Eric H. Jaso, a former Justice Department official and federal prosecutor, practices law in Short Hills, New Jersey. His practice focuses on False Claims Act ("whistleblower") cases, and he handles a wide variety of civil and criminal complex litigation matters.
Daniel Morton-Bentley is a member of the Massachusetts bar and an LL.M student at Suffolk University Law School. He graduated cum laude from Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Thomas Forr is an associate at Jones Day in Washington, D.C.
United States Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of North Carolina
Robert T. Numbers, II serves as a United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Judge Numbers received degrees in Political Science and Economics, with honors, from Wake Forest University. After completing his undergraduate work, Judge Numbers obtained his law degree from the University of Notre Dame where he served on the Notre Dame Law Review.
Upon his graduation from law school, Judge Numbers joined the Winston-Salem office of a large, regional law firm. From 2005 until 2010, Judge Numbers’ practice focused on civil rights claims against local municipalities and government contractors. In 2010, Judge Numbers joined the firm’s Raleigh office and concentrated his practice on complex business litigation in state and federal courts.
Assistant Professor, Savannah Law School
Professor D’Agostino is an Assistant Professor teaching Torts and Evidence. He also has interests in contracts, international business law, law and philosophy, and law and science, particularly the effects of modern science on law. Formerly a Legal Fellow in the D.C. office of Congressman Tom Price of Georgia, a Researcher at Georgetown University Law Center, and a Visiting Scholar at the Southeastern Legal Foundation, he also served as a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Law Clerk for Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and as a Legal Intern for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Civil Division.
Professor D’Agostino was a member of the Editorial Board of the Virginia Law Review and Executive Editor of the Virginia Journal of International Law. In 2010, he served on the National Symposium Editorial Board of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and as a pro bono researcher for the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women. He helped to organize the Federalist Society’s 2011 National Student Symposium held at the University of Virginia School of Law and keynoted by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a Savannah area native.
David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
Paul G. Mahoney is a David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor and served as dean of the Law School from 2008-16. Mahoney's teaching and research areas are securities regulation, law and economic development, corporate finance, financial derivatives and contracts. He has published widely in law reviews and peer-reviewed finance and law and economics journals. His book, “Wasting a Crisis: Why Securities Regulation Fails,” was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2015.
Mahoney joined the Law School faculty in 1990 after practicing law with the New York firm of Sullivan & Cromwell and clerking for Judge Ralph K. Winter, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court. He served as academic associate dean at the Law School from 1999 to 2004 and has held the Albert C. BeVier Research Chair and the Brokaw Chair in Corporate Law. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School, the University of Southern California Law School and the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He has also worked on legal reform projects in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Nepal.
Mahoney is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2018 he joined Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee. He served as an associate editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives from 2004 to 2007 and as a director of the American Law and Economics Association from 2002 to 2004. He is a past recipient of the All-University Outstanding Teacher Award and the Law School's Traynor Award for excellence in faculty scholarship.
John C. Jeffries, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
Paul B. Stephan is an expert on international business, international dispute resolution and comparative law, with an emphasis on Soviet and post-Soviet legal systems. In addition to writing prolifically in these fields, Stephan has advised governments and international organizations, taken part in cases in the Supreme Court of the United States, the federal courts, and various foreign judicial and arbitral proceedings, and lectured to professionals and scholarly groups around the world on issues raised by the globalization of the world economy. During 2006-07, he served as counselor on international law in the U.S. Department of State, and in 2020-21 as special counsel to the general counsel in the Department of Defense. He was a coordinating reporter for the American Law Institute’s Restatement (Fourth) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States.
Stephan received his B.A. and M.A. from Yale University in 1973 and 1974, respectively, and his J.D. from the University of Virginia in 1977. Before returning to Virginia, he clerked for Judge Levin Campbell of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. He has taught as a visiting professor at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations, the University of Vienna, Münster University, Lausanne University, Melbourne University, University of Pantheon-Assas (Paris II), Sciences Po, Paris I, the Interdisciplinary Centre Herzliya, Sydney University, the Peking University School of Transnational Law in Shenzhen, China, the University of Tartu’s Pärna College, and Liverpool University. He also has visited at Columbia Law School and Duke Law School, and served as a scholar in residence in the London office of Wilmer Hale.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Stephan took part in a variety of projects involving law reform in former socialist states. He worked in Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Albania and Slovakia on behalf of the U.S. Treasury and in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan on behalf of the International Monetary Fund. He also organized training programs for tax administrators and judges from all of the formerly socialist countries under the auspices of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. His casebooks on international business, international trade and investment, and Doing Business in Emerging Markets are used at law schools both in the United States and abroad. He is the co-author, with Robert Scott, of The Limits of Leviathan: Contract Theory and the Enforcement of International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2006), and the author of The World Crisis and International Law: The Knowledge Economy and the Battle for the Future (2023). His current research focuses on the legal issues related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and legal responses to the rise of big data.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
Judge Sykes was nominated to the Seventh Circuit by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 2004. Prior to her appointment to the federal bench, Judge Sykes served as a justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Governor Tommy G. Thompson appointed her in September 1999 to fill a mid-term vacancy on the state supreme court, and she was elected to a full ten-year term in April 2000. From 1992-1999, Judge Sykes served on the state trial bench in Milwaukee County (elected in 1992 and re-elected in 1998). From 1985-1992, Judge Sykes practiced law with the Milwaukee firm of Whyte & Hirschboeck, S.C., and from 1984-1985, was a law clerk to Federal Judge Terence T. Evans.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee area, Judge Sykes earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 1980 and a law degree from Marquette University Law School in 1984. Between college and law school, Judge Sykes worked as a reporter for The Milwaukee Journal.
