Tech Roundup Episode 29 - An AI Roundup of 2025 and What Lies Ahead for 2026
Join tech and legal experts Prof. Kevin Frazier (University of Texas School of Law), Neil...
Communications & Technology Practice Group
Kevin Frazier, Neil Chilson, Charlie Bullock
Join tech and legal experts Prof. Kevin Frazier (University of Texas School of Law), Neil...
Brent Skorup, Marc Warren, Marc Nichols, David Grizzle
In this final episode of the Regulatory Transparency Project’s aviation policy podcast series, host Brent...
Brent Skorup, Charles M. Trippe, Lisa Ellman
Brent Skorup (Cato Institute) continues the discussion of innovation at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),...
Brent Skorup, Charles M. Trippe, Reggie Govan
Brent Skorup (Cato Institute) is joined by Reggie Govan (Former Chief Counsel, Federal Aviation Administration)...
Kevin Frazier, Kate Tummarello
Startups often struggle to balance financial constraints with the pursuit of innovation, raising questions about...
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.
Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC
Jimmy Conde is partner at Boyden Gray PLLC, specializing in energy, environmental, and administrative law, with particular expertise in the Clean Air Act. He has protected clients against agency overreach in cutting-edge and complex legal proceedings, including challenges to EPA, DOE, DOT, and California rules seeking to compel electrification of motor vehicles, the FCC’s universal service fund, Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division rules, and HHS rules interfering with the practice of medicine and sound insurance practices. His written commentary has been published and referenced in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Examiner, Concurrences (an antitrust publication), and Newsweek, among others.
Mr. Conde began his legal career as an associate with Boyden Gray PLLC. He clerked for Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Judge David J. Porter in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Associate Chief Counsel, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Maria C. Monaghan is associate chief counsel at the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, the litigation arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In this capacity, she handles a variety of litigation matters for the Chamber.
Before joining the Litigation Center, Monaghan practiced as an associate in the D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. She represented clients in the telecommunications, energy, transportation, and e-commerce sectors, with a focus on appellate litigation and regulatory matters.
Monaghan served as a law clerk to the Honorable Samuel A. Alito of the United States Supreme Court, the Honorable Ed Carnes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the Honorable Amul R. Thapar of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she served as Articles Development Editor for the Virginia Law Review and participated in the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. She received her undergraduate degree in Human Resource Management and Labor Studies from Rutgers University.
Senior Counsel, America First Legal
James Rogers is Senior Counsel at America First Legal Foundation, where he litigates in a number of areas, including border security, election integrity, parental rights, and administrative and constitutional law. Before joining America First Legal, from 2021 to 2022, he was Senior Litigation Counsel at the Solicitor General’s Office of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. While there, he spearheaded lawsuits against the Biden Administration’s destructive open borders policies and its COVID19 vaccine mandates. From 2015 to 2021, James was a Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Department of State, where he worked in the Office of the Assistant Legal Advisor for Consular Affairs, at the U.S. Consulate in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and at the U.S. Embassy in Windhoek, Namibia.
Prior to joining the Department of State, he was a commercial litigation partner at Osborn Maledon, a Phoenix-based firm with a #1 litigation ranking from Chambers and Partners. James earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2009, an L.L.M. in International Law from the University of Cambridge in 2008, and a B.A., with honors, in International Studies from Brigham Young University in 2005. He is a sixth-generation Arizonan and lives in Mesa, Arizona, with his four children.
Partner, Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP
Ryan Schermerhorn is a registered patent attorney in the firm's Industrial & Mechanical Technologies Practice Group. His engineering background provides him with an understanding of clients’ technologies and enables him to effectively and efficiently provide a range of patent procurement services. He also leverages his experience to assist on intellectual property litigation as well as develop strategies for acquiring and protecting intellectual property.
Since 2017, Ryan has been listed as an "Emerging Lawyer" by Emerging Lawyers Magazine and has been selected for inclusion in the Illinois Rising Stars® lists. Ryan was recognized in Chicago Daily Law Bulletin's 2023 40 Under Forty list. Since 2024, Ryan has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© list in the practice areas of Litigation - Patent and Patent Law. In 2025, Ryan was selected by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company’s Leading Lawyer Network as a “Leading Lawyer.”
