Attorney, Institute for Justice
Greg Reed is an attorney with the Institute for Justice. He joined IJ in 2013 and litigates cases promoting economic liberty and educational choice.
Greg is representing two St. Louis-based African-style hair braiders before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in a challenge to an onerous licensing regime. Greg is also representing the Archdiocese of Newark in a challenge to a blatantly protectionist law that prevents religious cemeteries from providing headstones to its parishioners. Greg is currently the lead attorney in a case challenging Baltimore’s arbitrary, anticompetitive prohibition on mobile vendors operating within 300 feet of brick-and-mortar business establishments.
Prior to joining IJ, Greg was the research assistant to nationally syndicated columnist George F. Will. Greg received his law degree from American University Washington College of Law in 2013. Greg graduated from Haverford College in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.
Greg is a member of the Maryland bar.
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Neil Eggleston is a litigation partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
Neil has a distinguished record of public service, and has held a number of senior government roles. He was White House Counsel to President Obama from 2014 to 2017, and advised the president on all legal and constitutional issues across a broad spectrum of domestic and foreign policy matters. Neil’s practice focuses on enforcement defense including at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), U.S. Attorney’s Offices, and other enforcement agencies.
Earlier in his career, Neil served as Associate Counsel to President Clinton from 1993 to 1994. Heals o served as Deputy Chief Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee Investigating the Iran/Contra Affair (1987-1988); Assistant U.S. Attorney (1981-1987); and Chief Appellate Attorney for the Southern District of New York (1986-1987).
Neil served as a law clerk for the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (1978-1979) and for Chief Justice Warren E. Burger on the United States Supreme Court (1979-1980).
Neil teaches a seminar in Presidential Power at Harvard Law School in the spring of 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2021 and at Yale Law School in the spring of 2018. He also frequently lectures at American Bar Association and similar seminars.
United States Senator, Utah
Elected in 2010 as Utah's 16th Senator, Mike Lee has spent his career defending the basic liberties of Americans and Utahns as a tireless advocate for our founding constitutional principles.
Senator Lee acquired a deep respect for the Constitution early on. His father, Rex Lee, who served as the Solicitor General under President Ronald Reagan, would often discuss varied aspects of judicial and constitutional doctrine around the kitchen table, from Due Process to the uses of Executive Plenary Power. He attended most of his father's arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, giving him a unique, hands-on experience and understanding of government up close.
Lee graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science, and served as BYU's Student Body President in his senior year. He graduated from BYU's Law School in 1997 and went on to serve as law clerk to Judge Dee Benson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, and then with future Supreme Court Justice Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Lee spent several years as an attorney with the law firm Sidley & Austin specializing in appellate and Supreme Court litigation, and then served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Salt Lake City arguing cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Lee served the state of Utah as Governor Jon Huntsman's General Counsel and was later honored to reunite with Justice Alito, now on the Supreme Court, for a one-year clerkship. He returned to private practice in 2007.
Throughout his career, Lee earned a reputation as an outstanding practitioner of the law based on his sound judgment, abilities in the courtroom, and thorough understanding of the Constitution.
Today, Lee fights to preserve America's proud founding document in the United States Senate. He advocates efforts to support constitutionally limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual liberty, and economic prosperity.
Lee is a member of the Judiciary Committee, and serves as Chairman of the Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee protecting business competition and personal freedom.
He also oversees issues critical to Utah as the Chairman of the Water and Power Subcommittee of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He serves on the Commerce Committee and the Joint Economic Committee, as well.
In the 114th Congress, Lee also began his tenure as Chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, where he works with his Republican colleagues in the Senate to introduce bold and innovative solutions to issues facing the American people.
Lee and his wife Sharon live in Alpine, Utah, with their three children. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served a two-year mission for the Church in the Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Executive Vice President, The Federalist Society
Dean Reuter is Executive Vice President at the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. He has served in two federal government agency Offices of the Inspector General, as Counsel to the Inspector General and Deputy Inspector General, responsible for policing the use of federal funds granted and contracted through those agencies. As such, he helped conduct and oversee criminal investigations across the country. He is the principal author of the non-fiction book, The Hidden Nazi: The Untold Story of America's Deal with the Devil, and editor of Liberty’s Nemesis: The Unchecked Expansion of the State and Confronting Terror: 9/11 and the Future of American National Security. He was appointed by the President and served as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and recently served as an appointee on the U.S. Commission on Presidential Scholars. He is a graduate of Hood College (BA with Honors) and the University of Maryland School of Law.
United States Senator, Utah
Elected in 2010 as Utah's 16th Senator, Mike Lee has spent his career defending the basic liberties of Americans and Utahns as a tireless advocate for our founding constitutional principles.
Senator Lee acquired a deep respect for the Constitution early on. His father, Rex Lee, who served as the Solicitor General under President Ronald Reagan, would often discuss varied aspects of judicial and constitutional doctrine around the kitchen table, from Due Process to the uses of Executive Plenary Power. He attended most of his father's arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, giving him a unique, hands-on experience and understanding of government up close.
Lee graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science, and served as BYU's Student Body President in his senior year. He graduated from BYU's Law School in 1997 and went on to serve as law clerk to Judge Dee Benson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, and then with future Supreme Court Justice Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Lee spent several years as an attorney with the law firm Sidley & Austin specializing in appellate and Supreme Court litigation, and then served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Salt Lake City arguing cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Lee served the state of Utah as Governor Jon Huntsman's General Counsel and was later honored to reunite with Justice Alito, now on the Supreme Court, for a one-year clerkship. He returned to private practice in 2007.
Throughout his career, Lee earned a reputation as an outstanding practitioner of the law based on his sound judgment, abilities in the courtroom, and thorough understanding of the Constitution.
Today, Lee fights to preserve America's proud founding document in the United States Senate. He advocates efforts to support constitutionally limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual liberty, and economic prosperity.
Lee is a member of the Judiciary Committee, and serves as Chairman of the Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee protecting business competition and personal freedom.
He also oversees issues critical to Utah as the Chairman of the Water and Power Subcommittee of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He serves on the Commerce Committee and the Joint Economic Committee, as well.
In the 114th Congress, Lee also began his tenure as Chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, where he works with his Republican colleagues in the Senate to introduce bold and innovative solutions to issues facing the American people.