Judge Sykes has two sons.
George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
TODD J. ZYWICKI is George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and Research Fellow of the George Mason Law and Economics Center. During the Fall 2023 semester he served as the Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy for the Bruce Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado-Boulder. From 2020-2021 he was Chair of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law. In 2021 he was inducted to the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers. He is also a Senior Fellow of the F.A. Hayek Program for the Advanced Study of Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at George Mason University and a former Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute. From 2015-2017 he was Executive Director of the George Mason Law and Economics Center. He served as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review from 2006-2017. From 2003-2004, Professor Zywicki served as the Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission. He has also taught at Vanderbilt University Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Boston College Law School, Mississippi College School of Law, and China University of Political Science and Law.
Professor Zywicki clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and worked as an associate at Alston & Bird in Atlanta, Georgia, where he practiced bankruptcy and commercial law. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia, where he was executive editor of the Virginia Tax Review and John M. Olin Scholar in Law and Economics. Professor Zywicki also received an M.A. in Economics from Clemson University and an A.B. cum Laude with high honors in his major from Dartmouth College.
Professor Zywicki is also a Lone Mountain Fellow of the Property and Environment Research Center, a Fellow of the International Centre for Economic Research in Turin, Italy, and a former Senior Fellow of the Goldwater Institute. During the Fall 2008 Semester Professor Zywicki was the Searle Fellow of the George Mason University School of Law and was a 2008-09 W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow and the Arch W. Shaw National Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace. He has lectured and consulted with government officials around the world, including Iceland, Italy, Japan, and Guatemala. In 2006 Professor Zywicki served as a Member of the United States Department of Justice Study Group on “Identifying Fraud, Abuse and Errors in the United States Bankruptcy System.”
Professor Zywicki is the author of more than 130 articles in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed economics journals. He is one of the Top 10 most-cited law professors in the field of Commercial Law and one of the Top 25 law professors on Twitter as measured by engagement levels. He is one of the Top 50 Most Downloaded Law Authors at the Social Science Research Network. He has testified multiple times before Congress on issues of consumer bankruptcy law and consumer credit and is a frequent commentator on legal issues in the print and broadcast media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Nightline, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Neil Cavuto Show, Fox & Friends, Smerconish, Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream, Fox Business, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg News, BBC, The Diane Rehm Show, Lou Dobbs Show, Jerry Doyle Show, and The Laura Ingraham Show.
Professor Zywicki is former Chairman and a current member of the Board of Directors of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Humane Studies, Bill of Rights Institute, the Executive Committee for the Federalist Society's Financial Institutions and E-Commerce Practice Group, the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment. He formerly served on the Governing Board and the Advisory Council for the Financial Services Research Program at George Washington University School of Business. He is currently the Chair of the Academic Advisory Council for the following organizations: The Bill of Rights Institute, the film “We the People in IMAX,” and the McCormick-Tribune Foundation “Freedom Museum” in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of the Board of Visitors of Ralston College and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Yorktown University. From 2005-2009 he served as an elected Alumni Trustee of the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees.
Assistant Professor, Savannah Law School
Professor D’Agostino is an Assistant Professor teaching Torts and Evidence. He also has interests in contracts, international business law, law and philosophy, and law and science, particularly the effects of modern science on law. Formerly a Legal Fellow in the D.C. office of Congressman Tom Price of Georgia, a Researcher at Georgetown University Law Center, and a Visiting Scholar at the Southeastern Legal Foundation, he also served as a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Law Clerk for Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and as a Legal Intern for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Civil Division.
Professor D’Agostino was a member of the Editorial Board of the Virginia Law Review and Executive Editor of the Virginia Journal of International Law. In 2010, he served on the National Symposium Editorial Board of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and as a pro bono researcher for the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women. He helped to organize the Federalist Society’s 2011 National Student Symposium held at the University of Virginia School of Law and keynoted by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a Savannah area native.
David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
Paul G. Mahoney is a David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor and served as dean of the Law School from 2008-16. Mahoney's teaching and research areas are securities regulation, law and economic development, corporate finance, financial derivatives and contracts. He has published widely in law reviews and peer-reviewed finance and law and economics journals. His book, “Wasting a Crisis: Why Securities Regulation Fails,” was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2015.