Managing Director, BGR Group
Sean Cooksey, a former senior official in the Trump administration and on Capitol Hill, works as a Managing Director with BGR Group’s Commerce and Infrastructure Practice. He brings a wealth of executive branch, legislative, and private sector experience to his work with clients on issues ranging from congressional oversight and investigations, competition and antitrust matters, intellectual property and technology policy, and litigation support.
Prior to joining the BGR team, Sean was Counsel to Vice President JD Vance. In this role, he served as the Vice President’s chief legal adviser and a senior policy staffer within the White House. As part of the Trump-Vance administration, he regularly advised the Vice President and senior White House staff on constitutional law, domestic policy, ethics, and executive and judicial nominations.
Previously, Sean was a member of the Federal Election Commission, after being nominated by President Trump in 2020. Sean served on the FEC for four years and was elected Chairman for the 2024 presidential election year, overseeing an agency of 300 staff to administer federal campaign-finance law.
Sean began his political career in the United States Senate, where he served as General Counsel for Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Deputy Chief Counsel for Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). During his tenure in both offices, Sean worked on the Senate’s Committee on the Judiciary on some of the Senate’s most high-stakes matters, including major legislation and two Supreme Court confirmations.
Prior to his Senate service, Sean worked at an international law firm in Washington, D.C., where his practice focused on appeals and constitutional law. He also served as a law clerk for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Houston, Texas.
Sean has appeared on television, on radio, and in print in outlets such as The Ingraham Angle, Varney & Co., Morning Edition, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Axios, and Politico. He speaks regularly at major conferences, including the Republican National Lawyers Association and the National Association of Business PACs.
Founder and Executive Director, National Security Institute; Assistant Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Jamil N. Jaffer is the Founder and Executive Director of the National Security Institute at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University where he also serves as an Assistant Professor of Law, Director of the National Security Law and Policy Program, and Director of the Cyber, Intelligence, and National Security LLM Program. Jamil also teaches classes on counterterrorism, intelligence, surveillance, cybersecurity, and other national security matters, as well as a summer course held abroad with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch. Jamil is also affiliated with Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and previously served as a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution from 2016 to 2019.
Jamil is also a Venture Partner with Paladin Capital Group, where he assists the firm with investments across the full range of its themes and theses, including a focus on dual-use national security technologies. Jamil also serves on the board of directors of RangeForce, a cybersecurity training and readiness platform startup and Tozny, a digital identity startup, and on the advisory boards of U.S. Strategic Metals, North America’s largest primary producer of cobalt, a critical mineral used in EV batteries, aerospace, and other national security applications; and Constella Intelligence, a deep and dark web intelligence startup. Jamil also serves as an advisor to Beacon Global Strategies, a strategic advisory firm and Duco, a technology platform startup that connects corporations with geopolitical and international business experts. Jamil is also the managing director of Trigraph Caveat Capital, a private investment vehicle.
Among other things, Jamil currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the Board of Advisors for the Global Cyber Alliance, and the Advisory Board of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies’ Center on Cyber and Tech Innovation, the Executive Committee of the Reagan Institute Strategy Group. Jamil is also a Fellow at the Academy for Judaic, Christian, and Islamic Studies, an advisor to the Concordia Summit, and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Center for Intelligence Policy, the Board of Directors of Speech First, and the Executive Committee of the International Law and National Security Practice Group of the Federalist Society.
Immediately prior to his current positions, from 2015-2021, Jamil served as a senior business leader at IronNet Cybersecurity, helping take the company from a bootstrapped first-year technology products startup through two rounds of venture capital fundraising, growing from 40 employees to over 300, and through its listing on New York Stock Exchange. In his role as IronNet's Senior Vice President for Strategy, Partnerships & Corporate Development, Jamil worked directly for the co-CEOs of the company, Gen (ret.) Keith B. Alexander, the former Director of the National Security Agency and Founding Commander of U.S. Cyber Command, and Bill Welch, the former COO of Zscaler and Duo; in that role, Jamil led all of the company’s strategic and technology partnership efforts, including developing go-to-market and technology integration plans with some of the largest cloud platforms and cybersecurity companies in the market, evaluating potential acquisition targets, and developing overall corporate strategy and thought leadership around collective security and collaborative defense in the cyber arena.
