Senior Counsel, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
William J. Haun is Senior Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and a Nonresident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). At Becket, Will litigates nationwide in defense of religious liberty for all faith traditions, particularly before the U.S. Supreme Court and in other federal and state appellate courts. His litigation includes being a member of the U.S. Supreme Court team that prevailed 9-0 for Catholic Social Services in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, arguing before multiple federal appellate courts, federal district courts, and the Supreme Court of Texas. At AEI, Will writes and researches on constitutionalism and self-government’s prerequisites, especially the role of religion in securing and preserving freedom.
Before joining Becket and AEI, Will practiced appellate and antitrust law at two international law firms—Shearman & Sterling and Hunton & Williams. He also served as a law clerk to Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Judge Claude Hilton of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Will often writes on constitutional law issues, including in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, the Catholic University Law Review, National Affairs, Law & Liberty, National Review Online, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. He also speaks on these topics, including at the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, Princeton University, the University of Virginia School of Law, and the University of Chicago Law School. He received his J.D. from the Catholic University of America, cum laude, where he was a published member of the Law Review. He received his B.A. from American University in political science, cum laude. He lives in Maryland with his wife and children, where they enjoy sailing, cheering on their favorite baseball teams, and discovering the great traditions of their Catholic faith.
Clinical Professor of Law, Dale E. Fowler School of Law, Chapman University
Professor of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh
Chris W. Bonneau is Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh, where he has been since 2002. His research is primarily in the areas of judicial selection (specifically, judicial elections) and judicial decisionmaking. Professor Bonneau’s work has been supported by the National Science Foundation and he has published numerous articles, including in the American Journal of Political Science and Journal of Politics. He is also the coauthor of three books: Strategic Behavior and Policy Choice on the U.S. Supreme Court (2005), In Defense of Judicial Elections (2009), and the award-winning Voters’ Verdicts: Citizens, Campaigns, and Institutions in State Supreme Court Elections (2015).
Professor Bonneau teaches undergraduate classes in constitutional law, judicial politics, and research methods, as well as graduate classes in judicial politics and research design.
Investigative Counsel, U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce
Kent Talbert is a Washington, DC-based attorney with over 25 years’ experience in providing advice on education law and policy in Congress, the U.S. Department of Education, and the private sector. His practice includes legal and policy advice to colleges and universities, for-profit schools, accrediting agencies, the pre-K-12 sector, charter school organizations, trade associations, and education-focused companies, as well as service as an expert witness. He currently serves as Investigative Counsel, U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Prior to establishing his firm, Mr. Talbert practiced at Talbert & Eitel, PLLC from 2010-2012. From 2006-2009 he served as General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Education, advising the Secretary of Education on a broad range of legal and policy matters, including the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965, the drafting and implementation of regulations under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and major education law cases pending before the Supreme Court of the United States and other appellate and trial courts. During his tenure as General Counsel, Mr. Talbert served as the Chief Regulatory Officer for the Department, overseeing all documents for publication in the Federal Register.
He has provided legal and strategic advice on the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans With Disabilities Act, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act ("Clery Act"), Federal Student Aid program reviews, negotiated rulemaking, and accreditation.
Prior to his service as General Counsel, Mr. Talbert served as the Department's Deputy General Counsel for Departmental and Legislative Service from 2001-2006. Earlier in his career, Mr. Talbert served for over 12 years on House and Senate staff, both as Education Policy Counsel for the Committee on Education and the Workforce in the U.S. House of Representatives, and as a professional staff member of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources (now Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) in the U.S. Senate.
Mr. Talbert is a member of the Bars of the District of Columbia and South Carolina, the Alliance of Public Charter School Attorneys, and the National Association of College and University Attorneys where he serves on the Committee on Legal Education. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Federal Claims, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and all federal courts in South Carolina and Washington, DC.
Co-Founder and President, Defense of Freedom Institute
Bob is a co-founder and President of DFI. He previously served as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Education from 2017 through 2020 and Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Education from 2005 until 2009.
During his most recent tenure at the Department, Bob served on the Secretary’s Leadership Team as a strategic and legal adviser on higher education, civil rights, and congressional oversight matters. As the Department’s Regulatory Reform Officer, he also supervised the implementation of the Secretary’s regulatory agenda and was an architect of the Secretary’s reforms concerning Title IX and the Higher Education Act. As Deputy General Counsel, Bob advised on a wide variety of regulatory, legislative, and oversight matters.
