Shareholder, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.
Robert Driscoll is a shareholder in Reinhart's Labor and Employment Practice. He is an experienced, accomplished attorney who works to understand his clients' goals and provide them with effective legal and business solutions.
Rob counsels employers to help them avoid disputes with an emphasis on discrimination (including disability discrimination), wage and hour issues and employment contracts of all kinds. Rob's practice also includes all areas of traditional labor law, such as collective bargaining, labor arbitrations, proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board, and advising employers of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.
He understands that trials can be costly and time-consuming, and clients appreciate that he offers creative options to resolve disputes without litigation. However, when litigation is unavoidable, he's a confident and diligent legal partner, devising effective strategies for prevailing. Rob's litigation experience includes wage and hour claims (both individual and class actions), employment and fair housing discrimination and noncompetition agreements. He also represents clients in appeals.
Prior to joining the firm, Rob was a law clerk for the Hon. Diane S. Sykes, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Milwaukee.
Rob proudly serves on the Board of Directors for GPS Education Partners, an organization that works to validate technical career paths and provide students and their communities pathways to prosperity.
Founder, President, and General Counsel, Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty
Rick Esenberg is the founder and current President and General Counsel of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a rapidly expanding law and policy organization headquartered in Milwaukee. Under Rick’s leadership, WILL has grown into one of the more active state-based think tanks and litigation centers in the country. Rick is a frequent litigator in state and federal courts and nationally recognized scholar and commentator on constitutional law, particularly the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of speech and religion. He is one of the leading experts on the Wisconsin Constitution and a frequent advocate before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Rick’s work seeks to advance the rule of law and individual liberty, formed by a robust civil society that forms individual and community character, preserving the wisdom of the past and an openness to the future.
Rick’s commentary has been featured in such outlets as the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Weekly Standard, Real Clear Politics, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Washington Examiner. Formerly on the faculty of Marquette University Law School, his scholarship has appeared in such publications as the Harvard Law Review, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Wake Forest Law Review and William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. Back when they were a thing, he operated a blog called Shark and Shepherd where he tried to suggest something about the duality of man – “the Jungian thing.”
Rick holds a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and a B.A., summa cum laude, in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In addition to service on the Marquette Faculty, he was formerly a litigation partner at Foley & Lardner and General Counsel of an international manufacturing firm headquartered in Wisconsin. He lives in Mequon Wisconsin with his wife Karen, golden retrievers Cooper and Riley and more books than he can find places for.
Senior Counsel and Director of Strategic Engagement, Alliance Defending Freedom
Jordan Lorence serves as senior counsel and director of strategic engagement with Alliance Defending Freedom, where he plays a key role with the Strategic Relations & Training Team. His work has encompassed a broad range of litigation, with a primary focus on religious liberty, free speech, student privacy, conscience rights of creative professionals, and the First Amendment freedoms of public university students and professors.
Lorence argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the precedent-setting Southworth v. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System case in 1999, challenging the university’s requirement that forced unwilling students to contribute to campus activist groups. He led the challenge to New York City’s ban on private worship services after hours in vacant public school buildings in the long-running Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York case. Lorence also defended the right of conscience in Elane Photography v. Willock at the New Mexico Supreme Court.
Lorence has made media appearances on television and radio shows including Fox News, NBC’s Today Show, and National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. His commentary has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Times, The Hill, and National Review.
Before officially joining the organization in 2001, Lorence was a productive allied attorney for many years, actively involved in significant litigation for ADF. He has also worked for the Home School Legal Defense Association, Concerned Women for America, and the American Center for Law and Justice. Lorence earned a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School and received a B.A. in journalism from Stanford University. He is admitted to the bar in Minnesota, Virginia, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Supreme Court, and multiple federal appellate and district courts.
Senior Partner, Pines Bach LLP
Lester Pines is a Senior Partner in the firm.