Prior to his time at IronNet, Jamil served on the leadership team of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as Chief Counsel and Senior Advisor under Chairman Bob Corker (R-TN), where he worked on key national security and foreign policy issues, including leading the drafting of the proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force against ISIS in 2014 and 2015, the AUMF against Syria in 2013, and revisions to the 9/11 AUMF against al Qaeda. Jamil was also the lead architect of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act and two sanctions laws against Russia for its first intervention in Ukraine.
Prior to joining SFRC, Jamil served as Senior Counsel to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence under Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) where he led the committee’s oversight of NSA surveillance, NRO intelligence issues, and NGA analytic and collection matters, as well as intelligence community-wide counterterrorism issues. Jamil was also the lead architect of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, the nation’s first cyber threat intelligence sharing legislation that was signed into law in 2015.
In the Bush Administration, Jamil served in the White House as an Associate Counsel to the President, handling Defense Department, State Department, and intelligence community matters, and serving as one of the White House Counsel’s primary representatives to the National Security Council Deputies Committee.
Prior to the White House, Jamil served on the leadership team of the Justice Department’s National Security Division as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, where he focused on counterterrorism and intelligence matters. At NSD, Jamil helped lead the division’s work on In re: Directives, the first ever two-party litigated matter in the FISA Court and the second case before the FISA Court of Review in its 30-year history. Jamil also led NSD’s efforts on the President’s Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), including the drafting of NSPD-54/HSPD-23, and related classified matters, and advised the National Security Agency (NSA) and U.S. Cyber Command’s predecessor organization, the Joint Function Component Command for Network Warfare (JFCC-NW), on matters related to cyber intelligence collection and offensive cyber activities. For his work on these matters, Jamil was awarded the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Special Initiative and was among the group of lawyers awarded the Director of National Intelligence’s 2008 Legal Award (Team of the Year – Cyber Legal).
Jamil also served in other positions in the Justice Department, including in the Office of Legal Policy, where he worked on the confirmations of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to the United States Supreme Court.
Jamil also served as a lawyer in private practice at Kellogg Huber, a Washington, DC-based litigation boutique, as a policy advisor to Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), and as a staff member or senior advisor on a number of political campaigns, including two presidential campaigns and a presidential transition team. While in law school, Jamil was a member of the University of Chicago Law Review, managing editor of the Chicago Journal of International Law, and National Symposium Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Following law school, Jamil served as a law clerk to Judge Edith H. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and, later in his career, as a law clerk to then-Judge Neil M. Gorsuch when he first joined the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit as well as a law clerk to Justice Neil Gorsuch when he joined the U.S. Supreme Court.
Jamil has published multiple op-eds and academic articles on national security, foreign policy, cybersecurity, counterterrorism, encryption, and intelligence matters, and is the co-author of a book chapter with former NSA Director Gen. (Ret.) Keith B. Alexander on national security and the press in National Security, Leaks, and the Freedom of the Press: The Pentagon Papers Fifty Years On (2021) and a book chapter with former CIA Director Gen. (ret.) Mike Hayden on ISIS, al Qaeda, and other international terrorist groups in Choosing to Lead: American Foreign Policy for a Disordered World (2015). Jamil has also written book chapters on cybersecurity and surveillance, as well as op-eds and policy papers with former Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, former National Counterterrorism Center Director Matt Olsen, and Congressman Mike Waltz (R-FL), among others.
Jamil has previously taught graduate-level courses in intelligence law and policy at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs and the National Intelligence University, served an outside advisor to the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, and has recently testified before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on China, cybersecurity, counterterrorism, and other national security matters. Jamil has also recently appeared on a range of national television and radio outlets including CNN, Fox News, Fox Business, MSNBC, Bloomberg, PBS, Voice of America, and National Public Radio, and in various print and online publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the Washington Post on a range of national security matters including cybersecurity, counterterrorism, surveillance, encryption, privacy, and foreign policy issues.
Jamil holds degrees from UCLA (BA, cum laude), the University of Chicago Law School (JD, with honors), and the United States Naval War College (MA, with distinction).
Professor of Cyber Security and Policy, Tufts University
Susan Landau is Professor of Cyber Security and Policy in the Department of Computer Science, Tufts University. Earlier, as Bridge Professor of Cyber Security and Policy at the Fletcher School and School of Engineering, she founded Tufts's innovative MS degree in Cybersecurity and Public Policy. Prior to Tufts, Landau was Senior Staff Privacy Analyst at Google, Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems, and faculty member at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Wesleyan University.
