Editor, The Weekly Standard
William Kristol is the editor of The Weekly Standard. He is also a regular panelist on Fox News Sunday, a contributor for the Fox News Channel, and a monthly columnist for the Washington Post. Before starting the Weekly Standard in 1995, Mr. Kristol led the Project for the Republican Future, where he helped shape the strategy that produced the 1994 Republican congressional victory. Prior to that, Mr. Kristol served as chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle during the first Bush Administration, and to Education Secretary William Bennett under President Reagan. Before coming to Washington in 1985, Mr. Kristol was on the faculty of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the Department of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.
Founder, Eagle Forum
Phyllis Schlafly was a national leader of the conservative movement since the publication of her best-selling 1964 book, A Choice Not An Echo. She created the pro-family movement in 1972, when she started her national volunteer organization called Eagle Forum. In a ten-year battle, Mrs. Schlafly led the pro-family movement to victory over the principal legislative goal of the radical feminists, called the Equal Rights Amendment. An articulate and successful opponent of the radical feminist movement, she debated on college campuses more frequently than any other conservative. She was named one of the 100 most important women of the 20th century by the Ladies’ Home Journal.
Mrs. Schlafly’s monthly newsletter called The Phyllis Schlafly Report was published for fifty years. At her request, the monthly newsletter was renamed after her death to the Eagle Forum Report: the Successor to The Phyllis Schlafly Report. Eagle Forum is the publisher of the Eagle Forum Report.
Her syndicated column appeared in 100 newspapers, and on many conservative websites.
Mrs. Schlafly was the author or editor of 27 books on subjects as varied as family and feminism (The Power of the Positive Woman and Feminist Fantasies); the judiciary (The Supremacists: The Tyranny of Judges and How to Stop It); religion (No Higher Power: Obama’s War on Religious Freedom); nuclear strategy (Strike From Space and Kissinger on the Couch); education (Child Abuse in the Classroom); child care (Who Will Rock the Cradle?); and phonics (First Reader and Turbo Reader).
Mrs. Schlafly was a lawyer and served as a member of the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, 1985-1991, appointed by President Ronald Reagan. She testified before more than 50 Congressional and State Legislative committees on constitutional, national defense, and family issues.
Mrs. Schlafly was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Washington University, received her Master’s in Political Science from Harvard University, and received her J.D. from Washington University Law School. In 2008, Washington University/St. Louis awarded Phyllis Schlafly an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
Phyllis Schlafly was America’s best-known advocate of the dignity and honor that we as a society owe to the role of fulltime homemaker. The mother of six children, she was the 1992 Illinois Mother of the Year.
Author, Journalist, Researcher, and Consultant
Karl Zinsmeister is an experienced executive, original researcher, and productive author with deep analytical, communications, public-policy, creative, and marketing skills—including high-level experience managing a range of publications, businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies. He is currently a consultant to major business figures and wealth creators as a designer of large-scale philanthropy projects, historian of American civil society, and expert on social reform and culture change.
He has written a dozen books—embedded war reporting, histories, political analysis, reference works, a novel, literary collections, academic volumes, a storytelling cookbook, even a book-length Marvel comic book. Two of his works have recently been optioned for development into a television series and a documentary film. He has edited or co-produced many other books.
Zinsmeister's magazine and newspaper journalism totals several hundred articles. These have been published in a wide range of national publications, from cover stories for The Atlantic to essays in the Wall Street Journal, where he is a frequent contributor. Karl also has more than two decades of experience as an Editor in Chief, managing writing, artistic, and business teams producing nationally circulated magazines of thought and culture.
He created The Almanac of American Philanthropy—the authoritative 1,342-page reference on private giving that is often referred to as “the bible” documenting America's distinctive tradition of solving major problems through civil society and voluntary action. Between cash contributions and volunteer labor, philanthropy is approaching the trillion-dollar level as an annual undertaking in the U.S., and it is one of our country's most potent sources of social innovation and improvement.
Zinsmeister established the nation's first independent advisory on philanthropy for veterans and servicemembers. He raised $15 million and designed an unprecedented randomized-control experiment to prove out better ways of assisting men and women injured during military service.
He created the “Sweet Charity” podcast, presenting 5-10 minute stories on important achievements in philanthropic creativity. He wrote and edited a series of “Wise Giver's Guides” offering donors practical help in specific fields. The volumes he authored himself include one analyzing charter schools, and another on the relationship between philanthropy and public policy.
In response to national concern over polarization and government stalemate, Zinsmeister researched and released a political/historical work What Comes Next?, describing how America can be dramatically improved by private actors even amidst political gridlock, documented by encouraging examples from our past.
From 2006 to 2009 Zinsmeister served in the West Wing as President George W. Bush’s chief domestic policy adviser. His responsibilities stretched across many issues: the formulation of new immigration policies, the mortgage and student-loan credit crises, stem-cell and biotechnology innovation, improving care for military veterans, school reform, issues in health, transportation, environmental quality, and national competitiveness.
Earlier in his career Karl was a U.S. Senate aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He has been an adviser to many public policy groups, and has testified before Congressional committees and Presidential commissions on topics including family issues, economic policy, and the Iraq war.
For more than a decade, Zinsmeister occupied the J. B. Fuqua Chair at the American Enterprise Institute, a premier Washington, D.C. think tank, where he researched economic, demographic, and cultural topics. While there he created an acclaimed national monthly magazine of politics, business, and culture, The American Enterprise. Author and former Cabinet Secretary William Bennett called it “one of America’s finest magazines.... intellectually interesting, well-written, lively, wide-ranging, and above all useful.” Zinsmeister wrote nearly 300 articles for the magazine, and conducted interviews with public figures extending from Rudy Giuliani to Pat Moynihan, Andres Duany to Rupert Murdoch.
In concert with his wife, Zinsmeister conceived and produced a feature documentary film entitled Warriors that aired nationally on PBS in 2007. The film won $450,000 of funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in a major international competition. It presented personal profiles of America’s fighting forces via on-the-scene footage that Zinsmeister and two combat cameramen shot in Iraq. The New York Times described Warriors as “entirely compelling.” Footage from the film was used as a plot item in the final week of the HBO television series The Sopranos.
In the private sector, Zinsmeister was an executive in his native region of upstate New York at the Stickley company—an historic firm that designs, manufactures, and markets iconic American Arts & Crafts furniture designs worldwide. His responsibilities included marketing and sales, advertising, catalogs, photography, websites, communications, the Stickley Museum, some product design, and the modernization of many business and data systems. Zinsmeister has also operated his own businesses over a period of years, including designing, financing, renovating, and building eight properties with historic appeal, in Washington and New York.
A graduate of Yale University, Zinsmeister did further studies at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. During college he won national rowing championships in both the U.S. and Ireland. He has given hundreds of public lectures, originated a weekly radio commentary syndicated to 100 stations, and appeared often on a wide variety of national television and radio programs. He has lived, worked, or traveled in 40 countries, and nearly every U.S. state. He holds the highest U.S. security clearance.