Lee and his wife Sharon live in Alpine, Utah, with their three children. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served a two-year mission for the Church in the Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Executive Vice President, The Federalist Society
Dean Reuter is Executive Vice President at the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. He has served in two federal government agency Offices of the Inspector General, as Counsel to the Inspector General and Deputy Inspector General, responsible for policing the use of federal funds granted and contracted through those agencies. As such, he helped conduct and oversee criminal investigations across the country. He is the principal author of the non-fiction book, The Hidden Nazi: The Untold Story of America's Deal with the Devil, and editor of Liberty’s Nemesis: The Unchecked Expansion of the State and Confronting Terror: 9/11 and the Future of American National Security. He was appointed by the President and served as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and recently served as an appointee on the U.S. Commission on Presidential Scholars. He is a graduate of Hood College (BA with Honors) and the University of Maryland School of Law.
Justice, Ohio Supreme Court
Judi French became a justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio in January 2013 and was elected to her first full term on November 4, 2014. She has traveled throughout Ohio, visiting all 88 counties in her first two years on the bench. With a history of public service and special interest in civic education, Justice French is committed to serving as a resource for the people of Ohio.
A History of Public Service
For the past two decades, Justice French has dedicated her career to public service. In that time, she has served the State of Ohio as a lawyer for a state agency, an assistant attorney general, counsel to the Governor, and, finally, as a judge.
In 1993, she joined the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency as deputy director for legal affairs. From 1997 to 2002, she worked for Attorney General Betty Montgomery as an assistant attorney general, and later as chief counsel.
During her time in the Attorney General’s Office, Justice French argued two cases before the United States Supreme Court. One of those cases was the Cleveland School Vouchers case, in which she served as lead counsel. Her successful presentation of the state’s position helped ensure equitable educational opportunities for every Ohio student.
From 2002 to 2004, Justice French served as chief legal counsel to Governor Bob Taft. In that role, she served as the chair of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Task Force, which made recommendations to the legislature for making Ohio’s sex-offender laws more effective.
In 2004, Justice French was elected as a judge on the Tenth District Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from Franklin County courts and state administrative agencies. While a judge on the court of appeals for eight years, she authored more than 800 legal opinions.
In December 2012, Governor John Kasich appointed Justice French to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court of Ohio. She became the 155th justice of the Ohio Supreme Court on January 1, 2013.
A Wide Breadth of Legal Experience
Although her two decades of public service are critical to her understanding of state laws and the Ohio judicial system, Justice French also has the benefit of experience in the corporate and private-practice arenas. She began her career as an attorney with the Columbus law firm of Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur, specializing in environmental law. Justice French also served as in-house counsel for a large manufacturing company.
A Commitment to Education
The daughter of a schoolteacher, Justice French appreciates her Ohio roots and education, and she is committed to being a part of civic education in Ohio. As an attorney, she served as a tutor and mentor in the Columbus Public Schools. As a justice, she speaks frequently to students from around Ohio, particularly those studying the Ohio Judicial system, whether it be in their classroom or a tour group visiting the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center.
Justice French grew up in Sebring, Ohio, a small town in Mahoning County. She graduated from Sebring McKinley High School in 1980, when she started her undergraduate studies at The Ohio State University.
She received three degrees from OSU: a B.A. in political science, an M.A. in history (with a concentration in military history and strategic studies), and a J.D., with honors. She currently serves her alma mater as a member of the Moritz College of Law National Council.
Justice Judi French currently resides in Grandview Heights, near Columbus, with her husband. They have two children.
Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
JEFFREY S. SUTTON is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has served as Chair of the Federal Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules, and Chair of the Supreme Court Fellows Commission. He currently serves as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Since 1993, Chief Judge Sutton has been an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University College of Law, where he teaches seminars on State Constitutional Law, the United States Supreme Court, and Appellate Advocacy. He also teaches a class on State Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School. Among other publications, he is the author of Who Decides? States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation and 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law. He is the co-author of a casebook, State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience, as well as The Law of Judicial Precedent. He is also the co-editor of The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law. In 2006, Chief Judge Sutton was elected to the American Law Institute, and in 2017 he was elected to its Council.
Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals (ret.)
Stephen Yarbrough was a judge for the Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals. He was elected to the court in November 2010 and assumed office on February 9, 2011. His six-year term ended on February 8, 2017.
Yarbrough received his undergraduate, master's, and J.D. degrees from the University of Toledo.
Justice, Ohio Supreme Court
Judi French became a justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio in January 2013 and was elected to her first full term on November 4, 2014. She has traveled throughout Ohio, visiting all 88 counties in her first two years on the bench. With a history of public service and special interest in civic education, Justice French is committed to serving as a resource for the people of Ohio.
A History of Public Service
For the past two decades, Justice French has dedicated her career to public service. In that time, she has served the State of Ohio as a lawyer for a state agency, an assistant attorney general, counsel to the Governor, and, finally, as a judge.
In 1993, she joined the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency as deputy director for legal affairs. From 1997 to 2002, she worked for Attorney General Betty Montgomery as an assistant attorney general, and later as chief counsel.
During her time in the Attorney General’s Office, Justice French argued two cases before the United States Supreme Court. One of those cases was the Cleveland School Vouchers case, in which she served as lead counsel. Her successful presentation of the state’s position helped ensure equitable educational opportunities for every Ohio student.
From 2002 to 2004, Justice French served as chief legal counsel to Governor Bob Taft. In that role, she served as the chair of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Task Force, which made recommendations to the legislature for making Ohio’s sex-offender laws more effective.
In 2004, Justice French was elected as a judge on the Tenth District Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from Franklin County courts and state administrative agencies. While a judge on the court of appeals for eight years, she authored more than 800 legal opinions.
In December 2012, Governor John Kasich appointed Justice French to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court of Ohio. She became the 155th justice of the Ohio Supreme Court on January 1, 2013.
A Wide Breadth of Legal Experience
Although her two decades of public service are critical to her understanding of state laws and the Ohio judicial system, Justice French also has the benefit of experience in the corporate and private-practice arenas. She began her career as an attorney with the Columbus law firm of Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur, specializing in environmental law. Justice French also served as in-house counsel for a large manufacturing company.