Mahoney joined the Law School faculty in 1990 after practicing law with the New York firm of Sullivan & Cromwell and clerking for Judge Ralph K. Winter, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court. He served as academic associate dean at the Law School from 1999 to 2004 and has held the Albert C. BeVier Research Chair and the Brokaw Chair in Corporate Law. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School, the University of Southern California Law School and the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He has also worked on legal reform projects in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Nepal.
Mahoney is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2018 he joined Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee. He served as an associate editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives from 2004 to 2007 and as a director of the American Law and Economics Association from 2002 to 2004. He is a past recipient of the All-University Outstanding Teacher Award and the Law School's Traynor Award for excellence in faculty scholarship.
John C. Jeffries, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
Paul B. Stephan is an expert on international business, international dispute resolution and comparative law, with an emphasis on Soviet and post-Soviet legal systems. In addition to writing prolifically in these fields, Stephan has advised governments and international organizations, taken part in cases in the Supreme Court of the United States, the federal courts, and various foreign judicial and arbitral proceedings, and lectured to professionals and scholarly groups around the world on issues raised by the globalization of the world economy. During 2006-07, he served as counselor on international law in the U.S. Department of State, and in 2020-21 as special counsel to the general counsel in the Department of Defense. He was a coordinating reporter for the American Law Institute’s Restatement (Fourth) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States.
Stephan received his B.A. and M.A. from Yale University in 1973 and 1974, respectively, and his J.D. from the University of Virginia in 1977. Before returning to Virginia, he clerked for Judge Levin Campbell of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. He has taught as a visiting professor at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations, the University of Vienna, Münster University, Lausanne University, Melbourne University, University of Pantheon-Assas (Paris II), Sciences Po, Paris I, the Interdisciplinary Centre Herzliya, Sydney University, the Peking University School of Transnational Law in Shenzhen, China, the University of Tartu’s Pärna College, and Liverpool University. He also has visited at Columbia Law School and Duke Law School, and served as a scholar in residence in the London office of Wilmer Hale.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Stephan took part in a variety of projects involving law reform in former socialist states. He worked in Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Albania and Slovakia on behalf of the U.S. Treasury and in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan on behalf of the International Monetary Fund. He also organized training programs for tax administrators and judges from all of the formerly socialist countries under the auspices of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. His casebooks on international business, international trade and investment, and Doing Business in Emerging Markets are used at law schools both in the United States and abroad. He is the co-author, with Robert Scott, of The Limits of Leviathan: Contract Theory and the Enforcement of International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2006), and the author of The World Crisis and International Law: The Knowledge Economy and the Battle for the Future (2023). His current research focuses on the legal issues related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and legal responses to the rise of big data.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
Judge Sykes was nominated to the Seventh Circuit by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 2004. Prior to her appointment to the federal bench, Judge Sykes served as a justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Governor Tommy G. Thompson appointed her in September 1999 to fill a mid-term vacancy on the state supreme court, and she was elected to a full ten-year term in April 2000. From 1992-1999, Judge Sykes served on the state trial bench in Milwaukee County (elected in 1992 and re-elected in 1998). From 1985-1992, Judge Sykes practiced law with the Milwaukee firm of Whyte & Hirschboeck, S.C., and from 1984-1985, was a law clerk to Federal Judge Terence T. Evans.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee area, Judge Sykes earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 1980 and a law degree from Marquette University Law School in 1984. Between college and law school, Judge Sykes worked as a reporter for The Milwaukee Journal.
Judge Sykes has two sons.
George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
TODD J. ZYWICKI is George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and Research Fellow of the George Mason Law and Economics Center. During the Fall 2023 semester he served as the Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy for the Bruce Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado-Boulder. From 2020-2021 he was Chair of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law. In 2021 he was inducted to the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers. He is also a Senior Fellow of the F.A. Hayek Program for the Advanced Study of Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at George Mason University and a former Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute. From 2015-2017 he was Executive Director of the George Mason Law and Economics Center. He served as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review from 2006-2017. From 2003-2004, Professor Zywicki served as the Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission. He has also taught at Vanderbilt University Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Boston College Law School, Mississippi College School of Law, and China University of Political Science and Law.
Professor Zywicki clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and worked as an associate at Alston & Bird in Atlanta, Georgia, where he practiced bankruptcy and commercial law. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia, where he was executive editor of the Virginia Tax Review and John M. Olin Scholar in Law and Economics. Professor Zywicki also received an M.A. in Economics from Clemson University and an A.B. cum Laude with high honors in his major from Dartmouth College.
Professor Zywicki is also a Lone Mountain Fellow of the Property and Environment Research Center, a Fellow of the International Centre for Economic Research in Turin, Italy, and a former Senior Fellow of the Goldwater Institute. During the Fall 2008 Semester Professor Zywicki was the Searle Fellow of the George Mason University School of Law and was a 2008-09 W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow and the Arch W. Shaw National Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace. He has lectured and consulted with government officials around the world, including Iceland, Italy, Japan, and Guatemala. In 2006 Professor Zywicki served as a Member of the United States Department of Justice Study Group on “Identifying Fraud, Abuse and Errors in the United States Bankruptcy System.”