Zinsmeister is married and has three grown children. He is an active outdoorsman, enjoys extended wilderness backpacking trips, and swims, bicycles, sculls, skis, and hikes often. He has been an avid photographer, woodworker, gardener and keeper of hens, taught Sunday school, and sung in church choirs. He currently lives in Washington, D.C. on a houseboat he designed and built himself.
Writer, Historian, and Lecturer
Elizabeth Ann Fox-Genovese (May 28, 1941 – January 2, 2007) was an American historian best known for her works on women and society in the Antebellum South. A Marxist early on in her career, she later converted to Roman Catholicism and became a primary voice of the conservative women's movement. She was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2003.
Voss-Bascom Professor of Law, University of Wisconsin Law School
Jane Larson (1958–2011) was the Voss-Bascom Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Jane was born in Omaha, Neb., the oldest daughter of Donald G. and Wilma M. Larson. She graduated from Alameda West High School in Pleasanton, Calif. She received her undergraduate degree Phi Beta Kappa with a specialization in women's history from Macalester College in 1980. She received her law degree with high honors from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1985. She worked as a judicial clerk for Justice Rosalie Wahl of the Minnesota Supreme Court and for Judge Theodore McMillian of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. From 1987 to 1990, she was an associate at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy.
In 1990, she joined the law faculty at Northwestern University School of Law, where she published a series of noted articles on legal history, property rights and social regulation, with particular emphasis on the rights of women and the poor (for example, "Free Markets Deep in the Heart of Texas," Georgetown Law Journal, 1995.) In 1996, she joined the faculty of University of Wisconsin Law School, where she continued her writing and lecturing on feminist legal theory and property law. Her academic writing has been called "a model of how to integrate the history of doctrine with the surrounding social values." She was an inspiring teacher, a self-taught decoder of Oriental rugs, and a jazz aficionado who requested Coltrane in lieu of epidural during the birth of her son, Simon. When she retired in October 2011, she was the Voss-Bascom Professor of Law.
Writer, Historian, and Lecturer
Elizabeth Ann Fox-Genovese (May 28, 1941 – January 2, 2007) was an American historian best known for her works on women and society in the Antebellum South. A Marxist early on in her career, she later converted to Roman Catholicism and became a primary voice of the conservative women's movement. She was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2003.
Editor, The Weekly Standard
William Kristol is the editor of The Weekly Standard. He is also a regular panelist on Fox News Sunday, a contributor for the Fox News Channel, and a monthly columnist for the Washington Post. Before starting the Weekly Standard in 1995, Mr. Kristol led the Project for the Republican Future, where he helped shape the strategy that produced the 1994 Republican congressional victory. Prior to that, Mr. Kristol served as chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle during the first Bush Administration, and to Education Secretary William Bennett under President Reagan. Before coming to Washington in 1985, Mr. Kristol was on the faculty of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the Department of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.
Voss-Bascom Professor of Law, University of Wisconsin Law School
Jane Larson (1958–2011) was the Voss-Bascom Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Jane was born in Omaha, Neb., the oldest daughter of Donald G. and Wilma M. Larson. She graduated from Alameda West High School in Pleasanton, Calif. She received her undergraduate degree Phi Beta Kappa with a specialization in women's history from Macalester College in 1980. She received her law degree with high honors from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1985. She worked as a judicial clerk for Justice Rosalie Wahl of the Minnesota Supreme Court and for Judge Theodore McMillian of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. From 1987 to 1990, she was an associate at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy.
In 1990, she joined the law faculty at Northwestern University School of Law, where she published a series of noted articles on legal history, property rights and social regulation, with particular emphasis on the rights of women and the poor (for example, "Free Markets Deep in the Heart of Texas," Georgetown Law Journal, 1995.) In 1996, she joined the faculty of University of Wisconsin Law School, where she continued her writing and lecturing on feminist legal theory and property law. Her academic writing has been called "a model of how to integrate the history of doctrine with the surrounding social values." She was an inspiring teacher, a self-taught decoder of Oriental rugs, and a jazz aficionado who requested Coltrane in lieu of epidural during the birth of her son, Simon. When she retired in October 2011, she was the Voss-Bascom Professor of Law.
Founder, Eagle Forum
Phyllis Schlafly was a national leader of the conservative movement since the publication of her best-selling 1964 book, A Choice Not An Echo. She created the pro-family movement in 1972, when she started her national volunteer organization called Eagle Forum. In a ten-year battle, Mrs. Schlafly led the pro-family movement to victory over the principal legislative goal of the radical feminists, called the Equal Rights Amendment. An articulate and successful opponent of the radical feminist movement, she debated on college campuses more frequently than any other conservative. She was named one of the 100 most important women of the 20th century by the Ladies’ Home Journal.
Mrs. Schlafly’s monthly newsletter called The Phyllis Schlafly Report was published for fifty years. At her request, the monthly newsletter was renamed after her death to the Eagle Forum Report: the Successor to The Phyllis Schlafly Report. Eagle Forum is the publisher of the Eagle Forum Report.
Her syndicated column appeared in 100 newspapers, and on many conservative websites.
Mrs. Schlafly was the author or editor of 27 books on subjects as varied as family and feminism (The Power of the Positive Woman and Feminist Fantasies); the judiciary (The Supremacists: The Tyranny of Judges and How to Stop It); religion (No Higher Power: Obama’s War on Religious Freedom); nuclear strategy (Strike From Space and Kissinger on the Couch); education (Child Abuse in the Classroom); child care (Who Will Rock the Cradle?); and phonics (First Reader and Turbo Reader).
Mrs. Schlafly was a lawyer and served as a member of the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, 1985-1991, appointed by President Ronald Reagan. She testified before more than 50 Congressional and State Legislative committees on constitutional, national defense, and family issues.
Mrs. Schlafly was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Washington University, received her Master’s in Political Science from Harvard University, and received her J.D. from Washington University Law School. In 2008, Washington University/St. Louis awarded Phyllis Schlafly an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
Phyllis Schlafly was America’s best-known advocate of the dignity and honor that we as a society owe to the role of fulltime homemaker. The mother of six children, she was the 1992 Illinois Mother of the Year.
Author, Journalist, Researcher, and Consultant
Karl Zinsmeister is an experienced executive, original researcher, and productive author with deep analytical, communications, public-policy, creative, and marketing skills—including high-level experience managing a range of publications, businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies. He is currently a consultant to major business figures and wealth creators as a designer of large-scale philanthropy projects, historian of American civil society, and expert on social reform and culture change.
He has written a dozen books—embedded war reporting, histories, political analysis, reference works, a novel, literary collections, academic volumes, a storytelling cookbook, even a book-length Marvel comic book. Two of his works have recently been optioned for development into a television series and a documentary film. He has edited or co-produced many other books.
Zinsmeister's magazine and newspaper journalism totals several hundred articles. These have been published in a wide range of national publications, from cover stories for The Atlantic to essays in the Wall Street Journal, where he is a frequent contributor. Karl also has more than two decades of experience as an Editor in Chief, managing writing, artistic, and business teams producing nationally circulated magazines of thought and culture.
