Associate Counsel to the President, White House Counsel's Office
Samuel Adkisson serves as Associate Counsel to the President in the White House Counsel’s Office.
Mr. Adkisson previously practiced law at Cooper & Kirk PLLC, where he focused on high-stakes civil-rights, political, and constitutional disputes. His matters included class actions challenging the FAA’s race-based air traffic controller hiring practices and the University of Oklahoma’s financial aid policies; appellate work on behalf of X Corp.; and the successful defense of Florida’s actions during a 2024 abortion referendum. Before joining Cooper & Kirk, he worked on the landmark case challenging Harvard’s affirmative action policies and helped launch a successful challenge to the State Bar of Texas’s membership policies.
Mr. Adkisson clerked for Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts, Jr., Judge Amul R. Thapar of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and Judge Gregory G. Katsas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. During Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, he worked for Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Charles E. Grassley.
Mr. Adkisson received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was President of the Yale Law School Federalist Society and an editor of the Yale Law Journal. He graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University. Prior to joining the Trump Administration in January 2025, he lived on Signal Mountain, TN, with his wife and three children.
Partner, BakerHostetler, Adjunct Fellow, The Manhattan Institute
Andrew Grossman leads BakerHostetler’s Appellate and Major Motion team. He has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court, nearly all the federal courts of appeals, as well as some state appellate courts, litigating high-profile and complex commercial, administrative and constitutional issues.
Andrew works with practice groups across BakerHostetler to identify and tackle complex issues, advise on administrative law and strategy, tee up issues for appeal and tackle appeals. He has developed and implemented litigation and administrative strategies for clients in several fields and industries.
In addition to his practice, Andrew advises members of Congress on matters of constitutional and administrative law, having testified more than a dozen times before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. He has been a frequent legal commentator on radio and television, having appeared on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, NPR and its affiliates, CBN and elsewhere. His legal commentary has also appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Washington Times and many others.
Andrew is a Senior Legal Fellow at the Buckeye Institute, an Adjunct Fellow the Manhattan Institute and a member of the leadership of the Federalist Society. He previously served as an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies and a legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. He clerked for Judge Edith H. Jones on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Vice President for Legal Strategy, Stand Together
Casey Mattox is Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at
Americans for Prosperity. In these roles he advocates for and creates strategies and
partnerships to ensure a constitutionally limited government that protects the civil liberties of all
Americans. Prior to joining Stand Together and AFP Casey’s legal career focused on defending
the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, healthcare workers and religious organizations.
Casey has a J.D. from Boston College School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @CaseyMattox_ and on LinkedIn at
@Casey-Mattox-ST.
Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
ILYA SOMIN is Professor of Law at George Mason University and the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute. His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, democratic theory, federalism, and migration rights. He is the author of Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom (Oxford University Press, revised and expanded edition, 2022), Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter (Stanford University Press, revised and expanded second edition, 2016), and The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain (University of Chicago Press, 2015, rev. paperback ed., 2016), coauthor of A Conspiracy Against Obamacare: The Volokh Conspiracy and the Health Care Case (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), and co-editor of Eminent Domain: A Comparative Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Democracy and Political Ignorance has been translated into Italian and Japanese.
Somin’s work has appeared in numerous scholarly journals, including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Critical Review, and others. Somin has also published articles in a variety of popular press outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, CNN, NBC, The Atlantic, USA Today, Boston Globe, US News and World Report, South China Morning Post, National Law Journal and Reason. He has been quoted or interviewed by the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, The Economist, the Christian Science Monitor, the Financial Times, The Guardian, the Associated Press, CBS, MSNBC, NPR, BBC, Reuters, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Al Jazeera, and the Voice of America, among other media.