Professor Zywicki is the author of more than 130 articles in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed economics journals. He is one of the Top 10 most-cited law professors in the field of Commercial Law and one of the Top 25 law professors on Twitter as measured by engagement levels. He is one of the Top 50 Most Downloaded Law Authors at the Social Science Research Network. He has testified multiple times before Congress on issues of consumer bankruptcy law and consumer credit and is a frequent commentator on legal issues in the print and broadcast media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Nightline, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Neil Cavuto Show, Fox & Friends, Smerconish, Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream, Fox Business, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg News, BBC, The Diane Rehm Show, Lou Dobbs Show, Jerry Doyle Show, and The Laura Ingraham Show.
Professor Zywicki is former Chairman and a current member of the Board of Directors of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Humane Studies, Bill of Rights Institute, the Executive Committee for the Federalist Society's Financial Institutions and E-Commerce Practice Group, the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment. He formerly served on the Governing Board and the Advisory Council for the Financial Services Research Program at George Washington University School of Business. He is currently the Chair of the Academic Advisory Council for the following organizations: The Bill of Rights Institute, the film “We the People in IMAX,” and the McCormick-Tribune Foundation “Freedom Museum” in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of the Board of Visitors of Ralston College and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Yorktown University. From 2005-2009 he served as an elected Alumni Trustee of the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees.
Senior Partner, Grefe & Sidney PLC
Guy R. Cook is a Des Moines, Iowa, native. He has been practicing law more than 25 years. He is a board certified trial lawyer by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Guy has served as counsel in more than 1000 litigated matters and has tried more than 200 jury trials. He is one of only 20 Iowa attorneys to be inducted into the Million Dollar Advocates Forum for verdicts and settlements in excess of one million dollars. Guy is recognized in both The Best Lawyers in America publication and the list of Iowa Super Lawyers.
Guy has extensive and wide-ranging courtroom experience. He has successfully defended major business litigation, obtained million dollar jury verdicts, and successfully defended significant federal criminal cases. He has tried complex civil and criminal cases throughout the state of Iowa, including wrongful death, serious personal injury, products liability, securities fraud, medical malpractice, semi truck collisions, insurance fraud, sexual assault, false arrest and breach of contract claims.
Guy is a graduate of the University of Iowa and Drake University Law School. He worked his way through school as a union ironworker, campus security officer, and law library assistant. While in school Guy was vice president of the Liberal Arts Student Association, resident advisor for Acacia fraternity, and worked as a legislative intern in the Iowa General Assembly. During law school he was a staff writer and researcher for the Drake Law School Legal Research Service and a prosecutor intern in the Polk County Attorney's Office.
Upon graduation from Law School, Guy served as a judicial law clerk for Justice J.L. Larson of the Iowa Supreme Court, assisting Justice Larson in researching and drafting legal opinions of the Iowa Supreme Court.
In 1983, Guy was appointed Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa. As a federal prosecutor, Guy tried a wide range of criminal cases, including embezzlement, bank robbery, tax fraud, murder for hire, obstruction of justice, narcotic offenses, bank fraud, and kidnapping. Among the cases he prosecuted were the largest insurance fraud in Iowa history, the then largest drug case in Iowa history, and the largest tax evasion case in Iowa history. Guy received written commendations from FBI Directors William Webster and William Sessions. He has also received commendations for his trial work in major criminal cases by the District Director of the IRS and the Resident Agent of the U.S. Secret Service.
In 1987, Guy joined Grefe & Sidney, P.L.C. as a trial attorney. He is a senior partner practicing exclusively in the field of litigation. Guy's extensive courtroom work has taken him to courts across the state of Iowa. He has also appeared in federal courts in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri and Illinois. He has been involved in nearly all types of litigation.
In addition to his work as a trial lawyer, Guy is past president of the Polk County Bar Association, the largest metropolitan bar in the state of Iowa representing more than one-fourth of all the lawyers in the state. Guy presently serves as a Board of Governor of the Iowa State Bar Association.
Guy was elected to serve as commissioner on the Iowa State Judicial Nominating Commission. He has also served as an appointed member of the Merit Selection Panel for selection of U.S. Magistrate Judges for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Guy was appointed by the Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court to serve as a member of the Iowa Supreme Court Grievance Commission.
Guy is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and has served as membership director for the Iowa chapter. Guy is also a fellow of the Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers, an invitation only organization, limited to the top 250 trial attorneys in the State of Iowa. He has also been inducted into the Society of Outstanding Lawyers of America and is a certified member of the American College of Master Advocates and Barristers, an invitation only group requiring more than 75 jury trials. He has also been recognized repeatedly as a "leading individual" in litigation in Iowa by Chambers and Partners, a world wide legal publication. Guy has been a guest speaker and lecturer on a number of litigation topics throughout Iowa.
Lt. Governor, State of Iowa
Adam C. Gregg is an associate attorney with BrownWinick. Adam is engaged in the general practice of law, including but not limited to the areas of governmental relations, litigation,agricultural law, environmental law, administrative law andemployment law.