He created The Almanac of American Philanthropy—the authoritative 1,342-page reference on private giving that is often referred to as “the bible” documenting America's distinctive tradition of solving major problems through civil society and voluntary action. Between cash contributions and volunteer labor, philanthropy is approaching the trillion-dollar level as an annual undertaking in the U.S., and it is one of our country's most potent sources of social innovation and improvement.
Zinsmeister established the nation's first independent advisory on philanthropy for veterans and servicemembers. He raised $15 million and designed an unprecedented randomized-control experiment to prove out better ways of assisting men and women injured during military service.
He created the “Sweet Charity” podcast, presenting 5-10 minute stories on important achievements in philanthropic creativity. He wrote and edited a series of “Wise Giver's Guides” offering donors practical help in specific fields. The volumes he authored himself include one analyzing charter schools, and another on the relationship between philanthropy and public policy.
In response to national concern over polarization and government stalemate, Zinsmeister researched and released a political/historical work What Comes Next?, describing how America can be dramatically improved by private actors even amidst political gridlock, documented by encouraging examples from our past.
From 2006 to 2009 Zinsmeister served in the West Wing as President George W. Bush’s chief domestic policy adviser. His responsibilities stretched across many issues: the formulation of new immigration policies, the mortgage and student-loan credit crises, stem-cell and biotechnology innovation, improving care for military veterans, school reform, issues in health, transportation, environmental quality, and national competitiveness.
Earlier in his career Karl was a U.S. Senate aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He has been an adviser to many public policy groups, and has testified before Congressional committees and Presidential commissions on topics including family issues, economic policy, and the Iraq war.
For more than a decade, Zinsmeister occupied the J. B. Fuqua Chair at the American Enterprise Institute, a premier Washington, D.C. think tank, where he researched economic, demographic, and cultural topics. While there he created an acclaimed national monthly magazine of politics, business, and culture, The American Enterprise. Author and former Cabinet Secretary William Bennett called it “one of America’s finest magazines.... intellectually interesting, well-written, lively, wide-ranging, and above all useful.” Zinsmeister wrote nearly 300 articles for the magazine, and conducted interviews with public figures extending from Rudy Giuliani to Pat Moynihan, Andres Duany to Rupert Murdoch.
In concert with his wife, Zinsmeister conceived and produced a feature documentary film entitled Warriors that aired nationally on PBS in 2007. The film won $450,000 of funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in a major international competition. It presented personal profiles of America’s fighting forces via on-the-scene footage that Zinsmeister and two combat cameramen shot in Iraq. The New York Times described Warriors as “entirely compelling.” Footage from the film was used as a plot item in the final week of the HBO television series The Sopranos.
In the private sector, Zinsmeister was an executive in his native region of upstate New York at the Stickley company—an historic firm that designs, manufactures, and markets iconic American Arts & Crafts furniture designs worldwide. His responsibilities included marketing and sales, advertising, catalogs, photography, websites, communications, the Stickley Museum, some product design, and the modernization of many business and data systems. Zinsmeister has also operated his own businesses over a period of years, including designing, financing, renovating, and building eight properties with historic appeal, in Washington and New York.
A graduate of Yale University, Zinsmeister did further studies at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. During college he won national rowing championships in both the U.S. and Ireland. He has given hundreds of public lectures, originated a weekly radio commentary syndicated to 100 stations, and appeared often on a wide variety of national television and radio programs. He has lived, worked, or traveled in 40 countries, and nearly every U.S. state. He holds the highest U.S. security clearance.
Zinsmeister is married and has three grown children. He is an active outdoorsman, enjoys extended wilderness backpacking trips, and swims, bicycles, sculls, skis, and hikes often. He has been an avid photographer, woodworker, gardener and keeper of hens, taught Sunday school, and sung in church choirs. He currently lives in Washington, D.C. on a houseboat he designed and built himself.
Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law, Yale Law School
Mirjan Damaška is Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale Law School. He teaches and writes in the fields of comparative and foreign law, procedural law, evidence, international criminal law, and continental legal history.
He is the author of six books, among which The Faces of Justice and Evidence Law Adrift were translated into several languages. He has published more than 100 articles in professional journals of numerous countries.
He received his basic law degree at the University of Zagreb in his native Croatia. He then studied at the Academy of International Law at The Hague, and the Comparative Law Faculty in Luxembourg. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia). Following time spent practicing in the courts of former Yugoslavia, he began his teaching career at the University of Zagreb Law School, rising quickly to the rank of full professor, and briefly serving as Acting Dean. In 1971, he left his native land, and accepted a tenured position at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Since 1976, he has been on the faculty of Yale Law School.
Damaška is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the International Academy of Comparative Law, the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Society of Comparative Law. In 1978-79, he was fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is also holder of several honorary degrees.
He was keynote speaker and general reporter at many international congresses. Five symposia were organized about his work: Bielefeld (Germany) in 1987; Siena (Italy) in 1988; San Francisco in 1998; Zagreb (Croatia) in 2006; and New Haven in 2008. From 1990 to 1995, he served on the Advisory Board of the Central and East European Legal Initiative of ABA. Since 1995, he has periodically advised the Croatian government in its relations with the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
In 2005, he was appointed Amicus Curiae of the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the matter of transferring cases to domestic courts. In 2009, he was presented the lifetime achievement award by the American Society of Comparative Law. In 2014, he was awarded the Life Achievement award by Jadranko Crnic Foundation, Croatia. He does counseling work on foreign law problems for law firms in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington.
In 2010 he was appointed special adviser to the Prime Minister of Croatia, and agent of the Republic of Croatia before the International Court of Justice, heading a team of Croatian and English lawyers in the case of Croatia v. Serbia.
Two books of essays have been published in his honor: Jackson, Langer, & Tillers (eds.), "Crime, Procedure, and Evidence: Essays in honor of Mirjan Damaška (Oxford 2008), and Ackerman, Ambos, Sikiric (eds.), "Visions of Justice, Liber Amicorum Mirjan Damaška" (Berlin 2016).
Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law, European University Institute
Since September 2016 Gábor Halmai, professor of law, is the chair of Comparative Constitutional Law at the European University Institute in Florence. Since January 2018 he is the Director of Graduate Studies at the Law Department. His primary research interests are comparative constitutional law, and international human rights. He has published several books and articles, as well as edited volumes on these topics in English, German and Hungarian. He is joining the EUI after a teaching and research career (at the Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, the Princeton University in the USA, the the European Masters Program in Human Rights and Democratization in Italy) as well as years of professional career as chief advisor to the President of the Hungarian Constitutional Court, member of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency’s Management Board and numerous other civic activities.
Prior to joining to EUI Professor Halmai has worked on various research projects at the IWM in Vienna and the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University: Backsliding of liberal democracies within the European Union, with special focus on the development of constitutionalism and human rights in Hungary since its democratic transition in 1989-1990 till now; Models of state-church relations and religious freedom; Constitutionalism and transitional justice in Central and Eastern Europe. His most recent book, „Perspectives on Global Constitutionalism” deals with the use of foreign and international law by domestic courts (published by Eleven International Publishing in 2014). In addition to research, Professor Halmai has also been teaching and supervising students in Budapest, Princeton and Florence on the subjects of comparative constitutional law and human rights, as well as on rule of law.