Somin’s writings have been cited in decisions by the United States Supreme Court, multiple state supreme courts and lower federal courts, and the Supreme Court of Israel. He is co-counsel for the plaintiffs in VOS Selections, Inc. v. Trump, a case challenging the constitutionality of President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. Somin has testified on the use of drones for targeted killing in the War on Terror before the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights. In 2009, he testified on property rights issues at the United States Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Somin writes regularly for the popular Volokh Conspiracy law and politics blog, now affiliated with Reason magazine (previously affiliated with the Washington Post from 2014 to 2017). From 2006 to 2013, he served as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review, one of the country’s top-rated law and economics journals.
Somin has served as a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He has also been a visiting professor or scholar at the Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Hamburg, Germany, the University of Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Uriel Reichman University in Israel, and Zhengzhou University in China. He is a University Affiliate of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, and an affiliated faculty member of the George Mason University Institute for Immigration Research. Before joining the faculty at George Mason, Somin was the John M. Olin Fellow in Law at Northwestern University Law School in 2002-2003. In 2001-2002, he clerked for the Hon. Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Professor Somin earned his B.A., Summa Cum Laude, at Amherst College, M.A. in Political Science from Harvard University, and J.D. from Yale Law School.
Associate Counsel to the President, White House Counsel's Office
Samuel Adkisson serves as Associate Counsel to the President in the White House Counsel’s Office.
Mr. Adkisson previously practiced law at Cooper & Kirk PLLC, where he focused on high-stakes civil-rights, political, and constitutional disputes. His matters included class actions challenging the FAA’s race-based air traffic controller hiring practices and the University of Oklahoma’s financial aid policies; appellate work on behalf of X Corp.; and the successful defense of Florida’s actions during a 2024 abortion referendum. Before joining Cooper & Kirk, he worked on the landmark case challenging Harvard’s affirmative action policies and helped launch a successful challenge to the State Bar of Texas’s membership policies.
Mr. Adkisson clerked for Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts, Jr., Judge Amul R. Thapar of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and Judge Gregory G. Katsas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. During Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, he worked for Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Charles E. Grassley.
Mr. Adkisson received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was President of the Yale Law School Federalist Society and an editor of the Yale Law Journal. He graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University. Prior to joining the Trump Administration in January 2025, he lived on Signal Mountain, TN, with his wife and three children.
Partner, BakerHostetler, Adjunct Fellow, The Manhattan Institute
Andrew Grossman leads BakerHostetler’s Appellate and Major Motion team. He has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court, nearly all the federal courts of appeals, as well as some state appellate courts, litigating high-profile and complex commercial, administrative and constitutional issues.
Andrew works with practice groups across BakerHostetler to identify and tackle complex issues, advise on administrative law and strategy, tee up issues for appeal and tackle appeals. He has developed and implemented litigation and administrative strategies for clients in several fields and industries.
In addition to his practice, Andrew advises members of Congress on matters of constitutional and administrative law, having testified more than a dozen times before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. He has been a frequent legal commentator on radio and television, having appeared on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, NPR and its affiliates, CBN and elsewhere. His legal commentary has also appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Washington Times and many others.
Andrew is a Senior Legal Fellow at the Buckeye Institute, an Adjunct Fellow the Manhattan Institute and a member of the leadership of the Federalist Society. He previously served as an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies and a legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. He clerked for Judge Edith H. Jones on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Vice President for Legal Strategy, Stand Together
Casey Mattox is Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at
Americans for Prosperity. In these roles he advocates for and creates strategies and
partnerships to ensure a constitutionally limited government that protects the civil liberties of all
Americans. Prior to joining Stand Together and AFP Casey’s legal career focused on defending
the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, healthcare workers and religious organizations.
Casey has a J.D. from Boston College School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @CaseyMattox_ and on LinkedIn at
@Casey-Mattox-ST.
Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
ILYA SOMIN is Professor of Law at George Mason University and the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute. His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, democratic theory, federalism, and migration rights. He is the author of Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom (Oxford University Press, revised and expanded edition, 2022), Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter (Stanford University Press, revised and expanded second edition, 2016), and The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain (University of Chicago Press, 2015, rev. paperback ed., 2016), coauthor of A Conspiracy Against Obamacare: The Volokh Conspiracy and the Health Care Case (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), and co-editor of Eminent Domain: A Comparative Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Democracy and Political Ignorance has been translated into Italian and Japanese.
