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Partner, Gibson Dunn
Thomas H. Dupree, Jr. is a partner in the Washington, DC office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is a member of the firm's litigation department and its Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group, and serves as the hiring partner for the DC office.
Mr. Dupree is an experienced trial and appellate advocate. He has argued more than 70 appeals in the federal courts, including in all thirteen circuits as well as the United States Supreme Court. He has represented clients throughout the country in a wide variety of trial and appellate matters, including cases involving punitive damages, class actions, product liability, arbitration, intellectual property, employment, and constitutional challenges to federal and state statutes.
In 2007, Mr. Dupree was appointed Deputy Assistant Attorney General. He served in the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2007 to 2009, ultimately becoming the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General. In that capacity, he served as the division's second-in-command, overseeing the more than 900 lawyers in the Civil Appellate, Commercial, Federal Programs and Torts branches, as well as the Office of Immigration Litigation and the Office of Consumer Litigation. Mr. Dupree was responsible for managing many of the government's most significant cases involving regulatory, commercial, constitutional and national security matters on behalf of virtually all of the federal agencies, the White House, and senior federal officials. Before being named the division's top deputy, Mr. Dupree ran its largest litigating branch, managing a staff of 280 lawyers.
Chambers and Partners named Mr. Dupree one of the leading appellate lawyers in the United States in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. He received similar honors in 2010, when he was ranked as one of the top ten appellate litigators under age 40 by Law360. In 2009, the National Law Journal and Legal Times selected him as one of the top 40 lawyers under 40 in Washington, DC, as did Washingtonian magazine in 2006. Based on surveys of hundreds of corporate counsel, Mr. Dupree was named a "Client Service All-Star" by BTI Consulting Group in a 2013 report for his "overall legal prowess" and his "ability to deliver a plan of action that yields results."
Legal Times has called Mr. Dupree "no stranger to high-profile work." Among other things, he played a substantial role in the successful representation of George W. Bush before the United States Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore, and represented New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in challenging his "Deflategate" suspension.
In 2014, Mr. Dupree argued and won, by a unanimous 9-0 vote, a landmark personal jurisdiction case in the United States Supreme Court, Daimler AG v. Bauman. For this achievement, American Lawyer magazine named him Litigator of the Week, noting that he "won over both the liberal and conservative wings of the court."
Other matters Mr. Dupree has handled include:
Mr. Dupree appears frequently on national television as a legal analyst. He is a regular guest on Fox News Channel, and has appeared on "The O'Reilly Factor" and "The Kelly File," as well as on CNN's "Situation Room" and C-Span's "America & The Courts," among other programs. He has also been quoted in numerous print publications, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and many others, discussing legal issues and developments. Mr. Dupree has also testified before Congress on constitutional and separation-of-powers issues, including the President's authority to act through executive order.
Mr. Dupree graduated cum laude from Williams College, and with Honors from the University of Chicago Law School, where he served as an Editor of the University of Chicago Law Review. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Partner, Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP
Misha leads Troutman Peppers' national appellate and Supreme Court practice. Most recently, he successfully obtained orders from the Supreme Court blocking an unconstitutional restriction on places of worship, as well as overturning a lower court order that had blocked several state election laws. He has also argued and prevailed before the Supreme Court in Gill v. Whitford, one of the most significant redistricting cases in decades, as well as Murr v. Wisconsin, a high-stakes regulatory taking case.
Before joining Troutman, Misha served as Solicitor General of the State of Wisconsin. Misha previously served as a law clerk for the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court, Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit, and Alex Kozinski of the 9th Circuit. He graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was President of the Federalist Society Chapter.
Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission
Paul S. Atkins was sworn into office as the 34th Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 21, 2025, after being nominated by President Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2025, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 9, 2025.
Prior to returning to the SEC, Chairman Atkins was most recently chief executive of Patomak Global Partners, a company he founded in 2009. Chairman Atkins helped lead efforts to develop best practices for the digital asset sector. He served as an independent director and non-executive chairman of the board of BATS Global Markets, Inc. from 2012 to 2015.