An interdisciplinary scholar, Landau works at the intersection of privacy, surveillance, cybersecurity, and the law. She has testified before Congress and briefed US and European policymakers on encryption, Landau and Whitfield Diffie won the McGannon Book Award for Social and Ethical Relevance in Communication Policy Research for Privacy on the Line: The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption. She received the Surveillance Studies Book Prize for Surveillance or Security? The Risks Posed by New Wiretapping Technologies, the USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award, shared with Steven Bellovin and Matt Blaze, and the American Mathematical Society's Bertrand Russell Prize. Landau has served on committees of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, on the National Science Foundation Computer and Information Science Engineering Advisory Board, the National Institute of Standards and Technology Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board, and on mathematics and computer science journal editorial boards. Landau received her BA from Princeton, MS from Cornell, and PhD from MIT.
Strategic Council, Silverado Policy Accelerator; former Republican Deputy Staff Director, U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Tara Caroselli McFeely is a senior national security executive with expertise spanning defense, intelligence, and technology policy, political, and budgetary domains. She serves on the Strategic Council at Silverado Policy Accelerator, advising on innovative, data-driven national security policy initiatives, and is an Adjunct Professor in the Master of Science in Foreign Service program at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.
In government, she most recently served as the Republican Deputy Staff Director on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) driving the national security and intelligence policy and Executive Branch oversight strategic direction. She also co-led the professional staff oversight functions of the policies and programs of the U.S. intelligence enterprise spanning six Departments: Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, Treasury, State; and two independent agencies: the Central Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Prior to this role she served as the SSCI Budget Director, leading the staff oversight of the Intelligence Community (IC) and Defense Intelligence Enterprise annual $100.0+ billion budget and programs. Formerly, she was the SSCI Chairman’s Senior Advisor for Counterterrorism and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s intelligence programs.
In the research domain, Ms. McFeely was the Deputy Director of the Intelligence Analyses Division at the Institute for Defense Analyses. In this role she led a large team of senior social sciences and STEM researchers on complex multidisciplinary research and analysis projects.
At Booz Allen Hamilton, she was a senior advisor for multiple IC and Department of Defense clients. She also led numerous multifaceted contracts across the U.S. Government landscape globally, including multilateral counter-Biological Weapons (BW) program initiatives.
Ms. McFeely began her career serving globally in the U.S. Navy, initially as a Surface Warfare Officer conducting U.S. 2nd Fleet and NATO operations across the Atlantic, and subsequently as a Naval Intelligence Officer supporting operations in the Balkans and the Global War on Terror.
Ms. McFeely has a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the U.S. Naval Academy where she was a letterwoman on the Women’s Varsity Basketball Team. She also has a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.
President and Founder, JKC Consulting LLC
John Kneuer is the President and Founder of JKC Consulting LLC. He sits on multiple public and private company boards.
Prior to starting Kneuer LLC, Mr. Kneuer served as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. In this capacity Mr. Kneuer was the principal advisor to the President of the United States on telecommunications policy and the Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration ("NTIA").In addition to representing the Executive Branch in domestic and international telecommunications and information policy activities, NTIA also manages the federal use of spectrum; performs cutting edge telecommunications research and engineering, including resolving technical telecommunications issues for the federal government and private sector; and administers infrastructure and public telecommunications facilities grants.
Prior to his service at NTIA, Mr. Kneuer served as a Senior Associate at the law firm of Piper Rudnick in Washington, D.C., providing regulatory and legislative representation to corporate clients in the telecommunications, defense, and transportation industries. Earlier in his career, Mr. Kneuer served as the Executive Director for Government Relations at the Industrial Telecommunications Association, and prior to that served as an Attorney-Advisor in the Commercial Wireless Division of the Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Bureau. Mr. Kneuer received B.A. and J.D. degrees from the Catholic University of America.
Partner, Wiley Rein, LLP
Ari draws upon his experience in the areas of regulatory policy and compliance, transactions, and litigation, to provide clients with a holistic approach to their legal needs. He represents clients on some of their most important strategic matters, including mergers and acquisitions, significant rulemaking proceedings, and government investigations.