Somin’s work has appeared in numerous scholarly journals, including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Critical Review, and others. Somin has also published articles in a variety of popular press outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, CNN, NBC, The Atlantic, USA Today, Boston Globe, US News and World Report, South China Morning Post, National Law Journal and Reason. He has been quoted or interviewed by the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, The Economist, the Christian Science Monitor, the Financial Times, The Guardian, the Associated Press, CBS, MSNBC, NPR, BBC, Reuters, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Al Jazeera, and the Voice of America, among other media.
Somin’s writings have been cited in decisions by the United States Supreme Court, multiple state supreme courts and lower federal courts, and the Supreme Court of Israel. He is co-counsel for the plaintiffs in VOS Selections, Inc. v. Trump, a case challenging the constitutionality of President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. Somin has testified on the use of drones for targeted killing in the War on Terror before the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights. In 2009, he testified on property rights issues at the United States Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Somin writes regularly for the popular Volokh Conspiracy law and politics blog, now affiliated with Reason magazine (previously affiliated with the Washington Post from 2014 to 2017). From 2006 to 2013, he served as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review, one of the country’s top-rated law and economics journals.
Somin has served as a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He has also been a visiting professor or scholar at the Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Hamburg, Germany, the University of Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Uriel Reichman University in Israel, and Zhengzhou University in China. He is a University Affiliate of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, and an affiliated faculty member of the George Mason University Institute for Immigration Research. Before joining the faculty at George Mason, Somin was the John M. Olin Fellow in Law at Northwestern University Law School in 2002-2003. In 2001-2002, he clerked for the Hon. Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Professor Somin earned his B.A., Summa Cum Laude, at Amherst College, M.A. in Political Science from Harvard University, and J.D. from Yale Law School.
Executive Director, Committee for Justice
Ashley Baker is Executive Director of the Committee for Justice and founder of the Alliance on Antitrust coalition. Her work focuses on antitrust law, technology regulation, administrative-agency authority, the Supreme Court, and judicial nominations. She closely follows the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, with particular attention to merger review, agency procedure, and the effects of regulation on American innovation and competitiveness. She is also founder of the Alliance on Antitrust Coalition.
Ashley has testified before the United States Senate on antitrust law. Her writing has appeared in Fox News, USA Today, The Boston Globe, The Hill, RealClearPolitics, The American Spectator, and other national publications. She also provides policy analysis through congressional testimony and correspondence, regulatory comments, and public commentary.
Ashley serves on the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project and Antitrust and Consumer Protection Practice Group Executive Committee. She is also active in the Republican National Lawyers Association and has spoken on the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary. An authority on the judicial-confirmation process, she worked closely on the successful confirmation efforts for Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, as well as multiple federal appellate judges.
President, Cass & Associates, PC
Ronald A. Cass is Dean Emeritus of Boston University School of Law (where he was Dean from 1990-2004), President of Cass & Associates, PC, former Vice-Chairman and Commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission, former faculty member at Boston University School of Law and the University of Virginia Law School, and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State. Dean Cass also sits as an arbitrator for commercial, international, and intellectual property rights disputes, and is a former United States member of the Panel of Conciliators of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. He is a member of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States and has received seven presidential appointments, spanning Presidents Ronald Reagan to Donald J. Trump.
As a law professor, lecturer, and scholar, Dean Cass has been teaching and writing about a wide array of legal issues on topics such as administrative law and regulation, antitrust, constitutional law, communications, intellectual property, international trade, separation of powers, and legal process. He has published more than 160 scholarly books, chapters, articles, and papers, including a leading casebook on administrative law. Dean Cass has taught judges as well as students in schools of law, economics, business, and public policy and has held academic appointments in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.
