Partner, Cooper & Kirk, PLLC
Pete Patterson is a partner at Cooper & Kirk. His practice includes appellate litigation, constitutional litigation, commercial litigation, and administrative law. In addition, Mr. Patterson for a number of years taught an appellate litigation clinic at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Mr. Patterson has argued in the U.S. Supreme Court and in nearly every regional federal circuit court of appeals.
Mr. Patterson has extensive experience in complex matters involving important questions of constitutional, statutory, and administrative law. He frequently has represented plaintiffs in cases alleging constitutional or statutory violations by federal, state, and local government officials. He also has represented plaintiffs in class action litigation against corporations and the federal government.
Mr. Patterson joined the firm in 2009. Prior to arriving at Cooper & Kirk, he served as a law clerk to Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Mr. Patterson typically works from Cincinnati, Ohio.
Mr. Patterson received his J.D. from Stanford Law School in 2006, earning Order of the Coif honors for finishing in the top 10% of his class. There, he was a member of the Stanford Law Review, serving as an Articles Editor. He also participated in litigation before the United States Supreme Court through the Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic.
Mr. Patterson graduated with University Honors from Carnegie Mellon University in 2000 with a B.S. in Information and Decision Systems. While at Carnegie Mellon, he wrote a regular column for the student newspaper and was a member of the football team.
Senior Legal Counsel, Pacific Legal Foundation
Before becoming an attorney, James had been a productive member of society working as an exploration geologist in the late 1970s throughout the southwestern United States. However, after several years of dealing with irrational government bureaucrats and environmental policies untethered from reality, James decided that what the world needs is more lawyers — if they are willing to fight for rationality in regulatory regimes, property rights, and liberty.
James attended the University of Arizona College of Law in Tucson, where he served as an editor for the Law Review and received a J.D. degree in 1983. He had previously received a Masters degree in geological sciences from Brown University and an undergraduate degree from Hamilton College in New York. James received the Professional Achievement Award from the University of Arizona Alumni Association in 2018.
James has worked with Pacific Legal Foundation since 1983, litigating cases from Alaska to Florida. He is a member of the Federalist Society’s Environmental Law and Property Rights Practice Group’s Executive Committee, a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, and an honorary member of Owners Counsel of America, an organization comprised of eminent domain attorneys who represent property owners. The Owners Counsel awarded James its Crystal Eagle award in 2013. In 2022, James was awarded the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize at the William & Mary College of Law. The prize is awarded annually to an individual whose work has advanced the cause of property rights and has contributed to the overall awareness of the important role property rights occupy in the broader scheme of individual liberty.
In 2001, James successfully argued a major property rights case, Palazzolo v. Rhode Island, before the United States Supreme Court, a case which affirmed that rights in regulated property do not disappear when land is bought and sold. He has written extensively on all aspects of property rights and environmental law and frequently speaks on these subjects throughout the nation.
When James is not suing the government he enjoys skiing faster than he should, bicycling, hiking, swimming, and spending quality time with his wife, family, and grandchild.
Mr. Burling’s book Nowhere to Live: The Hidden Story of America’s Housing Crisis is available now on Amazon.
James is a member of the bar only in the states of Alaska and California.
Counsel, Keller Postman LLC
John Masslon is a Counsel at Keller Postman LLC, where he works on a broad range of disputes, including products liability and consumer protections suits. He helps develop legal strategies, writes briefs, and presents argument on legal questions. Before joining Keller Postman, John was senior litigation counsel at Washington Legal Foundation. There, he wrote about 100 amicus briefs supporting free enterprise in courts across the country. He filed the first amicus brief in the Supreme Court supporting the challenge to OSHA’s vaccine mandate. He also filed a brief supporting ending the in-house proceedings at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Previously, John served as assistant solicitor general in a state attorney general’s office. There, he was first chair in a federal trial challenging a state election law that was ultimately upheld. He also wrote the briefs that convinced the state supreme court to uphold the State’s right-to-work statute.
John obtained his B.S. in economics with a minor in mathematical sciences from Clemson University. He then received his J.D. and LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center. After law school, John worked for Judge Arthur J. Schwab of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and clerked for Judge Judith Ference Olson of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.
