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 Fellow, R Street Institute
Prior to R Street, Adam spent 12 years as a senior fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Before the Mercatus Center, he served as the president of the Progress and Freedom Foundation. Adam has also worked for the Adam Smith Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute.
Adam has published 10 books on a wide range of topics, including online child safety, internet governance, intellectual property, telecommunications policy, media regulation and federalism.
In 2008, Adam received the Family Online Safety Institute’s “Award for Outstanding Achievement.”
Former Chairman, Federal Trade Commission; Former Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell
Mr. Leibowitz is a former partner in Davis Polk’s Washington DC and New York offices. His practice focuses on the complex antitrust aspects of mergers and acquisitions, as well as government and private antitrust investigations and litigation. He also provides counsel in the developing area of privacy law and with respect to advocacy involving Congress.
Mr. Leibowitz was Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission from 2009 through 2013, and was noted for his bipartisanship. He served as a Commissioner from 2004 to 2009. While at the FTC, his priorities included health care and high-tech competition.
Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Noah Joshua Phillips is Co-Chair of the Antitrust Practice and previously served as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. He advises clients on a range of antitrust issues, including mergers and acquisitions, business conduct and compliance, litigation and investigations, and data security and privacy.
On the FTC, Mr. Phillips played an integral role in precedent setting enforcement actions and regulatory efforts concerning antitrust, consumer protection and privacy. He decided dozens of merger and other antitrust enforcement matters across the economy, including in the consumer product, defense, energy, entertainment, healthcare, technology, pharmaceutical and retail industries. Mr. Phillips’ written antitrust opinions were consistently upheld by federal appellate courts.
As Commissioner, Mr. Phillips frequently testified before Congress and represented the FTC before international bodies, including the G7, the Competition Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners. He speaks and writes frequently on a range of antitrust, consumer protection and privacy issues.
Prior to the FTC, Mr. Phillips served as Chief Counsel to U.S. Senator John Cornyn, of Texas, on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He advised Senator Cornyn on a variety of legal and policy issues, as well as judicial nominations.
Mr. Phillips received an A.B. magna cum laude from Dartmouth College in 2000 and a J.D. from Stanford Law School in 2005. He began his career at a New York-based investment bank. After law school, Mr. Phillips clerked for Hon. Edward C. Prado of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and joined Cravath’s Litigation Department in 2006. He left the Firm in 2010, and he rejoined Cravath as a partner in December 2022.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Judge Rao was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in March 2019. She graduated from Yale College in 1995 and the University of Chicago Law School in 1999. Following graduation, she served as a law clerk to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and, in the 2001 October Term, as law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court. Between her clerkships, Judge Rao served as counsel for nominations and constitutional law to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. In 2002, she joined the international arbitration group of Clifford Chance LLP in London, England. From 2005-2006, she served as Special Assistant and Associate White House Counsel to President George W. Bush. From 2006 to 2017, Judge Rao was a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where she taught constitutional law, legislation and statutory interpretation, and the history and foundations of the administrative state. In 2014, she founded the Center for the Study of the Administrative State, a non-profit Center that promotes academic scholarship and public policy debates about administrative law. In July 2017, she was appointed to serve as the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management Budget. She served in this position until her appointment to the D.C. Circuit.
Former Chairman, Federal Trade Commission; Former Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell
Mr. Leibowitz is a former partner in Davis Polk’s Washington DC and New York offices. His practice focuses on the complex antitrust aspects of mergers and acquisitions, as well as government and private antitrust investigations and litigation. He also provides counsel in the developing area of privacy law and with respect to advocacy involving Congress.
Mr. Leibowitz was Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission from 2009 through 2013, and was noted for his bipartisanship. He served as a Commissioner from 2004 to 2009. While at the FTC, his priorities included health care and high-tech competition.
Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Noah Joshua Phillips is Co-Chair of the Antitrust Practice and previously served as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. He advises clients on a range of antitrust issues, including mergers and acquisitions, business conduct and compliance, litigation and investigations, and data security and privacy.