In addition to his academic work, Dean Cass has participated in numerous important legal cases as an amicus, consultant, or expert, and has advised businesses, law firms, investment funds, and government agencies on a range of trade, antitrust, intellectual property, and regulatory issues. He has a broad range of affiliations with professional groups, and has received numerous honors, fellowships and awards.
Dean Cass is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Chicago Law School.
Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP
Svetlana S. Gans is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP where she helps clients navigate complex consumer protection, privacy, and competition related regulatory proceedings before the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), , U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, State Attorneys General and other enforcement bodies. Ms. Gans also assists on litigation matters and provides strategic counseling and advice related to public policy issues.
Before joining Gibson Dunn, she served as the Vice President & Associate General Counsel at NCTA, the Internet & Television Association, where she helped lead the association’s consumer protection and competition policy work. Prior to joining NCTA, Ms. Gans served with distinction as Chief of Staff to Acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen at the FTC. As the agency chief of staff, Ms. Gans managed and oversaw agency operations, including bureau and office heads reporting to the Chairman, a seven-member office staff, and an agency budget of over $300 million. She also served as the Acting Chairman’s key advisor on consumer protection and competition investigations and litigation, working with a diverse team of attorneys and economists to preserve competition and protect U.S. consumers. She created, executed, and oversaw several strategic initiatives for the agency, including the agency process reform, regulatory reform, and data security transparency initiatives. Previously, Ms. Gans had the unique experience of serving in both litigating bureaus of the FTC: the Bureau of Competition and the Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Prior to her time in government, Ms. Gans worked as an antitrust associate at major law firms. Her practice focused on defending consumer product, financial services, and trade association clients in regulatory and private investigations alleging conspiracy and violations of antitrust and consumer protection laws.
Ms. Gans has been an active leader in the ABA Antitrust Law Section (“Section”) for two decades, and currently serves as the Section’s Marketing Officer. Ms. Gans helped create the Section’s Young Lawyer Representative Program, now in its 10th year, and the Section’s Law Ambassador Program, each aimed at developing and promoting the next generation of consumer protection and competition attorneys. Ms. Gans is also active in the Federal Communications Bar Association, currently serving as Co-Chair of the Diversity Pipeline Initiative and the Women’s Leadership Committee.
Ms. Gans received her law degree with high honors from the University of Denver College of Law. During law school, Ms. Gans served as a Judicial Intern to the Honorable John L. Kane, Jr. and as an Honors Program Paralegal for the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Merger Taskforce. Ms. Gans earned her undergraduate degree cum laude from Boston University.
Program Director and Faculty, National Institute for Trial Advocacy
Henry Su is a seasoned trial lawyer, teacher, and thought leader whose legal work has focused on what he calls the “three A’s”—Antitrust, Advocacy, and Access to Justice.
Based in Washington, DC, he has spent the bulk of his career practicing in the fields of antitrust, consumer protection, intellectual property, and technology law, which are critical to ensuring that we all continue to enjoy the benefits of competition and innovation. He provides a unique combination of experience and expertise in (1) law enforcement, regulation, legislation, and policymaking—as a former senior official with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for nearly seven years, and (2) technology, innovation, business strategy, and startup activity—as a Silicon Valley-based senior litigator for nearly ten years.
His government service at the FTC included two stints as a senior trial lawyer in the agency’s Bureau of Competition (January 2013 to February 2015, February 2017 to August 2017), litigating merger and conduct cases (e.g., St. Luke’s/Saltzer, 1-800 Contacts) and participating in the investigation of several others. Additionally, he served as an attorney advisor to Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch (January 2011 to January 2013) and Chairwoman Edith Ramirez (February 2015 to February 2017), providing advice and counsel to each Commissioner on a wide range of antitrust and competition matters, topics, and issues.
