Julius E. Davis Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School
Biography
Ilan Wurman is the Julius E. Davis Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota, where he teaches administrative law and constitutional law. He previously taught at Arizona State University. He writes primarily on the Fourteenth Amendment, administrative law, separation of powers, and constitutionalism. His academic writing has appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the Stanford Law Review, the University of Chicago Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, the Virginia Law Review, the Duke Law Journal, the Minnesota Law Review, the Notre Dame Law Review, and the Texas Law Review among other journals.
Professor Wurman is the author of the new book The Constitution of 1789: A New Introduction (Cambridge 2026). His previous books include A Debt Against the Living: An Introduction to Originalism (Cambridge 2017), and The Second Founding: An Introduction to the Fourteenth Amendment (Cambridge 2020). He is also the author of the casebook, Administrative Law Theory and Fundamentals: An Integrated Approach (Foundation Press 3d ed. 2025).
Professor Wurman practices law with the firm Tully Bailey. He has litigated a variety of administrative law and constitutional law cases, including cases involving COVID-19 restrictions, transmission lines, and Appointments Clause challenges. He also devised winning public nuisance theories to force city governments to address the increasingly challenging public camping crises throughout the country.
Senior Vice President for Legal Studies, Cato Institute
Biography
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.
Deputy Counsel, Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty
Biography
Lucas Vebber is deputy counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty ("WILL") in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At WILL he litigates cases in state and federal courts where he focuses on separation of powers and regulatory issues. His litigation efforts have won several national awards, and he has been named a Legal All Star by the Wisconsin Law Journal.
Before joining WILL Lucas worked in a variety of roles in Madison, most recently serving as General Counsel and Director of the Litigation Center at Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s chamber of commerce and manufacturers’ association. Prior to that Lucas worked for the state in both the legislature and executive branch.
Lucas has a bachelor’s degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee and a law degree from the University of Saint Thomas in Minneapolis.
Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston
Biography
Josh Blackman is a national thought leader on constitutional law and the United States Supreme Court. Josh’s work was quoted during two presidential impeachment trials. He has testified before Congress and advises federal and state lawmakers. Josh regularly appears on TV, including NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and the BBC. Josh is also a frequent guest on NPR and other syndicated radio programs. He has published commentaries in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and leading national publications.
Since 2012, Josh has served as a professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston. He holds the Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law. Josh is an Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Josh has written more than seven dozen law review articles that have been cited more than a thousand times. Josh was selected as the Jurist of the Year by the Texas Journal of Law & Public Policy, received the inaugural Meese III Originalism Award, and was awarded the Inaugural Joseph Story Award. Josh was selected by Forbes Magazine for the “30 Under 30” in Law and Policy. Josh is the President of the Harlan Institute, and founded FantasySCOTUS, the Internet’s Premier Supreme Court Fantasy League. He blogs at the Volokh Conspiracyand posts@JoshMBlackman.
Kellen is an experienced trial and appellate lawyer who litigates criminal, civil, and regulatory cases in a variety of areas, including cybersecurity & privacy, constitutional law, complex fraud, and national security. In criminal matters, he has obtained declinations, dismissals, misdemeanor pleas, and presidential pardons for prominent individuals and companies facing federal investigations. In civil matters, he has successfully defended Fortune 500 companies in multidistrict litigation and brought affirmative litigation to challenge government overreach. Kellen has a perfect record in both jury trials and appellate arguments: he has twice obtained reversals of jury verdicts on appeal and he won every trial and appeal during his six years as a federal prosecutor.
As an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, Kellen obtained a hacking indictment against Julian Assange and represented the United States at Assange’s extradition hearings. He also received the Attorney General’s Award for leading the trial and arguing the appeal in a case charging a malware-testing company with aiding and abetting the 2013 cyberattack on Target Stores. The case is now the lead precedent governing when tech companies can be held liable for crimes committed by their users. Kellen won convictions in dozens of cases involving hacking, wiretapping, complex fraud, conspiracy/RICO, public corruption, national security, and intellectual property.
Kellen was later promoted to Deputy Assistant Attorney General of DOJ’s National Security Division (NSD), where he ran NSD’s Appellate Unit, which represents the DOJ in civil and criminal appeals affecting national security and advises on sensitive prosecutions involving export controls/sanctions, trade secrets, and the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). In that role, Kellen oversaw the defense of President Trump’s TikTok and WeChat bans and successfully sought certiorari in civil cases interpreting the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the State Secrets doctrine.