On the FTC, Mr. Phillips played an integral role in precedent setting enforcement actions and regulatory efforts concerning antitrust, consumer protection and privacy. He decided dozens of merger and other antitrust enforcement matters across the economy, including in the consumer product, defense, energy, entertainment, healthcare, technology, pharmaceutical and retail industries. Mr. Phillips’ written antitrust opinions were consistently upheld by federal appellate courts.
As Commissioner, Mr. Phillips frequently testified before Congress and represented the FTC before international bodies, including the G7, the Competition Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners. He speaks and writes frequently on a range of antitrust, consumer protection and privacy issues.
Prior to the FTC, Mr. Phillips served as Chief Counsel to U.S. Senator John Cornyn, of Texas, on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He advised Senator Cornyn on a variety of legal and policy issues, as well as judicial nominations.
Mr. Phillips received an A.B. magna cum laude from Dartmouth College in 2000 and a J.D. from Stanford Law School in 2005. He began his career at a New York-based investment bank. After law school, Mr. Phillips clerked for Hon. Edward C. Prado of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and joined Cravath’s Litigation Department in 2006. He left the Firm in 2010, and he rejoined Cravath as a partner in December 2022.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Judge Rao was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in March 2019. She graduated from Yale College in 1995 and the University of Chicago Law School in 1999. Following graduation, she served as a law clerk to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and, in the 2001 October Term, as law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court. Between her clerkships, Judge Rao served as counsel for nominations and constitutional law to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. In 2002, she joined the international arbitration group of Clifford Chance LLP in London, England. From 2005-2006, she served as Special Assistant and Associate White House Counsel to President George W. Bush. From 2006 to 2017, Judge Rao was a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where she taught constitutional law, legislation and statutory interpretation, and the history and foundations of the administrative state. In 2014, she founded the Center for the Study of the Administrative State, a non-profit Center that promotes academic scholarship and public policy debates about administrative law. In July 2017, she was appointed to serve as the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management Budget. She served in this position until her appointment to the D.C. Circuit.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Judge Katsas was appointed to the D.C. Circuit in December 2017. He graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School, where he was an executive editor on the Harvard Law Review. Between 1989 and 1992, he served as a law clerk to Judge Edward Becker on the Third Circuit, to then-Judge Clarence Thomas on the D.C. Circuit, and to Justice Thomas on the Supreme Court. Between 1992 and 2001, he was an associate and then partner in the Washington office of Jones Day, where he specialized in appellate and complex civil litigation. Between 2001 and 2009, he served in many senior positions in the Department of Justice, including as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division and as Acting Associate Attorney General. In 2009, he returned to Jones Day. From January to December 2017, he served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel to the President.
Before joining the bench, Judge Katsas argued more than 75 appeals, including three cases in the Supreme Court, 13 cases in the D.C. Circuit, and cases in every other federal court of appeals. By appointment of the Chief Justice, he served on the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules from 2013 to 2017. In 2016, he was elected to membership in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
Partner, Keller Postman
Ashley Keller is one of the founding Partners of Keller Postman LLC. An experienced trial and appellate lawyer, Ashley helps set strategic direction across virtually all of the firm’s cases. He represents clients in a wide variety of practice areas and types of claims, including product-liability, antitrust, class action, and arbitration matters.
Ashley is one of the leaders of Keller Postman’s national product-liability practice. He leverages his ability to detangle complex concepts and develop novel legal theories to support individual client matters and as counsel on numerous product-liability multidistrict litigation matters. He chairs the plaintiffs’ Law & Briefing Committee in the Zantac (Ranitidine) Product Liability MDL in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Ashley also litigates complex antitrust and class action matters. Among his notable cases, Ashley represents numerous States in antitrust litigation against Google for monopolizing products and services used by advertisers and publishers in online-display advertising.
Ashley also has played a central role in developing the firm’s pioneering arbitration practice, which includes pursuing individual arbitrations for clients whose claims are subject to arbitration clauses with class-action waivers. In part through managing the complexity of pursuing these individual claims simultaneously, the firm has secured millions in settlements for more than 500,000 employees and consumers.
