Acting Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, Office of Professional Responsibility, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Brian M. Fish is currently the Senior Advisor to the General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security where he works on immigration and law enforcement issues. Previously, he was a trial attorney with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he represented the Department of Homeland Security in removal hearings before the U.S. Immigration Court. Additionally, he was a Special Assistant United States Attorney and a Baltimore City homicide prosecutor. He is a member of the Federalist Society's Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group Executive Committee and the President of its Baltimore Lawyers Chapter. He earned his B.A. from LaSalle University in 1992 and his J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law in 1998.
Director of Litigation, Immigration Reform Law Institute
Mr. Hajec joined the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) in 2017 as its Director of Litigation, and is responsible for overseeing IRLI’s public interest litigation. Previously, he has focused his career on constitutional and other civil rights law in the public interest, and has had an abiding concern about the many adverse effects of illegal and excessive legal immigration on American jobs and communities.
At IRLI, in addition to representing plaintiffs in immigration-related civil lawsuits, he has overseen the drafting and filing of nearly 100 briefs, mostly amicus curiae briefs in defense of the Trump administration’s immigration initiatives, which have been subjected to an unprecedented degree of legal assault by well-funded interest groups.
Prior to joining IRLI, Mr. Hajec was an attorney at the Center for Individual Rights (CIR), where he litigated a string of high-profile cases, including the defense of videographer James O’Keefe in suits brought by former ACORN employees, a class action suit on behalf of Asian American students discriminated against by the New York City public schools, and a case that resulted in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s striking down Texas’s psychologists licensing statute as an overbroad restriction on free speech.
Before CIR, Mr. Hajec was an officer in the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where he served as a defense counsel before courts-martial and then as Appellate Government Counsel, arguing over 100 appeals before the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals and the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. He received the Navy Commendation Medal for his legal work, and also because of his poor handling of an emergency during a hurricane.
He received his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and his undergraduate degree, cum laude, from the University of Michigan. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Miami, and studied philosophy and sociology at Oxford University.
Partner, Klasko Immigration Law Partners, LLP
William A. Stock (Bill) is one of the country’s leading immigration lawyers. A founding member of Klasko Immigration Law Partners, LLP, he has practiced immigration law exclusively for over twenty years. His clients include small businesses, medium sized companies, and multinational corporations and their employees, as well as individual clients, investors and researchers.
Bill leads a team of thirty-two attorneys, senior and junior paralegals in obtaining employment-based immigration benefits for clients, such as nonimmigrant visa classification (H-1B, L-1, E-1 and E-2, TN and O-1); permanent residence or “green card” status through Labor Certification or as immigrants of Exceptional or Extraordinary Ability (EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3); investment-based immigration (EB-5); and unusual or complicated matters such as physician J-1 waivers, visas for entrepreneurs, and mandamus or APA review actions brought in federal court.
Bill served as President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the 16,000 member national organization of immigration lawyers in 2017. He has long been active in the association on both a national and state level and has served several terms on the Association’s Board of Governors. In 2000, he received the Association’s Joseph Minsky Award for outstanding accomplishments in immigration law.
Bill is a Senior Editor of AILA’s annual Immigration & Nationality Law Handbook, and is the co-author of the “J Visa Guidebook” from Lexis Publishing. He was an Adjunct Professor at the Villanova University School of Law. He has been included since 2004 in Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/ White Inc.); since 2006 in Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business (Chambers and Partners), Who’s Who in American Law, and The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers. Bill is also featured as a 20 top practitioner in the area of Immigration Law by Lawdragon.
A summa cum laude graduate of the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN), (B.A.1990), he received his law degree from the University of Minnesota (J.D., magna cum laude, 1993) where he was a member of the Order of the Coif.
Vice President, Legislative Strategy, BSA
Craig Albright leads BSA's engagement with the US Congress.
Prior to joining BSA, he spent four years as the World Bank Group's Special Representative for the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, managing relations with government officials, private sector executives, think tank academics, civil society leaders and others. Before that, Mr. Albright spent more than 12 years in the US government. He served in the White House as Special Assistant to President George W. Bush for Legislative Affairs and Deputy Assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney for Legislative Affairs. In Congress, his positions included Legislative Director and Chief of Staff for former Congressman Joe Knollenberg of Michigan and Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Kay Granger of Texas.
Mr. Albright is a graduate of Michigan State University.