Chairman Atkins was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as a Commissioner of the SEC from 2002 to 2008. During his tenure, he advocated for transparency, consistency, and the use of cost-benefit analysis at the agency. Chairman Atkins also represented the SEC at meetings of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets and the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Economic Council. From 2009 to 2010, he was appointed a member of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Before serving as an SEC Commissioner, Chairman Atkins was a consultant on securities and investment management industry matters, especially regarding issues of strategy, regulatory compliance, risk management, new product development, and organizational control.
From 1990 to 1994, Chairman Atkins served on the staff of two chairmen of the SEC, Richard C. Breeden and Arthur Levitt, ultimately as chief of staff and counselor, respectively. He received the SEC’s 1992 Law and Policy Award for work regarding corporate governance matters.
Chairman Atkins began his career as a lawyer in New York, focusing on a wide range of corporate transactions for U.S. and foreign clients, including public and private securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions. He was resident for 2½ years in his firm's Paris office and admitted as conseil juridique in France.
A member of the New York and Florida bars, Chairman Atkins received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1983 and was Senior Student Writing Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. He received his A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, from Wofford College in 1980.
Originally from Lillington, North Carolina, Chairman Atkins grew up in Tampa, Florida. He and his wife Sarah have three sons.
Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor
Jonathan Berry is Solicitor at the U.S. Department of Labor, in service to President Trump’s agenda to put American workers first. He leads the Department’s lawyers in advising the Secretary and agency leadership on all aspects of law and in representing the Department in court. He was previously managing partner at Boyden Gray PLLC, where he provided strategic counsel and litigated on issues at the intersection of law, politics, and public policy. Earlier, he headed the regulatory office at Labor, and also served at the Department of Justice, in the first Trump Administration. Mr. Berry served as a law clerk to Judge Jerry E. Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and to Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., of the Supreme Court of the United States.
President, Institute for the American Worker
As president and co-founder of I4AW, Vinnie is a trusted source and respected thought leader to labor policy experts across the country—he provides intellectual acuity and policy innovation to the worker freedom message. He served on the U.S. Department of Labor Transition Team for both Trump Administrations (2016-2017 and 2024-2025) and served in the George W. Bush Administration’s Department of Labor (2008-2009). Additionally, he was a presidential appointee to the Federal Service Impasses Panel (2017-2021). He has advised senators and congressmen on a multitude of labor-related issues, and has testified numerous times before Congress and state legislatures. He has also worked as director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and currently serves as a senior policy advisor. Vernuccio has held advisory roles for a multitude of free market organizations such as the State Policy Network, Competitive Enterprise Institute, and others.
Perry Golkin Professor of Law; Co-Director, Institute for Law an, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Jill E. Fisch is the Saul A. Fox Distinguished Professor of Business Law and co-director of the Institute for Law and Economics at the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she teaches and writes on corporate law, corporate governance and securities regulation. Prior to joining Penn Law, Professor Fisch was the T.J. Maloney Professor of Business Law at Fordham Law School and Founding Director of the Fordham Corporate Law Center. Professor Fisch has also served as a visiting professor at Harvard, Columbia, Berkeley and Georgetown.
Fisch is the recipient of various awards including the Penn LLM Prize for Excellence in Teaching and the Robert A. Gorman Award for Excellence in Teaching (twice). She is an associate reporter for the American Law Institute’s Restatement of Corporate Governance and a director of the European Corporate Governance Institute. Before entering academia, Professor Fisch practiced law as a trial attorney with the United States Department of Justice, Criminal Division, and as an associate at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. She received her B.A. from Cornell University and her J.D. from Yale Law School.
Associate Professor of Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law
Professor Ben Johnson is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. He researches and writes on governance by committees. Sometimes, the governing committee is a board of directors. Other times, it is a committee of justices at the Supreme Court. His research has won awards from national organizations in law (AALS) and political science (APSA) and can be found in law reviews and peer reviewed outlets. His recent work on the Supreme Court has been published in the Columbia Law Review and Alabama Law Review. Earlier work on district judges with financial conflicts (published in the North Carolina Law Review) led to a large exposé in the Wall Street Journal. His game theoretic model of corporate fiduciary duties is forthcoming at the BYU Law Review. He has ongoing projects on the Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket, corporate fiduciary duties, shareholder voting, and machine learning.