Besides his academic work he was member of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency’s Management Board based in Vienna, Austria (2007-2010), the national director of the European Masters Program in Human Rights and Democratization in Venice, Italy (2003-2013), vice-chair of the Hungarian National Election Commission (2006-2010; chief counsellor to the President of the Hungarian Constitutional Court (1990-1996).
Gábor Halmai is founder and editor-in-chief of Fundamentum, the Hungarian human right quarterly, and Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Yearbook on Human Rights, the Review of Constitutionalism and Constitutional Change (RC3), and the This Century’s Review.
Assistant Professor, University of Ústí nad Labem
Daniel Kroupa is a Czech politician and philosopher, dissident, signatory of Charter 77, President of the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA) from 1998 to 2001, former MP, Euro MP and senator. After the Velvet Revolution, he taught political philosophy at several faculties of Charles University in Prague. From 2005 to 2015, he was the Head of the Department of Political Science and Philosophy of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ústí nad Labem. Since 2015 he has been an assistant professor at this department.
Philosopher, Journalist, Novelist, and Diplomat
Michael John Novak Jr. (1933–2017) was an American Roman Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. The author of more than forty books on the philosophy and theology of culture, Novak is most widely known for his book The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism (1982). In 1993 Novak was honored with an honorary doctorate at Universidad Francisco Marroquín due to his commitment to the idea of liberty. In 1994 he was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, which included a million-dollar purse awarded at Buckingham Palace. He wrote books and articles focused on capitalism, religion, and the politics of democratization.
Former Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Alvin Benjamin Rubin's long and storied tenure as a federal judge began with a nomination by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 and ended in 1991 at his death.
Judge Rubin was born in Alexandria, Louisiana, in 1920, and received a B.S. from Louisiana State University in 1941. He started at Louisiana State University Law School in 1940. When World War II broke out, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, was assigned to General Patton's "Big Red 1," and served in the European Theatre of Operations in England, France, Belgium, and Germany, rising to the rank of Captain and serving as an Assistant Judge Advocate. After the war ended, he married Janice Ginsberg, also from Alexandria, and returned to Baton Rouge for law school in an accelerated post-war program for returning war veterans. He graduated first in his law school class in 1942 and was Editor-in-Chief of the Louisiana Law Review.
After his graduation, he began practicing law in Baton Rouge with J.Y. Sanders and Ben Miller, Sr., and after several years the firm of Sanders, Miller, Downing, Rubin and Kean was formed. Judge Rubin specialized in tax law, corporate transactions, and trust and estates law. He also was an arbitrator and mediator.
Soon after he started practice in 1942, the illness of a faculty member at the LSU Law School propelled Judge Rubin back into the classroom as a professor. Judge Rubin taught a variety of subjects continuously at the Law School until 1989, including Admiralty, Civil Code, Ethics, Negotiations, Constitutional Law, Federal Procedure, State and Local Tax Law, Federal Tax Law, Law Office Practice, and many others. Judge Rubin's love of teaching and of student interaction was particularly meaningful to him, and throughout his life Judge Rubin was invited to teach and lecture at schools around the world, including Harvard, Yale, Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, University of Miami, University of Georgia, University of Texas, Tulane, and Duke. He also traveled to give presentations throughout Europe. Because of his expertise in civil law, during the Vietnam War, Judge Rubin was asked by the State Department to travel to South Vietnam and assist in drafting the constitution for South Vietnam. He also served as a moderator for the Aspen Institute and for many programs for the American Bar Association.
In 1963, Judge Rubin and Dean Henry George McMahon co-authored Louisiana Pleadings and Judicial Forms Annotated. For over 20 years, Judge Rubin continued the annual updates for this vital resource used by Louisiana attorneys. Before 1960, Louisiana civil law prohibited the establishment of Trusts. Judge Rubin was instrumental in the creation of a Trust Code for Louisiana, which was adopted by the Louisiana Legislature in 1960. In 1966 he and his wife, Janice, co-authored the Louisiana Trust Handbook, and later, he wrote Louisiana Wills and Trust: A Drafting System (with Professor Gerald LeVan). Judge Rubin's list of law review and journal articles spans many pages. Two of his most prominent works are "A Causerie on Lawyer's Ethics" and "Hazards of a Civilian Venturer in Federal Court: Travel and Travail on the Erie Railroad" (both in the Louisiana Law Review).
He then practiced law until 1966 when President Johnson nominated him to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana created by 80 Stat. 75. Judge Rubin served at an important time in the Court's history, hearing many of the desegregation and civil rights cases in the 1960s. He served as Chief Judge of the District and wrote and implemented the first comprehensive written pre-trial procedure rules for the District. He served on and chaired many committees for the Judicial Conference and co-wrote the first law clerk handbook for the federal system. Judge Rubin kept long hours and was often in his Chambers early. He always took home briefs to read and drafts of opinions to edit, keeping two secretaries busy at all times.
After eleven years as a judge on the federal district court, Judge Rubin was nominated in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter to fill a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated by John Minor Wisdom. Judge Rubin assumed senior status on July 1, 1989, and served in that capacity until his death in 1991 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In his memory, the Louisiana Law Review published a special edition (Vol. 52, 1992) dedicated solely to his life and work, including articles and remembrances by his wife, Justice Byron White, Judge John Minor Wisdom, Judge Charles Clark, Judge Fred Cassibry, Judge Henry Politz, and many others.
Judge Rubin wrote more than 700 important (and sometimes humorous) opinions during his time as a federal judge. His rulings included ones that ended Louisiana's exemption of women from juries, applied the Voting Rights Act to local elections, and upheld the rights of government employees to criticize their superiors and to organize unions. Judge Rubin's interests spanned poetry, drama, history, art, the classics, and music of all types. He enjoyed writing Gilbert-and-Sullivan-ish parodies concerning legal matters and performing them for students, clerks, lawyers, at judicial seminars, and even for United States Supreme Court Justices.
The judicial activity that Judge Rubin reportedly most enjoyed was conducting naturalization ceremonies in open court. Judge Rubin spoke not as a jurist but as the son of immigrants from Eastern Europe whose parents had lost many relatives to war and hatred. He spoke movingly of his parents, their courage, and their determination to give their children the education and opportunities they had never had. Judge Rubin always emphasized that those citizens, new though they were, had equal rights. They could vote. They could develop their own talents and those of their children. They were entitled to occupy as well as to stand before the bench of justice.
Judge Rubin also enjoyed the close friendship of his many law clerks (serving as officiant of at least one wedding) and was an avid tennis player and jogger, often enlisting law clerks and young lawyers as his tennis or running partner.
Judge Rubin was the first member of the LSU Law Center Hall of Alumni Distinction, and was the First Alumni Member of the LSU Phi Beta Kappa Chapter. He was awarded the Louisiana ACLU Award for his civil rights work and was active in the National Conference of Christians and Jews and his synagogue in Baton Rouge.