A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, he is a respected civil and criminal litigator and appellate advocate. In his over 40 years of practice, he has appeared in trial and appellate courts throughout Wisconsin, in numerous federal district courts, and before the federal 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. After a recent trial, one of Lester’s clients wrote:
"Seeing you in action was like watching an artist create a classic painting from a blank canvas but instead of paint you used facts, figures and, most importantly, words to achieve a masterpiece in the courtroom."
His wide-ranging civil trial practice encompasses commercial claims, employment disputes, constitutional and civil rights matters, personal injury and intellectual property cases. His criminal defense work has involved many high profile cases, especially involving teachers, police officers and other public employees. He is counsel to Madison Teachers Inc., which represents the employees of the Madison Metropolitan School District.
Recently, Lester was featured in a cover story in Isthmus, a Madison weekly newspaper, " Activist Attorney – Lester Pines draws on faith and family in his practice and beyond."
Recent challenges to the constitutionality of newly enacted laws that Lester brought on behalf of his clients include:
Previously, in cases in which he was appointed by former Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, Lester defended Wisconsin’s law creating domestic partnerships for same sex couples and stopped an attempt by then Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to suppress voting in the 2008 Presidential election.
Among the many cases Lester has argued before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, two in particular have shaped Wisconsin law. In 2010 he represented the Zurich American Insurance Company inMiller v. Hanover Insurance, securing the reversal of a $2,000,000 default judgment against his client and achieving a significant change in Wisconsin law regarding relief from such judgments. In an original action in 1996, he successfully argued the case of Thompson v. Craney, which delineated the constitutionally vested powers of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and protected them from being altered by the Legislature, which the Wisconsin Supreme Court reaffirmed in 2016 in Coyne v. Walker.
Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Howard Schweber joined the department in Fall 1999. He received his PhD in Government from Cornell University and an MA in History from the University of Chicago after spending five years practicing law in Seattle and San Francisco. Schweber teaches courses focusing on constitutional law and legal and political theory. He is the author of "Democracy and Authenticity" (Cambridge, 2012), "The Language of Liberal Constitutionalism" (Cambridge, 2007), "The Creation of American Common Law"(Cambridge, 2004), and "Speech, Conduct, and the First Amendment" (Peter Lang, 2003) as well as articles, essays and book chapters on a variety of related topics. His current areas of research include comparative constitutional law and democratic theories of representation. In addition to his position in the Political Science Department Schweber is a core faculty member of the Legal Studies program. From 2011 to 2013 he was Visiting Professor and the first Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan, and in 2012 he was the Australian Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Politics.
Schweber is a regular guest on Wisconsin radio and gives frequent newspaper, radio, and television interviews in the local, national, and international press. He is also a contributing blogger at Huffingtonpost.com and an occasional guest blogger on other sites, and a frequent public speaker both on and off campus. Schweber was previously the faculty advisor and coach for the UW College Mock Trial Team and is currently the advisor for "Sifting and Winnowing," Wisconsin's undergraduate politics and law journal. In 2004 he was the recipient of the William H. Kiekhoffer Award for Distinguished Teaching. He has also twice been selected as the Pi Sigma Alpha Professor of the year, and has received numerous other teaching awards while at Wisconsin. Earlier, while a graduate student at Cornell University, Schweber received the Stephen and Marjorie Russell Award for Outstanding Teaching, the highest award for teaching at any level awarded by the College of Arts and Sciences.
Partner, Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP
Misha leads Troutman Peppers' national appellate and Supreme Court practice. Most recently, he successfully obtained orders from the Supreme Court blocking an unconstitutional restriction on places of worship, as well as overturning a lower court order that had blocked several state election laws. He has also argued and prevailed before the Supreme Court in Gill v. Whitford, one of the most significant redistricting cases in decades, as well as Murr v. Wisconsin, a high-stakes regulatory taking case.
Before joining Troutman, Misha served as Solicitor General of the State of Wisconsin. Misha previously served as a law clerk for the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court, Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit, and Alex Kozinski of the 9th Circuit. He graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was President of the Federalist Society Chapter.
Shareholder, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.