A Commitment to Education
The daughter of a schoolteacher, Justice French appreciates her Ohio roots and education, and she is committed to being a part of civic education in Ohio. As an attorney, she served as a tutor and mentor in the Columbus Public Schools. As a justice, she speaks frequently to students from around Ohio, particularly those studying the Ohio Judicial system, whether it be in their classroom or a tour group visiting the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center.
Justice French grew up in Sebring, Ohio, a small town in Mahoning County. She graduated from Sebring McKinley High School in 1980, when she started her undergraduate studies at The Ohio State University.
She received three degrees from OSU: a B.A. in political science, an M.A. in history (with a concentration in military history and strategic studies), and a J.D., with honors. She currently serves her alma mater as a member of the Moritz College of Law National Council.
Justice Judi French currently resides in Grandview Heights, near Columbus, with her husband. They have two children.
Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
JEFFREY S. SUTTON is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has served as Chair of the Federal Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules, and Chair of the Supreme Court Fellows Commission. He currently serves as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Since 1993, Chief Judge Sutton has been an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University College of Law, where he teaches seminars on State Constitutional Law, the United States Supreme Court, and Appellate Advocacy. He also teaches a class on State Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School. Among other publications, he is the author of Who Decides? States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation and 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law. He is the co-author of a casebook, State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience, as well as The Law of Judicial Precedent. He is also the co-editor of The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law. In 2006, Chief Judge Sutton was elected to the American Law Institute, and in 2017 he was elected to its Council.
Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals (ret.)
Stephen Yarbrough was a judge for the Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals. He was elected to the court in November 2010 and assumed office on February 9, 2011. His six-year term ended on February 8, 2017.
Yarbrough received his undergraduate, master's, and J.D. degrees from the University of Toledo.
Ohio Attorney General
As Attorney General, Mike DeWine’s priority is protecting Ohio’s families.
To better protect our kids, Attorney General DeWine created a special Crimes Against Children Unit to help identify, arrest, and convict sexual predators. He has also increased training for law enforcement and educators to help improve school safety, as well as human trafficking, child abuse, missing children, bullying and the needs of foster youth.
Attorney General DeWine is working to rebuild Ohio’s neighborhoods, investing $75 million from the national mortgage settlement to help demolish abandoned and blighted properties. He has also made commitments to support anti-gun violence programs and community groups that are working to repair our hardest-hit communities.
On his first day in office, Attorney General DeWine joined in the federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare. In addition he is working hard to make sure his office provides cutting-edge criminal investigation and law enforcement training services, is rooting out public corruption, and helping to create a legal climate in Ohio that encourages businesses to invest in the state and create jobs.
DeWine has also devoted resources to fighting Ohio’s prescription drug abuse and heroin problems, increased the number of criminal prosecutions in consumer fraud cases, and dramatically decreased the turn-around time for testing of DNA evidence. He has dedicated resources to testing all of Ohio’s old sexual assault kits, which is leading to the convictions of sexual predators.
Attorney General DeWine has a long and distinguished career in public service focusing on protecting Ohio children and families. DeWine served as Greene County Prosecuting Attorney, in the Ohio State Senate, in the United States House of Representatives, as Ohio Lieutenant Governor and in the United States Senate.
Mike DeWine grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio and married his high school sweetheart, Frances Streuwing, while both were students at Miami University. The DeWines, who have resided in Cedarville Township since Mike graduated from law school, are the parents of eight children and 22 grandchildren.
Partner, Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC
Ben Flowers, a partner at Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC, is an accomplished litigator with experience briefing, arguing, and winning high-stakes cases in courts throughout the country.
Before joining the law firm, Ben served as Ohio's 10th Solicitor General. In that role he regularly represented the State of Ohio before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of Ohio. Most prominently, in National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, Ben led a multi-state challenge to OSHA's vaccine mandate, ultimately prevailing before the Supreme Court.
Ben is a graduate of The Ohio State University and the University of Chicago Law School. Following law school, Ben clerked for Judge Sandra Ikuta of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of this United States. Ben lives in Upper Arlington, Ohio with his wife Denise and their three very active children.
Warren County Prosecutor, State of Ohio
David P. Fornshell was sworn-in as the 38th Prosecuting Attorney of Warren County on February 17, 2011. David comes to the Prosecutor's Office after most recently serving as a partner in the litigation department at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP in Cincinnati. David started his legal practice with Dinsmore in 1999 and still maintains an Of Counsel affiliation with the firm. From 1999-2007, David also served as Prosecuting Attorney for the City of Blue Ash, Ohio.
David is actively involved in the community and serves as a member of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, Ohio Prosecuting Attorney’s Association Executive and Legislative Committees, Warren County Drug Task Force Policy Board, Child Advocacy Center of Warren County Steering Committee, Ralph J. Stolle Countryside YMCA Board of Directors, and various other volunteer boards and committees. David is also the former Chairman of the Warren County Board of Elections, former Chairman of the Warren County Republican Party, former Secretary of the Warren County Board of MR/DD, and former Admissions Committee Chairperson of the Warren County Bar Association.
Since becoming Warren County Prosecutor, David has expanded the Prosecutor’s Office’s community outreach efforts. Most recently, David developed and conducted training for board members, officers, and volunteers of charitable, church, booster, youth sports, and other not-for-profit organizations on how to protect against internal organizational theft. He has also developed and conducted age-appropriate presentations for numerous Warren County high school, junior high school, middle school, and elementary school students on topics such as school threats, sexting, date rape, and juvenile decision-making.
David has prosecuted cases receiving international and national attention, including cases profiled by the BBC documentary series Life and Death Row, Good Morning America, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The UK Daily Mail, and numerous other international and national publications. David also served as a legal consultant for a network television series crime drama.
A seventh-generation Warren County resident, David grew up in the Lebanon/Turtlecreek Township area where he graduated from Lebanon High School. David graduated summa cum laude from Ohio University where he received degrees in Finance and Business Prelaw. David received his Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California, finishing in the top 10% of his graduating class. While at Pepperdine, David served on the Pepperdine Law Review, Pepperdine Moot Court Board, and also worked as a legal research and writing teaching assistant. David also won the Best Advocate Award at both the 1998 National Moot Court Competition (Los Angeles) and the 1999 Sutherland Cup National Constitutional Law Competition (Washington, D.C.), and received the American Jurisprudence Award for Civil Procedure I and Civil Procedure II.