Judge John Minor Wisdom wrote that "Alvin Rubin was born to be a judge, a great judge. His intellect, scholarship, and judicial leadership place him in a select group. In recent years, some of this small group graced the Supreme Court: Holmes, Brandeis, and Cardozo. These judges would have welcomed him on equal intellectual terms and as a kindred spirit."
The New Orleans Chapter of the Federal Bar Association hosts an annual symposium in Judge Rubin's honor. The symposium is an annual discussion on aspects of federal law or practice as a living memorial to Judge Rubin's contribution to federal jurisprudence and legal scholarship. The symposium is well attended by his family, friends, former clerks, and lawyers.
Judge Rubin's wife, Janice, best summed him up. "[His] friends spanned continents and age barriers . . . . [He] was the jurist he was because he was the man the boy became, a man who remembered Biblical injunctions about relationships and courage, about discipline and standards, about justice and mercy and integrity, a man whose goal on the bench was the oath taken by judges on the Isle of Man: 'You shall do justice between cause and cause as equally as the backbone of the herring doth lie midmost of the fish.' "
Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law, Yale Law School
Mirjan Damaška is Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale Law School. He teaches and writes in the fields of comparative and foreign law, procedural law, evidence, international criminal law, and continental legal history.
He is the author of six books, among which The Faces of Justice and Evidence Law Adrift were translated into several languages. He has published more than 100 articles in professional journals of numerous countries.
He received his basic law degree at the University of Zagreb in his native Croatia. He then studied at the Academy of International Law at The Hague, and the Comparative Law Faculty in Luxembourg. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia). Following time spent practicing in the courts of former Yugoslavia, he began his teaching career at the University of Zagreb Law School, rising quickly to the rank of full professor, and briefly serving as Acting Dean. In 1971, he left his native land, and accepted a tenured position at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Since 1976, he has been on the faculty of Yale Law School.
Damaška is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the International Academy of Comparative Law, the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Society of Comparative Law. In 1978-79, he was fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is also holder of several honorary degrees.
He was keynote speaker and general reporter at many international congresses. Five symposia were organized about his work: Bielefeld (Germany) in 1987; Siena (Italy) in 1988; San Francisco in 1998; Zagreb (Croatia) in 2006; and New Haven in 2008. From 1990 to 1995, he served on the Advisory Board of the Central and East European Legal Initiative of ABA. Since 1995, he has periodically advised the Croatian government in its relations with the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
In 2005, he was appointed Amicus Curiae of the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the matter of transferring cases to domestic courts. In 2009, he was presented the lifetime achievement award by the American Society of Comparative Law. In 2014, he was awarded the Life Achievement award by Jadranko Crnic Foundation, Croatia. He does counseling work on foreign law problems for law firms in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington.
In 2010 he was appointed special adviser to the Prime Minister of Croatia, and agent of the Republic of Croatia before the International Court of Justice, heading a team of Croatian and English lawyers in the case of Croatia v. Serbia.
Two books of essays have been published in his honor: Jackson, Langer, & Tillers (eds.), "Crime, Procedure, and Evidence: Essays in honor of Mirjan Damaška (Oxford 2008), and Ackerman, Ambos, Sikiric (eds.), "Visions of Justice, Liber Amicorum Mirjan Damaška" (Berlin 2016).
Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law, European University Institute
Since September 2016 Gábor Halmai, professor of law, is the chair of Comparative Constitutional Law at the European University Institute in Florence. Since January 2018 he is the Director of Graduate Studies at the Law Department. His primary research interests are comparative constitutional law, and international human rights. He has published several books and articles, as well as edited volumes on these topics in English, German and Hungarian. He is joining the EUI after a teaching and research career (at the Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, the Princeton University in the USA, the the European Masters Program in Human Rights and Democratization in Italy) as well as years of professional career as chief advisor to the President of the Hungarian Constitutional Court, member of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency’s Management Board and numerous other civic activities.
Prior to joining to EUI Professor Halmai has worked on various research projects at the IWM in Vienna and the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University: Backsliding of liberal democracies within the European Union, with special focus on the development of constitutionalism and human rights in Hungary since its democratic transition in 1989-1990 till now; Models of state-church relations and religious freedom; Constitutionalism and transitional justice in Central and Eastern Europe. His most recent book, „Perspectives on Global Constitutionalism” deals with the use of foreign and international law by domestic courts (published by Eleven International Publishing in 2014). In addition to research, Professor Halmai has also been teaching and supervising students in Budapest, Princeton and Florence on the subjects of comparative constitutional law and human rights, as well as on rule of law.
Besides his academic work he was member of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency’s Management Board based in Vienna, Austria (2007-2010), the national director of the European Masters Program in Human Rights and Democratization in Venice, Italy (2003-2013), vice-chair of the Hungarian National Election Commission (2006-2010; chief counsellor to the President of the Hungarian Constitutional Court (1990-1996).
Gábor Halmai is founder and editor-in-chief of Fundamentum, the Hungarian human right quarterly, and Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Yearbook on Human Rights, the Review of Constitutionalism and Constitutional Change (RC3), and the This Century’s Review.
Assistant Professor, University of Ústí nad Labem
Daniel Kroupa is a Czech politician and philosopher, dissident, signatory of Charter 77, President of the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA) from 1998 to 2001, former MP, Euro MP and senator. After the Velvet Revolution, he taught political philosophy at several faculties of Charles University in Prague. From 2005 to 2015, he was the Head of the Department of Political Science and Philosophy of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ústí nad Labem. Since 2015 he has been an assistant professor at this department.
Philosopher, Journalist, Novelist, and Diplomat
Michael John Novak Jr. (1933–2017) was an American Roman Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. The author of more than forty books on the philosophy and theology of culture, Novak is most widely known for his book The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism (1982). In 1993 Novak was honored with an honorary doctorate at Universidad Francisco Marroquín due to his commitment to the idea of liberty. In 1994 he was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, which included a million-dollar purse awarded at Buckingham Palace. He wrote books and articles focused on capitalism, religion, and the politics of democratization.
Former Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Alvin Benjamin Rubin's long and storied tenure as a federal judge began with a nomination by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 and ended in 1991 at his death.
Judge Rubin was born in Alexandria, Louisiana, in 1920, and received a B.S. from Louisiana State University in 1941. He started at Louisiana State University Law School in 1940. When World War II broke out, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, was assigned to General Patton's "Big Red 1," and served in the European Theatre of Operations in England, France, Belgium, and Germany, rising to the rank of Captain and serving as an Assistant Judge Advocate. After the war ended, he married Janice Ginsberg, also from Alexandria, and returned to Baton Rouge for law school in an accelerated post-war program for returning war veterans. He graduated first in his law school class in 1942 and was Editor-in-Chief of the Louisiana Law Review.
After his graduation, he began practicing law in Baton Rouge with J.Y. Sanders and Ben Miller, Sr., and after several years the firm of Sanders, Miller, Downing, Rubin and Kean was formed. Judge Rubin specialized in tax law, corporate transactions, and trust and estates law. He also was an arbitrator and mediator.