Robert Driscoll is a shareholder in Reinhart's Labor and Employment Practice. He is an experienced, accomplished attorney who works to understand his clients' goals and provide them with effective legal and business solutions.
Rob counsels employers to help them avoid disputes with an emphasis on discrimination (including disability discrimination), wage and hour issues and employment contracts of all kinds. Rob's practice also includes all areas of traditional labor law, such as collective bargaining, labor arbitrations, proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board, and advising employers of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.
He understands that trials can be costly and time-consuming, and clients appreciate that he offers creative options to resolve disputes without litigation. However, when litigation is unavoidable, he's a confident and diligent legal partner, devising effective strategies for prevailing. Rob's litigation experience includes wage and hour claims (both individual and class actions), employment and fair housing discrimination and noncompetition agreements. He also represents clients in appeals.
Prior to joining the firm, Rob was a law clerk for the Hon. Diane S. Sykes, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Milwaukee.
Rob proudly serves on the Board of Directors for GPS Education Partners, an organization that works to validate technical career paths and provide students and their communities pathways to prosperity.
Founder, President, and General Counsel, Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty
Rick Esenberg is the founder and current President and General Counsel of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a rapidly expanding law and policy organization headquartered in Milwaukee. Under Rick’s leadership, WILL has grown into one of the more active state-based think tanks and litigation centers in the country. Rick is a frequent litigator in state and federal courts and nationally recognized scholar and commentator on constitutional law, particularly the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of speech and religion. He is one of the leading experts on the Wisconsin Constitution and a frequent advocate before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Rick’s work seeks to advance the rule of law and individual liberty, formed by a robust civil society that forms individual and community character, preserving the wisdom of the past and an openness to the future.
Rick’s commentary has been featured in such outlets as the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Weekly Standard, Real Clear Politics, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Washington Examiner. Formerly on the faculty of Marquette University Law School, his scholarship has appeared in such publications as the Harvard Law Review, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Wake Forest Law Review and William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. Back when they were a thing, he operated a blog called Shark and Shepherd where he tried to suggest something about the duality of man – “the Jungian thing.”
Rick holds a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and a B.A., summa cum laude, in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In addition to service on the Marquette Faculty, he was formerly a litigation partner at Foley & Lardner and General Counsel of an international manufacturing firm headquartered in Wisconsin. He lives in Mequon Wisconsin with his wife Karen, golden retrievers Cooper and Riley and more books than he can find places for.
Senior Counsel and Director of Strategic Engagement, Alliance Defending Freedom
Jordan Lorence serves as senior counsel and director of strategic engagement with Alliance Defending Freedom, where he plays a key role with the Strategic Relations & Training Team. His work has encompassed a broad range of litigation, with a primary focus on religious liberty, free speech, student privacy, conscience rights of creative professionals, and the First Amendment freedoms of public university students and professors.
Lorence argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the precedent-setting Southworth v. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System case in 1999, challenging the university’s requirement that forced unwilling students to contribute to campus activist groups. He led the challenge to New York City’s ban on private worship services after hours in vacant public school buildings in the long-running Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York case. Lorence also defended the right of conscience in Elane Photography v. Willock at the New Mexico Supreme Court.
Lorence has made media appearances on television and radio shows including Fox News, NBC’s Today Show, and National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. His commentary has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Times, The Hill, and National Review.
Before officially joining the organization in 2001, Lorence was a productive allied attorney for many years, actively involved in significant litigation for ADF. He has also worked for the Home School Legal Defense Association, Concerned Women for America, and the American Center for Law and Justice. Lorence earned a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School and received a B.A. in journalism from Stanford University. He is admitted to the bar in Minnesota, Virginia, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Supreme Court, and multiple federal appellate and district courts.
Senior Partner, Pines Bach LLP
Lester Pines is a Senior Partner in the firm.