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Gates Corporation
Matthew R. A. Heiman joined the Company in May 2026 and has served as the Company’s Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary since June 2026. As Chief Legal Officer, Mr. Heiman is responsible for all legal functions for Gates, including securities and corporate governance, M&A, litigation, commercial, regulatory, compliance, patents and trademarks, real estate, employment and labor, sustainability and environmental matters. Prior to joining Gates, Mr. Heiman held senior legal leadership roles at Waystar, where he served as Chief Legal & Administrative Officer from 2023 to 2025 and as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary from 2020 to 2023. Prior to that, he was with Johnson Controls, where he served as Vice President, Corporate Secretary, and Associate General Counsel. Mr. Heiman has been a Senior Fellow for the National Security Institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law since 2018.
Founder, Culper Partners
David Kris is a founder of Culper Partners LLC. An expert in intelligence, law enforcement and security issues, he has more than 25 years of experience in government, the private sector, and academia.
Prior to forming Culper, Mr. Kris was for six years the General Counsel of Intellectual Ventures, a privately held invention investment company with more than $6B under management and offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. He was also the Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance officer of Time Warner, Inc., the network and media company.
In government, Mr. Kris was the Presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed head of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, with responsibility for all federal espionage and terrorism investigations and prosecutions and use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; a senior advisor to Republican and Democratic Attorneys General and Deputy Attorneys General; and a federal prosecutor for more than eight years. He currently advises two elements of the U.S. Intelligence Community and serves as an amicus curiae to the two Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts.
An authority on U.S. foreign intelligence surveillance, Mr. Kris is co-author of the leading treatise in the field, National Security Investigations and Prosecutions, as well as the author of several other articles and blog posts. He is a member of the board of directors and a Contributing Editor of the Lawfareblog, adjunct professor at the University of Washington Law School, and a University Affiliate at Georgetown University.
Mr. Kris is the recipient of numerous awards and medals, including the National Intelligence Superior Service Medal, the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service, the CIA Agency Seal Medal, the Department of Justice Edmund J. Randolph Award, and on two occasions the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the Department of Justice’s highest honor.
He is a 1988 graduate of Haverford College and a 1991 graduate of Harvard Law School, and a former law clerk to Judge Stephen S. Trott of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Partner, Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Stewart Baker is a partner in the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C. From 2005 to 2009, he was the first Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security. His law practice covers cybersecurity, data protection, homeland security, and travel and foreign investment regulation; he has been awarded one patent.
Mr. Baker has been General Counsel of the National Security Agency and General Counsel of the commission that investigated WMD intelligence failures prior to the Iraq war. He is the author of Skating on Stilts, a book on terrorism, cybersecurity, and other technology issues; he also hosts the weekly Cyberlaw Podcast.
Partner, Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP
Mark Champoux helps clients resolve significant disputes arising in litigation, government enforcement, and regulatory actions in forums across the country. He rejoined Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP in July 2020 after serving as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy, where he was a primary policy advisor to the Attorney General and coordinated major initiatives relating to regulations, emerging technologies, data privacy, national security, and law enforcement. Mr. Champoux also supervised DOJ’s work in supporting federal judicial nominations, personally preparing over 100 nominees for confirmation by the Senate and overseeing DOJ’s work to secure the confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, an undertaking that earned him the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award.
Mr. Champoux has an extensive record of experience in private practice. He has successfully defended both Fortune 500 companies and small businesses, obtaining complete defense judgments through dispositive motions and trial and leveraging favorable settlements by winning key motions and defeating class certification. In recognition of his litigation work, Benchmark Litigation named Mr. Champoux to the nationwide 40 & Under Hot List in 2016-2017. Mr. Champoux was also named a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers magazine in 2014-2017 and a “Future Litigation Star” by Benchmark Litigation in 2015.
Mr. Champoux’s practice includes disputes involving emerging technologies, data privacy, natural resources, oil and gas, environmental liabilities, government enforcement, and regulations. He also has substantial experience in a broad range of other litigation areas, including contracts, business torts, real estate, securities fraud, shareholder actions, civil RICO, products liability, and special districts.
Mr. Champoux has also handled numerous pro bono criminal matters, including a successful petition for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court with subsequent reversal of conviction for an indigent criminal defendant.
Mr. Champoux received his J.D. in 2007 from Harvard Law School, where he was deputy editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and his B.A. in 2004 from Brigham Young University, graduating magna cum laude and as valedictorian. Before first joining DGS in 2012, Mr. Champoux was a trial attorney at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Washington, D.C. and clerked for then-Judge Neil M. Gorsuch on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Stevenson Bernard Professor, George Washington University Law School
The Honorable F. Scott Kieff is the Stevenson Bernard Professor at George Washington University Law School and a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
He served as Commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission from 2013-2017. He also served during the Bush, Obama, and Trump Administrations in the part-time leadership of the national security defense-intelligence community.