Prior to joining the Department in 2017, Bob was vice president for regulatory compliance matters for several postsecondary institutions and practiced education and employment law in Washington, D.C. Before coming to the Department in 2005, he practiced law in New Orleans, litigating commercial, employment, and bankruptcy cases in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi.
Bob earned his A.B. in History from Georgetown University, studied British government and international politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and received his law degree from Tulane University Law School. His articles have been published by National Review, Real Clear Education, Washington Examiner, and other media outlets. Fox News has featured his work.
Bob is a member of the District of Columbia and Louisiana Bars and the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Judge Carlos Bea serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He received his Bachelor's Degree from Stanford University in 1956 and his J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1958. Judge Bea was born in San Sebastian, Spain, and immigrated with his family to Cuba in 1939. In 1952, he represented Cuba on the Cuban National basketball team in the Helsinki Olympics. Judge Bea became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1958. He engaged in private practice in San Francisco, principally in the area of civil trials (jury and non-jury), from 1959-75 at Dunne, Phelps & Mills and from 1975-90 at Carlos Bea, A Law Corporation. He taught courses in civil litigation advocacy at Hastings College of Law and Stanford Law School. From 1990 to 2003, Judge Bea served as a judge of the San Francisco Superior Court. He was nominated by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and was confirmed in 2003.
Judge Bea and his wife Louise reside in San Francisco, where they raised their four sons, Sebastian, Alexander, Nicholas, and Dominic.
Member, NLRB
Bill works with a broad range of clients, including trade associations, hospitals and other health care institutions, school districts, transportation and logistics companies and manufacturing companies.
He is a member of Littler Mendelson's Traditional Labor Practice Group and editor of the firm's traditional labor blog, Labor Relations Counsel. He also authored several amicus curiae briefs on behalf of trade associations in cases challenging state laws that allow labor unions to trespass on the private property of employers, including a landmark case now pending at the California Supreme Court.
Chief Economist and Head of Analytics, Trulia
As chief economist and head of analytics, Jed oversees Trulia’s research programs. Applying a background in economic development and research methods, he transforms real estate data, economic trends and public policy debate into digestible insights for home buyers, sellers and renters.
In Jed’s prior role as associate director and research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, he led research projects and advised policymakers and business leaders on economic, housing and technology policies. Before his work at PPIC, Jed directed Forrester Research’s consumer-technology market research, advising corporate executives on technology adoption and demand. Jed has also held positions at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (now FHFA), the World Bank and the Progressive Policy Institute.
Jed earned his bachelor’s degree in social studies and his doctorate in economics at Harvard University.
Co-Chairman, The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies
Leonard is Co-Chairman and former Executive Vice President of the Federalist Society, joining the organization over 25 years ago. Since that time he has been instrumental in helping the organization top 70,000, focusing on the growth of lawyers membership, operations and activities advancing limited, constitutional government. In addition to his work at the Society, Leonard has advised President Trump on judicial selection, assisted with the Gorsuch and Kavanaugh Supreme Court selection and confirmation process, and served as a member of the transition team. He also organized the outside coalition efforts in support of the Roberts and Alito U.S. Supreme Court confirmations. Leonard was appointed by President George W. Bush to three terms to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom as chairman. He was also a U.S. Delegate to the UN Council and UN Commission on Human Rights during the Bush Administration. Leonard was the recipient of the 2009 Bradley Prize, along with the other founders and directors of the Federalist Society, for his work in advancing freedom and the rule of law. He is the coeditor of Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House, as well as the author of opinion editorials in the New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. Leonard holds degrees from Cornell University and Cornell Law School. He presently resides in Northern Virginia, where he and his wife Sally have raised their seven children.
Attorney, Spiro Moss LLP
Mr. Leviant is a civil litigation attorney with over 11 years of experience (10 as an attorney) handling complex and class action matters. Over the last five years, Mr. Leviant litigated class actions at several large plaintiffs' firms. Before that, Mr. Leviant worked at the small civil litigation firm Stanbury & Fishelman, Inc., where he handled increasingly sophisticated matters, including complex commercial litigations, class actions, appellate matters and civil trials.