Adam brings extensive political experience to BrownWinick's lobbying practice group. He has been involved in a number of state and federal political campaigns, including work for the 2004 campaign of U.S. Senator John Thune and managing the Iowa Senate campaign of Senator Larry Noble. While studying abroad in London, Adam served as a legislative assistant and campaign staff to Cheryl Gillan, member of the United Kingdom Parliament. As a student, Adam also completed internships in Washington with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Congressman Steve King. Adam has considerable experience in campaign finance and election law, having work experience with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board and having served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Free Speech and Election Law Practice Group of the national Federalist Society. He has also conducted significant academic research in the area of election law.
Adam graduated, summa cum laude, from Central College in 2006, receiving his B.A. in Political Science and History. While at Central College, Adam was twice honored as the school's top political science student. Adam received his J.D. in 2009, with high honors, from Drake University. At Drake Law School, Adam was a recipient of the Dwight D. Opperman Scholarship. He was also chosen by the faculty to receive the William and Ellen Cooney Hoye Award, given annually to the graduating student who "demonstrates the greatest promise as an advocate, a public servant and practitioner," and who "has demonstrated not only academic promise, but also leadership ability, the speaking and writing skills of an effective advocate, and a commitment to public service and Drake Law School." Adam was chosen as an Iowa Supreme Court Scholar and in that capacity conducted legal research in the area of election law with Justice Mark S. Cady. Additionally, Adam clerked for U.S. Magistrate Judge Celeste F. Bremer through Drake's Honors Judicial Internship program.
Adam also devotes his time to community service and volunteer activities. In March 2008, he organized a group of law students to volunteer with the Pro Bono Project in New Orleans, where he worked primarily on legal issues faced by the homeless. Adam was a founding member and currently serves as Vice President of the Iowa Federalist Society. He also volunteers his time as a member of the Committee on Accountable Government of the Iowa Taxpayers Association.
Adam is a member of the Polk County and Iowa State Bar Associations, and he was admitted to the Iowa bar in 2009.
Iowa House of Representatives and Partner, Whitaker Hagenow GBMG
State Representative Chris Hagenow is a founding partner of Whitaker Hagenow GBMG, working in the areas of litigation, trusts and estates, corporations, nonprofit organizations and real estate. Chris is serving his second term in the Iowa Legislature, re-elected in November 2010. Chris represents the west suburbs of the greater Des Moines area, in particular the communities of West Des Moines, Clive and Windsor Heights.
Chris is a sixth-generation Iowan, raised in Cedar Falls. Chris graduated from Northern University High School and went on to receive his BA Magna Cum Laude from the University of Northern Iowa in 1994. He earned his JD from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1997 and is a member of the Iowa State Bar Association. Chris has practiced law in both Waterloo and Des Moines, with experience in criminal defense, real estate, trusts and estates and civil litigation.
In the Iowa House, Chris is the Chairman of the House Committee on Government Oversight. In addition to his role on Government Oversight, Chris also serves on the House committees for Appropriations, Judiciary and Public Safety. He is a member of the Iowa State Bar Association, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and also serves on ALEC’s Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force. Chris sits on the Steering Committee for the Iowa Federalist Society. He is also a member of the Windsor Heights Lions’ Club and the Iowa Prayer Breakfast Committee.
Chris lives in Windsor Heights with his wife Amanda and their sons Owen and Noah. The Hagenow family worships at Westkirk Presbyterian Church in Urbandale.
News Director, Radio Iowa
Covering politicians was apparently Kay’s destiny from day one. She was born on election day. Her parents were relieved their bundle of joy was “okay” considering the newborn’s mom was 45 years old, so they named her “O. Kay.” She grew up on the family farm near Lenox, Iowa, and paraded cattle in the show ring during her teenage years. (Kay still has the belt buckle and the 4-H badge to prove it.)
During her years at Iowa State University, Kay served as a statehouse correspondent for WOI-AM, the NPR affiliate in Ames. Between her freshman and sophomore years, she did a three-month, summertime “tour of duty” as the managing editor of the weekly newspaper in her hometown.
In 1987, Kay became one of the three founding members of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. You may recognize Kay’s mug from her Sunday television appearances. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press.” Kay was the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award.
Iowa House of Representatives and Partner, Swaim Law Firm
Kurt Swaim is serving his fourth term in the Iowa House. He is Chair of the Judiciary Committee and also serves on the Economic Growth, Government Oversight, and Appropriations Committees.
Kurt was born and raised in Davis County. He is the son of Basil and Betty Swaim. Basil was a rural mail carrier, and Betty worked as a teacher’s aide when not working in the home.
Kurt graduated from Davis County High School before attending Iowa Wesleyan. After graduating with a degree in economics and business administration, he went to the University of Iowa Law School. He was a member of its Order of the Coif. Kurt’s first job was as an associate attorney with Lundy, Butler, Wilson & Hall in Eldora from 1975-1978. He then served as the Senior Staff Attorney in the Northeast Regional Office of Legal Services Corporation of Iowa in Dubuque from 1978-1981.