Solicitor General, Tennessee Attorney General's Office
Matt Rice serves as the Solicitor General of Tennessee. Before joining the State, Matt worked in private practice at Williams & Connolly LLP. He clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the United States Supreme Court as well as Judge Sandra Ikuta on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before his legal career, Matt played professional baseball in the Tampa Bay Rays organization.
Legal Fellow and Manager, Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program, The Heritage Foundation
Zack is a Legal Fellow and Manager of the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
He previously served for several years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Florida. Prior to that, he spent two years as an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which he joined after clerking for the Hon. Emmett R. Cox on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Smith received his undergraduate, master’s, and law degrees from the University of Florida. During law school, Smith served as the Editor in Chief of the Florida Law Review and served on the executive boards of several student organizations, including the UF Chapter of the Federalist Society.
Attorney, Institute of Justice
Kirby Thomas West is an attorney at the Institute for Justice, where she litigates cases defending property rights, free speech, and educational choice.
Before joining IJ in 2018, Kirby was a litigation associate at Baker Botts LLP. She clerked for Judge Dennis Shedd of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Kirby earned her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 2015. While at Harvard, she served as the Articles Editor for the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. Between her first and second years of law school, Kirby clerked at IJ’s Texas office.
Kirby graduated, magna cum laude, from Bucknell University in 2012 with a BA in English and Political Science.
Kirby is licensed in Pennsylvania.
Senior Legal Counsel, Pacific Legal Foundation
Before becoming an attorney, James had been a productive member of society working as an exploration geologist in the late 1970s throughout the southwestern United States. However, after several years of dealing with irrational government bureaucrats and environmental policies untethered from reality, James decided that what the world needs is more lawyers — if they are willing to fight for rationality in regulatory regimes, property rights, and liberty.
James attended the University of Arizona College of Law in Tucson, where he served as an editor for the Law Review and received a J.D. degree in 1983. He had previously received a Masters degree in geological sciences from Brown University and an undergraduate degree from Hamilton College in New York. James received the Professional Achievement Award from the University of Arizona Alumni Association in 2018.
James has worked with Pacific Legal Foundation since 1983, litigating cases from Alaska to Florida. He is a member of the Federalist Society’s Environmental Law and Property Rights Practice Group’s Executive Committee, a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, and an honorary member of Owners Counsel of America, an organization comprised of eminent domain attorneys who represent property owners. The Owners Counsel awarded James its Crystal Eagle award in 2013. In 2022, James was awarded the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize at the William & Mary College of Law. The prize is awarded annually to an individual whose work has advanced the cause of property rights and has contributed to the overall awareness of the important role property rights occupy in the broader scheme of individual liberty.
In 2001, James successfully argued a major property rights case, Palazzolo v. Rhode Island, before the United States Supreme Court, a case which affirmed that rights in regulated property do not disappear when land is bought and sold. He has written extensively on all aspects of property rights and environmental law and frequently speaks on these subjects throughout the nation.
When James is not suing the government he enjoys skiing faster than he should, bicycling, hiking, swimming, and spending quality time with his wife, family, and grandchild.
Mr. Burling’s book Nowhere to Live: The Hidden Story of America’s Housing Crisis is available now on Amazon.
James is a member of the bar only in the states of Alaska and California.
Counsel, Keller Postman LLC
John Masslon is a Counsel at Keller Postman LLC, where he works on a broad range of disputes, including products liability and consumer protections suits. He helps develop legal strategies, writes briefs, and presents argument on legal questions. Before joining Keller Postman, John was senior litigation counsel at Washington Legal Foundation. There, he wrote about 100 amicus briefs supporting free enterprise in courts across the country. He filed the first amicus brief in the Supreme Court supporting the challenge to OSHA’s vaccine mandate. He also filed a brief supporting ending the in-house proceedings at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Previously, John served as assistant solicitor general in a state attorney general’s office. There, he was first chair in a federal trial challenging a state election law that was ultimately upheld. He also wrote the briefs that convinced the state supreme court to uphold the State’s right-to-work statute.