Mr. Leviant has obtained several published appellate decisions, including Ghazaryan v. Diva Limousine, Ltd. 169 Cal. App. 4th 1524 (2009), which reversed a denial of class certification and obtained an Order of the Court of Appeal directing certification of the proposed class, Laliberte v. Pacific Mercantile Bank, 147 Cal. App. 4th 1 (2007), which reversed an adverse trial court ruling and reaffirmed the expansive nature of the “community of interest” concept in California class actions, andJohnson v. Glaxosmithkline, Inc., 166 Cal. App. 4th 1497 (2008), as modified (October 14, 2008), rev. denied, which reversed an adverse trial court ruling and questioned the rationale and viability of Alvarez v. May Dept. Stores Co., 143 Cal. App. 4th 1223 (2006).
Mr. Leviant is also the founder, primary author and Editor-in-Chief of The Complex Litigator, a legal blog focusing on developments in the areas of class action practice, complex litigation, and technology for small firms. In addition to his blog, Mr. Leviant has authored or co-authored various published articles.
Mr. Leviant is in his third year of service on the Board of Governors for the Consumer Attorneys of California.
Mr. Leviant is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth and Ninth Circuits, the United States District Courts for the Central, Southern and Northern Districts of California and all California Courts.
Mr. Leviant received his undergraduate degree from Occidental College. Graduating cum laude, Mr. Leviant majored in economics and received a “minor” emphasis in mathematics. Along with his study of economics and mathematics, he also had an emphasis in physics. This combination of scientific and economic education has been of assistance during his litigation of complex civil actions. Mr. Leviant received his law degree from the University of Southern California Law Center.
Partner, Irell & Manella LLP
David Schwarz is a member of the litigation practice group. Although he has represented clients in a broad range of complex commercial disputes and internal investigations, a primary focus of Mr. Schwarz's practice has been the defense of class actions, with emphasis on securities and shareholder claims against public corporations and parallel SEC investigations and enforcement actions. He has litigated a wide range of federal and state class actions alleging anti-discrimination claims, unfair labor practices, wage-and-hour disputes, anti-trust and unfair business claims.
Mr. Schwarz’s appellate experience in state and federal courts is extensive, and includes two matters now before the California Supreme Court, as well as numerous appeals pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and in the California Courts of Appeal. His current representations include the successful defense of Gerawan Farming, Inc., the nation’s largest grower of peaches, in two precedent-setting constitutional challenges to the compulsory arbitration procedures under the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act (ALRA). He also represents the City of San Jose in appellate proceedings challenging the constitutionality of the City’s 2012 landmark pension reform referendum.
Recognized as a leading trade secrets litigator by The Legal 500, Mr. Schwarz has litigated numerous cases involving idea submission and trade secret mis-appropriation in industries ranging from avionics and rocket propulsion systems to consumer goods and food processing techniques. Prior representations include Space Exploration Technologies Corporation ("SpaceX"), Eclipse Aviation, Pacific Scientific Aerospace, Marquez Brothers International, Williams-Sonoma, and Pottery Barn.
Mr. Schwarz also represents clients in matters relating to IP disputes, involving patent infringement and patent licensing, trademarks and copyright. In the area of trademarks, recent representative matters include KFC National Council and Advertising Cooperative, Inc. v. KFC Corporation (Delaware Court of Chancery), in which Mr. Schwarz successfully defended KFC Corp.'s right to maintain control over brand advertising funded through a Delaware corporation jointly managed by KFC franchisees and the company.
Mr. Schwarz has written on a variety of topics relating to securities litigation, securities reform legislation, white-collar criminal defense, and the defense of attorneys, accountants, and other professionals in securities class actions. Past speaking engagements include the Practicing Law Institute, the California Society of CPAs, and the Class and Derivative Litigation Institute. He served as a member of the Advisory Board of the Duke University Global Capital Markets Center and was a featured panelist at the Directors' Education Institute at Duke University and the Smith School of Business Corporate Governance Program (University of Maryland).