A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, he is a respected civil and criminal litigator and appellate advocate. In his over 40 years of practice, he has appeared in trial and appellate courts throughout Wisconsin, in numerous federal district courts, and before the federal 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. After a recent trial, one of Lester’s clients wrote:
"Seeing you in action was like watching an artist create a classic painting from a blank canvas but instead of paint you used facts, figures and, most importantly, words to achieve a masterpiece in the courtroom."
His wide-ranging civil trial practice encompasses commercial claims, employment disputes, constitutional and civil rights matters, personal injury and intellectual property cases. His criminal defense work has involved many high profile cases, especially involving teachers, police officers and other public employees. He is counsel to Madison Teachers Inc., which represents the employees of the Madison Metropolitan School District.
Recently, Lester was featured in a cover story in Isthmus, a Madison weekly newspaper, " Activist Attorney – Lester Pines draws on faith and family in his practice and beyond."
Recent challenges to the constitutionality of newly enacted laws that Lester brought on behalf of his clients include:
Previously, in cases in which he was appointed by former Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, Lester defended Wisconsin’s law creating domestic partnerships for same sex couples and stopped an attempt by then Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to suppress voting in the 2008 Presidential election.
Among the many cases Lester has argued before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, two in particular have shaped Wisconsin law. In 2010 he represented the Zurich American Insurance Company inMiller v. Hanover Insurance, securing the reversal of a $2,000,000 default judgment against his client and achieving a significant change in Wisconsin law regarding relief from such judgments. In an original action in 1996, he successfully argued the case of Thompson v. Craney, which delineated the constitutionally vested powers of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and protected them from being altered by the Legislature, which the Wisconsin Supreme Court reaffirmed in 2016 in Coyne v. Walker.
Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Howard Schweber joined the department in Fall 1999. He received his PhD in Government from Cornell University and an MA in History from the University of Chicago after spending five years practicing law in Seattle and San Francisco. Schweber teaches courses focusing on constitutional law and legal and political theory. He is the author of "Democracy and Authenticity" (Cambridge, 2012), "The Language of Liberal Constitutionalism" (Cambridge, 2007), "The Creation of American Common Law"(Cambridge, 2004), and "Speech, Conduct, and the First Amendment" (Peter Lang, 2003) as well as articles, essays and book chapters on a variety of related topics. His current areas of research include comparative constitutional law and democratic theories of representation. In addition to his position in the Political Science Department Schweber is a core faculty member of the Legal Studies program. From 2011 to 2013 he was Visiting Professor and the first Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan, and in 2012 he was the Australian Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Politics.
Schweber is a regular guest on Wisconsin radio and gives frequent newspaper, radio, and television interviews in the local, national, and international press. He is also a contributing blogger at Huffingtonpost.com and an occasional guest blogger on other sites, and a frequent public speaker both on and off campus. Schweber was previously the faculty advisor and coach for the UW College Mock Trial Team and is currently the advisor for "Sifting and Winnowing," Wisconsin's undergraduate politics and law journal. In 2004 he was the recipient of the William H. Kiekhoffer Award for Distinguished Teaching. He has also twice been selected as the Pi Sigma Alpha Professor of the year, and has received numerous other teaching awards while at Wisconsin. Earlier, while a graduate student at Cornell University, Schweber received the Stephen and Marjorie Russell Award for Outstanding Teaching, the highest award for teaching at any level awarded by the College of Arts and Sciences.
Partner, Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP
Misha leads Troutman Peppers' national appellate and Supreme Court practice. Most recently, he successfully obtained orders from the Supreme Court blocking an unconstitutional restriction on places of worship, as well as overturning a lower court order that had blocked several state election laws. He has also argued and prevailed before the Supreme Court in Gill v. Whitford, one of the most significant redistricting cases in decades, as well as Murr v. Wisconsin, a high-stakes regulatory taking case.
Before joining Troutman, Misha served as Solicitor General of the State of Wisconsin. Misha previously served as a law clerk for the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court, Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit, and Alex Kozinski of the 9th Circuit. He graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was President of the Federalist Society Chapter.
