Shareholder & Co-Chair of the Workplace Policy Institute, Littler Mendelson P.C.
Alexander T. MacDonald advises employers on all aspects of the employment and labor landscape, focusing on emerging legislation and regulation. He has extensive experience advising businesses on worker classification, arbitration, the administrative and regulatory process, and the future of work. He frequently writes, publishes, and speaks on these subjects. His work has been cited by scholars and appellate courts. He is a recognized voice for the management perspective.
Alexander is a co-chair of the Workplace Policy Institute (WPI) team. With WPI, he advises employers on legislative, administrative, and regulatory developments at the state and federal level. He advocates for employers in the regulatory and administrative process. He also helps employers protect their businesses by understanding and anticipating cutting-edge legal developments.
Alexander also has extensive experience in traditional labor law. He represents management in all aspects of labor-management relations, including unfair labor practice charges, grievance arbitrations, representation elections, contract negotiations, and related litigation, including litigation in the U.S. courts of appeals.
Before joining Littler, Alexander served as the director, future of work, for a major technology company. He also worked in a national labor and employment law firm and a major public-sector general counsel’s office. He was a law clerk to the senior judges in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
He is also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He served in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. In law school, he graduated first in his class
Partner, Lewis Brisbois
Sarah E. Lang is a partner in the New York office of Lewis Brisbois and a member of the Appellate Practice. Ms. Lang has represented clients at all levels of state and federal courts, including the New York State Appellate Division, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. The primary focus of her practice is drafting and arguing substantive motions and appeals before the federal courts and New York’s trial and appellate courts in substantive areas including general liability, New York Labor Law, medical malpractice, premises liability, and rideshare and transportation matters, among others. She also has extensive experience representing clients, including religious institutions, in matters arising under Title VII, the First Amendment, RLUIPA, New York’s City and State Human Rights Laws, New York’s Religious Corporations Law, and New York’s Real Property Tax Law. This includes federal jury trial experience and providing preventive advice and counseling. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Lang clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, as well as the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. She also previously served as an Attorney Advisor for the United States Department of Education.
Attorney, Allen Harris Law
Samantha Harris is a nationally recognized attorney advising students and faculty on issues of campus due process, Title IX, free speech, and academic freedom. Drawing on more than 15 years at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), where she served as Vice President for Policy Research, she guides students, faculty, administrators, and attorneys through complex disciplinary and constitutional issues involving free speech, fair hearings, and faculty-student rights.
A graduate of Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School (Articles Editor, Journal of Constitutional Law), Samantha clerked for the Hon. Jay C. Waldman in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and began her legal career at Pepper Hamilton LLP. At FIRE, she led efforts to reform campus policies and defended individuals in high-profile Title IX and free speech disputes.
Now at Allen Harris PLLC, a firm focused on Title IX and campus defense, Samantha represents students and professors in investigations, hearings, appeals, and related litigation. Samantha’s practice emphasizes strategic advocacy in campus disciplinary systems and litigation-ready defense in federal court. Her blend of policy experience, legal skill, and media visibility positions her as a leading resource for issues at the intersection of education law and constitutional rights.
Senior Counsel, First Liberty Institute
Stephanie N. Taub serves as Senior Counsel with First Liberty Institute, focusing on litigation, appellate advocacy, and legal education.
While at First Liberty, her article on the rights of faith-based organizations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has been published in the Texas Review of Law and Politics. She has also authored pieces published in National Review, the Daily Signal, the Washington Times, the Des Moines Register, and the New York Daily News. In 2017, Taub was named one of 15 recipients of the James Wilson Fellowship in natural law.
Before joining First Liberty, Taub worked as a law clerk to the Honorable Reed O’Connor in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas.
Taub is a Harvard Law School graduate in the class of 2014 and a Blackstone Fellow in the class of 2012. During law school, she served as Co-President of the HLS Christian Fellowship and Managing Technical Editor of the Harvard Human Rights Journal. Taub spent her law school summers defending religious liberty in public interest law firms and clerking in the Texas Office of Solicitor General.
For her undergraduate studies at the University of Southern California, Taub graduated summa cum laude, majoring in Business Administration with a minor in Philosophy.