John obtained his B.S. in economics with a minor in mathematical sciences from Clemson University. He then received his J.D. and LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center. After law school, John worked for Judge Arthur J. Schwab of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and clerked for Judge Judith Ference Olson of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.
Solicitor General, Tennessee Attorney General's Office
Matt Rice serves as the Solicitor General of Tennessee. Before joining the State, Matt worked in private practice at Williams & Connolly LLP. He clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the United States Supreme Court as well as Judge Sandra Ikuta on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before his legal career, Matt played professional baseball in the Tampa Bay Rays organization.
Legal Fellow and Manager, Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program, The Heritage Foundation
Zack is a Legal Fellow and Manager of the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
He previously served for several years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Florida. Prior to that, he spent two years as an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which he joined after clerking for the Hon. Emmett R. Cox on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Smith received his undergraduate, master’s, and law degrees from the University of Florida. During law school, Smith served as the Editor in Chief of the Florida Law Review and served on the executive boards of several student organizations, including the UF Chapter of the Federalist Society.
Attorney, Institute of Justice
Kirby Thomas West is an attorney at the Institute for Justice, where she litigates cases defending property rights, free speech, and educational choice.
Before joining IJ in 2018, Kirby was a litigation associate at Baker Botts LLP. She clerked for Judge Dennis Shedd of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Kirby earned her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 2015. While at Harvard, she served as the Articles Editor for the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. Between her first and second years of law school, Kirby clerked at IJ’s Texas office.
Kirby graduated, magna cum laude, from Bucknell University in 2012 with a BA in English and Political Science.
Kirby is licensed in Pennsylvania.
Tazewell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor, William & Mary Law School
Jonathan H. Adler joined the William & Mary law faculty as the Tazwell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor in 2025. Prior to joining the faculty, he was the inaugural Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Professor Adler is the author or editor of seven books, including Climate Liberalism: Perspectives on Liberty, Property and Pollution (Palgrave, 2023), Marijuana Federalism: Uncle Sam and Mary Jane (Brookings Institution Press, 2020), Business and the Roberts Court (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Rebuilding the Ark: New Perspectives on Endangered Species Act Reform (AEI Press, 2011).
His articles have appeared in publications ranging from the Harvard Environmental Law Review and Yale Journal on Regulation to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. He has testified before Congress a dozen times, and his work has been cited in the U.S. Supreme Court. A 2024 study identified Professor Adler as the seventh most cited legal academic in administrative and environmental law from 2019 to 2023.
Professor Adler is a contributing editor to Civitas Outlook and a regular contributor to the popular legal blog, The Volokh Conspiracy. A regular commentator on constitutional and regulatory issues, he has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, ranging from the PBS Newshour and National Public Radio to the Fox News Channel and Entertainment Tonight.
Professor Adler is a senior fellow at the Property & Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana. In 2018, Professor Adler was elected to membership in the American Law Institute and helped co-found the organization Checks and Balances. In 2024, Professor Adler was appointed a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States.
Professor Adler clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission
Paul S. Atkins was sworn into office as the 34th Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 21, 2025, after being nominated by President Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2025, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 9, 2025.
Prior to returning to the SEC, Chairman Atkins was most recently chief executive of Patomak Global Partners, a company he founded in 2009. Chairman Atkins helped lead efforts to develop best practices for the digital asset sector. He served as an independent director and non-executive chairman of the board of BATS Global Markets, Inc. from 2012 to 2015.
Chairman Atkins was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as a Commissioner of the SEC from 2002 to 2008. During his tenure, he advocated for transparency, consistency, and the use of cost-benefit analysis at the agency. Chairman Atkins also represented the SEC at meetings of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets and the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Economic Council. From 2009 to 2010, he was appointed a member of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Before serving as an SEC Commissioner, Chairman Atkins was a consultant on securities and investment management industry matters, especially regarding issues of strategy, regulatory compliance, risk management, new product development, and organizational control.
From 1990 to 1994, Chairman Atkins served on the staff of two chairmen of the SEC, Richard C. Breeden and Arthur Levitt, ultimately as chief of staff and counselor, respectively. He received the SEC’s 1992 Law and Policy Award for work regarding corporate governance matters.