Ari works with clients to maximize the business potential of digital distribution technologies. He advises clients on spectrum monetization and policy, satellite, and cable distribution (including retransmission consent agreements and market definitions), and advertising matters.
Ari frequently represents regulated parties in matters before the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Enforcement Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and other adjudicatory bodies, where he provides strategic guidance, leads internal investigations, and drafts responses to letters of inquiry (LOIs) and subpoenas. He works to achieve favorable results for clients, whether through negotiation, formal responses, or litigation.
Additionally, Ari represents plaintiffs and defendants in federal and state trial and appellate proceedings throughout the United States, including cases relating to trademark and copyright, contractual disputes, and administrative procedure. He regularly works with domestic and international clients on issues related to the distribution of content over the Internet, including helping them to protect and defend their trademark rights and to advise them on copyright matters, including under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
AI Innovation and Law Fellow, University of Texas School of Law
Kevin Frazier is an AI Innovation and Law Fellow with University of Texas School of Law.
Head of AI Policy, Abundance Institute
Neil Chilson is the Head of AI Policy at the Abundance Institute. Prior to this position, he served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity. Chilson is a lawyer, computer scientist, and author of the book “Getting Out of Control: Emergent Leadership in a Complex World.”
Chilson was previously the senior research fellow for Technology and Innovation at Stand Together, where he guided efforts to understand and promote the legal and cultural paradigms that best enable people to discover, innovate, and improve all our lives.
Before Stand Together, Chilson was the Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission, where he focused on the economics of privacy and blockchain-related issues. Previously, he was an attorney advisor to Acting FTC Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen. In both roles he advised Chairman Ohlhausen and worked with staff on nearly every major technology-related case, report, workshop, or other FTC proceeding since January 2014. Neil joined the FTC from telecom firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer. Neil is frequently quoted by the press and his work has appeared in numerous news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USAToday, and Newsweek. Neil has a J.D. from The George Washington Law School, a M.S. in computer science from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a B.S. in computer science from Harding University.
Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Law & AI
Charlie is a Senior Research Fellow on LawAI's U.S. Law and Policy team. He advises state and federal policy makers on AI governance topics and publishes research on legal questions with significant practical relevance to U.S. AI policy. His recent research examines issues including federal preemption of state AI laws, federal and state AI whistleblower protection legislation, and the likely consequences of the end of Chevron deference for the future of AI regulation. Charlie received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was an Editor for the Yale Journal on Regulation.
Legal Fellow, Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute
Brent Skorup is a legal fellow in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.
Before joining Cato, he was a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at the George Mason University. His research areas include free speech, technology law, Fourth Amendment protections, regulation, and property law. Skorup has published pieces in economics and law journals and in popular media, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, and Wired. He’s appeared as a TV and radio interview guest for news outlets like C‑SPAN, NPR, CBS News, ABC News, and CNBC Asia.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, a dissenting opinion at the Illinois Supreme Court, and the ALI's Restatement of the Law of Property have cited his legal research and he has testified as a technology and legal expert in legislative hearings in several states. Skorup has been appointed to several federal and state advisory bodies and he is currently a member of the Texas Advanced Air Mobility Advisory Committee.
Skorup has a BA in economics from Wheaton College and a law degree from the George Mason University School of Law, where he was articles editor for the Civil Rights Law Journal. He was a legal clerk at the FCC’s wireless bureau and Office of General Counsel and at the Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Aviation & Aerospace Team Co-Leader, Adams & Reese
Marc Warren is ranked Band 1 Nationwide in Transportation: Aviation: Regulatory by Chambers USA
Marc is a respected leader in the international aviation bar, and advises many of the world’s leading aviation and aerospace operators and manufacturers. Marc is the co-leader of the Adams & Reese Aviation and Aerospace Practice Team and resident in the firm’s DC and Jacksonville offices.
Marc has deep connections to industry regulators, associations, and leaders, based on decades of providing dependable, authoritative service, with a well-recognized commitment to air safety and the public interest. He has built an unparalleled reputation for wisdom in aviation matters.
Marc’s clients include major airlines, defense, transportation, logistics and infrastructure companies, trade associations, and public venues. Marc steers clients through FAA and Department of Transportation regulatory compliance, government investigations, and enforcement matters.