Professor Johnson teaches Corporations (the only course in the curriculum where students learn to build and maintain institutions that can make the world a better place long after they are gone), Empirical Methods for Lawyers, and topics on the federal judiciary.
Senior Vice President for Legal Studies, Cato Institute
Clark Neily is senior vice president for legal studies at the Cato Institute. His areas of interest include constitutional law, overcriminalization, civil forfeiture, police accountability, and gun rights. Neily is the author of Terms of Engagement: How Our Courts Should Enforce the Constitution’s Promise of Limited Government. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and National Review Online, as well as various law reviews, including the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, George Mason Law Review, Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy, NYU Journal of Law and Liberty, and Texas Review of Law and Politics. Neily is a frequent guest speaker and lecturer for the Federalist Society, Institute for Humane Studies, and American Constitution Society.
Before joining Cato in 2017, Neily was a senior attorney and constitutional litigator at the Institute for Justice and director of the Institute’s Center for Judicial Engagement. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law, where he teaches constitutional litigation and public-interest law.
Neily served as co-counsel in District of Columbia v. Heller, the historic case in which the Supreme Court held for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own a gun for self-defense.
Neily began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Royce Lamberth on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. After that he spent four years in the trial department of the Dallas-based firm Thompson & Knight. Neily received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas, where he was Chief Articles Editor of the Texas Law Review.
Director, Project on Criminal Justice, Cato Institute
Matthew Cavedon is the Director of the Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice. He focuses on reforming plea-driven mass adjudication, ensuring police accountability, and defending constitutional criminal originalism. Cavedon’s scholarship has been published (or is forthcoming in) publications including the Arizona State Law Journal, Cato Supreme Court Review, Seattle University Law Review, and Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy. Formerly a Georgia public defender and fellow at the Institute for Justice, Cavedon has taught law school courses on criminal law and procedure, as well as the First Amendment. Cavedon clerked for a U.S. district court and the Supreme Court of Georgia. He came to Cato following a fellowship at the Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion.
Associate Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
Lindsey Simon is an associate professor at the Emory University School of Law.
Her research focuses on the bankruptcy system, drawing concepts from bankruptcy structure and procedure to address broader institutional design challenges. Simon’s articles have been published in the Administrative Law Review, the Cardozo Law Review, the Indiana Law Journal and the North Carolina Law Review. Simon’s most recent scholarship addresses the intersection between mass torts and bankruptcy, including an article on non-debtor relief in Chapter 11 forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal. She has assisted academics, judges, members of Congress and many other stakeholders on the subject of mass tort bankruptcies, and her commentary in connection with the Purdue Pharma, Boy Scouts of America and USA Gymnastics bankruptcies has appeared in various media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, The Economist, NPR and Reuters.
Before joining the Emory Law faculty in 2023, Professor Simon served as the Robert Cotten Alston Associate Chair in Corporate Law at the University of Georgia School of Law. Prior to becoming a professor, Simon was an associate at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, where her practice involved a mix of commercial litigation and corporate restructuring matters. She represented corporations, committees and individuals in state and federal litigation, both in and out of the bankruptcy context. Simon also practiced at a litigation boutique in Chicago, Illinois, and served as a judicial clerk for Judge Beverly B. Martin on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Additionally, she taught as an adjunct professor at the Georgia State University College of Law.
Simon earned her law degree magna cum laude from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and obtained her Bachelor of Music magna cum laude and her Master of Education from Vanderbilt University.
She is an active member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, where she serves as a member of the ABI Diversity Working Group. She previously served as vice chair and community service co-chair for the Georgia Network of the International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation and as vice president of the board of directors of the Georgia Latino Law Foundation.
Assistant Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
Alexander "Sasha" Volokh is an assistant professor of law, joining the Emory Law faculty in Fall 2009.