David and his wife Amy reside in the Lebanon area with their three children. Over the past decade, David has served as volunteer coach for Lebanon youth football, basketball, baseball, and fast-pitch softball organizations. He and his family are active in Lebanon Presbyterian Church.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Eric Murphy has been a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since March 2019. He previously served as the ninth State Solicitor of Ohio. In that role, Eric briefed and argued appellate cases on behalf of Ohio and its state agencies and officers in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Ohio Supreme Court. Before his appointment as State Solicitor, Eric practiced appellate litigation at Jones Day. After graduation from law school, he served as a law clerk for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He received his law degree from the University of Chicago and his undergraduate degree from Miami University.
Attorney General, State of Ohio
Dave Yost was re-elected as Ohio’s 51st attorney general on Nov. 8, 2022, receiving more votes than any other attorney general in the state’s history.
During his first term as the state’s chief legal officer, he quickly gained a national reputation as a fearless advocate for the rule of law — or, as he puts it, “the same rules for everybody.”
Yost’s goal is to “do big good” for the people of Ohio by protecting consumers, rooting out corruption, defending the environment, ensuring an open and competitive marketplace, and fulfilling the many other duties of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
Yost began his public-service career as Delaware County auditor, later winning election as that county’s prosecutor. From 2011 through 2018, he served as Ohio’s auditor of state and, in January 2019, began his first term as attorney general.
Yost earned his bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University and law degree from Capital University. He and his wife, Darlene, live in Franklin County; they have three grown children and five grandchildren.
Ohio Attorney General
As Attorney General, Mike DeWine’s priority is protecting Ohio’s families.
To better protect our kids, Attorney General DeWine created a special Crimes Against Children Unit to help identify, arrest, and convict sexual predators. He has also increased training for law enforcement and educators to help improve school safety, as well as human trafficking, child abuse, missing children, bullying and the needs of foster youth.
Attorney General DeWine is working to rebuild Ohio’s neighborhoods, investing $75 million from the national mortgage settlement to help demolish abandoned and blighted properties. He has also made commitments to support anti-gun violence programs and community groups that are working to repair our hardest-hit communities.
On his first day in office, Attorney General DeWine joined in the federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare. In addition he is working hard to make sure his office provides cutting-edge criminal investigation and law enforcement training services, is rooting out public corruption, and helping to create a legal climate in Ohio that encourages businesses to invest in the state and create jobs.
DeWine has also devoted resources to fighting Ohio’s prescription drug abuse and heroin problems, increased the number of criminal prosecutions in consumer fraud cases, and dramatically decreased the turn-around time for testing of DNA evidence. He has dedicated resources to testing all of Ohio’s old sexual assault kits, which is leading to the convictions of sexual predators.
Attorney General DeWine has a long and distinguished career in public service focusing on protecting Ohio children and families. DeWine served as Greene County Prosecuting Attorney, in the Ohio State Senate, in the United States House of Representatives, as Ohio Lieutenant Governor and in the United States Senate.
Mike DeWine grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio and married his high school sweetheart, Frances Streuwing, while both were students at Miami University. The DeWines, who have resided in Cedarville Township since Mike graduated from law school, are the parents of eight children and 22 grandchildren.
Partner, Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC
Ben Flowers, a partner at Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC, is an accomplished litigator with experience briefing, arguing, and winning high-stakes cases in courts throughout the country.
Before joining the law firm, Ben served as Ohio's 10th Solicitor General. In that role he regularly represented the State of Ohio before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of Ohio. Most prominently, in National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, Ben led a multi-state challenge to OSHA's vaccine mandate, ultimately prevailing before the Supreme Court.
Ben is a graduate of The Ohio State University and the University of Chicago Law School. Following law school, Ben clerked for Judge Sandra Ikuta of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of this United States. Ben lives in Upper Arlington, Ohio with his wife Denise and their three very active children.
Warren County Prosecutor, State of Ohio
David P. Fornshell was sworn-in as the 38th Prosecuting Attorney of Warren County on February 17, 2011. David comes to the Prosecutor's Office after most recently serving as a partner in the litigation department at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP in Cincinnati. David started his legal practice with Dinsmore in 1999 and still maintains an Of Counsel affiliation with the firm. From 1999-2007, David also served as Prosecuting Attorney for the City of Blue Ash, Ohio.
David is actively involved in the community and serves as a member of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, Ohio Prosecuting Attorney’s Association Executive and Legislative Committees, Warren County Drug Task Force Policy Board, Child Advocacy Center of Warren County Steering Committee, Ralph J. Stolle Countryside YMCA Board of Directors, and various other volunteer boards and committees. David is also the former Chairman of the Warren County Board of Elections, former Chairman of the Warren County Republican Party, former Secretary of the Warren County Board of MR/DD, and former Admissions Committee Chairperson of the Warren County Bar Association.
Since becoming Warren County Prosecutor, David has expanded the Prosecutor’s Office’s community outreach efforts. Most recently, David developed and conducted training for board members, officers, and volunteers of charitable, church, booster, youth sports, and other not-for-profit organizations on how to protect against internal organizational theft. He has also developed and conducted age-appropriate presentations for numerous Warren County high school, junior high school, middle school, and elementary school students on topics such as school threats, sexting, date rape, and juvenile decision-making.
David has prosecuted cases receiving international and national attention, including cases profiled by the BBC documentary series Life and Death Row, Good Morning America, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The UK Daily Mail, and numerous other international and national publications. David also served as a legal consultant for a network television series crime drama.
A seventh-generation Warren County resident, David grew up in the Lebanon/Turtlecreek Township area where he graduated from Lebanon High School. David graduated summa cum laude from Ohio University where he received degrees in Finance and Business Prelaw. David received his Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California, finishing in the top 10% of his graduating class. While at Pepperdine, David served on the Pepperdine Law Review, Pepperdine Moot Court Board, and also worked as a legal research and writing teaching assistant. David also won the Best Advocate Award at both the 1998 National Moot Court Competition (Los Angeles) and the 1999 Sutherland Cup National Constitutional Law Competition (Washington, D.C.), and received the American Jurisprudence Award for Civil Procedure I and Civil Procedure II.