Chairman Atkins began his career as a lawyer in New York, focusing on a wide range of corporate transactions for U.S. and foreign clients, including public and private securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions. He was resident for 2½ years in his firm's Paris office and admitted as conseil juridique in France.
A member of the New York and Florida bars, Chairman Atkins received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1983 and was Senior Student Writing Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. He received his A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, from Wofford College in 1980.
Originally from Lillington, North Carolina, Chairman Atkins grew up in Tampa, Florida. He and his wife Sarah have three sons.
Partner, Williams & Connolly
Lisa Blatt serves as Chair of Williams & Connolly’s Supreme Court and Appellate practice. Lisa has argued 53 cases before the United States Supreme Court, prevailing in 86% of them. The National Law Journal has called her a "visionary" and one of "the 100 most influential lawyers in America." Bloomberg has described her as a "legendary high court litigator" while The National Journal likewise has referred to her as a "SCOTUS legend." In 2021, The American Lawyer recognized Lisa as the "Litigator of the Year." Lisa’s appellate work has been highlighted by multiple publications and has earned her rankings in Chambers USA, Benchmark Litigation, The Legal 500, and Washingtonian magazine. Lisa was selected as one of the “Top 10 Women in Litigation” in the United States by Benchmark Litigation in 2020 and 2021. Managing IP named her the 2021 “Practitioner of the Year (Appellate)” for her work as lead counsel to Booking.com before the Supreme Court. In 2021, Chambers USA reported that clients describe Lisa as “one of the best advocates today. She is extremely strong on her feet, connects with judges and has an unmatched win record,” and her “command of the case law and the way she presents is a work of art.”
Lisa has argued and briefed numerous appeals on a wide range of business law issues in federal and state courts of appeal. The American Lawyer Litigation Daily has twice named her "Litigator of the Week" – for her work in Price v. Philip Morris, Inc. in overturning reinstatement of a $10 billion verdict against client Philip Morris in a "light" cigarette case, and in SmithKline Beecham Corp. v. Abbott Laboratories, a landmark case on behalf of GlaxoSmithKline finding that the Equal Protection Clause bars peremptory challenges of jurors based on sexual orientation. Lisa also represented Marvin Gaye’s heirs in their copyright dispute over the hit songs “Got To Give It Up” and “Blurred Lines,” and the Washington Redskins football team in its dispute with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office over the team's trademarks.
Lisa has substantial experience with trademark law and the pharmaceutical industry. Her Supreme Court cases also have addressed a broad range of issues, involving First Amendment, arbitration, antitrust, civil procedure, preemption, employment and ERISA, and bankruptcy.
Lisa began her career at Williams & Connolly as an associate before joining the general counsel’s office at the Department of Energy, followed by thirteen years in the Office of the Solicitor General.
Lisa received her J.D. summa cum laude from the University of Texas School of Law before clerking for The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Lisa assists the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in selecting cases for amicus participation, and is on the Advisory Boards for Georgetown University Law Center's Supreme Court Institute and the Washington Legal Foundation. She also teaches at Georgetown University’s Law Center.
Supreme Court & Appellate Litigation Chair, Lex Politica; Of Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
Erin Morrow Hawley serves as Chair of Lex Politica's Supreme Court and Appellate Practice overseeing the firm’s strategic appellate litigation and critical motions practice in the trial courts. Erin is an experienced litigator who represents clients in constitutional, regulatory, and appellate matters in federal and state courts throughout the country.
Erin has represented dozens of clients before the Supreme Court of the United States, served as lead counsel in high-profile cases raising novel constitutional and statutory issues, and authored numerous successful petitions for certiorari and briefs in opposition. She has argued in state and federal appellate and trial courts throughout the country, including the Supreme Court of the United States. Erin represents diverse clients in high-stakes litigation from state governments to faith-based nonprofits to Fortune 100 companies. She possesses expertise on a wide range of subject matters including administrative law, the First Amendment, religious liberty, federal jurisdiction, federal preemption, equitable jurisdiction, tax law, the Affordable Care Act, and Title IX.