Professor Volokh earned his B.S. from UCLA and his J.D. and Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He clerked for Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit and for Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Samuel Alito. Before coming to Emory, he was a visiting associate professor at Georgetown University Law Center and a visiting assistant professor at University of Houston Law Center.
His interests include law and economics, administrative law and the regulatory process, environmental law and policy, and legal history. His current research topics include the private management of government services, medieval law, judicial decisionmaking and statutory interpretation.
Chief Legal Officer and Policy Director, Cicero Institute
Jonathan Wolfson is the Chief Legal Officer and Policy Director at the Cicero Institute. Before joining Cicero, he led the Policy Office at the U.S. Department of Labor where he managed DOL's deregulatory efforts and oversaw DOL's internal policy development think tank. He previously was a litigator and regulatory attorney at an international law firm representing clients before state and federal courts across the country. Following law school he served as a law clerk to The Honorable Edith Brown Clement of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before law school, Jonathan was a policy analyst at the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Jonathan received an A.B. in Economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was an Olin Law and Economic Fellow and won the John M. Olin Prize for best original law and economics research.
Director, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute
Thomas Berry is the director in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies and editor in chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review. Before joining Cato, he was an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation and clerked for Judge E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. His academic work has appeared in NYU Journal of Law and Liberty, Washington and Lee Law Review Online, and Federalist Society Review. His popular writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, National Law Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, National Review Online, and The Hill Online. He has testified before the U.S. Senate, and his work has been cited by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Berry holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he was a senior editor on the Stanford Law and Policy Review and a Bradley Student Fellow in the Stanford Constitutional Law Center. He graduated with a B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, Santa Fe.
Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law
Andy Hessick joined the Carolina Law faculty in 2016 and serves Judge John J. Parker Distinguished Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Strategy. His teaching and research interests include federal courts, administrative law, remedies, and criminal sentencing. His work has appeared in, among other places, the California Law Review, the Cornell Law Review, the Northwestern University Law Review, the Notre Dame Law Review, and the William and Mary Law Review. His work has been cited by the Supreme Courts of Connecticut, Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee, and Utah; various federal district and circuit courts; and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Hessick received his J.D. from Yale Law School, at which he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. After law school, he clerked for Judge Reena Raggi on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge A. Raymond Randolph on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He then served as a Bristow Fellow in the U.S. Solicitor General’s office and practiced litigation at Kellogg Huber Hansen Todd Evans & Figel PLLC in Washington, D.C. He previously taught at the University of Utah and Arizona State University and was a visiting assistant professor at Boston University.
Senior Vice President for Legal Studies, Cato Institute
Clark Neily is senior vice president for legal studies at the Cato Institute. His areas of interest include constitutional law, overcriminalization, civil forfeiture, police accountability, and gun rights. Neily is the author of Terms of Engagement: How Our Courts Should Enforce the Constitution’s Promise of Limited Government. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and National Review Online, as well as various law reviews, including the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, George Mason Law Review, Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy, NYU Journal of Law and Liberty, and Texas Review of Law and Politics. Neily is a frequent guest speaker and lecturer for the Federalist Society, Institute for Humane Studies, and American Constitution Society.
Before joining Cato in 2017, Neily was a senior attorney and constitutional litigator at the Institute for Justice and director of the Institute’s Center for Judicial Engagement. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law, where he teaches constitutional litigation and public-interest law.
Neily served as co-counsel in District of Columbia v. Heller, the historic case in which the Supreme Court held for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own a gun for self-defense.
Neily began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Royce Lamberth on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. After that he spent four years in the trial department of the Dallas-based firm Thompson & Knight. Neily received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas, where he was Chief Articles Editor of the Texas Law Review.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
Judge Hardiman was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on January 9, 2007 and was confirmed by the Senate (95-0) on March 15, 2007. Prior to becoming an appellate judge, Judge Hardiman served as a trial judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania as of November 1, 2003. In 2008, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Judge Hardiman to the Information Technology Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Judge Hardiman was appointed Chairman of the IT Committee in 2013 and served in that capacity until September 2021. In 2021 he was appointed by the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to serve as Chair of the Judiciary IT Security Task Force, which completed its work in fall 2023. Chief Justice Roberts appointed Judge Hardiman to the Board of the Federal Judicial Center to serve from March 2020 until March 2024. As part of his work with the Center, Judge Hardiman now serves as Editor in Chief for the Manual for Complex Civil Litigation, Fifth.