Executive Director, ADF International
Paul Coleman serves as executive director of ADF International from its headquarters in Vienna, overseeing the advocacy and operations of the global, alliance-building human rights organization.
Specializing in international human rights and European law, Mr. Coleman has been involved in more than 20 cases before the European Court of Human Rights and has authored complaints and submissions to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, International Criminal Court, Court of Justice of the European Union, UN Human Rights Committee, and numerous national courts.
Mr. Coleman was part of the legal team in the historic Eweida and others v. United Kingdom case, where the court handed down a landmark ruling on religious freedom. Mr. Coleman has also authored legal submissions in numerous precedent-setting cases before the European Court, including three Grand Chamber victories. In Gross v. Switzerland, he submitted that no right to assisted suicide or euthanasia exists under the European Convention on Human Rights. In F.G. v. Sweden, Mr. Coleman argued that European countries have a duty to protect Christian converts escaping persecution in their native countries. In Nagy v. Hungary, he argued that churches must have the freedom to manage their internal affairs without interference from the government or other state bodies.
Coleman earned his LL.M. and postgraduate diploma in legal practice, with distinction, from the Northumbria Law School. He obtained a Bachelor of Laws, with first-class honours, from Newcastle University. Coleman is a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales and is the author of two books and numerous articles.
CEO, Vulcan Consulting Ltd
Lucinda Creighton is a former Irish Minister for European Affairs and CEO of Vulcan Consulting Ltd. As a member of the Irish Parliament for nine years, she ran Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2013, and represented the EU in trade talks with the United States, leading to the formal start of TTIP negotiations in 2013. From 2012 to 2014 she also served as Vice President of the European People’s Party – the largest political party in Europe. Ms. Creighton is an advisory board member of the International Republican Institute and the European Council on Foreign Relations. By training, she is a Barrister and qualified as a New York attorney.
In addition to leading Vulcan Consulting, she is retained as a special advisor on Brexit by Fipra, the international public affairs company. Through this connection, she also collaborates with the London School of Economics providing advisory services on the fallout from Brexit. Vulcan Consulting advises a range of corporate clients on EU policy, regulatory and political issues. They specialise in assisting CEOs and other members of leadership teams in understanding the political and decision making environment in Europe.
Distinguished Senior Fellow, Gatestone Institute
Soeren Kern is a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Gatestone Institute, and the Senior Analyst for Transatlantic Relations at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. One of the oldest and most influential foreign policy think tanks in Spain, the Strategic Studies Group is closely tied to Spain's center-right Partido Popular/Popular Party and former Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar.
A political scientist by training, Soeren specializes in European politics as well as US and European defense- and security-related issues. He is also an essayist on European anti-Americanism and the roles of America and Europe in the world.
Mr. Kern is a contributing analyst for Jane's Information Group on Basque and Islamist terrorism in Spain. He writes for Jane's Intelligence Review, Jane's Intelligence Weeklyand Jane's Terrorism and Security Monitor.
Mr. Kern is a regular commentator about European politics and transatlantic relations for newspapers and radio programs in Spain, Europe and the United States. He teaches international relations at the Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, a private university in Madrid.
Previously, Mr. Kern was Senior Analyst for Transatlantic Relations at the Madrid-based Elcano Royal Institute for Strategic and International Affairs. He served in the US Air Force(stationed in Germany) during the last decade of the Cold War, and worked as a defense analyst at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), one of the leading corporate think tanks advising the Pentagon on nuclear non-proliferation. He was also the Washington-based managing editor of Arms Control Today, the strategic affairs monthly magazine.
Mr. Kern graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and has also studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has visited more than one hundred countries, including most of those in the Middle East.
Mr. Kern is a dual citizen of the United States and Germany, and is fluent in English, German and Spanish. He lives in Spain with his wife Mónica.