Currently, Kurt is a partner in a three-person law firm in Bloomfield with his two sons, Justin and Joshua. In the past, Kurt served as the Davis County Attorney for thirteen years.
Kurt and his wife, Julie, have four children and five grandchildren. Julie works in the law office. Both are active members of the Bloomfield United Methodist Church. Kurt is a past chair of both the church’s administrative board and finance committee. He has also served as Lay Leader and is currently the Lay Representative to the Annual Conference. He has also been active in the Lions Club and the Masons in the past. He served as both president and treasurer of the Lions Club.
Kurt ran for the Statehouse because he believes that government should look beyond its next election cycle to develop long range solutions to the challenges facing the people of Iowa. He believes rural Iowa offers a great quality of life. He wants to work hard to see that rural Iowa is not left out as opportunities are expanded for all Iowans. This includes ensuring that local schools and county governments receive adequate authority from the state so they can be both economically efficient, and accessible to all citizens.
Frank Edwards Tyler Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Kansas School of Law
Stephen Ware is the author of four books, over 50 law review articles, and many other publications. His writings have been cited by the Supreme Court of the United States and in at least 36 other cases. Ware teaches and writes on: Arbitration, Mediation, and Alternative Dispute Resolution, Bankruptcy, Insolvency, and Debt Collection, Contracts and Commercial Law, and Judicial Selection, each with an international or comparative dimension.
Ware has testified before both houses of the U.S. Congress, several state legislatures and, as an expert witness, in court. He is a frequent guest lecturer and speaker at academic and professional conferences—having given such presentations throughout the U.S. and in several other countries. He has appeared on numerous television and radio stations and been quoted in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Financial Times, National Law Journal and many other news outlets. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute (ALI) and has served, at various times in his career, on the editorial board of the Journal of Legal Education and as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association.
Senior Partner, Grefe & Sidney PLC
Guy R. Cook is a Des Moines, Iowa, native. He has been practicing law more than 25 years. He is a board certified trial lawyer by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Guy has served as counsel in more than 1000 litigated matters and has tried more than 200 jury trials. He is one of only 20 Iowa attorneys to be inducted into the Million Dollar Advocates Forum for verdicts and settlements in excess of one million dollars. Guy is recognized in both The Best Lawyers in America publication and the list of Iowa Super Lawyers.
Guy has extensive and wide-ranging courtroom experience. He has successfully defended major business litigation, obtained million dollar jury verdicts, and successfully defended significant federal criminal cases. He has tried complex civil and criminal cases throughout the state of Iowa, including wrongful death, serious personal injury, products liability, securities fraud, medical malpractice, semi truck collisions, insurance fraud, sexual assault, false arrest and breach of contract claims.
Guy is a graduate of the University of Iowa and Drake University Law School. He worked his way through school as a union ironworker, campus security officer, and law library assistant. While in school Guy was vice president of the Liberal Arts Student Association, resident advisor for Acacia fraternity, and worked as a legislative intern in the Iowa General Assembly. During law school he was a staff writer and researcher for the Drake Law School Legal Research Service and a prosecutor intern in the Polk County Attorney's Office.
Upon graduation from Law School, Guy served as a judicial law clerk for Justice J.L. Larson of the Iowa Supreme Court, assisting Justice Larson in researching and drafting legal opinions of the Iowa Supreme Court.
In 1983, Guy was appointed Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa. As a federal prosecutor, Guy tried a wide range of criminal cases, including embezzlement, bank robbery, tax fraud, murder for hire, obstruction of justice, narcotic offenses, bank fraud, and kidnapping. Among the cases he prosecuted were the largest insurance fraud in Iowa history, the then largest drug case in Iowa history, and the largest tax evasion case in Iowa history. Guy received written commendations from FBI Directors William Webster and William Sessions. He has also received commendations for his trial work in major criminal cases by the District Director of the IRS and the Resident Agent of the U.S. Secret Service.
In 1987, Guy joined Grefe & Sidney, P.L.C. as a trial attorney. He is a senior partner practicing exclusively in the field of litigation. Guy's extensive courtroom work has taken him to courts across the state of Iowa. He has also appeared in federal courts in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri and Illinois. He has been involved in nearly all types of litigation.
In addition to his work as a trial lawyer, Guy is past president of the Polk County Bar Association, the largest metropolitan bar in the state of Iowa representing more than one-fourth of all the lawyers in the state. Guy presently serves as a Board of Governor of the Iowa State Bar Association.
Guy was elected to serve as commissioner on the Iowa State Judicial Nominating Commission. He has also served as an appointed member of the Merit Selection Panel for selection of U.S. Magistrate Judges for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Guy was appointed by the Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court to serve as a member of the Iowa Supreme Court Grievance Commission.