Marc has deep and extensive experience in aviation matters including those involving U.S. and foreign airlines, aerospace manufacturing, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), commercial space transportation, advanced air mobility, airports and infrastructure, business aviation, certification and licensing, safety management systems, hazardous materials transport, government contracts, rulemaking and policy, litigation, and government investigations.
Marc’s wide-ranging experience also includes mergers, acquisitions, national security and military law, and international legal and policy issues. His practice also provides full-service, multi-disciplinary capabilities in areas such as antitrust and competition, investigations, crisis response environmental, international, regulatory, government contracts, administrative compliance and enforcement, business transactions and litigation matters, including arbitrations.
A former FAA acting chief counsel and deputy chief counsel, and a senior legal officer for the Army, Marc has technical aviation and senior leader advisory experience.
Marc is helping to shape the future of aviation by developing innovative solutions for drone delivery and urban air mobility systems, and for more effective and efficient use of airspace and airports. He employs novel funding strategies and guides clients in finding proper ways to implement new technologies. Clients turn to Marc to secure and protect government-issued certificates and licenses, relying on him to ensure that their core authorities are maintained.
Before his FAA appointment, Marc served in the US Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, from which he retired in 2007 after having been selected for promotion to brigadier general.
Partner; Co-Chair, Transportation Practice, DLA Piper
Marc Nichols is co-chair of the DLA Piper Transportation Practice. His practice is primarily focused on a broad range of aviation and aerospace issues, including overseeing litigation responsibilities, enforcement, safety and security matters, regulatory and legislative affairs, employment and labor matters, data and emerging technology, and ethics and compliance issues. Marc was previously Chief Counsel of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), appointed by Former President Biden and the US Secretary of Transportation in 2022. In his role as the Chief Legal Officer of the FAA, Marc provided comprehensive legal guidance across all operational facets of the FAA on matters of importance to the national aviation and aerospace sector.
As Chief Counsel, Marc led a team of more than 300 legal professionals located across 13 offices nationwide and oversaw an annual budget exceeding US$65 million. His responsibilities encompassed representing and advising the FAA's various lines of business and staff offices on a broad range of aviation and aerospace issues. Additionally, Marc offered direct counsel to the FAA Administrator, the Deputy Administrator, and the Office of the General Counsel of the US Department of Transportation to ensure the safest and most efficient aerospace system in the world.
CEO, Republic Airways
David Grizzle has been serving as Chief Executive Officer since July 2, 2025 and has served as the Chairman of our Board of Directors since May 2017. Since 2013, Mr. Grizzle has engaged as an aviation consultant through his firm, Dazzle Partners. Mr. Grizzle previously served as Chief Operating Officer of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization from 2011 to 2013 and as Chief Counsel of the FAA from 2009 to 2011. Prior to his time with the FAA, Mr. Grizzle was with Continental Airlines, Inc. and its affiliates for 22 years, retiring as the Senior Vice President of Customer Experience. In 2004, Mr. Grizzle served for 14 months with the U.S. Department of State in Kabul, Afghanistan as Attaché, Senior Advisor and Coordinator for Transportation and Infrastructure.
Legal Fellow, Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute
Brent Skorup is a legal fellow in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.
Before joining Cato, he was a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at the George Mason University. His research areas include free speech, technology law, Fourth Amendment protections, regulation, and property law. Skorup has published pieces in economics and law journals and in popular media, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, and Wired. He’s appeared as a TV and radio interview guest for news outlets like C‑SPAN, NPR, CBS News, ABC News, and CNBC Asia.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, a dissenting opinion at the Illinois Supreme Court, and the ALI's Restatement of the Law of Property have cited his legal research and he has testified as a technology and legal expert in legislative hearings in several states. Skorup has been appointed to several federal and state advisory bodies and he is currently a member of the Texas Advanced Air Mobility Advisory Committee.