Soon after he started practice in 1942, the illness of a faculty member at the LSU Law School propelled Judge Rubin back into the classroom as a professor. Judge Rubin taught a variety of subjects continuously at the Law School until 1989, including Admiralty, Civil Code, Ethics, Negotiations, Constitutional Law, Federal Procedure, State and Local Tax Law, Federal Tax Law, Law Office Practice, and many others. Judge Rubin's love of teaching and of student interaction was particularly meaningful to him, and throughout his life Judge Rubin was invited to teach and lecture at schools around the world, including Harvard, Yale, Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, University of Miami, University of Georgia, University of Texas, Tulane, and Duke. He also traveled to give presentations throughout Europe. Because of his expertise in civil law, during the Vietnam War, Judge Rubin was asked by the State Department to travel to South Vietnam and assist in drafting the constitution for South Vietnam. He also served as a moderator for the Aspen Institute and for many programs for the American Bar Association.
In 1963, Judge Rubin and Dean Henry George McMahon co-authored Louisiana Pleadings and Judicial Forms Annotated. For over 20 years, Judge Rubin continued the annual updates for this vital resource used by Louisiana attorneys. Before 1960, Louisiana civil law prohibited the establishment of Trusts. Judge Rubin was instrumental in the creation of a Trust Code for Louisiana, which was adopted by the Louisiana Legislature in 1960. In 1966 he and his wife, Janice, co-authored the Louisiana Trust Handbook, and later, he wrote Louisiana Wills and Trust: A Drafting System (with Professor Gerald LeVan). Judge Rubin's list of law review and journal articles spans many pages. Two of his most prominent works are "A Causerie on Lawyer's Ethics" and "Hazards of a Civilian Venturer in Federal Court: Travel and Travail on the Erie Railroad" (both in the Louisiana Law Review).
He then practiced law until 1966 when President Johnson nominated him to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana created by 80 Stat. 75. Judge Rubin served at an important time in the Court's history, hearing many of the desegregation and civil rights cases in the 1960s. He served as Chief Judge of the District and wrote and implemented the first comprehensive written pre-trial procedure rules for the District. He served on and chaired many committees for the Judicial Conference and co-wrote the first law clerk handbook for the federal system. Judge Rubin kept long hours and was often in his Chambers early. He always took home briefs to read and drafts of opinions to edit, keeping two secretaries busy at all times.
After eleven years as a judge on the federal district court, Judge Rubin was nominated in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter to fill a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated by John Minor Wisdom. Judge Rubin assumed senior status on July 1, 1989, and served in that capacity until his death in 1991 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In his memory, the Louisiana Law Review published a special edition (Vol. 52, 1992) dedicated solely to his life and work, including articles and remembrances by his wife, Justice Byron White, Judge John Minor Wisdom, Judge Charles Clark, Judge Fred Cassibry, Judge Henry Politz, and many others.
Judge Rubin wrote more than 700 important (and sometimes humorous) opinions during his time as a federal judge. His rulings included ones that ended Louisiana's exemption of women from juries, applied the Voting Rights Act to local elections, and upheld the rights of government employees to criticize their superiors and to organize unions. Judge Rubin's interests spanned poetry, drama, history, art, the classics, and music of all types. He enjoyed writing Gilbert-and-Sullivan-ish parodies concerning legal matters and performing them for students, clerks, lawyers, at judicial seminars, and even for United States Supreme Court Justices.
The judicial activity that Judge Rubin reportedly most enjoyed was conducting naturalization ceremonies in open court. Judge Rubin spoke not as a jurist but as the son of immigrants from Eastern Europe whose parents had lost many relatives to war and hatred. He spoke movingly of his parents, their courage, and their determination to give their children the education and opportunities they had never had. Judge Rubin always emphasized that those citizens, new though they were, had equal rights. They could vote. They could develop their own talents and those of their children. They were entitled to occupy as well as to stand before the bench of justice.
Judge Rubin also enjoyed the close friendship of his many law clerks (serving as officiant of at least one wedding) and was an avid tennis player and jogger, often enlisting law clerks and young lawyers as his tennis or running partner.
Judge Rubin was the first member of the LSU Law Center Hall of Alumni Distinction, and was the First Alumni Member of the LSU Phi Beta Kappa Chapter. He was awarded the Louisiana ACLU Award for his civil rights work and was active in the National Conference of Christians and Jews and his synagogue in Baton Rouge.
Judge John Minor Wisdom wrote that "Alvin Rubin was born to be a judge, a great judge. His intellect, scholarship, and judicial leadership place him in a select group. In recent years, some of this small group graced the Supreme Court: Holmes, Brandeis, and Cardozo. These judges would have welcomed him on equal intellectual terms and as a kindred spirit."
The New Orleans Chapter of the Federal Bar Association hosts an annual symposium in Judge Rubin's honor. The symposium is an annual discussion on aspects of federal law or practice as a living memorial to Judge Rubin's contribution to federal jurisprudence and legal scholarship. The symposium is well attended by his family, friends, former clerks, and lawyers.
Judge Rubin's wife, Janice, best summed him up. "[His] friends spanned continents and age barriers . . . . [He] was the jurist he was because he was the man the boy became, a man who remembered Biblical injunctions about relationships and courage, about discipline and standards, about justice and mercy and integrity, a man whose goal on the bench was the oath taken by judges on the Isle of Man: 'You shall do justice between cause and cause as equally as the backbone of the herring doth lie midmost of the fish.' "
Director, Americas Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Ryan C. Berg is director of the Americas Program and head of the Future of Venezuela Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is also an adjunct professor at the Catholic University of America and a course coordinator at the United States Foreign Service Institute. His research focuses on U.S.-Latin America relations, strategic competition and defense policy, authoritarian regimes, armed conflict and transnational organized crime, and trade and development issues. Previously, Dr. Berg was a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he helped lead its Latin America Studies Program, as well as visiting research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Changing Character of War Programme. Dr. Berg was a Fulbright scholar in Brazil and is a Council on Foreign Relations Term Member. He has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed academic and policy-oriented journals, including The Lancet, Migration and Development, the SAIS Review of International Affairs, and the Georgetown Security Studies Review. His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, CNN.com, Los Angeles Times, and World Politics Review, among other outlets. He routinely testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Dr. Berg obtained a PhD and an MPhil in political science and an MSc in global governance and diplomacy from the University of Oxford, where he was a Senior Hulme Fellow. Earlier, he obtained a BA in government and theology from Georgetown University. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and is conversational in Slovenian.
Partner, SFS Law
Michael Nadler counsels and defends corporations and individuals on a broad range of regulatory, criminal, and civil matters, including claims involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), money laundering, healthcare fraud, securities law violations, and white-collar criminal defense.
Prior to joining Stumphauzer, Foslid, Sloman, Ross & Kolaya, Michael was a federal prosecutor for almost ten years in the Southern District of Florida. Michael has extensive courtroom and trial experience. During his time at the United States Attorney’s Office, he successfully tried over twenty-five federal jury trials and argued before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
While at the United States Attorney’s Office, Michael specialized in prosecutions and investigations involving sophisticated international and domestic money laundering and FCPA cases. Michael was selected to be part of a newly-created group targeting money laundering and foreign corruption. His cases covered the world. ranging from cases involving corrupt officials in Venezuela, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. and extending to large scale financial investigations involving European banks and foreign nationals. He was lead prosecutor in some of the highest profile, largest money laundering and FCPA prosecutions in the history of South Florida. In one case alone, Michael’s prosecution of the former treasurer of Venezuela resulted in a one billion-dollar forfeiture, one of the largest forfeiture amounts ever ordered.