Mr. Schwarz also served as the Special Assistant to the Staff Director of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Following graduation from Duke University School of Law, Mr. Schwarz clerked for the Honorable Alex Kozinski, former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, after which he served as Special Assistant to the Honorable Morris B. Abram, the United States Permanent Representative to the European Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations. In that capacity, Mr. Schwarz advised U.S. delegations on a wide range of public international law issues. He also served as U.S. Delegate to a number of International and United Nations conferences, including the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the World Intellectual Property Conference, and the International Labor Conference.
Mr. Schwarz was appointed in 2001 by President George W. Bush as U.S. Delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. He is also a former Trustee of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Mr. Schwarz served two terms (2007-2016) as a gubernatorial appointee and Vice-Chairman of the Milton Marks "Little Hoover" Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy, an independent, bi-partisan government oversight board.
Mr. Schwarz is former chair and currently a member of the Firm's Pro Bono Committee. Public Counsel named him its "Advocate of the Year" for his work in the area of elder law advocacy. Mr. Schwarz is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Debate League, which is focused on bringing competitive debate to inner-city schools, and serves on the board of LDOS Media Lab, a non-profit whose mission is the development of science curriculum in public schools.
Vice President for Litigation, Institute for Free Speech
Alan joined the Institute for Free Speech as Vice President for Litigation in February 2021. In this role, Alan directs the Institute’s litigation and legal advocacy, leads our in-house legal team, and manages and works to expand our network of volunteer attorneys.
Prior to joining the Institute, Alan litigated complex federal matters for twenty years, in his own practice and as a partner in various Washington-area firms. He argued and won landmark constitutional cases in the United States Supreme Court and has appeared before numerous appellate and district courts throughout the country. Alan often speaks at law schools and continuing legal education seminars. He also teaches strategic/public interest litigation as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.
Alan began his career clerking for the Hon. Terrence W. Boyle, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He has also served as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of California, a litigation associate at the Washington office of Sidley Austin, and as counsel to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.
Alan earned his J.D. at Georgetown (1995) and his B.A. at Cornell University (1992). He is an active member in good standing of the Virginia, District of Columbia, and California bars, the Bar of the United States Supreme Court, and various federal appellate and district court bars.
Author and FoxNews.com Contributor
John R. Lott, Jr. is an economist who has held research and/or teaching positions at the University of Chicago, Yale University, Stanford, UCLA, Wharton, and Rice and was the chief economist at the United States Sentencing Commission during 1988 and 1989. He has published over 100 articles in academic journals. He also is the author of six books including More Guns, Less Crime, Freedomnomics, The Bias Against Guns, and Are Predatory Commitments Credible? He has just released another book entitled "Debacle: Obama's war on jobs and growth and what we can do now to regain our future." Lott is a FoxNews.com contributor and a weekly columnist for them. Opinion pieces by Prof. Lott have appeared in such places as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the New York Post, USA Today, and The Chicago Tribune. He has appeared on such television programs as the ABC and NBC National Evening News broadcasts, Fox News, "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," and the "Today Show." He received his Ph.D. in economics from UCLA in 1984.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Judge Carlos Bea serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He received his Bachelor's Degree from Stanford University in 1956 and his J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1958. Judge Bea was born in San Sebastian, Spain, and immigrated with his family to Cuba in 1939. In 1952, he represented Cuba on the Cuban National basketball team in the Helsinki Olympics. Judge Bea became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1958. He engaged in private practice in San Francisco, principally in the area of civil trials (jury and non-jury), from 1959-75 at Dunne, Phelps & Mills and from 1975-90 at Carlos Bea, A Law Corporation. He taught courses in civil litigation advocacy at Hastings College of Law and Stanford Law School. From 1990 to 2003, Judge Bea served as a judge of the San Francisco Superior Court. He was nominated by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and was confirmed in 2003.
Judge Bea and his wife Louise reside in San Francisco, where they raised their four sons, Sebastian, Alexander, Nicholas, and Dominic.
Member, NLRB
Bill works with a broad range of clients, including trade associations, hospitals and other health care institutions, school districts, transportation and logistics companies and manufacturing companies.
He is a member of Littler Mendelson's Traditional Labor Practice Group and editor of the firm's traditional labor blog, Labor Relations Counsel. He also authored several amicus curiae briefs on behalf of trade associations in cases challenging state laws that allow labor unions to trespass on the private property of employers, including a landmark case now pending at the California Supreme Court.