A veteran member of the American Bar Association (ABA) Antitrust Law Section’s leadership, he currently serves as a member of the governing Council and as co-chair of the Antitrust Fall Forum. He is also a member of the U.S. Advisory Board of the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
He is a longtime program director and faculty member with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), a nonprofit organization that has been dedicated since 1971 to the training and development of effective and ethical courtroom advocates, who are essential to preserving and improving our adversarial system of justice. His teaching runs the gamut of NITA’s programming—from trainings on trial, motion, and deposition practice to webcasts and podcasts on topics like evidentiary foundations and lawyer well-being. In 2021 he was recognized by NITA for his outstanding service as faculty with the 2020 Hon. Robert E. Keeton Award. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America.
When it comes to trial and appellate work, he deeply appreciates the value of “learning by doing.” Some skills cannot be effectively acquired or developed except through practice, as he found out when he cut his teeth handling criminal and civil cases pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia—the original “Rocket Docket.” He wishes he had known some of the NITA techniques and drills when he was a junior lawyer. That is a big reason why nowadays he does his part to make NITA training widely available to upcoming generations of lawyers through programs, including public service courses, offered around the country.
Last but not least, he chairs the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, whose mission is to ensure access to justice through the expansion and enhancement of the delivery of legal and other law-related services to the underserved through volunteer efforts of legal professionals nationwide. He strives to lead by example, participating for instance as a volunteer attorney with ABA Free Legal Answers. In 2021 he was recognized as an ABA Free Legal Answers 2020 Pro Bono Leader for his pro bono service. He also serves on the Virginia State Bar’s Access to Legal Services Committee, and he is a Patron Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
He graduated cum laude from Yale University with a B.S. degree in Biology, and then attended the University of Virginia School of Law, where he earned a J.D. degree and received the John M. Olin Prize in Law and Economics. He is a member of the California, District of Columbia, and Virginia bars.
Executive Director, Committee for Justice
Ashley Baker is Executive Director of the Committee for Justice and founder of the Alliance on Antitrust coalition. Her work focuses on antitrust law, technology regulation, administrative-agency authority, the Supreme Court, and judicial nominations. She closely follows the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, with particular attention to merger review, agency procedure, and the effects of regulation on American innovation and competitiveness. She is also founder of the Alliance on Antitrust Coalition.
Ashley has testified before the United States Senate on antitrust law. Her writing has appeared in Fox News, USA Today, The Boston Globe, The Hill, RealClearPolitics, The American Spectator, and other national publications. She also provides policy analysis through congressional testimony and correspondence, regulatory comments, and public commentary.
Ashley serves on the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project and Antitrust and Consumer Protection Practice Group Executive Committee. She is also active in the Republican National Lawyers Association and has spoken on the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary. An authority on the judicial-confirmation process, she worked closely on the successful confirmation efforts for Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, as well as multiple federal appellate judges.
President, Cass & Associates, PC
Ronald A. Cass is Dean Emeritus of Boston University School of Law (where he was Dean from 1990-2004), President of Cass & Associates, PC, former Vice-Chairman and Commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission, former faculty member at Boston University School of Law and the University of Virginia Law School, and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State. Dean Cass also sits as an arbitrator for commercial, international, and intellectual property rights disputes, and is a former United States member of the Panel of Conciliators of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. He is a member of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States and has received seven presidential appointments, spanning Presidents Ronald Reagan to Donald J. Trump.
As a law professor, lecturer, and scholar, Dean Cass has been teaching and writing about a wide array of legal issues on topics such as administrative law and regulation, antitrust, constitutional law, communications, intellectual property, international trade, separation of powers, and legal process. He has published more than 160 scholarly books, chapters, articles, and papers, including a leading casebook on administrative law. Dean Cass has taught judges as well as students in schools of law, economics, business, and public policy and has held academic appointments in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.
In addition to his academic work, Dean Cass has participated in numerous important legal cases as an amicus, consultant, or expert, and has advised businesses, law firms, investment funds, and government agencies on a range of trade, antitrust, intellectual property, and regulatory issues. He has a broad range of affiliations with professional groups, and has received numerous honors, fellowships and awards.
Dean Cass is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Chicago Law School.
Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP
Svetlana S. Gans is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP where she helps clients navigate complex consumer protection, privacy, and competition related regulatory proceedings before the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), , U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, State Attorneys General and other enforcement bodies. Ms. Gans also assists on litigation matters and provides strategic counseling and advice related to public policy issues.
Before joining Gibson Dunn, she served as the Vice President & Associate General Counsel at NCTA, the Internet & Television Association, where she helped lead the association’s consumer protection and competition policy work. Prior to joining NCTA, Ms. Gans served with distinction as Chief of Staff to Acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen at the FTC. As the agency chief of staff, Ms. Gans managed and oversaw agency operations, including bureau and office heads reporting to the Chairman, a seven-member office staff, and an agency budget of over $300 million. She also served as the Acting Chairman’s key advisor on consumer protection and competition investigations and litigation, working with a diverse team of attorneys and economists to preserve competition and protect U.S. consumers. She created, executed, and oversaw several strategic initiatives for the agency, including the agency process reform, regulatory reform, and data security transparency initiatives. Previously, Ms. Gans had the unique experience of serving in both litigating bureaus of the FTC: the Bureau of Competition and the Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Prior to her time in government, Ms. Gans worked as an antitrust associate at major law firms. Her practice focused on defending consumer product, financial services, and trade association clients in regulatory and private investigations alleging conspiracy and violations of antitrust and consumer protection laws.
Ms. Gans has been an active leader in the ABA Antitrust Law Section (“Section”) for two decades, and currently serves as the Section’s Marketing Officer. Ms. Gans helped create the Section’s Young Lawyer Representative Program, now in its 10th year, and the Section’s Law Ambassador Program, each aimed at developing and promoting the next generation of consumer protection and competition attorneys. Ms. Gans is also active in the Federal Communications Bar Association, currently serving as Co-Chair of the Diversity Pipeline Initiative and the Women’s Leadership Committee.
Ms. Gans received her law degree with high honors from the University of Denver College of Law. During law school, Ms. Gans served as a Judicial Intern to the Honorable John L. Kane, Jr. and as an Honors Program Paralegal for the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Merger Taskforce. Ms. Gans earned her undergraduate degree cum laude from Boston University.
Program Director and Faculty, National Institute for Trial Advocacy
Henry Su is a seasoned trial lawyer, teacher, and thought leader whose legal work has focused on what he calls the “three A’s”—Antitrust, Advocacy, and Access to Justice.
Based in Washington, DC, he has spent the bulk of his career practicing in the fields of antitrust, consumer protection, intellectual property, and technology law, which are critical to ensuring that we all continue to enjoy the benefits of competition and innovation. He provides a unique combination of experience and expertise in (1) law enforcement, regulation, legislation, and policymaking—as a former senior official with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for nearly seven years, and (2) technology, innovation, business strategy, and startup activity—as a Silicon Valley-based senior litigator for nearly ten years.
His government service at the FTC included two stints as a senior trial lawyer in the agency’s Bureau of Competition (January 2013 to February 2015, February 2017 to August 2017), litigating merger and conduct cases (e.g., St. Luke’s/Saltzer, 1-800 Contacts) and participating in the investigation of several others. Additionally, he served as an attorney advisor to Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch (January 2011 to January 2013) and Chairwoman Edith Ramirez (February 2015 to February 2017), providing advice and counsel to each Commissioner on a wide range of antitrust and competition matters, topics, and issues.
A veteran member of the American Bar Association (ABA) Antitrust Law Section’s leadership, he currently serves as a member of the governing Council and as co-chair of the Antitrust Fall Forum. He is also a member of the U.S. Advisory Board of the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
He is a longtime program director and faculty member with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), a nonprofit organization that has been dedicated since 1971 to the training and development of effective and ethical courtroom advocates, who are essential to preserving and improving our adversarial system of justice. His teaching runs the gamut of NITA’s programming—from trainings on trial, motion, and deposition practice to webcasts and podcasts on topics like evidentiary foundations and lawyer well-being. In 2021 he was recognized by NITA for his outstanding service as faculty with the 2020 Hon. Robert E. Keeton Award. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America.