As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Michael also led hundreds of complex investigations and prosecutions against individuals and corporations for violations of federal health care statutes, large scale narcotics trafficking, firearms offenses, murder for hire, tax fraud, aggravated identity theft, securities fraud and elder fraud.
Throughout his time at the U.S. Attorney’s office Michael travelled extensively throughout South America and Europe. He built partnerships and relationships with numerous law enforcement agencies both domestic and international, officials and foreign lawyers. Michael participated in several summits whose participants included officials from Lichtenstein, Italy, Bulgaria, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Luxemburg, Switzerland, Colombia, Panama, Mexico, Honduras, Equator and Guatemala on bilateral efforts to combat organized transnational crime involving money laundering, foreign corruption and narco- trafficking. Michael has also lectured federal law enforcement agencies on complex money laundering investigations and weapons of mass destruction.
Prior to his service with the federal government, Michael served as an Assistant Miami-Dade County Attorney at the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office. As an Assistant County Attorney, Michael was the trial attorney on a wide variety of civil cases and trials in federal and state court, including tort cases, medical malpractice, section 1983 civil rights cases and employment cases where he represented numerous County departments, including the Miami Dade Fire Department, Building Department, and the Port of Miami. Michael drafted appellate briefs and conducted several successful oral arguments before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the Florida Third District Court of Appeal.
Earlier in his career, Michael worked in the financial and securities litigation group in Sidley Austin LLP’s Chicago office. As an associate there, he built a reputation for successfully representing clients on white collar investigations involving securities violations and accountant liability.
Of Counsel, DLA Piper LLP (US)
Harout J. Samra – a Board Certified Specialist in International Law – focuses his practice on international dispute resolution and arbitration matters, including international civil litigation in US courts.
Harout has represented clients from both the public and private sectors, including foreign governments, public officials and clients from a variety of industries. He has experience in international arbitrations administered under the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), Bogota Chamber of Commerce, Madrid Court of Arbitration and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitration rules.
Harout currently serves as a member of the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission, by appointment of Governor Ron DeSantis. He previously served, by appointment of Governor Rick Scott, as a member of the Florida Third District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission, and was elected as Chair of the Commission from 2018-2019.
Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Timothy P. Carney is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he works on economic competition, cronyism, civil society, localism, and religion in America. He is concurrently the commentary editor at the Washington Examiner.
Mr. Carney’s latest book, “Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse” (HarperCollins), was published in February 2019. His previous books include “Obamanomics: How Barack Obama Is Bankrupting You and Enriching His Wall Street Friends, Corporate Lobbyists, and Union Bosses” (Regnery Publishing, 2009) and “The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money” (John Wiley & Sons, 2006), which was awarded the 2008 Culture of Enterprise award by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
In addition to his Washington Examiner columns, Mr. Carney’s work has been published in a variety of magazines, websites, and newspapers, including The Atlantic, New York Post, The New York Times, Reason Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. His television appearances include CNBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and the “PBS NewsHour.”
Mr. Carney has a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s College in Annapolis.
Chief of Regulatory Compliance, Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT)
Nick Primrose oversees the port’s regulatory compliance in the areas of maritime law, environmental policy, safety and risk management. He also serves as JAXPORT’s liaison with the Jacksonville City Council’s Special Committee on Resiliency and the City of Jacksonville’s Office of General Counsel.
Prior to joining JAXPORT, he served as Deputy General Counsel for Florida Governors Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott, and General Counsel for the State of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management. In these positions, he provided oversight and regulatory strategy on transportation, emergency preparedness, the economy, and other matters impacting the people of Florida.
Primrose is a member of the Florida Bar and holds a Juris Doctor from Barry University, a Master of Public Administration from DePaul University, and Bachelor of Arts degrees in political science and communications from Lake Forest College.
In 2021, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Primrose Chairman of the Florida Elections Commission, a bipartisan group that enforces the state’s election code and campaign finance laws. He is also a member of Leadership Florida Connect Class 11 and a scholar of the American Enterprise Institute Leadership Network.
Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Timothy P. Carney is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he works on economic competition, cronyism, civil society, localism, and religion in America. He is concurrently the commentary editor at the Washington Examiner.
Mr. Carney’s latest book, “Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse” (HarperCollins), was published in February 2019. His previous books include “Obamanomics: How Barack Obama Is Bankrupting You and Enriching His Wall Street Friends, Corporate Lobbyists, and Union Bosses” (Regnery Publishing, 2009) and “The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money” (John Wiley & Sons, 2006), which was awarded the 2008 Culture of Enterprise award by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
In addition to his Washington Examiner columns, Mr. Carney’s work has been published in a variety of magazines, websites, and newspapers, including The Atlantic, New York Post, The New York Times, Reason Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. His television appearances include CNBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and the “PBS NewsHour.”
Mr. Carney has a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s College in Annapolis.
Chief of Regulatory Compliance, Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT)
Nick Primrose oversees the port’s regulatory compliance in the areas of maritime law, environmental policy, safety and risk management. He also serves as JAXPORT’s liaison with the Jacksonville City Council’s Special Committee on Resiliency and the City of Jacksonville’s Office of General Counsel.
Prior to joining JAXPORT, he served as Deputy General Counsel for Florida Governors Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott, and General Counsel for the State of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management. In these positions, he provided oversight and regulatory strategy on transportation, emergency preparedness, the economy, and other matters impacting the people of Florida.
Primrose is a member of the Florida Bar and holds a Juris Doctor from Barry University, a Master of Public Administration from DePaul University, and Bachelor of Arts degrees in political science and communications from Lake Forest College.
In 2021, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Primrose Chairman of the Florida Elections Commission, a bipartisan group that enforces the state’s election code and campaign finance laws. He is also a member of Leadership Florida Connect Class 11 and a scholar of the American Enterprise Institute Leadership Network.
Director, Americas Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Ryan C. Berg is director of the Americas Program and head of the Future of Venezuela Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is also an adjunct professor at the Catholic University of America and a course coordinator at the United States Foreign Service Institute. His research focuses on U.S.-Latin America relations, strategic competition and defense policy, authoritarian regimes, armed conflict and transnational organized crime, and trade and development issues. Previously, Dr. Berg was a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he helped lead its Latin America Studies Program, as well as visiting research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Changing Character of War Programme. Dr. Berg was a Fulbright scholar in Brazil and is a Council on Foreign Relations Term Member. He has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed academic and policy-oriented journals, including The Lancet, Migration and Development, the SAIS Review of International Affairs, and the Georgetown Security Studies Review. His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, CNN.com, Los Angeles Times, and World Politics Review, among other outlets. He routinely testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Dr. Berg obtained a PhD and an MPhil in political science and an MSc in global governance and diplomacy from the University of Oxford, where he was a Senior Hulme Fellow. Earlier, he obtained a BA in government and theology from Georgetown University. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and is conversational in Slovenian.