Erin represents clients in cases where public communications strategy is paramount. She is a sought-after speaker and writer, has testified multiple times before Congress, and is a frequent presenter on constitutional and administrative law issues, including at the Oxford Union, the National Federalist Society Convention, and university campuses across the country. She is a frequent commentator to media outlets, including Fox News, MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal, WORLD, USA Today, the Federalist, and the Hill.
Erin previously oversaw Alliance Defending Freedom’s--where she still serves as Of Counsel--litigation strategies to empower women and protect the dignity of life, defend pregnancy centers’ First Amendment rights from government overreach, and safeguard Americans’ freedoms from the ever-encroaching administrative state.
Editor, SCOTUSblog
Partner, McGuireWoods
John Moran is a member of the firm’s nationally recognized Government Investigations and White Collar Litigation department. A former senior official at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the White House and an experienced litigator and counselor, John draws on his broad experience from private practice and government service to advise and represent clients in government enforcement, congressional investigations, high-stakes civil disputes, and regulatory litigation. He also serves as co-chair of the firm’s Congressional Investigations practice, representing both companies and individuals in congressional investigations and hearings and is a member of the firm’s Appeals & Issues group.
Tazewell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor, William & Mary Law School
Jonathan H. Adler joined the William & Mary law faculty as the Tazwell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor in 2025. Prior to joining the faculty, he was the inaugural Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Professor Adler is the author or editor of seven books, including Climate Liberalism: Perspectives on Liberty, Property and Pollution (Palgrave, 2023), Marijuana Federalism: Uncle Sam and Mary Jane (Brookings Institution Press, 2020), Business and the Roberts Court (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Rebuilding the Ark: New Perspectives on Endangered Species Act Reform (AEI Press, 2011).
His articles have appeared in publications ranging from the Harvard Environmental Law Review and Yale Journal on Regulation to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. He has testified before Congress a dozen times, and his work has been cited in the U.S. Supreme Court. A 2024 study identified Professor Adler as the seventh most cited legal academic in administrative and environmental law from 2019 to 2023.
Professor Adler is a contributing editor to Civitas Outlook and a regular contributor to the popular legal blog, The Volokh Conspiracy. A regular commentator on constitutional and regulatory issues, he has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, ranging from the PBS Newshour and National Public Radio to the Fox News Channel and Entertainment Tonight.
Professor Adler is a senior fellow at the Property & Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana. In 2018, Professor Adler was elected to membership in the American Law Institute and helped co-found the organization Checks and Balances. In 2024, Professor Adler was appointed a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States.
Professor Adler clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Robert A. Schroeder Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Kansas School of Law
Robin Kundis Craig joined the KU Law faculty in July 2024 and serves as the Robert A. Schroeder Distinguished Professor of Law.
Craig specializes in all things water, including the relationships between climate change and water; the water-energy-food nexus; the Clean Water Act; the intersection of water issues and land issues; ocean and coastal law; marine biodiversity and marine protected areas; water law; ecological resilience and the law; climate change adaptation, and the relationships between environmental law and public health. She is the author, co-author, or editor of 12 books, including Re-Envisioning the Anthropocene Ocean (University of Utah Press, 2024, co-edited with Jeffrey M. McCarthy); The End of Sustainability (Kansas University Press 2017, with Melinda Harm Benson); Contemporary Issues in Climate Change Law and Policy (Environmental Law Institute 2016, with Stephen Miller); Comparative Ocean Governance: Place- Based Protections in an Era of Climate Change (Edward Elgar 2012); and The Clean Water Act and the Constitution (Environmental Law Institute 2nd Ed. 2009), as well as textbooks for Environmental Law, Water Law and Toxic Torts. She has also written more than100 law review articles and book chapters in both legal and scientific publications.