Skorup has a BA in economics from Wheaton College and a law degree from the George Mason University School of Law, where he was articles editor for the Civil Rights Law Journal. He was a legal clerk at the FCC’s wireless bureau and Office of General Counsel and at the Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Of Counsel, GrayRobinson
Charlie Trippe practiced civil litigation for the 14 years between 1980 and 1994, most of that with Jones Day, where he was a partner in the New York office. He was the chief litigation counsel of CSX Transportation, Inc., one of the country’s largest freight railroads, from 1994 through 2001. He returned to private practice in Jacksonville in 2001, continuing to practice in the area of civil litigation. He also served as General Counsel to both the Governor of Florida (2010-2011) and the Attorney General of Florida (2020-2022), and as the Chief Counsel of the Federal Aviation Administration (2017-2019). Since 2025 he has been Of Counsel to the Florida firm of GrayRobinson. He is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator, as well as an experienced arbitrator.
Partner, Global Regulatory, Hogan Lovells
As chair of the Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) practice and co-founder and Executive Director of the non-profit Commercial Drone Alliance, Lisa is focused on helping businesses succeed in the dynamic drone marketplace. She also focuses on UAS security efforts and enabling Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). Lisa founded and hosts the Advanced Aviation Innovation Summit series, bringing together regulators, policymakers, and industry stakeholders to explore ways to enhance U.S. global leadership in advanced aviation.
Legal Fellow, Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute
Brent Skorup is a legal fellow in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.
Before joining Cato, he was a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at the George Mason University. His research areas include free speech, technology law, Fourth Amendment protections, regulation, and property law. Skorup has published pieces in economics and law journals and in popular media, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, and Wired. He’s appeared as a TV and radio interview guest for news outlets like C‑SPAN, NPR, CBS News, ABC News, and CNBC Asia.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, a dissenting opinion at the Illinois Supreme Court, and the ALI's Restatement of the Law of Property have cited his legal research and he has testified as a technology and legal expert in legislative hearings in several states. Skorup has been appointed to several federal and state advisory bodies and he is currently a member of the Texas Advanced Air Mobility Advisory Committee.
Skorup has a BA in economics from Wheaton College and a law degree from the George Mason University School of Law, where he was articles editor for the Civil Rights Law Journal. He was a legal clerk at the FCC’s wireless bureau and Office of General Counsel and at the Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Of Counsel, GrayRobinson
Charlie Trippe practiced civil litigation for the 14 years between 1980 and 1994, most of that with Jones Day, where he was a partner in the New York office. He was the chief litigation counsel of CSX Transportation, Inc., one of the country’s largest freight railroads, from 1994 through 2001. He returned to private practice in Jacksonville in 2001, continuing to practice in the area of civil litigation. He also served as General Counsel to both the Governor of Florida (2010-2011) and the Attorney General of Florida (2020-2022), and as the Chief Counsel of the Federal Aviation Administration (2017-2019). Since 2025 he has been Of Counsel to the Florida firm of GrayRobinson. He is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator, as well as an experienced arbitrator.
Former Chief Counsel, Federal Aviation Administration
Reggie Govan is former Chief Counsel of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA). The Office of the Chief Counsel provides legal advice in support of the FAA Administrator and all aspects of agency operations at headquarters, regions, and centers and works closely with the Department of Transportation’s Office of General Counsel on issues of national significance to the aviation industry.
Mr. Govan previously served as a corporate counsel, litigator, and legislative counsel. Prior to joining the FAA, he served as Managing Associate General Counsel of Freddie Mac. He also served as Counsel to Chairmen Augustus H. Hawkins and William D. Ford of the United States (U.S.) House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor, and as Counsel to the then-Chairman (now Vice President) Joseph R. Biden of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. His litigation experience includes service as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan and as plaintiffs’ counsel in federal civil rights litigation, including school desegregation and voting rights cases.
After acquiring a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Philosophy from Carnegie-Mellon University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, he clerked for the Honorable Nathaniel Jones of U.S. Court of Appeals for Sixth Circuit.
Mr. Govan is the author of several professional journal and law review articles. He lives in the District of Columbia.
AI Innovation and Law Fellow, University of Texas School of Law
Kevin Frazier is an AI Innovation and Law Fellow with University of Texas School of Law.
Executive Director, Engine
Kate has been at Engine since 2017 and has served as Engine’s Policy Director since 2019, working on privacy, intermediary liability, and telecommunications issues.
Prior to joining Engine, Kate worked on surveillance reform issues at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Before joining the advocacy community, Kate spent years as a technology policy reporter in D.C., including at Politico, The Hill, and Communications Daily. She is a graduate of Hamilton College.