Chief Economist and Head of Analytics, Trulia
As chief economist and head of analytics, Jed oversees Trulia’s research programs. Applying a background in economic development and research methods, he transforms real estate data, economic trends and public policy debate into digestible insights for home buyers, sellers and renters.
In Jed’s prior role as associate director and research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, he led research projects and advised policymakers and business leaders on economic, housing and technology policies. Before his work at PPIC, Jed directed Forrester Research’s consumer-technology market research, advising corporate executives on technology adoption and demand. Jed has also held positions at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (now FHFA), the World Bank and the Progressive Policy Institute.
Jed earned his bachelor’s degree in social studies and his doctorate in economics at Harvard University.
Co-Chairman, The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies
Leonard is Co-Chairman and former Executive Vice President of the Federalist Society, joining the organization over 25 years ago. Since that time he has been instrumental in helping the organization top 70,000, focusing on the growth of lawyers membership, operations and activities advancing limited, constitutional government. In addition to his work at the Society, Leonard has advised President Trump on judicial selection, assisted with the Gorsuch and Kavanaugh Supreme Court selection and confirmation process, and served as a member of the transition team. He also organized the outside coalition efforts in support of the Roberts and Alito U.S. Supreme Court confirmations. Leonard was appointed by President George W. Bush to three terms to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom as chairman. He was also a U.S. Delegate to the UN Council and UN Commission on Human Rights during the Bush Administration. Leonard was the recipient of the 2009 Bradley Prize, along with the other founders and directors of the Federalist Society, for his work in advancing freedom and the rule of law. He is the coeditor of Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House, as well as the author of opinion editorials in the New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. Leonard holds degrees from Cornell University and Cornell Law School. He presently resides in Northern Virginia, where he and his wife Sally have raised their seven children.
Attorney, Spiro Moss LLP
Mr. Leviant is a civil litigation attorney with over 11 years of experience (10 as an attorney) handling complex and class action matters. Over the last five years, Mr. Leviant litigated class actions at several large plaintiffs' firms. Before that, Mr. Leviant worked at the small civil litigation firm Stanbury & Fishelman, Inc., where he handled increasingly sophisticated matters, including complex commercial litigations, class actions, appellate matters and civil trials.
Mr. Leviant has obtained several published appellate decisions, including Ghazaryan v. Diva Limousine, Ltd. 169 Cal. App. 4th 1524 (2009), which reversed a denial of class certification and obtained an Order of the Court of Appeal directing certification of the proposed class, Laliberte v. Pacific Mercantile Bank, 147 Cal. App. 4th 1 (2007), which reversed an adverse trial court ruling and reaffirmed the expansive nature of the “community of interest” concept in California class actions, andJohnson v. Glaxosmithkline, Inc., 166 Cal. App. 4th 1497 (2008), as modified (October 14, 2008), rev. denied, which reversed an adverse trial court ruling and questioned the rationale and viability of Alvarez v. May Dept. Stores Co., 143 Cal. App. 4th 1223 (2006).
Mr. Leviant is also the founder, primary author and Editor-in-Chief of The Complex Litigator, a legal blog focusing on developments in the areas of class action practice, complex litigation, and technology for small firms. In addition to his blog, Mr. Leviant has authored or co-authored various published articles.
Mr. Leviant is in his third year of service on the Board of Governors for the Consumer Attorneys of California.
Mr. Leviant is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth and Ninth Circuits, the United States District Courts for the Central, Southern and Northern Districts of California and all California Courts.
Mr. Leviant received his undergraduate degree from Occidental College. Graduating cum laude, Mr. Leviant majored in economics and received a “minor” emphasis in mathematics. Along with his study of economics and mathematics, he also had an emphasis in physics. This combination of scientific and economic education has been of assistance during his litigation of complex civil actions. Mr. Leviant received his law degree from the University of Southern California Law Center.
Partner, Irell & Manella LLP
David Schwarz is a member of the litigation practice group. Although he has represented clients in a broad range of complex commercial disputes and internal investigations, a primary focus of Mr. Schwarz's practice has been the defense of class actions, with emphasis on securities and shareholder claims against public corporations and parallel SEC investigations and enforcement actions. He has litigated a wide range of federal and state class actions alleging anti-discrimination claims, unfair labor practices, wage-and-hour disputes, anti-trust and unfair business claims.