Before entering judicial service, Judge Hardiman handled a wide variety of litigation matters in state and federal trial and appellate courts as a partner at Reed Smith LLP (1999-2003), a partner at Titus & McConomy LLP (1996-1999), and as an associate with its predecessor firm, Cindrich & Titus (1992-1996). Judge Hardiman began his legal career as an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (1990-1992).
A 1987 honors graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Judge Hardiman received his law degree in 1990 from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as a Notes and Comments Editor on the Georgetown Law Journal. In 2012, Judge Hardiman was elected as a member of the American Law Institute and was elected to its Council in 2019 and its Executive Committee in 2025. Judge Hardiman regularly teaches a seminar on Advanced Constitutional Law at Duquesne University School of Law and a one-week course entitled “Constitutional Law: the First and Second Amendments” at Georgetown University Law Center.
A native of Waltham, Massachusetts, Judge Hardiman has chambers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Lori married in 1992 and have three children.
Senior Associate, Freeman Chair in China Studies, Center for Strategic & International Studies
From March 2018 to July 2021, Ivan Kanapathy served on the White House’s National Security Council staff as director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia and deputy senior director for Asian affairs. In this capacity, he staffed and advised the president and national security advisor and led U.S. government interagency policy development and implementation on relations and engagement with China and Taiwan—including shepherding the most comprehensive and significant U.S. policy shift toward the People’s Republic of China in four decades. From 2014 to 2017, Ivan worked at the American Institute in Taiwan, representing U.S. interests and advising on military and security issues in Taipei. Earlier in his career, Ivan spent a year studying in Beijing and traveling throughout China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia as a U.S. Marine Corps foreign area study fellow; he later led the development and implementation of the service’s global security cooperation strategy and policies at the Pentagon. As a naval flight officer, Ivan accumulated 2,500 flight hours, served three years as a F/A-18 weapons officer and tactics instructor at the U.S Navy Fighter Weapons School (better known as TOPGUN), and deployed to the Middle East and Western Pacific five times, earning several combat awards and decorations. He holds a MA (with distinction) in East Asia security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School, a BS in physics and economics from Carnegie Mellon University, and an AA and diploma (with highest honors) in Chinese – Mandarin from the Defense Language Institute.
Former US Executive Director, World Bank
DJ Nordquist is the executive vice president of the Economic Innovation Group, a bipartisan policy incubator dedicated to forging a more dynamic, entrepreneurial, and innovative economy. She also holds positions at ClearPath, the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, Sunlight Financial, Big Sun Holdings, the Special Competitive Studies Project, the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University, and the Center for Energy and Conservation at the Independent Women’s Forum. Previously, she represented the United States on the board of directors of the World Bank Group after being confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate. She helped steer the World Bank's Covid response and worked on the Debt Service Suspension Initiative, climate policy, technology procurement, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and women’s rights. Prior to the World Bank, Ms. Nordquist served as chief of staff at the White House Council of Economic Advisers and a host of other prominent leadership roles, including at the Brookings Institution and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She began her career working in both the U.S. House and Senate. She has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, The Hill, Fortune, U.S. News & World Report, and RealClear. She holds a BA from Stanford University and an MS from Northwestern University. She received the Distinguished Service Award from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and was named Stanford associate by the board of governors. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Extraordinary Women on Boards, and the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Chair, International Trade & National Security Practice Group, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney
Mr. Pickard counsels U.S. and international clients on the laws and regulations governing international trade, with particular emphasis on import remedy, anti-bribery, national security, and export control issues. He represents and advises clients in matters related to trade remedy investigations (including antidumping, countervailing duty, and safeguard cases), U.S. economic sanctions, export controls, anti-boycott measures, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Mr. Pickard provides comprehensive international trade law compliance guidance, including assessing and resolving sensitive national security matters; developing corporate compliance programs; establishing compliance with the National Industrial Security Program (NISP) and mitigating Foreign Ownership, Control, or Influence (FOCI) issues; conducting internal investigations relating to potential violations; and appearing before the relevant agencies in connection with investigations, licensing, and enforcement actions. He also teams with the firm’s Election Law & Government Ethics Group to provide guidance pertaining to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