Partner, SFS Law
Michael Nadler counsels and defends corporations and individuals on a broad range of regulatory, criminal, and civil matters, including claims involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), money laundering, healthcare fraud, securities law violations, and white-collar criminal defense.
Prior to joining Stumphauzer, Foslid, Sloman, Ross & Kolaya, Michael was a federal prosecutor for almost ten years in the Southern District of Florida. Michael has extensive courtroom and trial experience. During his time at the United States Attorney’s Office, he successfully tried over twenty-five federal jury trials and argued before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
While at the United States Attorney’s Office, Michael specialized in prosecutions and investigations involving sophisticated international and domestic money laundering and FCPA cases. Michael was selected to be part of a newly-created group targeting money laundering and foreign corruption. His cases covered the world. ranging from cases involving corrupt officials in Venezuela, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. and extending to large scale financial investigations involving European banks and foreign nationals. He was lead prosecutor in some of the highest profile, largest money laundering and FCPA prosecutions in the history of South Florida. In one case alone, Michael’s prosecution of the former treasurer of Venezuela resulted in a one billion-dollar forfeiture, one of the largest forfeiture amounts ever ordered.
As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Michael also led hundreds of complex investigations and prosecutions against individuals and corporations for violations of federal health care statutes, large scale narcotics trafficking, firearms offenses, murder for hire, tax fraud, aggravated identity theft, securities fraud and elder fraud.
Throughout his time at the U.S. Attorney’s office Michael travelled extensively throughout South America and Europe. He built partnerships and relationships with numerous law enforcement agencies both domestic and international, officials and foreign lawyers. Michael participated in several summits whose participants included officials from Lichtenstein, Italy, Bulgaria, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Luxemburg, Switzerland, Colombia, Panama, Mexico, Honduras, Equator and Guatemala on bilateral efforts to combat organized transnational crime involving money laundering, foreign corruption and narco- trafficking. Michael has also lectured federal law enforcement agencies on complex money laundering investigations and weapons of mass destruction.
Prior to his service with the federal government, Michael served as an Assistant Miami-Dade County Attorney at the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office. As an Assistant County Attorney, Michael was the trial attorney on a wide variety of civil cases and trials in federal and state court, including tort cases, medical malpractice, section 1983 civil rights cases and employment cases where he represented numerous County departments, including the Miami Dade Fire Department, Building Department, and the Port of Miami. Michael drafted appellate briefs and conducted several successful oral arguments before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the Florida Third District Court of Appeal.
Earlier in his career, Michael worked in the financial and securities litigation group in Sidley Austin LLP’s Chicago office. As an associate there, he built a reputation for successfully representing clients on white collar investigations involving securities violations and accountant liability.
Of Counsel, DLA Piper LLP (US)
Harout J. Samra – a Board Certified Specialist in International Law – focuses his practice on international dispute resolution and arbitration matters, including international civil litigation in US courts.
Harout has represented clients from both the public and private sectors, including foreign governments, public officials and clients from a variety of industries. He has experience in international arbitrations administered under the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), Bogota Chamber of Commerce, Madrid Court of Arbitration and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitration rules.
Harout currently serves as a member of the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission, by appointment of Governor Ron DeSantis. He previously served, by appointment of Governor Rick Scott, as a member of the Florida Third District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission, and was elected as Chair of the Commission from 2018-2019.
Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Timothy P. Carney is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he works on economic competition, cronyism, civil society, localism, and religion in America. He is concurrently the commentary editor at the Washington Examiner.
Mr. Carney’s latest book, “Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse” (HarperCollins), was published in February 2019. His previous books include “Obamanomics: How Barack Obama Is Bankrupting You and Enriching His Wall Street Friends, Corporate Lobbyists, and Union Bosses” (Regnery Publishing, 2009) and “The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money” (John Wiley & Sons, 2006), which was awarded the 2008 Culture of Enterprise award by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
In addition to his Washington Examiner columns, Mr. Carney’s work has been published in a variety of magazines, websites, and newspapers, including The Atlantic, New York Post, The New York Times, Reason Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. His television appearances include CNBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and the “PBS NewsHour.”
Mr. Carney has a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s College in Annapolis.
Chief of Regulatory Compliance, Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT)
Nick Primrose oversees the port’s regulatory compliance in the areas of maritime law, environmental policy, safety and risk management. He also serves as JAXPORT’s liaison with the Jacksonville City Council’s Special Committee on Resiliency and the City of Jacksonville’s Office of General Counsel.
Prior to joining JAXPORT, he served as Deputy General Counsel for Florida Governors Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott, and General Counsel for the State of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management. In these positions, he provided oversight and regulatory strategy on transportation, emergency preparedness, the economy, and other matters impacting the people of Florida.
Primrose is a member of the Florida Bar and holds a Juris Doctor from Barry University, a Master of Public Administration from DePaul University, and Bachelor of Arts degrees in political science and communications from Lake Forest College.
In 2021, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Primrose Chairman of the Florida Elections Commission, a bipartisan group that enforces the state’s election code and campaign finance laws. He is also a member of Leadership Florida Connect Class 11 and a scholar of the American Enterprise Institute Leadership Network.
Family Law and Individual Responsibility [Archive Collection]
William Kristol, Phyllis Schlafly, Karl Zinsmeister, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Jane E. Larson
On September 13-14, 1991, the Federalist Society hosted its fifth annual National Lawyers Convention at...
Family Law and Individual Responsibility [Archive Collection]
Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, William Kristol, Jane E. Larson, Phyllis Schlafly, Karl Zinsmeister
On September 13-14, 1991, the Federalist Society hosted its fifth annual National Lawyers Convention at...
The Judiciary and the Role of the Rule of Law [Archive Collection]
Mirjan R. Dama?ka, Gábor Halmai, Daniel Kroupa, Michael J. Novak, Alvin Rubin
On November 30- December 1, 1990, the Federalist Society hosted its annual National Lawyers Convention...
The Judiciary and the Role of the Rule of Law [Archive Collection]
Mirjan R. Dama?ka, Gábor Halmai, Daniel Kroupa, Michael J. Novak, Alvin Rubin
On November 30- December 1, 1990, the Federalist Society hosted its annual National Lawyers Convention...
International Corruption and the Venezuela Indictments: The Case of Alex Saab
Ryan C. Berg, Michael Nadler, Harout J. Samra
One year ago, the United States Department of Justice announced a series of indictments against...
International Corruption and the Venezuela Indictments: The Case of Alex Saab
TeleforumAlienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse
Timothy P. Carney, Nicholas Allen Primrose
On March 2, 2021, Tim Carney joined the Federalist Society's Jacksonville Lawyers Chapter for a...
Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse
Timothy P. Carney, Nicholas Allen Primrose
On March 2, 2021, Tim Carney joined the Federalist Society's Jacksonville Lawyers Chapter for a...
Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse
Jacksonville Lawyers Chapter Event
Jacksonville, FLAlienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse
Jacksonville Lawyers Chapter Event
Jacksonville, FL