He was previously a professor of law and medicine at Washington University in Saint Louis and a Senior Fellow at Hoover. A former law clerk to U.S. Circuit Judge Giles S. Rich, he is a graduate of Penn Law School and MIT, where he studied molecular biology and microeconomics. He was elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2012 and the Academia Europaea in 2024.
His private sector work through Kieff Strategies LLC (www.kieffstrategies.com) provides neutral services including mediation and compliance, and expert services including crisis management, advising, and testimony.
Vice President, Legislative Strategy, BSA
Craig Albright leads BSA's engagement with the US Congress.
Prior to joining BSA, he spent four years as the World Bank Group's Special Representative for the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, managing relations with government officials, private sector executives, think tank academics, civil society leaders and others. Before that, Mr. Albright spent more than 12 years in the US government. He served in the White House as Special Assistant to President George W. Bush for Legislative Affairs and Deputy Assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney for Legislative Affairs. In Congress, his positions included Legislative Director and Chief of Staff for former Congressman Joe Knollenberg of Michigan and Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Kay Granger of Texas.
Mr. Albright is a graduate of Michigan State University.
Partner, Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Stewart Baker is a partner in the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C. From 2005 to 2009, he was the first Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security. His law practice covers cybersecurity, data protection, homeland security, and travel and foreign investment regulation; he has been awarded one patent.
Mr. Baker has been General Counsel of the National Security Agency and General Counsel of the commission that investigated WMD intelligence failures prior to the Iraq war. He is the author of Skating on Stilts, a book on terrorism, cybersecurity, and other technology issues; he also hosts the weekly Cyberlaw Podcast.
Partner, Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP
Mark Champoux helps clients resolve significant disputes arising in litigation, government enforcement, and regulatory actions in forums across the country. He rejoined Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP in July 2020 after serving as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy, where he was a primary policy advisor to the Attorney General and coordinated major initiatives relating to regulations, emerging technologies, data privacy, national security, and law enforcement. Mr. Champoux also supervised DOJ’s work in supporting federal judicial nominations, personally preparing over 100 nominees for confirmation by the Senate and overseeing DOJ’s work to secure the confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, an undertaking that earned him the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award.
Mr. Champoux has an extensive record of experience in private practice. He has successfully defended both Fortune 500 companies and small businesses, obtaining complete defense judgments through dispositive motions and trial and leveraging favorable settlements by winning key motions and defeating class certification. In recognition of his litigation work, Benchmark Litigation named Mr. Champoux to the nationwide 40 & Under Hot List in 2016-2017. Mr. Champoux was also named a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers magazine in 2014-2017 and a “Future Litigation Star” by Benchmark Litigation in 2015.
Mr. Champoux’s practice includes disputes involving emerging technologies, data privacy, natural resources, oil and gas, environmental liabilities, government enforcement, and regulations. He also has substantial experience in a broad range of other litigation areas, including contracts, business torts, real estate, securities fraud, shareholder actions, civil RICO, products liability, and special districts.
Mr. Champoux has also handled numerous pro bono criminal matters, including a successful petition for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court with subsequent reversal of conviction for an indigent criminal defendant.
Mr. Champoux received his J.D. in 2007 from Harvard Law School, where he was deputy editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and his B.A. in 2004 from Brigham Young University, graduating magna cum laude and as valedictorian. Before first joining DGS in 2012, Mr. Champoux was a trial attorney at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Washington, D.C. and clerked for then-Judge Neil M. Gorsuch on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Gates Corporation
Matthew R. A. Heiman joined the Company in May 2026 and has served as the Company’s Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary since June 2026. As Chief Legal Officer, Mr. Heiman is responsible for all legal functions for Gates, including securities and corporate governance, M&A, litigation, commercial, regulatory, compliance, patents and trademarks, real estate, employment and labor, sustainability and environmental matters. Prior to joining Gates, Mr. Heiman held senior legal leadership roles at Waystar, where he served as Chief Legal & Administrative Officer from 2023 to 2025 and as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary from 2020 to 2023. Prior to that, he was with Johnson Controls, where he served as Vice President, Corporate Secretary, and Associate General Counsel. Mr. Heiman has been a Senior Fellow for the National Security Institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law since 2018.
Stevenson Bernard Professor, George Washington University Law School
The Honorable F. Scott Kieff is the Stevenson Bernard Professor at George Washington University Law School and a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
He served as Commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission from 2013-2017. He also served during the Bush, Obama, and Trump Administrations in the part-time leadership of the national security defense-intelligence community.