Founder, Libertas-West Project
Karen Lugo is a constitutional law consultant and national security analyst. She was Director of the Center for Tenth Amendment at Texas Public Policy Foundation from 2013 to 2015. When living in California, she was Co-Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence Center. From 2005 – 2012, she was a clinical visiting and adjunct professor at Chapman University School of Law where she co-taught the advanced Constitutional Law Clinic. Karen has co-authored and written circuit-level and Supreme Court amicus briefs on such issues as FISA Surveillance, Healthcare Reform, Arizona’s Border Security, Gay Marriage, The Ten Commandments, Eminent Domain, Christian Clubs on University Campuses, and Material Support for Terrorists.
Karen is the founder of the Libertas-West Project, a center for study Islamic integration and radicalization issues. In this capacity, she consulted with the Center for Security Policy to write a book on local over-watch of mosque construction and community engagement called: Mosques in America: A Guide to Accountable Permit Hearings and Continuing Citizen Oversight.
Karen writes and speaks for European and American groups on the importance of basing assimilation efforts on principles of Western exceptionalism. She presented a policy brief to the French Conseil d’Etat analyzing the legal implications of banning the burqa. Ms. Lugo has written one of the most comprehensive overviews of sharia law in American courts, American Family Law and Sharia-Compliant Marriages, for the Federalist Society law journal, Engage. She has written several white papers on the American Law for American Courts legislation and sharia tribunals in America.
Ms. Lugo was an appointee to the California Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She also taught a Human Rights law course on the contrast between French and English Enlightenment theories in Strasbourg, France.
Until moving from California, Ms. Lugo was a member of the David Horowitz Freedom Center Board of Directors. She was also a regular guest on the Orange County PBS local issues debate program, Inside OC, and she is a contributor to Pajamas Media, National Review Online, City Journal, American Spectator, American Greatness, Townhall.com, American Thinker, Daily Caller, and Family Security Matters. She has been interviewed by dozens of radio hosts and has spoken for civic groups on constitutional and cultural concerns.
President and CEO, The Buckeye Institute
Robert Alt is the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Buckeye Institute where he has catalyzed exponential growth since he took the organization’s helm in 2012. He has since founded Buckeye’s renowned Economic Research Center and established its impactful Legal Center.
Alt is a distinguished scholar and attorney with particular expertise in legal policy, criminal justice, national security, and constitutional law. He previously worked for former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III, regularly provides commentary on television and radio programs, and his writings have appeared in countless outlets.
In 2004, Alt spent five months in Iraq as an embedded war correspondent.
Alt has testified before Congress multiple times—including at the confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan—the Federal Election Commission regarding matters of constitutional and administrative law, and numerous state legislatures.
Alt serves as an officer on the boards of The Philadelphia Society and the Federalist Society’s Columbus Lawyers Chapter. He taught national security law, criminal law, and legislation at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, as well as constitutional law and political parties and interest groups at Ashland University.
Alt earned his Doctor of Law degree from The University of Chicago Law School, where he was Symposium Editor and the winner of the Mulroy Prize for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy as well as research assistant to Professor Richard Epstein. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Alice Batchelder on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Alt graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and political science magna cum laude from Azusa Pacific University where he also won the Outstanding Senior Award in Political Science.
Alt is an accomplished high-altitude alpinist and endurance athlete who has successfully climbed 6.75 of the famed Seven Summits of the World including Mount Everest. He is the creator of PROFOUND CLIMBING™ and a frequent speaker across the country and around the world on legal and public policy topics as well as effective leadership, management, decision-making, and teamwork in contexts ranging from extraordinary life/death situations to ordinary professional/business settings.
Carter C. Kissell Professor of Law, The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law
In law school, Professor Hébert served as editor-in-chief of the Kansas Law Review and was elected to Order of the Coif. Following graduation from law school, she clerked for Judge James K. Logan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and practiced labor and employment law, representing management, for five years with Spencer, Fane, Britt, and Browne in Kansas City, Mo.
Professor Hébert has published a number of law review articles on employment discrimination, sexual harassment, employee privacy, and alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Her treatise Employee Privacy Lawwas published in 1993 and is supplemented annually.