Partner and Co-Chair, Global Risk & Crisis Management Practice, Morrison & Foerster LLP
Biography
Co-chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Global Risk and Crisis Management group, Alex routinely advises Fortune 500 and high-growth clients on all aspects of breach preparedness and response, including counseling executives on cybersecurity governance and risk management, and responding to cyber incidents ranging from ransomware attacks to nation-state sponsored economic espionage. His incident response experience includes managing and advising on: Internal and forensic investigations; Remediation; Regulatory and contractual notification obligations; Coordination with law enforcement; Inquiries from data protection authorities, state attorneys general, and other regulators; Internal and external communications; and Interactions with insurers and auditors.
He also advises clients on responding to law enforcement requests, the lawfulness of defensive network activities and threat intelligence research, and legal issues arising under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the Wiretap Act, and Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA).
Drawing on his experience at the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, Alex also advises global entities on legal obligations related to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA); foreign investment transactions before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS); and laws related to material support to terrorism, sanctions, and export controls.
Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster, Alex held multiple senior positions at the DOJ, including Counselor to the Attorney General, Deputy Chief of Staff and Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. Throughout his time at DOJ, he advised the Department leadership on national security, intelligence and cyber matters, including policy and legal issues arising in the National Security Council process, CFIUS matters, complex issues involving FARA, and engagements with non-U.S. officials. He also represented the Department on the Export Control Reform Initiative that sought to strengthen national security and the competitiveness of key U.S. manufacturing and technology sectors, and before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on issues involving novel questions at the intersection of law and technology.
Most recently, as a prosecutor in the National Security and Cybercrime Units of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alex brought the Department’s charges against Russian efforts to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections. During his time at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he also investigated, and/or prosecuted, federal crimes ranging from espionage, trade secret theft, and national security cyber matters, to fraud, firearm, and drug offenses.
Alex received the Assistant Attorney General Award for Excellence in 2014 and 2018, and the Assistant Attorney General Award for Distinguished Service in 2014.
Prior to his DOJ service, Alex clerked for Judge Diana Gribbon Motz on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and in the Office of the White House Counsel.
During his tenure at Yale Law School, Alex served as Editor-in-chief of the Yale Journal of International Law and participated in the Civil Liberties & National Security Clinic.
He is the recipient of the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans and a Fellow in the Truman National Security Project.
Brian Lichter directs and oversees sensitive internal investigations related corruption, bribery, fraud, and other serious misconduct; manages outside counsel where appropriate; and responds to government requests and inquiries. He serves as Cognizant's primary cybersecurity attorney, including managing incident response to cyber incidents and providing legal advice regarding cybersecurity issues and crisis management.
Senior Vice President for Legal Studies, Cato Institute
Biography
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.
Christopher DeMuth is a distinguished fellow at Hudson Institute. He was president of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) from 1986 to 2008 and was the D.C. Searle Senior Fellow at AEI from 2008 to 2011.
Mr. DeMuth was raised in Kenilworth, Illinois, and attended the Lawrenceville School (1964), Harvard College (A.B. 1968), and the University of Chicago Law School (J.D. 1973). He served as staff assistant to President Richard M. Nixon from 1969 to 1970, working first for Daniel P. Moynihan (then assistant to the President for Urban Affairs) on urban policy matters and then as chairman of the White House Task Force on Environmental Policy. Following law school, he practiced regulatory, antitrust, and general corporate law with Sidley & Austin in Chicago (1973-1976) and was associate general counsel of the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) in Philadelphia (1976-1977).
From 1977 to 1981, Mr. DeMuth was lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and director of the Harvard Faculty Project on Regulation. There he taught courses on law, economics, and regulatory policy and conducted and sponsored research on health, safety, environmental, and economic regulation.
Returning to Washington in 1981, Mr. DeMuth served as administrator for information and regulatory affairs in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and as executive director of the Presidential Task Force on Regulatory Relief during President Ronald Reagan’s first term of office. From 1984 to 1986, he was managing director of Lexecon Inc., a law-and-economics consulting firm; in 1986, he was also publisher and editor-in-chief of Regulation magazine. He was elected president of the American Enterprise Institute in December 1986.
Many of Mr. DeMuth’s articles, lectures, and occasional talks are posted on his website (https://www.ccdemuth.com).