Mr. Schwarz’s appellate experience in state and federal courts is extensive, and includes two matters now before the California Supreme Court, as well as numerous appeals pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and in the California Courts of Appeal. His current representations include the successful defense of Gerawan Farming, Inc., the nation’s largest grower of peaches, in two precedent-setting constitutional challenges to the compulsory arbitration procedures under the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act (ALRA). He also represents the City of San Jose in appellate proceedings challenging the constitutionality of the City’s 2012 landmark pension reform referendum.
Recognized as a leading trade secrets litigator by The Legal 500, Mr. Schwarz has litigated numerous cases involving idea submission and trade secret mis-appropriation in industries ranging from avionics and rocket propulsion systems to consumer goods and food processing techniques. Prior representations include Space Exploration Technologies Corporation ("SpaceX"), Eclipse Aviation, Pacific Scientific Aerospace, Marquez Brothers International, Williams-Sonoma, and Pottery Barn.
Mr. Schwarz also represents clients in matters relating to IP disputes, involving patent infringement and patent licensing, trademarks and copyright. In the area of trademarks, recent representative matters include KFC National Council and Advertising Cooperative, Inc. v. KFC Corporation (Delaware Court of Chancery), in which Mr. Schwarz successfully defended KFC Corp.'s right to maintain control over brand advertising funded through a Delaware corporation jointly managed by KFC franchisees and the company.
Mr. Schwarz has written on a variety of topics relating to securities litigation, securities reform legislation, white-collar criminal defense, and the defense of attorneys, accountants, and other professionals in securities class actions. Past speaking engagements include the Practicing Law Institute, the California Society of CPAs, and the Class and Derivative Litigation Institute. He served as a member of the Advisory Board of the Duke University Global Capital Markets Center and was a featured panelist at the Directors' Education Institute at Duke University and the Smith School of Business Corporate Governance Program (University of Maryland).
Mr. Schwarz also served as the Special Assistant to the Staff Director of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Following graduation from Duke University School of Law, Mr. Schwarz clerked for the Honorable Alex Kozinski, former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, after which he served as Special Assistant to the Honorable Morris B. Abram, the United States Permanent Representative to the European Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations. In that capacity, Mr. Schwarz advised U.S. delegations on a wide range of public international law issues. He also served as U.S. Delegate to a number of International and United Nations conferences, including the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the World Intellectual Property Conference, and the International Labor Conference.
Mr. Schwarz was appointed in 2001 by President George W. Bush as U.S. Delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. He is also a former Trustee of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Mr. Schwarz served two terms (2007-2016) as a gubernatorial appointee and Vice-Chairman of the Milton Marks "Little Hoover" Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy, an independent, bi-partisan government oversight board.
Mr. Schwarz is former chair and currently a member of the Firm's Pro Bono Committee. Public Counsel named him its "Advocate of the Year" for his work in the area of elder law advocacy. Mr. Schwarz is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Debate League, which is focused on bringing competitive debate to inner-city schools, and serves on the board of LDOS Media Lab, a non-profit whose mission is the development of science curriculum in public schools.
The Philosopher in Action: A Tribute to the Honorable Edwin Meese III
William J. Haun
In December 2011, former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese celebrated his 80th birthday. While his...
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A Survey of Empirical Evidence Concerning Judicial Elections
Chris W. Bonneau
The election of state judges is a controversial topic. Consider, for example, this quote from...
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Note from the Editor: This paper examines the U.S. Department of Education’s administration of the...
Heller and the Originalist Interpretation of the Second Amendment
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California in Crisis: Are People and Jobs Leaving for Better Pastures?
Carlos T. Bea, William J. Emanuel, Jed Kolko, Leonard A. Leo, Scott Leviant, David A. Schwarz, Kate Comerford Todd
Much has been written lately about companies’ unwillingness to invest or create new jobs in...
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Sixth Annual Western Conference
Simi Valley, CAThe Sixth Annual Western Conference
Challenges Facing California and the Western States
Simi Valley, CASan Diego Lawyer’s Chapter’s 19th Anniversary Dinner