When it comes to trial and appellate work, he deeply appreciates the value of “learning by doing.” Some skills cannot be effectively acquired or developed except through practice, as he found out when he cut his teeth handling criminal and civil cases pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia—the original “Rocket Docket.” He wishes he had known some of the NITA techniques and drills when he was a junior lawyer. That is a big reason why nowadays he does his part to make NITA training widely available to upcoming generations of lawyers through programs, including public service courses, offered around the country.
Last but not least, he chairs the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, whose mission is to ensure access to justice through the expansion and enhancement of the delivery of legal and other law-related services to the underserved through volunteer efforts of legal professionals nationwide. He strives to lead by example, participating for instance as a volunteer attorney with ABA Free Legal Answers. In 2021 he was recognized as an ABA Free Legal Answers 2020 Pro Bono Leader for his pro bono service. He also serves on the Virginia State Bar’s Access to Legal Services Committee, and he is a Patron Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
He graduated cum laude from Yale University with a B.S. degree in Biology, and then attended the University of Virginia School of Law, where he earned a J.D. degree and received the John M. Olin Prize in Law and Economics. He is a member of the California, District of Columbia, and Virginia bars.
Senior Litigation Counsel, The Fairness Center
Dave Dorey is a seasoned labor and employment attorney with more than a decade of experience guiding clients through complex workplace issues and high-stakes litigation. Bringing unique insights from his distinguished service in the federal government, including as Counsel to the Solicitor at the U.S. Department of Labor and Chief of Staff for Strategy, Policy and Plans at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, he represents businesses across industries – including trade associations, nonprofits, technology companies, construction and agriculture firms, and consultancies – on the full spectrum of labor and employment matters. Dave has particular experience in handling administrative law matters including engaging in agency rulemaking processes and both challenging and defending agency rules.
Before joining Fisher Phillips, Dave led the Labor & Employment Practice Group at a full-service business law firm. A practical problem solver and trusted advisor, Dave regularly counsels clients on employment policies, regulatory compliance, workplace investigations, and risk management, and represents them in administrative proceedings, rulemaking and other administrative law challenges, and litigation involving wage and hour claims, noncompete and trade secrets disputes, class actions, and allegations of employment discrimination. His practice spans federal and state trial and appellate courts, as well as administrative tribunals.
Dave’s government background, which also includes service as Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations at the U.S. Department of Commerce, lends him a deep understanding of regulatory and administrative processes and enables him to effectively represent clients in government investigations, rulemaking challenges, and agency proceedings.
An active member of the community, Dave serves on the Board of Directors of Child Justice, Inc., a Maryland nonprofit that advocates for abused children.
Litigation Counsel, New Civil Liberties Alliance
Sheng Li is Litigation Counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance. Prior to joining NCLA, Sheng served as Counselor to the Administrator of Wage and Hour at the U.S. Department of Labor. In that role, he led numerous efforts to remove or simplify unduly burdensome regulations. He has also worked in the private sector as a litigation associate at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler and at Kirkland & Ellis.
Sheng is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Yale Law School, where he was managing editor of the Yale Journal of International Law. After graduating law school, Sheng served as law clerk to the Hon. Danny J. Boggs on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Partner, Holland & Knight LLP
Timothy Taylor is an employment and litigation partner with Holland & Knight LLP, where he was also previously an associate. He represents clients in federal courts and before federal agencies in a variety of disputes. He has special expertise in employment law, the Administrative Procedure Act, the False Claims Act, and appeals. Before rejoining Holland & Knight, Mr. Taylor served as the Deputy Solicitor of Labor. In that position, he oversaw a wide portfolio of litigation, enforcement, rulemaking, and legal counseling for the agency’s more than 450 attorneys. He previously served as the Department of Labor’s Chief of Staff, and in other senior policy positions in the Department. He also served as the employment counsel and as an investigative attorney for the Department of the Treasury’s Office of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery.