Partner, Ashcroft Law Firm
Austin R. Nimocks is a partner in The Ashcroft Law Firm's office in Austin, Texas. He focuses his practice on internal investigations, government relations, white-collar criminal defense, and helping companies comply with federal law. Litigating for over 20 years, including three as a public defender, Mr. Nimocks has practiced law within the private, government, and non-profit sectors, geographically spanning the United States and beyond.
Prior to joining The Ashcroft Law Firm, Mr. Nimocks served in the Executive Administration of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as both Special Counsel and the Associate Deputy Attorney General for Special Litigation. During his time with General Paxton, Mr. Nimocks coordinated and led myriad multi-state lawsuits and strategic litigation against the federal government, other states, and local government entities. On behalf of Texas (and other states), Mr. Nimocks' teams achieved many victories against the federal government, including the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and other federal agencies.
Before joining the Texas Attorney General's Office, Mr. Nimocks served as Senior Counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom ("ADF") in Washington, D.C. While at ADF, Mr. Nimocks handled appeals and litigated constitutional cases in state and federal courts across the country, including matters regarding marriage, parental rights, voters' rights, and religious freedom. Mr. Nimocks also authored several pieces of legislation and policy memoranda and testified before numerous state legislatures, as well as Congress. While with ADF, Mr. Nimocks made regular public appearances, speaking at numerous events and participating in hundreds of television, radio, and newspaper interviews with all major national media outlets.
Mr. Nimocks earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He passed the bar exams in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Arizona and is also a member of the Bar for the District of Columbia. In addition to his state bar admissions, Mr. Nimocks is admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the D.C., First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits, as well as numerous federal district courts.
Senior Counsel, Vice President of Allied Legal Affairs, Alliance Defending Freedom
Brett Harvey serves as senior counsel and vice president of Allied Legal Affairs with Alliance Defending Freedom.
Since joining ADF in 2000, Harvey has coordinated the efforts of the volunteer network of attorneys who collaborate with ADF. In 2002, his role expanded to direct the grant program. To date, Harvey and his team have awarded approximately $54 million in grant funds to thousands of legal projects and cases, many of which have set national and multinational precedents.
Harvey leads the Allied Legal Affairs team, which is dedicated to creating opportunities for attorneys aligned with the ADF mission to actively engage in the protection and promotion of religious liberty. Harvey and his team focus on recruitment, professional engagement, and integration of allies into ADF’s advocacy efforts, including coordinating amicus efforts at state supreme courts, circuit courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Harvey has also litigated in a variety of state and federal courts, focusing on the protection of life and religious freedom. Most notably, he successfully spearheaded a national litigation strategy culminating in Town of Greece v. Galloway, in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the freedom of Americans to pray at public meetings.
Harvey earned his J.D. in 1995 from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University in Georgia. He is admitted to the bar in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, and Virginia. He has also been admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court in Colorado, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 4th, 6th, 9th, 10th, and 11th Circuits, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Senior Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
Joel L. Oster serves as senior legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom at its Kansas City Regional Service Center in Kansas, where he plays a significant role in litigation efforts defending church autonomy. Before joining Alliance Defending Freedom in 2004, he earned his J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law. Oster is admitted to the bar in Kansas, Missouri, Florida, and numerous federal courts, and has practiced law since 1997.
The Labor Law Enigma: Article III, Judicial Power, and the National Labor Relations Board
Alexander T. MacDonald
Axon Enterprises v. FTC[1] wasn’t supposed to be about labor law. In fact, it wasn’t...
Groff v. DeJoy: The Death of the “De Minimis” Test Breathes Life Back into Religious Accommodation
Sarah E. Lang
In a unanimous decision last June, the Supreme Court in Groff v. DeJoy heightened the...
State Court Docket Watch: Mitchell v. Roberts
Samantha Harris
Mitchell v. Roberts came before the Utah Supreme Court on certification from the U.S. District...
NY v. HHS and the Challenge of Protecting Conscience Rights in Healthcare
Stephanie Taub
Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public...
History and Recent Development in Same-Sex Marriage Litigation
Austin Nimocks
Note from the Editor: The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive national survey...
Who Said That?: A Simple Question That May Change the Way Courts View Legislative Prayer
Brett Harvey, Joel Oster
Related Opinions & Briefs: • Petition for Writ of Certiorari, Town of Greece v. Galloway:...
Bar Watch Bulletin February 15, 2006
The American Bar Association's Midyear Meeting took place in Chicago from Wednesday, February 8 until...