Guy is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and has served as membership director for the Iowa chapter. Guy is also a fellow of the Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers, an invitation only organization, limited to the top 250 trial attorneys in the State of Iowa. He has also been inducted into the Society of Outstanding Lawyers of America and is a certified member of the American College of Master Advocates and Barristers, an invitation only group requiring more than 75 jury trials. He has also been recognized repeatedly as a "leading individual" in litigation in Iowa by Chambers and Partners, a world wide legal publication. Guy has been a guest speaker and lecturer on a number of litigation topics throughout Iowa.
Lt. Governor, State of Iowa
Adam C. Gregg is an associate attorney with BrownWinick. Adam is engaged in the general practice of law, including but not limited to the areas of governmental relations, litigation,agricultural law, environmental law, administrative law andemployment law.
Adam brings extensive political experience to BrownWinick's lobbying practice group. He has been involved in a number of state and federal political campaigns, including work for the 2004 campaign of U.S. Senator John Thune and managing the Iowa Senate campaign of Senator Larry Noble. While studying abroad in London, Adam served as a legislative assistant and campaign staff to Cheryl Gillan, member of the United Kingdom Parliament. As a student, Adam also completed internships in Washington with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Congressman Steve King. Adam has considerable experience in campaign finance and election law, having work experience with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board and having served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Free Speech and Election Law Practice Group of the national Federalist Society. He has also conducted significant academic research in the area of election law.
Adam graduated, summa cum laude, from Central College in 2006, receiving his B.A. in Political Science and History. While at Central College, Adam was twice honored as the school's top political science student. Adam received his J.D. in 2009, with high honors, from Drake University. At Drake Law School, Adam was a recipient of the Dwight D. Opperman Scholarship. He was also chosen by the faculty to receive the William and Ellen Cooney Hoye Award, given annually to the graduating student who "demonstrates the greatest promise as an advocate, a public servant and practitioner," and who "has demonstrated not only academic promise, but also leadership ability, the speaking and writing skills of an effective advocate, and a commitment to public service and Drake Law School." Adam was chosen as an Iowa Supreme Court Scholar and in that capacity conducted legal research in the area of election law with Justice Mark S. Cady. Additionally, Adam clerked for U.S. Magistrate Judge Celeste F. Bremer through Drake's Honors Judicial Internship program.
Adam also devotes his time to community service and volunteer activities. In March 2008, he organized a group of law students to volunteer with the Pro Bono Project in New Orleans, where he worked primarily on legal issues faced by the homeless. Adam was a founding member and currently serves as Vice President of the Iowa Federalist Society. He also volunteers his time as a member of the Committee on Accountable Government of the Iowa Taxpayers Association.
Adam is a member of the Polk County and Iowa State Bar Associations, and he was admitted to the Iowa bar in 2009.
Iowa House of Representatives and Partner, Whitaker Hagenow GBMG
State Representative Chris Hagenow is a founding partner of Whitaker Hagenow GBMG, working in the areas of litigation, trusts and estates, corporations, nonprofit organizations and real estate. Chris is serving his second term in the Iowa Legislature, re-elected in November 2010. Chris represents the west suburbs of the greater Des Moines area, in particular the communities of West Des Moines, Clive and Windsor Heights.
Chris is a sixth-generation Iowan, raised in Cedar Falls. Chris graduated from Northern University High School and went on to receive his BA Magna Cum Laude from the University of Northern Iowa in 1994. He earned his JD from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1997 and is a member of the Iowa State Bar Association. Chris has practiced law in both Waterloo and Des Moines, with experience in criminal defense, real estate, trusts and estates and civil litigation.
In the Iowa House, Chris is the Chairman of the House Committee on Government Oversight. In addition to his role on Government Oversight, Chris also serves on the House committees for Appropriations, Judiciary and Public Safety. He is a member of the Iowa State Bar Association, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and also serves on ALEC’s Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force. Chris sits on the Steering Committee for the Iowa Federalist Society. He is also a member of the Windsor Heights Lions’ Club and the Iowa Prayer Breakfast Committee.
Chris lives in Windsor Heights with his wife Amanda and their sons Owen and Noah. The Hagenow family worships at Westkirk Presbyterian Church in Urbandale.
News Director, Radio Iowa
Covering politicians was apparently Kay’s destiny from day one. She was born on election day. Her parents were relieved their bundle of joy was “okay” considering the newborn’s mom was 45 years old, so they named her “O. Kay.” She grew up on the family farm near Lenox, Iowa, and paraded cattle in the show ring during her teenage years. (Kay still has the belt buckle and the 4-H badge to prove it.)
During her years at Iowa State University, Kay served as a statehouse correspondent for WOI-AM, the NPR affiliate in Ames. Between her freshman and sophomore years, she did a three-month, summertime “tour of duty” as the managing editor of the weekly newspaper in her hometown.
In 1987, Kay became one of the three founding members of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. You may recognize Kay’s mug from her Sunday television appearances. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press.” Kay was the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award.
Iowa House of Representatives and Partner, Swaim Law Firm
Kurt Swaim is serving his fourth term in the Iowa House. He is Chair of the Judiciary Committee and also serves on the Economic Growth, Government Oversight, and Appropriations Committees.