In recognition of her work on these topics, Craig was elected to membership in the American Law Institute (2015) and the American College of Environmental Lawyers (2019) and has been appointed to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s World Commission on Environmental Law and to the Center for Progressive Reform. She has served on six National Academy of Sciences committees that evaluated Florida Everglades restoration, implementation of the Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan and application of the Clean Water Act to the Mississippi River. She has consulted on water quality issues with the government of Victoria, Australia, and the Council on Environmental Cooperation in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and she was one of 12 marine educators chosen to participate in a 2010 program in the Papahanamokuakea Marine National Monument, spending a week on Midway Atoll. She was also a principal researcher in a four-year grant project on Adaptive Water Governance sponsored by the National Social-Ecological Synthesis Center with money from the National Science Foundation. In 2018, Craig was named a William Evans Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. In 2017, the Rockefeller Foundation awarded her a Bellagio Center Writing Residency fellowship, allowing her to spend four weeks on Lake Como, Italy, working on a new book project on Re-Envisioning the Anthropocene Oceans, and in 2016 she was a Research Fellow at the University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
Craig is an active participant in several national organizations, including the American Bar Association Section on Environment, Energy and Resources (ABA SEER), where she currently serves on the editorial board of Natural Resources & Environment; the Foundation for Natural Resources and Environmental Law, where she co-chairs the Natural Resources Law Teachers Committee; and the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), where she has chaired the Maritime Law Section, the Natural Resources Law Section and the Environmental Law Section. She has also served as a consultant to the Environmental Defense Fund and the River Network’s Nutrient Task Force. Craig serves on the Editorial Boards of Coastal and Ocean Management and Ecology & Society, as a Specialty Chief Editor of Frontiers Climate: Climate Law and Policy and as a Guest Associate Editor for Frontiers Climate: Risk Management on the topic of “Climate Change Adaptation as Risk Management.”
Craig earned her J.D. summa cum laude in 1996 from the Lewis & Clark School of Law in Portland, Oregon, with a Certificate in Environmental Law; her Ph.D. in English/Literature and Science in 1993 from the University of California, Santa Barbara; her M.A. in Writing About Science in 1986 from the Johns Hopkins University; and her B.A. cum laude in English/Writing in 1985 from Pomona College in Claremont, California. While in law school, she worked for the Oregon Department of Justice in its General Counsel Division, Natural Resources Section, representing the state’s environmental and natural resources agencies. After law school, she clerked for Judge Robert E. Jones at the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon before starting her law teaching career as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Lewis & Clark School of Law. Before arriving at KU in 2024, Craig held tenure-track positions at the Western New England College School of Law, Indiana University—Indianapolis School of Law (where she first received tenure), the Florida State University School of Law, the University of Utah S.J. Quinney School of Law and USC’s Gould School of Law. She has visited at the Lewis & Clark School of Law, Vermont Law School, the University of Hawaii School of Law and the University of Tasmania Faculty of Law. At Kansas, Craig teaches Environmental Law, Water Law, Ocean & Coastal Law, Toxic Torts and Civil Procedure.
Managing Partner, Best Best & Krieger LLP
Andre Monette works with both public and private clients in matters involving water quality issues. He is a member of the Environmental & Natural Resources practice group in Best Best & Krieger LLP’s Washington, D.C. office. Andre works extensively with water districts, cities, counties and agricultural interests, and other private entities on matters involving the Federal Clean Water Act and its state law analogues.
Andre works with public agencies and farmers on matters involving water rights, water supply and water quality. Andre also works with investors interested in water projects, helping funds assess the viability of potential water related investments.
A major area of focus for Andre’s practice is the intersection of the water quality and water supply regulation. Federal and state laws across the nation divide water quality and water supply regulations into separate categories that often do not intersect and can preclude efficient use of the supply. Andre’s practice focuses on areas of overlap where acute knowledge of multiple regulatory schemes is required, including; streambed restoration, groundwater recharge projects, indirect potable reuse projects, large scale recycled water projects, and effluent limitation compliance.
Andre is the managing partner of BBK's Washington, D.C. office.
Tazewell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor, William & Mary Law School
Jonathan H. Adler joined the William & Mary law faculty as the Tazwell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor in 2025. Prior to joining the faculty, he was the inaugural Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Professor Adler is the author or editor of seven books, including Climate Liberalism: Perspectives on Liberty, Property and Pollution (Palgrave, 2023), Marijuana Federalism: Uncle Sam and Mary Jane (Brookings Institution Press, 2020), Business and the Roberts Court (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Rebuilding the Ark: New Perspectives on Endangered Species Act Reform (AEI Press, 2011).