He was previously a professor of law and medicine at Washington University in Saint Louis and a Senior Fellow at Hoover. A former law clerk to U.S. Circuit Judge Giles S. Rich, he is a graduate of Penn Law School and MIT, where he studied molecular biology and microeconomics. He was elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2012 and the Academia Europaea in 2024.
His private sector work through Kieff Strategies LLC (www.kieffstrategies.com) provides neutral services including mediation and compliance, and expert services including crisis management, advising, and testimony.
Founder, Culper Partners
David Kris is a founder of Culper Partners LLC. An expert in intelligence, law enforcement and security issues, he has more than 25 years of experience in government, the private sector, and academia.
Prior to forming Culper, Mr. Kris was for six years the General Counsel of Intellectual Ventures, a privately held invention investment company with more than $6B under management and offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. He was also the Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance officer of Time Warner, Inc., the network and media company.
In government, Mr. Kris was the Presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed head of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, with responsibility for all federal espionage and terrorism investigations and prosecutions and use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; a senior advisor to Republican and Democratic Attorneys General and Deputy Attorneys General; and a federal prosecutor for more than eight years. He currently advises two elements of the U.S. Intelligence Community and serves as an amicus curiae to the two Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts.
An authority on U.S. foreign intelligence surveillance, Mr. Kris is co-author of the leading treatise in the field, National Security Investigations and Prosecutions, as well as the author of several other articles and blog posts. He is a member of the board of directors and a Contributing Editor of the Lawfareblog, adjunct professor at the University of Washington Law School, and a University Affiliate at Georgetown University.
Mr. Kris is the recipient of numerous awards and medals, including the National Intelligence Superior Service Medal, the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service, the CIA Agency Seal Medal, the Department of Justice Edmund J. Randolph Award, and on two occasions the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the Department of Justice’s highest honor.
He is a 1988 graduate of Haverford College and a 1991 graduate of Harvard Law School, and a former law clerk to Judge Stephen S. Trott of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Deputy Chief, Felony Major Crimes Section, United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia
Law Clerk, United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Matthew is a law clerk for the Honorable Royce C. Lamberth on the
United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Following his
clerkship, he will begin work as a litigation associate in the New York
office of Sullivan & Cromwell, focusing primarily on white collar crime
and internal investigations. He graduated from the University of
Texas School of Law in 2017.
Research Fellow, CATO Institute
Jay Schweikert is a research fellow with the Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice. His research and advocacy focuses on accountability for prosecutors and law enforcement, plea bargaining, Sixth Amendment trial rights, and the provision and structuring of indigent defense.
Before joining Cato, Schweikert spent four years doing civil and criminal litigation at Williams & Connolly LLP. He holds a JD from Harvard Law School, where he was an articles editor for the Harvard Law Review, and chaired the Harvard Federalist Society’s student colloquium program. Following law school, Schweikert clerked for Judge Diane Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
He holds a BA in political science and economics from Yale University.
Sanctuary Cities
Brian M. Fish, Christopher Hajec, William A. Stock
Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group Teleforum
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Liberty Month Revisited: Defining a Legitimate Scope for the Federalization of Business Crime
This month we are sharing a selection of paired pieces from The Federalist Society's Liberty...
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Liberty Month Revisited: Federalism and Criminal Law
This month we are sharing a selection of paired pieces from The Federalist Society's Liberty...
Panel 2 — The Tech Titans' Duties to Assist the Government
Craig Albright, Matthew R. A. Heiman, David Kris, Stewart A. Baker, Mark Champoux, F. Scott Kieff
The Tech Titans and National Security
It is difficult to imagine any criminal acts, espionage, or terrorism that does not leave...
Panel 2 — The Tech Titans' Duties to Assist the Government
Craig Albright, Stewart A. Baker, Mark Champoux, Matthew R. A. Heiman, F. Scott Kieff, David Kris
The Tech Titans and National Security
It is difficult to imagine any criminal acts, espionage, or terrorism that does not leave...
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Another Important Confirmation
While Washington focuses on the looming struggle over a U.S. Supreme Court nominee, another important...
Courthouse Steps Decision: Currier v. Virginia
John L. Hill
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Courthouse Steps Decisions: Lozman v. Riviera Beach/Chavez-Meza v. U.S.
Matthew Wilkins
On Tuesday, June 19th, 2018, the Supreme Court handed down two decisions in Lozman v....
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Docket Watch: In the Matter of Property Seized from Jean Carlos Herrerra and Fernando Rodriguez
On May 25, the Iowa Supreme Court issued an opinion in the case In the...
McCoy v. Louisiana - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Jay R. Schweikert
SCOTUScast featuring Jay Schweikert
On May 14, 2018, the Supreme Court decided McCoy v. Louisiana, a case considering whether...