Kurt was born and raised in Davis County. He is the son of Basil and Betty Swaim. Basil was a rural mail carrier, and Betty worked as a teacher’s aide when not working in the home.
Kurt graduated from Davis County High School before attending Iowa Wesleyan. After graduating with a degree in economics and business administration, he went to the University of Iowa Law School. He was a member of its Order of the Coif. Kurt’s first job was as an associate attorney with Lundy, Butler, Wilson & Hall in Eldora from 1975-1978. He then served as the Senior Staff Attorney in the Northeast Regional Office of Legal Services Corporation of Iowa in Dubuque from 1978-1981.
Currently, Kurt is a partner in a three-person law firm in Bloomfield with his two sons, Justin and Joshua. In the past, Kurt served as the Davis County Attorney for thirteen years.
Kurt and his wife, Julie, have four children and five grandchildren. Julie works in the law office. Both are active members of the Bloomfield United Methodist Church. Kurt is a past chair of both the church’s administrative board and finance committee. He has also served as Lay Leader and is currently the Lay Representative to the Annual Conference. He has also been active in the Lions Club and the Masons in the past. He served as both president and treasurer of the Lions Club.
Kurt ran for the Statehouse because he believes that government should look beyond its next election cycle to develop long range solutions to the challenges facing the people of Iowa. He believes rural Iowa offers a great quality of life. He wants to work hard to see that rural Iowa is not left out as opportunities are expanded for all Iowans. This includes ensuring that local schools and county governments receive adequate authority from the state so they can be both economically efficient, and accessible to all citizens.
Frank Edwards Tyler Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Kansas School of Law
Stephen Ware is the author of four books, over 50 law review articles, and many other publications. His writings have been cited by the Supreme Court of the United States and in at least 36 other cases. Ware teaches and writes on: Arbitration, Mediation, and Alternative Dispute Resolution, Bankruptcy, Insolvency, and Debt Collection, Contracts and Commercial Law, and Judicial Selection, each with an international or comparative dimension.
Ware has testified before both houses of the U.S. Congress, several state legislatures and, as an expert witness, in court. He is a frequent guest lecturer and speaker at academic and professional conferences—having given such presentations throughout the U.S. and in several other countries. He has appeared on numerous television and radio stations and been quoted in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Financial Times, National Law Journal and many other news outlets. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute (ALI) and has served, at various times in his career, on the editorial board of the Journal of Legal Education and as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association.
Regional Deputy General Counsel, North America and Lead Counsel, Treasury, Willis Towers Watson
Regional Deputy General Counsel, North America and Lead Counsel, Treasury, Willis Towers Watson
New Jersey Supreme Court Requires Police to Give Breathalyzer Warnings in Foreign Languages
Eric H. Jaso
When a police officer stops a suspected drunk driver in New Jersey, and the driver...
Habeas Petitioner Denied Use of Sentence Reduction Credits
Daniel Morton-Bentley
In Jones v. Keller,1 the North Carolina Supreme Court denied a prisoner’s release after the prisoner asserted...
Better Alive Than Dead
Thomas Forr
When David Hockenberry, a man with profound mental retardation, came down with pneumonia in 2007,...
North Carolina Appellate Court Questions the Constitutionality of Campus Police at Universities with Religious Heritages in State v. Yencer
Robert T. Numbers
In late August, as colleges and universities across North Carolina were preparing to welcome back...
Panel IV: Economic Uncertainty and the Role of the Courts
Joseph D'Agostino, Paul G. Mahoney, Paul B. Stephan, Diane S. Sykes, Todd J. Zywicki
2011 National Student Symposium
This panel will assess the role of the courts in an uncertain economic climate. Given...
Panel IV: Economic Uncertainty and the Role of the Courts
Joseph D'Agostino, Paul G. Mahoney, Paul B. Stephan, Diane S. Sykes, Todd J. Zywicki
2011 National Student Symposium
This panel will assess the role of the courts in an uncertain economic climate. Given...
The Future of Judicial Selection in Iowa
Guy R. Cook, Adam C. Gregg, Chris Hagenow, Kay Henderson, Kurt Swaim, Stephen J. Ware
Iowa Lawyers Chapter
On February 22, 2011, the Iowa Lawyers Chapter hosted this event on "The Future of Judicial Selection...
The Future of Judicial Selection in Iowa
Guy R. Cook, Adam C. Gregg, Chris Hagenow, Kay Henderson, Kurt Swaim, Stephen J. Ware
Iowa Lawyers Chapter
On February 22, 2011, the Iowa Lawyers Chapter hosted this event on "The Future of Judicial Selection...
A Report on Tennessee Attorney General Selection
Keith W. Randall, J. Ammon Smartt
White Paper on Tennessee
Under the Tennessee Constitution, attorneys general are selected by the justices of the Supreme Court...
A Report on Tennessee Attorney General Selection
Keith W. Randall, J. Ammon Smartt
White Paper on Tennessee
Under the Tennessee Constitution, attorneys general are selected by the justices of the Supreme Court...