David and his wife Amy reside in the Lebanon area with their three children. Over the past decade, David has served as volunteer coach for Lebanon youth football, basketball, baseball, and fast-pitch softball organizations. He and his family are active in Lebanon Presbyterian Church.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Eric Murphy has been a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since March 2019. He previously served as the ninth State Solicitor of Ohio. In that role, Eric briefed and argued appellate cases on behalf of Ohio and its state agencies and officers in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Ohio Supreme Court. Before his appointment as State Solicitor, Eric practiced appellate litigation at Jones Day. After graduation from law school, he served as a law clerk for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He received his law degree from the University of Chicago and his undergraduate degree from Miami University.
Attorney General, State of Ohio
Dave Yost was re-elected as Ohio’s 51st attorney general on Nov. 8, 2022, receiving more votes than any other attorney general in the state’s history.
During his first term as the state’s chief legal officer, he quickly gained a national reputation as a fearless advocate for the rule of law — or, as he puts it, “the same rules for everybody.”
Yost’s goal is to “do big good” for the people of Ohio by protecting consumers, rooting out corruption, defending the environment, ensuring an open and competitive marketplace, and fulfilling the many other duties of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
Yost began his public-service career as Delaware County auditor, later winning election as that county’s prosecutor. From 2011 through 2018, he served as Ohio’s auditor of state and, in January 2019, began his first term as attorney general.
Yost earned his bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University and law degree from Capital University. He and his wife, Darlene, live in Franklin County; they have three grown children and five grandchildren.
Ohio House of Representatives, District 27
Representative Tom Brinkman is currently serving his second term as state representative, after serving as a member of the Ohio House for four 2-year terms from 2001 to 2008. He represents the 27th Ohio House District, which includes portions of eastern Hamilton County.
An experienced life insurance salesman and a life-long resident of Cincinnati, Representative Brinkman is a graduate of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. (1979), with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science.
Rep. Brinkman has received various awards as a legislator, being recognized as Mt. Lookout Civic Club Man of the Year in 2008 and also as Most Principled Legislator twice. He has also received the Watchdog of the Treasury Award three times.
He lives in Mt. Lookout with his wife, Cathy, and six children.
Justice, Ohio Supreme Court
On November 3, 2020 Judge Jennifer Brunner was elected Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. Previously she served as a judge of the Tenth District Court of Appeals for 6 years and the Franklin County Common Pleas Court for nearly 5 years. As a trial court judge Brunner founded the county’s adult felony drug court, known as the TIES (Treatment is Essential to Success) Program, now in its seventeenth year of operation. She was elected Ohio’s first woman Secretary of State on November 7, 2006 and held the office for four years. While in that office, she became the first Ohioan to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award from the bipartisan board of the JFK Library and Museum in Boston. Justice Brunner has 17 years of private law practice experience and has provided rule of law technical expertise to the government of the Republic of Serbia, election observation in the Arab Republic of Egypt, and rule of law instruction at the bar association of Sri Lanka through the U.S. state department (USAID), as well as provided remote rule of law and civic participation training through the American Bar Association to the Republic of Kazakhstan. She has gained a deep understanding of the importance of a strong and well-functioning judiciary to preserving peace and growing democracy through the rule of law. A native of Springfield, Ohio, Justice Brunner has been married to Rick Brunner since 1978. They have 3 adult children and 6 grandchildren, 2 dogs and 2 cats and spend time at their home in Columbus and at their farm in Columbiana County in Northeast Ohio.
Judge, Ohio Twelfth District Court of Appeals
Judge Matthew R. Byrne was elected to the Ohio Court of Appeals for the Twelfth District in 2020, and his first term began on January 1, 2021. He is currently serving as the court's elected Administrative Judge. The Twelfth District Court of Appeals hears civil and criminal appeals from the trial courts in eight counties in southwest Ohio. Judge Byrne is active in the Ohio Judicial Conference and the Ohio Court of Appeals Judges Association. He also currently serves as a member and vice chair of the Ohio Supreme Court's Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure (where he previously chaired the Appellate Rules Committee). He previously served as a member of the Ohio Supreme Court's Commission on Character and Fitness.
From January 2010 to December 2020, Judge Byrne practiced law at the national law firm of Jackson Lewis P.C. He was a member of the firm's General Employment Litigation Practice Group and the Wage and Hour Practice Group. From 2007 to 2010 he practiced at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. At both firms, Judge Byrne represented clients ranging from small businesses to international corporations in state and federal trial and appellate litigation, including multiple class and collective actions. He also represented clients in arbitration and before numerous administrative agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.
Judge Byrne earned his law degree, cum laude, from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. During law school he was symposium editor of the Ohio State Law Journal and the winner of the Donald S. Teller Memorial Award for student writing contributing most significantly to the Ohio State Law Journal. During law school he clerked for the Acting General Counsel of the United States Department of the Treasury. Judge Byrne earned his bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Xavier University, where he majored in International Affairs (Business) and Political Science.
Prior to entering law school Judge Byrne served in President George W. Bush's Administration as a member of the White House staff in the Office of Presidential Personnel, the office responsible for selecting candidates to recommend to the President for appointment or nomination to high-level government positions, and for coordinating with the Offices of White House Counsel, Press Secretary, and Executive Clerk regarding candidate background clearances, press announcements, and the status of appointments/nominations.
Judge Byrne has been a member of the Federalist Society since law school and he served for five years as president of the Federalist Society's Cincinnati Lawyers Chapter. He is a member of a number of other community and civic organizations, including the Ohio State Bar Association and the bar associations of Butler, Clermont, and Warren Counties. Judge Byrne previously was a member of the Advisory Board of Pregnancy Center East and a board member and president of the St. Thomas More Lawyers Guild of Greater Cincinnati.
Judge Byrne is an active parishioner at his church, where he is a lector, a former member and president of the Education Commission, and a former member of the Finance and Administration Commission.
Judge Byrne resides in Deerfield Township, Warren County, Ohio with his wife Julie and their three children.
Garwood Visiting Professor and Visiting Fellow, James Madison Pr, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
David F. Forte is Professor of Law at Cleveland State University, where he was the inaugural holder of the Charles R. Emrick, Jr.- Calfee Halter & Griswold Endowed Chair. This fall, Professor Forte will be the Garwood Visiting Professor at Princeton University in the Department of Politics, and Visiting Fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. He holds degrees from Harvard College, Manchester University, England, the University of Toronto and Columbia University.