Professor Hébert makes frequent presentations to academic and professional audiences on issues of sexual harassment and employee privacy, including genetic testing and electronic surveillance. Professor Hébert served as Chair of the Employment Discrimination Section of the Association of American Law Schools in 1998. She currently serves as a member of the Workplace Mediation Advisory Committee of the State of Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management.
From 1997 to 2000, Professor Hébert served as associate dean for academic affairs at the Moritz College of Law. Professor Hébert is a member of the Associated Graduate Faculty of the Department of Womens Studies at Ohio State. Professor Hébert’s courses include Employment Discrimination Law, Employment Law, Employee Benefits,Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Workplace, Legal Writing and Analysis, and a Sexual Harassment seminar. She taught Comparative Employment Discrimination and Comparative Dispute Resolution during the Oxford semester program in 2010.
Vice President and Legal Director, National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, Inc.
William Messenger is Foundation Vice President and Legal Director. He was a staff attorney for over twenty years and, during that time, represented individuals in numerous cases that sought to expand worker freedom of choice. This includes acting as lead counsel in three cases before the United States Supreme Court. In 2018, Messenger argued Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, where the Supreme Court held it violates the First Amendment for governments and unions to compel individuals to financially support unions and their speech. Originally from Youngstown Ohio, Messenger attended Ohio University as an undergraduate and then the George Washington University School of Law.
President and CEO, The Buckeye Institute
Robert Alt is the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Buckeye Institute where he has catalyzed exponential growth since he took the organization’s helm in 2012. He has since founded Buckeye’s renowned Economic Research Center and established its impactful Legal Center.
Alt is a distinguished scholar and attorney with particular expertise in legal policy, criminal justice, national security, and constitutional law. He previously worked for former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III, regularly provides commentary on television and radio programs, and his writings have appeared in countless outlets.
In 2004, Alt spent five months in Iraq as an embedded war correspondent.
Alt has testified before Congress multiple times—including at the confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan—the Federal Election Commission regarding matters of constitutional and administrative law, and numerous state legislatures.
Alt serves as an officer on the boards of The Philadelphia Society and the Federalist Society’s Columbus Lawyers Chapter. He taught national security law, criminal law, and legislation at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, as well as constitutional law and political parties and interest groups at Ashland University.
Alt earned his Doctor of Law degree from The University of Chicago Law School, where he was Symposium Editor and the winner of the Mulroy Prize for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy as well as research assistant to Professor Richard Epstein. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Alice Batchelder on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Alt graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and political science magna cum laude from Azusa Pacific University where he also won the Outstanding Senior Award in Political Science.
Alt is an accomplished high-altitude alpinist and endurance athlete who has successfully climbed 6.75 of the famed Seven Summits of the World including Mount Everest. He is the creator of PROFOUND CLIMBING™ and a frequent speaker across the country and around the world on legal and public policy topics as well as effective leadership, management, decision-making, and teamwork in contexts ranging from extraordinary life/death situations to ordinary professional/business settings.
Carter C. Kissell Professor of Law, The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law
In law school, Professor Hébert served as editor-in-chief of the Kansas Law Review and was elected to Order of the Coif. Following graduation from law school, she clerked for Judge James K. Logan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and practiced labor and employment law, representing management, for five years with Spencer, Fane, Britt, and Browne in Kansas City, Mo.
Professor Hébert has published a number of law review articles on employment discrimination, sexual harassment, employee privacy, and alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Her treatise Employee Privacy Lawwas published in 1993 and is supplemented annually.
Professor Hébert makes frequent presentations to academic and professional audiences on issues of sexual harassment and employee privacy, including genetic testing and electronic surveillance. Professor Hébert served as Chair of the Employment Discrimination Section of the Association of American Law Schools in 1998. She currently serves as a member of the Workplace Mediation Advisory Committee of the State of Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management.
