for the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
John Rutherford (FL-04) is serving his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He sits on the House Judiciary Committee, and the House Appropriations Committee where he serves on three subcommittees: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development; Legislative Branch; and State and Foreign Operations.
John has lived in Jacksonville, Florida since 1958, and attended Florida Junior College and Florida State University where he studied Criminology. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, 171st Session and the National Executive Institute. He began his career in law enforcement in 1974 as a patrolman in the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, working his way up through the JSO where he eventually served as Director.
In 2003, 2007, and 2011, John was elected Sheriff of Duval County. For three terms and twelve years, John ran a 3,200 employee office, and due to his effective leadership, homicide and overall violent crime in Jacksonville dropped to a 40-year low. Using a model of intelligence-led and community-based policing, John and his team of law enforcement professionals dramatically improved neighborhoods and prevented crime throughout the community. He also made the mental health component of the criminal justice system a priority, reducing the recidivism rates of the mentally ill and facilitating their treatment. John also served as Chair of the Legislative Committee for Florida Sheriff’s Association, where he advocated before the legislature for policies that strengthened constitutional rights, supported our law enforcement, and enhanced public safety across the state.
John has been happily married to his wonderful wife Pat for forty-five years. They enjoy their two children and six grandchildren, and they are also devoted members of Assumption Catholic Church in Jacksonville.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
Biography
Britt C. Grant is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Judge Grant was appointed to the federal bench in August 2018 after serving as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Georgia. Prior to her judicial appointment, she served as the Solicitor General of Georgia and practiced in the Washington, D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Grant served as a law clerk to then-Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She earned her J.D., with distinction, from Stanford Law School, where she was the Co-Founder of the Stanford National Security and the Law Society, and the President of the Stanford Law chapter of the Federalist Society. Before enrolling in law school, Judge Grant served in The White House in a variety of domestic policy roles as well as on the staff of Congressman Nathan Deal. Judge Grant earned her B.A., summa cum laude, from Wake Forest University, where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She now lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and three children.
Andrew D. Graham is senior counsel for academic and professional affairs at Alliance Defending Freedom. He develops ADF’s academic initiatives and training programs, including the Blackstone Legal Fellowship. He also regularly speaks at academic gatherings, universities, and think tanks on law, politics, and culture, and creates professional opportunities for ADF’s Blackstone Fellows.
Previously, Graham was a partner at Jackson Walker LLP, a more than 130-year-old law firm with more than 400 lawyers across Texas, where he achieved an extensive record of success in high-stakes litigation in both trial and appellate courts and was named a “Super Lawyers—Rising Star” multiple times.
Graham is an elected member and trustee of The Philadelphia Society, an elected member of The Mont Pelerin Society, and a member of The Federalist Society and the Society for Classical Learning. Additionally, he is a senior fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute, a member of the board of governors of the John Jay Institute, and a member of the advisory council for the Dallas Forum on Law, Politics, and Culture.
Graham earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude at Southern Methodist University (SMU), where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and the Hyer Society. He then earned master’s degrees at Oxford University, where he was a member of Oriel College, and The University of Chicago before returning home to Texas to earn his law degree at The University of Texas at Austin School of Law.
He is a member of the State Bar of Texas and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Graham is the first person in his family to go to college and is a first-generation American who holds dual American–Australian citizenship. He and his wife, Molly (a classical Christian school educator), have three children and live in Dallas, Texas.