During the Reagan administration, Professor Forte served as chief counsel to the United States delegation to the United Nations and alternate delegate to the Security Council. He has authored a number of briefs before the United States Supreme Court, and has frequently testified before the United States Congress and consulted with the Department of State on human rights and international affairs issues. His advice was specifically sought on the approval of the Genocide Convention, on world-wide religious persecution, and Islamic extremism. He has appeared and spoken frequently on radio and television, both nationally and internationally. In 2002, the Department of State sponsored a speaking tour for Professor Forte in Amman, Jordan, and he was also a featured speaker to the Meeting of Peoples in Rimini, Italy, a meeting which gathers over 500,000 people from all over Europe. He has also been called to testify before the state legislatures of Ohio, Kansas, and Idaho as well as the New York City Council. He has assisted in drafting a number of pieces of legislation for the Ohio General Assembly dealing with abortion, international trade, and federalism. He has sat as acting judge on the municipal court of Lakewood Ohio and was chairman of Professional Ethics Committee of the Cleveland Bar Association. He has received a number of awards for his public service, including the Cleveland Bar Association’s President’s Award, the Cleveland State University Award for Distinguished Service, the Cleveland State University Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence. He served as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Family under Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. In 2003, Dr. Forte was a Distinguished Fulbright Chair at the University of Trento and returned there in 2004 as a Visiting Professor. For the academic year, 2008-2009, Professor Forte was Senior Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Religion and the Constitution in at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. He was the Robert E. Henderson Constitution Day Lecturer at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, and he has given over 300 invited addresses and papers at more than 100 academic institutions. His work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Professor Forte was a Bradley Scholar at the Heritage Foundation, and Visiting Scholar at the Liberty Fund. He has been President of the Ohio Association of Scholars, was on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Society, and is also adjunct Scholar at the Ashbrook Center. He has been appointed to the Ohio State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He has also been a Civil War re-enactor and a Merit Badge Counselor for the Boy Scouts.
He writes and speaks nationally on topics such as constitutional law, religious liberty, Islamic law, the rights of families, and international affairs. He served as book review editor for the American Journal of Jurisprudence and has edited a volume entitled, Natural Law and Contemporary Public Policy, published by Georgetown University Press. His book, Islamic Law Studies: Classical and Contemporary Applications, has been published by Austin & Winfield. He is Senior Editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution (2006), 2d edition (2014), published by Regnery & Co, a clause by clause analysis of the Constitution of the United States.
His teaching competencies include Constitutional Law, the First Amendment, Islamic Law, Jurisprudence, Natural Law, International Law, International Human Rights, the Presidency, and Constitutional History.
Ohio State Senate, District 12
Senator Matt Huffman is currently serving his first term in the Ohio Senate, representing the 12th Senate district which includes all of Allen, Champaign, Mercer and Shelby counties, as well as portions of Auglaize, Darke and Logan counties. He previously served four terms in the Ohio House of Representatives, the last two in leadership positions, including being elected by his fellow legislators to serves as the second highest-ranking member, Speaker Pro Tempore.
Born and raised in Lima, Ohio, Senator Huffman has practiced law for the past 30 years in his family’s private practice law firm in downtown Lima. He has been admitted to practice in all of the state and federal courts in Ohio and is an “AV” rated attorney by the Martindale-Hubbell rating service, the highest rating an attorney can receive. He has represented dozens of small businesses in West Central Ohio.
Senator Huffman began his public service on Lima City Council in 1992, serving until 2006, including the final seven years as City Council President. In 2007, he began his service in the Ohio House of Representatives. During his time in the Ohio Legislature, Senator Huffman championed bills to reform the medical delivery system, protect life at all stages and repeal common core. He has always maintained a strong commitment to the preservation of gun rights.
Senator Huffman has been a tireless advocate of removing unnecessary government regulations and fees and lowering taxes for all Ohioans; he defeated an income tax increase while on Lima City Council and supported the reduction of state income taxes on small business owners and the elimination of the Ohio estate tax. While in the Ohio House, he was named a “Guardian of Small Business” and earned three “Watchdog of the Treasury” awards.
Senator Huffman is deeply concerned about our nation’s debt and was a primary sponsor of a resolution in the Ohio House to call for a convention of the states, as authorized by Article V of the U.S. Constitution, to propose a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. He believes the states must take back the power they have relinquished to the federal government in order for our nation’s debt crisis to be solved.
Senator Huffman is the fifth of nine children born to Lawrence and Shirley Huffman. He graduated from Lima Central Catholic High School in 1978. He then went on to earn his degree in Government from the University of Notre Dame in 1982 and his law degree from the University of Cincinnati School of Law in 1985.
Married for 30 years, Senator Huffman and his wife Sheryl (nee Simoneau) have made their home in Lima, where they have raised four children: Clare, Matthew, Ellen and Sam. In addition to being members of St. Charles Church, he and Sheryl belong to several community organizations including Heartbeat of Lima and the Knights of Columbus. In his free time, he enjoys watching his youngest son, Sam, play collegiate football and referees CYO basketball.
Partner, Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP
Larry builds on a wide range of experiences – including as an accomplished attorney, a former President of the Ohio Senate, and a legal academic – to help solve his clients’ most challenging legal problems. Larry focuses on complex litigation, including high-stakes appeals.
Larry is a Partner in the firm’s Litigation practice. He focuses his practice on litigation at both the trial and appellate levels and has experience in a variety of matters involving antitrust, fiduciary duties, torts, contracts, securities, and employment law. These range from standard contract disputes to constitutional challenges against federal statutes to defending against complex class actions.
In addition to his litigation practice, Larry served as a member of the Ohio Senate for nearly a decade. His colleagues unanimously elected him to serve as Senate President, the presiding officer of the 33-member chamber, from 2017-2020. During his time in the Senate, Larry successfully sponsored legislation on a wide range of topics, including education, tax law, elections administration, criminal law, and corporate law. These included a comprehensive update to Ohio’s corporate code and limited liability company law, including the sections setting out fiduciary duties for officers and shareholders. Larry also sponsored significant updates to Ohio’s Control Share Acquisition Act (which governs corporate takeovers). In 2018, he received the Ohio State Bar Association’s Lawyer-Legislator Distinguished Service Award.