Before launching Keller Postman, Ashley co-founded the litigation finance firm Gerchen Keller Capital, which grew to more than $1.3 billion in assets under management and was the world’s largest private investment manager focused on legal and regulatory risk prior to being acquired by Burford Capital in 2016.
Previously, Ashley was a partner at Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP, The American Lawyer’s litigation boutique of the year. While there, he handled various trial and appellate matters involving multi-billion-dollar securities and patent cases, contract disputes, mass torts, and class actions.
Ashley also worked as an analyst at Alyeska Investment Group, a Chicago-based market-neutral hedge fund, where he focused on investments in companies facing litigation and other complicated regulatory matters.
Ashley was named a 2021 Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazer by the National Law Journal. He is also listed on Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Lawyers in America, Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers, Lawdragon’s Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers, National Trial Lawyers’ Top 100, and Illinois Super Lawyers.
Ashley was a law clerk for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy at the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge Richard Posner at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, received his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where he graduated first in his class.
Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Russell Balikian is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He practices in the firm’s Appellate & Constitutional Law Group and Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice Group. He represents clients in high-stakes litigation before the Supreme Court of the United States and other federal and state courts across the country, as well as in major proceedings before administrative agencies. Russell was named “One to Watch” in Appellate Practice by Best Lawyers in 2023 and a “Rising Star” in Telecommunications by Law360 in 2024.
Russell has extensive experience in administrative law, especially in the telecom and technology sectors. He regularly represents clients challenging or supporting agency rules and orders, and he defends companies against enforcement actions by federal regulators, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Russell brings the capabilities of an appellate attorney to all stages of the case, from building the record before the agency to litigating the case in court.
Russell also has nationwide experience litigating appeals and dispositive motions in high-profile matters, including putative class actions, major commercial disputes, and mass-tort cases. He has represented clients at every level of the federal and state judiciary. Russell also advises clients on appellate strategy and critical legal issues.
Russell clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge Gregory G. Katsas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Diane S. Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He received his law degree from Yale Law School, where he was Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law & Policy Review. He graduated summa cum laude from Taylor University with a bachelor’s degree in both Political Science and Biblical Literature.
Russell is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia.
Senior Litigation Counsel, New Civil Liberties Alliance
Peggy Little, Senior Counsel at New Civil Liberties Alliance, a new public interest law firm challenging the administrative state founded in 2017 by Professor Philip Hamburger, has over three decades of experience as a trial and appellate litigator in complex, high-stakes regulatory, mass-tort, class-action, products liability, securities, commercial and civil rights litigation representing individuals and high-profile litigants including Fortune 50 companies, financial institutions, public companies, and universities in state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
Peggy is a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School, where she was awarded the Potter Stewart Prize. She was a law clerk to the Hon. Ralph K. Winter on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Prior to starting her own trial and appellate law firm in 1997, where she was appellate consulting counsel to the New Haven firefighters in Ricci v.DeStefano, a landmark 2009 United States Supreme Court decision, Peggy was a partner at Tyler, Cooper & Alcorn in New Haven, Connecticut. From 2004 to early 2018, Peggy directed, part-time, the Federalist Society Pro Bono Center.
Peggy has participated in many national conferences and symposia addressing issues of current importance in constitutional law – specifically state and federal constitutional questions regarding the separation of powers and the first amendment – and regularly speaks, blogs and publishes on the topic of the unconstitutional exercise of governmental power. In May of 2017, she presented her paper, Pirates at the Parchment Gates, to a conference of state and federal judges at the Law and Economics Center at the Antonin Scalia Law School. Her work has been published by law reviews, legal publications, the Federalist Society, the Wall Street Journal, Law and Liberty and the Manhattan Institute.
Recent publications include: How the SEC silences its critics, The SEC should listen to Sen. Cotton, Lucia v. SEC, Opening Salvos in the Opioid Litigation Wars, Straight Dope on the Opioid Crisis
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.
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