His articles have appeared in publications ranging from the Harvard Environmental Law Review and Yale Journal on Regulation to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. He has testified before Congress a dozen times, and his work has been cited in the U.S. Supreme Court. A 2024 study identified Professor Adler as the seventh most cited legal academic in administrative and environmental law from 2019 to 2023.
Professor Adler is a contributing editor to Civitas Outlook and a regular contributor to the popular legal blog, The Volokh Conspiracy. A regular commentator on constitutional and regulatory issues, he has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, ranging from the PBS Newshour and National Public Radio to the Fox News Channel and Entertainment Tonight.
Professor Adler is a senior fellow at the Property & Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana. In 2018, Professor Adler was elected to membership in the American Law Institute and helped co-found the organization Checks and Balances. In 2024, Professor Adler was appointed a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States.
Professor Adler clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Robert A. Schroeder Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Kansas School of Law
Robin Kundis Craig joined the KU Law faculty in July 2024 and serves as the Robert A. Schroeder Distinguished Professor of Law.
Craig specializes in all things water, including the relationships between climate change and water; the water-energy-food nexus; the Clean Water Act; the intersection of water issues and land issues; ocean and coastal law; marine biodiversity and marine protected areas; water law; ecological resilience and the law; climate change adaptation, and the relationships between environmental law and public health. She is the author, co-author, or editor of 12 books, including Re-Envisioning the Anthropocene Ocean (University of Utah Press, 2024, co-edited with Jeffrey M. McCarthy); The End of Sustainability (Kansas University Press 2017, with Melinda Harm Benson); Contemporary Issues in Climate Change Law and Policy (Environmental Law Institute 2016, with Stephen Miller); Comparative Ocean Governance: Place- Based Protections in an Era of Climate Change (Edward Elgar 2012); and The Clean Water Act and the Constitution (Environmental Law Institute 2nd Ed. 2009), as well as textbooks for Environmental Law, Water Law and Toxic Torts. She has also written more than100 law review articles and book chapters in both legal and scientific publications.
In recognition of her work on these topics, Craig was elected to membership in the American Law Institute (2015) and the American College of Environmental Lawyers (2019) and has been appointed to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s World Commission on Environmental Law and to the Center for Progressive Reform. She has served on six National Academy of Sciences committees that evaluated Florida Everglades restoration, implementation of the Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan and application of the Clean Water Act to the Mississippi River. She has consulted on water quality issues with the government of Victoria, Australia, and the Council on Environmental Cooperation in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and she was one of 12 marine educators chosen to participate in a 2010 program in the Papahanamokuakea Marine National Monument, spending a week on Midway Atoll. She was also a principal researcher in a four-year grant project on Adaptive Water Governance sponsored by the National Social-Ecological Synthesis Center with money from the National Science Foundation. In 2018, Craig was named a William Evans Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. In 2017, the Rockefeller Foundation awarded her a Bellagio Center Writing Residency fellowship, allowing her to spend four weeks on Lake Como, Italy, working on a new book project on Re-Envisioning the Anthropocene Oceans, and in 2016 she was a Research Fellow at the University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
Craig is an active participant in several national organizations, including the American Bar Association Section on Environment, Energy and Resources (ABA SEER), where she currently serves on the editorial board of Natural Resources & Environment; the Foundation for Natural Resources and Environmental Law, where she co-chairs the Natural Resources Law Teachers Committee; and the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), where she has chaired the Maritime Law Section, the Natural Resources Law Section and the Environmental Law Section. She has also served as a consultant to the Environmental Defense Fund and the River Network’s Nutrient Task Force. Craig serves on the Editorial Boards of Coastal and Ocean Management and Ecology & Society, as a Specialty Chief Editor of Frontiers Climate: Climate Law and Policy and as a Guest Associate Editor for Frontiers Climate: Risk Management on the topic of “Climate Change Adaptation as Risk Management.”