Mr. Taylor clerked for the Honorable Harris Hartz of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the Honorable Charles Lettow of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from Brigham Young University and cum laude with a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review and the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. He lives in Virginia with his wife and two children.
Distinguished Fellow, Energy Policy Research Foundation
Diana Furchtgott-Roth, an Oxford-educated economist, is an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University and a Distinguished Fellow at the Energy Policy Research Foundation. She writes and comments regularly on energy, trade law, tariff authority, and regulatory policy, including recent work on Section 301 and executive trade power. From 2022 until February 2026, Diana headed the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment at The Heritage Foundation. In President Trump's first term, she was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology at the U.S. Department of Transportation and Acting Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the U.S. Department of Treasury. She served in the White House under Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush, including as Chief of Staff of the President's Council of Economic Advisers and Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Labor, and has testified before Congress on economic and regulatory policy. Diana is the author or coauthor of six books, including Regulating to Disaster, and hundreds of articles in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, National Review, Forbes, the UK’s Daily Telegraph and the New York Post.
Litigation Director, Center for Individual Rights
Caleb Kruckenberg is CIR’s Litigation Director.
Caleb previously worked as a prosecutor, a public defender, a lobbyist for a national advocacy organization and, most recently, an impact litigator protecting the separation of powers at both the Pacific Legal Foundation and the New Civil Liberties Alliance. He has won major victories against numerous federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. He is also proud to have sued every U.S. attorney general, eight so far, since he has been litigating against the government on behalf of liberty-minded clients. Caleb has also argued more than 20 times in the U.S. Courts of Appeals, winning cases in 8 of the 12 regional circuit courts.
He graduated cum laude from Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia, where he was the lead articles editor for the Temple Law Review. Caleb also attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he studied figurative painting.
Topics
Bipartisan Opportunities to Improve Government Accountability
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A Seat at the Sitting - December 2022
Samuel D. Adkisson, Andrew Grossman, Casey Mattox, Ilya Somin
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Each month, a panel of constitutional experts convenes to discuss the Court’s upcoming docket sitting...
A Seat at the Sitting - December 2022
Samuel D. Adkisson, Andrew Grossman, Casey Mattox, Ilya Somin
The December Docket in 90 minutes or less.
Each month, a panel of constitutional experts convenes to discuss the Court’s upcoming docket sitting...
Deep Dive Episode 245 - Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Axon v. Federal Trade Commission
Ashley Baker, Ronald A. Cass, Svetlana Gans, Henry Su
Regulatory Transparency Project's Fourth Branch Podcast
On November 7, the U.S. Supreme Court heard Axon Enterprise, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission, to...
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Mitigation for Aquatic Resource Impacts: A Primer on Mitigation Banking
Mitigation banking is a little-known and sometimes misunderstood system. This post offers a quick primer...
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And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: The Liberation of Civil Society
As anyone who has seen a building collapse or a bridge buckle can attest, it...
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Religious Liberty Update on U.S. Congress and Executive Branch Actions
Congress HOUSE 1. On October 14, 2022, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR-1) introduced H.R. 9175, entitled,...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Axon v. Federal Trade Commission
Ashley Baker, Ronald A. Cass, Svetlana Gans, Henry Su
A Regulatory Transparency Project Webinar
On November 7, the U.S. Supreme Court heard Axon Enterprise, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission, to...
Deep Dive Episode 244 - Litigation Update: Helix Energy v. Hewitt
David R. Dorey, Sheng Li, Timothy Taylor
Regulatory Transparency Project's Fourth Branch Podcast
Some employers were surprised by the en banc Fifth Circuit’s December 2021 decision in Helix...
Litigation Update: Garrison v. U.S. Dept. of Ed.: A Challenge to Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness
Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Caleb Kruckenberg
In August 2022, the Biden administration announced plans to cancel up to $20,000 in student...