Larry has also taught courses on Civil Procedure and Legislation as an adjunct law professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He has published legal scholarship on a range of issues including constitutional law, education, law and economics, and securities. He has been cited in roughly 75 law journals throughout the country and by a member of the United States Supreme Court.
Larry began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has worked at some of the nation’s largest law firms and began his private practice by spending more than five years with Chicago-based Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
From 2018-2020, Larry was a Rodel Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a program designed to bring greater civility to public discourse. He is active in the Federalist Society and is a former board member of the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation (now known as the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation), the statewide umbrella organization for legal aid.
Ohio House of Representatives, District 27
Representative Tom Brinkman is currently serving his second term as state representative, after serving as a member of the Ohio House for four 2-year terms from 2001 to 2008. He represents the 27th Ohio House District, which includes portions of eastern Hamilton County.
An experienced life insurance salesman and a life-long resident of Cincinnati, Representative Brinkman is a graduate of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. (1979), with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science.
Rep. Brinkman has received various awards as a legislator, being recognized as Mt. Lookout Civic Club Man of the Year in 2008 and also as Most Principled Legislator twice. He has also received the Watchdog of the Treasury Award three times.
He lives in Mt. Lookout with his wife, Cathy, and six children.
Justice, Ohio Supreme Court
On November 3, 2020 Judge Jennifer Brunner was elected Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. Previously she served as a judge of the Tenth District Court of Appeals for 6 years and the Franklin County Common Pleas Court for nearly 5 years. As a trial court judge Brunner founded the county’s adult felony drug court, known as the TIES (Treatment is Essential to Success) Program, now in its seventeenth year of operation. She was elected Ohio’s first woman Secretary of State on November 7, 2006 and held the office for four years. While in that office, she became the first Ohioan to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award from the bipartisan board of the JFK Library and Museum in Boston. Justice Brunner has 17 years of private law practice experience and has provided rule of law technical expertise to the government of the Republic of Serbia, election observation in the Arab Republic of Egypt, and rule of law instruction at the bar association of Sri Lanka through the U.S. state department (USAID), as well as provided remote rule of law and civic participation training through the American Bar Association to the Republic of Kazakhstan. She has gained a deep understanding of the importance of a strong and well-functioning judiciary to preserving peace and growing democracy through the rule of law. A native of Springfield, Ohio, Justice Brunner has been married to Rick Brunner since 1978. They have 3 adult children and 6 grandchildren, 2 dogs and 2 cats and spend time at their home in Columbus and at their farm in Columbiana County in Northeast Ohio.
Judge, Ohio Twelfth District Court of Appeals
Judge Matthew R. Byrne was elected to the Ohio Court of Appeals for the Twelfth District in 2020, and his first term began on January 1, 2021. He is currently serving as the court's elected Administrative Judge. The Twelfth District Court of Appeals hears civil and criminal appeals from the trial courts in eight counties in southwest Ohio. Judge Byrne is active in the Ohio Judicial Conference and the Ohio Court of Appeals Judges Association. He also currently serves as a member and vice chair of the Ohio Supreme Court's Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure (where he previously chaired the Appellate Rules Committee). He previously served as a member of the Ohio Supreme Court's Commission on Character and Fitness.
From January 2010 to December 2020, Judge Byrne practiced law at the national law firm of Jackson Lewis P.C. He was a member of the firm's General Employment Litigation Practice Group and the Wage and Hour Practice Group. From 2007 to 2010 he practiced at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. At both firms, Judge Byrne represented clients ranging from small businesses to international corporations in state and federal trial and appellate litigation, including multiple class and collective actions. He also represented clients in arbitration and before numerous administrative agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.
Judge Byrne earned his law degree, cum laude, from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. During law school he was symposium editor of the Ohio State Law Journal and the winner of the Donald S. Teller Memorial Award for student writing contributing most significantly to the Ohio State Law Journal. During law school he clerked for the Acting General Counsel of the United States Department of the Treasury. Judge Byrne earned his bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Xavier University, where he majored in International Affairs (Business) and Political Science.
Prior to entering law school Judge Byrne served in President George W. Bush's Administration as a member of the White House staff in the Office of Presidential Personnel, the office responsible for selecting candidates to recommend to the President for appointment or nomination to high-level government positions, and for coordinating with the Offices of White House Counsel, Press Secretary, and Executive Clerk regarding candidate background clearances, press announcements, and the status of appointments/nominations.
Judge Byrne has been a member of the Federalist Society since law school and he served for five years as president of the Federalist Society's Cincinnati Lawyers Chapter. He is a member of a number of other community and civic organizations, including the Ohio State Bar Association and the bar associations of Butler, Clermont, and Warren Counties. Judge Byrne previously was a member of the Advisory Board of Pregnancy Center East and a board member and president of the St. Thomas More Lawyers Guild of Greater Cincinnati.
Judge Byrne is an active parishioner at his church, where he is a lector, a former member and president of the Education Commission, and a former member of the Finance and Administration Commission.
Judge Byrne resides in Deerfield Township, Warren County, Ohio with his wife Julie and their three children.
Garwood Visiting Professor and Visiting Fellow, James Madison Pr, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
David F. Forte is Professor of Law at Cleveland State University, where he was the inaugural holder of the Charles R. Emrick, Jr.- Calfee Halter & Griswold Endowed Chair. This fall, Professor Forte will be the Garwood Visiting Professor at Princeton University in the Department of Politics, and Visiting Fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. He holds degrees from Harvard College, Manchester University, England, the University of Toronto and Columbia University.