Craig earned her J.D. summa cum laude in 1996 from the Lewis & Clark School of Law in Portland, Oregon, with a Certificate in Environmental Law; her Ph.D. in English/Literature and Science in 1993 from the University of California, Santa Barbara; her M.A. in Writing About Science in 1986 from the Johns Hopkins University; and her B.A. cum laude in English/Writing in 1985 from Pomona College in Claremont, California. While in law school, she worked for the Oregon Department of Justice in its General Counsel Division, Natural Resources Section, representing the state’s environmental and natural resources agencies. After law school, she clerked for Judge Robert E. Jones at the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon before starting her law teaching career as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Lewis & Clark School of Law. Before arriving at KU in 2024, Craig held tenure-track positions at the Western New England College School of Law, Indiana University—Indianapolis School of Law (where she first received tenure), the Florida State University School of Law, the University of Utah S.J. Quinney School of Law and USC’s Gould School of Law. She has visited at the Lewis & Clark School of Law, Vermont Law School, the University of Hawaii School of Law and the University of Tasmania Faculty of Law. At Kansas, Craig teaches Environmental Law, Water Law, Ocean & Coastal Law, Toxic Torts and Civil Procedure.
Managing Partner, Best Best & Krieger LLP
Andre Monette works with both public and private clients in matters involving water quality issues. He is a member of the Environmental & Natural Resources practice group in Best Best & Krieger LLP’s Washington, D.C. office. Andre works extensively with water districts, cities, counties and agricultural interests, and other private entities on matters involving the Federal Clean Water Act and its state law analogues.
Andre works with public agencies and farmers on matters involving water rights, water supply and water quality. Andre also works with investors interested in water projects, helping funds assess the viability of potential water related investments.
A major area of focus for Andre’s practice is the intersection of the water quality and water supply regulation. Federal and state laws across the nation divide water quality and water supply regulations into separate categories that often do not intersect and can preclude efficient use of the supply. Andre’s practice focuses on areas of overlap where acute knowledge of multiple regulatory schemes is required, including; streambed restoration, groundwater recharge projects, indirect potable reuse projects, large scale recycled water projects, and effluent limitation compliance.
Andre is the managing partner of BBK's Washington, D.C. office.
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Garland v. VanDerStok
Peter A. Patterson
Garland v. VanDerStok concerns whether the ATF's 2022 update to its regulations under the Gun Control...
A Seat at the Sitting - October 2024
James S. Burling, John Masslon, Matt Rice, Zack Smith, Kirby Thomas West
The October Docket in 90 Minutes or Less
Each month, a panel of constitutional experts convenes to discuss the Court’s upcoming docket sitting...
A Seat at the Sitting - October 2024
James S. Burling, John Masslon, Matt Rice, Zack Smith, Kirby Thomas West
The October Docket in 90 Minutes or Less
Each month, a panel of constitutional experts convenes to discuss the Court’s upcoming docket sitting...
Topics
Chevron in the States: Where Is Deference Still in Effect, and How Can States Eliminate It?
The next battles over administrative law will unfold in state capitols, state courts, and state...
Supreme Court Preview: What Is in Store for October Term 2024?
Jonathan H. Adler, Paul S. Atkins, Lisa S. Blatt, Erin M. Hawley, Sarah Isgur, John S. Moran
Co-Sponsored by the Faculty Division and Practice Groups
On October 1, 2024, the Federalist Society's Faculty Division and Practice Groups will host a panel at...
Litigation Update: City and County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency
Jonathan H. Adler, Robin Kundis Craig, Andre Monette
The Supreme Court recently decided that they will review a case dealing with the Clean...
Litigation Update: City and County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency
Jonathan H. Adler, Robin Kundis Craig, Andre Monette
The Supreme Court recently decided that they will review a case dealing with the Clean...
Topics
The Future of Article III Standing
Is it “too easy” to show Article III standing, particularly in environmental cases? That is...
Topics
U.S. Navy SEALs 1-26 v. Biden: A New Settlement Agreement Protects Religious Servicemembers
When the United States military mandated COVID-19 vaccinations and categorically denied religious accommodations, servicemembers whose...
Topics
Kannon Shanmugam on the Legitimacy of the Supreme Court
On Monday, Kannon Shanmugam, chair of Paul Weiss's Supreme Court and appellate litigation practice, and...