Mr. Pickard represents clients before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and International Trade Administration (ITA), the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Security Service (DSS), the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the U.S. Court of International Trade, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Partner, Sidley Austin LLP
Alan Raul is the founder and leader of Sidley’s highly ranked Privacy, Data Security and Information Law practice. He represents companies on federal, state and international privacy and cybersecurity issues, including global data protection and compliance programs, data breaches, consumer protection issues and Internet law. Mr. Raul advises companies regarding their cybersecurity and information governance and preparedness, and helps them address crisis management for data security incidents. Mr. Raul’s practice involves litigation and counseling regarding consumer class actions and investigations, enforcement actions and policy development by the FTC, State Attorneys General, SEC, Department of Justice and other government agencies.
Mr. Raul provides clients with perspective gained from extensive government service. He previously served as Vice Chairman of the White House Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, General Counsel of the Office of Management and Budget, General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Associate Counsel to the President.
Mr. Raul serves as a member of the Data Security, Privacy, and Intellectual Property Litigation Advisory Committee of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center (affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce). He also serves ex officio on the American Bar Association’s Cybersecurity Legal Task Force by past appointment of the ABA President, and as a member of the Practicing Law Institute’s (PLI) Privacy Law Advisors Group.
Mr. Raul has represented a Special Cybersecurity Review Committee of the Board of Directors of a major tech company in connection with its independent investigation of the company’s handling of major data breaches.
In addition to leading a “Privacy and Data Security” practice nationally rated by Chambers Global and Chambers USA, Mr. Raul is ranked by Chambers in its top tier of Privacy and Data Security practitioners. Chambers USA has described Mr. Raul as a “true ‘ambassador’ for the privacy sector” who “attracts praise for his deep knowledge of the field. Interviewees stress that ‘he gives invaluable advice’ and is known to be a strong litigator. He also earns plaudits for his regulatory compliance and data protection policy expertise.” He has been named as a leading international Internet and E-Commerce Lawyer in Who’s Who Legal. Mr. Raul was also named to Ethisphere Institute’s “Attorneys Who Matter” in Data Privacy/Security, which recognizes lawyers with the highest commitment to public service, legal community engagement and academic involvement. In 2016, the Washingtonian named Mr. Raul one of Washington, DC’s Best Lawyers: Cybersecurity.
In 1991, Mr. Raul co-founded the “Lawyers Have Heart” 10K run and walk, to benefit the American Heart Association. He continues his active involvement with the event.
Board Member, U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board
Beth A. Williams is a Board Member of the United States Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an agency whose mission is to ensure that the federal government's efforts to prevent terrorism are balanced with the need to protect privacy and civil liberties.
Prior to her Board service, Ms. Williams was the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy at the United States Department of Justice from August 2017 to December 2020. In that role, she served as the primary policy advisor to the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General, and as the Chief Regulatory Officer for the Department. Ms. Williams also led the judicial nomination process for the Department, assisting in the selection and confirmation of more than 230 Article III judges to the bench.
Prior to becoming Assistant Attorney General, Ms. Williams was a litigation and appellate partner at a national law firm, where her practice focused on complex commercial, securities, appellate, and First Amendment litigation. From 2005-2006, Ms. Williams served as Special Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, where she assisted with the confirmation of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. and Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to the United States Supreme Court.
Ms. Williams clerked for the Hon. Richard C. Wesley on the United State Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She graduated from Harvard College magna cum laude, with a degree in History and Literature, and she earned her law degree from Harvard Law School, where she served as Executive Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy.