During the Reagan administration, Professor Forte served as chief counsel to the United States delegation to the United Nations and alternate delegate to the Security Council. He has authored a number of briefs before the United States Supreme Court, and has frequently testified before the United States Congress and consulted with the Department of State on human rights and international affairs issues. His advice was specifically sought on the approval of the Genocide Convention, on world-wide religious persecution, and Islamic extremism. He has appeared and spoken frequently on radio and television, both nationally and internationally. In 2002, the Department of State sponsored a speaking tour for Professor Forte in Amman, Jordan, and he was also a featured speaker to the Meeting of Peoples in Rimini, Italy, a meeting which gathers over 500,000 people from all over Europe. He has also been called to testify before the state legislatures of Ohio, Kansas, and Idaho as well as the New York City Council. He has assisted in drafting a number of pieces of legislation for the Ohio General Assembly dealing with abortion, international trade, and federalism. He has sat as acting judge on the municipal court of Lakewood Ohio and was chairman of Professional Ethics Committee of the Cleveland Bar Association. He has received a number of awards for his public service, including the Cleveland Bar Association’s President’s Award, the Cleveland State University Award for Distinguished Service, the Cleveland State University Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence. He served as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Family under Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. In 2003, Dr. Forte was a Distinguished Fulbright Chair at the University of Trento and returned there in 2004 as a Visiting Professor. For the academic year, 2008-2009, Professor Forte was Senior Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Religion and the Constitution in at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. He was the Robert E. Henderson Constitution Day Lecturer at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, and he has given over 300 invited addresses and papers at more than 100 academic institutions. His work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Professor Forte was a Bradley Scholar at the Heritage Foundation, and Visiting Scholar at the Liberty Fund. He has been President of the Ohio Association of Scholars, was on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Society, and is also adjunct Scholar at the Ashbrook Center. He has been appointed to the Ohio State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He has also been a Civil War re-enactor and a Merit Badge Counselor for the Boy Scouts.
He writes and speaks nationally on topics such as constitutional law, religious liberty, Islamic law, the rights of families, and international affairs. He served as book review editor for the American Journal of Jurisprudence and has edited a volume entitled, Natural Law and Contemporary Public Policy, published by Georgetown University Press. His book, Islamic Law Studies: Classical and Contemporary Applications, has been published by Austin & Winfield. He is Senior Editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution (2006), 2d edition (2014), published by Regnery & Co, a clause by clause analysis of the Constitution of the United States.
His teaching competencies include Constitutional Law, the First Amendment, Islamic Law, Jurisprudence, Natural Law, International Law, International Human Rights, the Presidency, and Constitutional History.
Ohio State Senate, District 12
Senator Matt Huffman is currently serving his first term in the Ohio Senate, representing the 12th Senate district which includes all of Allen, Champaign, Mercer and Shelby counties, as well as portions of Auglaize, Darke and Logan counties. He previously served four terms in the Ohio House of Representatives, the last two in leadership positions, including being elected by his fellow legislators to serves as the second highest-ranking member, Speaker Pro Tempore.
Born and raised in Lima, Ohio, Senator Huffman has practiced law for the past 30 years in his family’s private practice law firm in downtown Lima. He has been admitted to practice in all of the state and federal courts in Ohio and is an “AV” rated attorney by the Martindale-Hubbell rating service, the highest rating an attorney can receive. He has represented dozens of small businesses in West Central Ohio.
Senator Huffman began his public service on Lima City Council in 1992, serving until 2006, including the final seven years as City Council President. In 2007, he began his service in the Ohio House of Representatives. During his time in the Ohio Legislature, Senator Huffman championed bills to reform the medical delivery system, protect life at all stages and repeal common core. He has always maintained a strong commitment to the preservation of gun rights.
Senator Huffman has been a tireless advocate of removing unnecessary government regulations and fees and lowering taxes for all Ohioans; he defeated an income tax increase while on Lima City Council and supported the reduction of state income taxes on small business owners and the elimination of the Ohio estate tax. While in the Ohio House, he was named a “Guardian of Small Business” and earned three “Watchdog of the Treasury” awards.
Senator Huffman is deeply concerned about our nation’s debt and was a primary sponsor of a resolution in the Ohio House to call for a convention of the states, as authorized by Article V of the U.S. Constitution, to propose a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. He believes the states must take back the power they have relinquished to the federal government in order for our nation’s debt crisis to be solved.
Senator Huffman is the fifth of nine children born to Lawrence and Shirley Huffman. He graduated from Lima Central Catholic High School in 1978. He then went on to earn his degree in Government from the University of Notre Dame in 1982 and his law degree from the University of Cincinnati School of Law in 1985.
Married for 30 years, Senator Huffman and his wife Sheryl (nee Simoneau) have made their home in Lima, where they have raised four children: Clare, Matthew, Ellen and Sam. In addition to being members of St. Charles Church, he and Sheryl belong to several community organizations including Heartbeat of Lima and the Knights of Columbus. In his free time, he enjoys watching his youngest son, Sam, play collegiate football and referees CYO basketball.
Partner, Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP
Larry builds on a wide range of experiences – including as an accomplished attorney, a former President of the Ohio Senate, and a legal academic – to help solve his clients’ most challenging legal problems. Larry focuses on complex litigation, including high-stakes appeals.
Larry is a Partner in the firm’s Litigation practice. He focuses his practice on litigation at both the trial and appellate levels and has experience in a variety of matters involving antitrust, fiduciary duties, torts, contracts, securities, and employment law. These range from standard contract disputes to constitutional challenges against federal statutes to defending against complex class actions.
In addition to his litigation practice, Larry served as a member of the Ohio Senate for nearly a decade. His colleagues unanimously elected him to serve as Senate President, the presiding officer of the 33-member chamber, from 2017-2020. During his time in the Senate, Larry successfully sponsored legislation on a wide range of topics, including education, tax law, elections administration, criminal law, and corporate law. These included a comprehensive update to Ohio’s corporate code and limited liability company law, including the sections setting out fiduciary duties for officers and shareholders. Larry also sponsored significant updates to Ohio’s Control Share Acquisition Act (which governs corporate takeovers). In 2018, he received the Ohio State Bar Association’s Lawyer-Legislator Distinguished Service Award.
Larry has also taught courses on Civil Procedure and Legislation as an adjunct law professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He has published legal scholarship on a range of issues including constitutional law, education, law and economics, and securities. He has been cited in roughly 75 law journals throughout the country and by a member of the United States Supreme Court.
Larry began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has worked at some of the nation’s largest law firms and began his private practice by spending more than five years with Chicago-based Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
From 2018-2020, Larry was a Rodel Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a program designed to bring greater civility to public discourse. He is active in the Federalist Society and is a former board member of the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation (now known as the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation), the statewide umbrella organization for legal aid.
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