From 1997 to 2000, Professor Hébert served as associate dean for academic affairs at the Moritz College of Law. Professor Hébert is a member of the Associated Graduate Faculty of the Department of Womens Studies at Ohio State. Professor Hébert’s courses include Employment Discrimination Law, Employment Law, Employee Benefits,Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Workplace, Legal Writing and Analysis, and a Sexual Harassment seminar. She taught Comparative Employment Discrimination and Comparative Dispute Resolution during the Oxford semester program in 2010.
Vice President and Legal Director, National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, Inc.
William Messenger is Foundation Vice President and Legal Director. He was a staff attorney for over twenty years and, during that time, represented individuals in numerous cases that sought to expand worker freedom of choice. This includes acting as lead counsel in three cases before the United States Supreme Court. In 2018, Messenger argued Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, where the Supreme Court held it violates the First Amendment for governments and unions to compel individuals to financially support unions and their speech. Originally from Youngstown Ohio, Messenger attended Ohio University as an undergraduate and then the George Washington University School of Law.
Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston
Josh Blackman is a national thought leader on constitutional law and the United States Supreme Court. Josh’s work was quoted during two presidential impeachment trials. He has testified before Congress and advises federal and state lawmakers. Josh regularly appears on TV, including NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and the BBC. Josh is also a frequent guest on NPR and other syndicated radio programs. He has published commentaries in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and leading national publications.
Since 2012, Josh has served as a professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston. He holds the Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law. Josh is an Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Josh has written more than seven dozen law review articles that have been cited more than a thousand times. Josh was selected as the Jurist of the Year by the Texas Journal of Law & Public Policy, received the inaugural Meese III Originalism Award, and was awarded the Inaugural Joseph Story Award. Josh was selected by Forbes Magazine for the “30 Under 30” in Law and Policy. Josh is the President of the Harlan Institute, and founded FantasySCOTUS, the Internet’s Premier Supreme Court Fantasy League. He blogs at the Volokh Conspiracyand posts@JoshMBlackman.
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New Hampshire Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Rules Considers ABA Model Rule 8.4(g)
The New Hampshire Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Rules has before it three proposed rules,...
First Amendment Controversies: Free Speech and Religious Liberty
Robert S. Driscoll, Rick M. Esenberg, Jordan Lorence, Lester A. Pines, Howard Schweber, Misha Tseytlin
Inaugural Wisconsin Lawyers Chapters Conference
This panel debated perspectives from both sides of two important national discussions: the debate over...
First Amendment Controversies: Free Speech and Religious Liberty
Robert S. Driscoll, Rick M. Esenberg, Jordan Lorence, Lester A. Pines, Howard Schweber, Misha Tseytlin
Inaugural Wisconsin Lawyers Chapters Conference
This panel debated perspectives from both sides of two important national discussions: the debate over...
EU ‘Incitement to Hate’ Policies: Targets, Cases, and Consequences
Paul Coleman, Lucinda Creighton, Soeren Kern, Karen J. Lugo
International & National Security Law Practice Group Teleforum
As member states of the European Union have adopted laws and programs to curtail inflammatory...
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Arizona Supreme Court Considers ABA Model Rule 8.4(g)
The Arizona Supreme Court has before it a Petition by the National Lawyers Guild, Central...
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Docket Watch: Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission v. Hands On Originals
May the government force a Democrat to make signs for a Republican politician, a gay...
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The Tennessee Supreme Court Rejects ABA Model Rule 8.4(g)
On April 23, the Supreme Court of Tennessee denied a petition to adopt a slightly...
Lunch Discussion: Janus v. AFSCME
Robert Alt, L. Camille Hébert, William L. Messenger
2018 Ohio Lawyers Chapters Conference
Earlier this year the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Janus v. American Federation...
Lunch Discussion: Janus v. AFSCME
Robert Alt, L. Camille Hébert, William L. Messenger
2018 Ohio Lawyers Chapters Conference
Earlier this year the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Janus v. American Federation...
The Importance of Free Speech on Campus
Josh Blackman
CUNY Student Chapter
On Thursday, March 29, Professor Josh Blackman was invited to speak at CUNY Law about...