Vice President for Litigation & General Counsel, Goldwater Institute
Biography
Jon Riches is the Vice President for Litigation for the Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation and General Counsel for the Institute. He litigates in federal and state trial and appellate courts in the areas of economic liberty, regulatory reform, free speech, taxpayer protections, public labor issues, government transparency, and school choice, among others.
Jon has developed and authored several pieces of legislation, including the landmark Right to Earn a Living Act, which provides some of the greatest protections in the country to job-seekers and entrepreneurs facing arbitrary licensing regulations. He also developed legislation eliminating deference to administrative agencies in Arizona—a first-of-its-kind regulatory reform that can serve as a model for the rest of the country.
His work at the Institute has been covered by national media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CBS This Morning, Bloomberg News, and Politico. Jon is also a member of the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project: State and Local Working Group.
Prior to joining the Goldwater Institute, Jon served on active duty in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps. While on active duty, Jon represented hundreds of clients, litigated dozens of court-martial cases, and advised commanders on a vast array of legal issues.
He previously clerked for Sen. Jon Kyl on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, worked for the Rules Committee in the Arizona State Senate, and clerked in the Office of Counsel to the President at the White House. Jon received his B.A. from Boston College, where he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his J.D. from the University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law.
Jon served as a presidentially appointed Panel Member on the Federal Service Impasses Panel. He is an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve and an Adjunct Professor at Arizona State University School of Law. Jon is a native of Phoenix.
Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Senior Fellow, The Civitas Institute, University of Texas at Austin
Biography
Richard A. Epstein is the inaugural Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at NYU School of Law. Prior to his joining the faculty, he was a visiting law professor at NYU from 2007 through 2009. He served as the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution from 2000 to 2024. Since 2024 to the present he is a senior lecturer at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas—Austin. Epstein is also the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law Emeritus and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago. His initial law school appointment was at the University of Southern California from 1968 to 1972. Epstein received an LL.D., h.c. from the University of Ghent, 2003. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985 and was a Senior Fellow of the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago Division of Biological Sciences, also from 1983. to 2022 He served as editor of the Journal of Legal Studies from 1981 to 1991, and of the Journal of Law and Economics from 1991-2001. From 2001 to 2010 he was a director of the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago.
His newest book, The Myth of Birthright Citizenship: What the Fourteenth Amendment Really Says was published in 2026 (Encounter Books). Prior to that he has published many books including, The Dubious Morality of the Modern Administrative State (Roman & Littlefield 2020).Earlier he published th Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (Harvard 2014) iHis previous books include Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (Harvard 2011); The Case Against the Employee Free Choice Act (Hoover 2009); Supreme Neglect: How to Revive the Constitutional Protection of Property Rights (Oxford 2008); Antitrust Decrees in Theory and Practice: Why Less is More (AEI 2007); Overdose: How Excessive Government Regulation Stifles Pharmaceutical Innovation (Yale University Press. 2006); How Progressives Rewrote the Constitution (Cato 2006); Cases and Materials on Torts (Aspen Law & Business; 8th ed. 2004); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism (University of Chicago, 2003); Torts (Aspen Law & Business 1999); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty with the Common Good (Perseus Books, 1998): Mortal Peril: Our Inalienable Rights to Health Care (Addison-Wesley, 1997); Simple Rules for a Complex World (Harvard, 1995); Bargaining With the State (Princeton, 1993); Forbidden Grounds: The Case Against Employment Discrimination Laws (Harvard , 1992); Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain (Harvard, 1985); and Modern Products Liability Law (Greenwood Press, 1980). He has also edited(with Catherine M. Sharkey) Cases and Materials on the Law of Torts (10th edition 2012).
Professor Epstein has written numerous articles on a wide range of legal and interdisciplinary subjects. He has taught courses in administrative law, antitrust law, civil procedure, communications, constitutional law, contracts, corporations, criminal law, employment discrimination law, environmental law, food and drug law health law and policy, legal history, labor law, property, real estate development and finance, jurisprudence, labor law; land use planning, patents, individual, estate and corporate taxation, Roman Law; torts, and workers' compensation.
Professor Epstein also writes a regular column for Civitas Institute, which also sponsors his podcast, The Libertarian with Charles C.W. Cooke, and Law Talk, with Cooke and John Yoo. He also does a podcast with John Batchelor. And appears regularly on the Freedom File with Judge Andrew Napolitano.