Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Amul R. Thapar serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His judicial career began in 2007 when President George W. Bush nominated him to serve on the Eastern District of Kentucky, making him the first South Asian Article III judge in American history. In 2017, he became President Donald J. Trump’s first appellate court nominee.
Before joining the bench, Judge Thapar served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. While United States Attorney, Judge Thapar worked on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (“AGAC”) and chaired the AGAC’s Controlled Substances and Asset Forfeiture subcommittee. He also served on the Terrorism and National Security subcommittee, the Violent Crime subcommittee, and the Child Exploitation working group.
Judge Thapar has worked in private practice, at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia.
Judge Thapar received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating, Judge Thapar worked as a law clerk to the Honorable S. Arthur Spiegel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, and the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Judge Thapar has also published in the Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and Catholic University Law Review. He teaches courses on originalism, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and legal writing at Notre Dame Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, and Vanderbilt Law School.
Attorney, Institute for Justice
Anya Bidwell (née Cherkasova) leads IJ’s Project on Immunity and Accountability (“PIA”). Through this project, Anya works to promote judicial engagement and ensure that government officials are held to account when they violate individuals’ constitutional rights. Anya also serves as an adviser on the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law, Constitutional Torts project.
One of Anya’s PIA cases—Gonzalez v. Trevino—was heard by the United States Supreme Court on March 20, 2024. She argued the case for the petitioner, with the goal of convincing the Justices that retaliatory arrests not involving on-the-spot decisions by police officers should be actionable under the First Amendment regardless of probable cause. The decision is expected in June.
This was Anya’s third appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court. She second-chaired Brownback v. King (an excessive force case) and Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas (a commerce clause case) in November 2020 and January 2019 respectfully.
Before joining IJ, Anya worked for a top national law firm, handling cases in trial and appellate courts. She earned her J.D. with honors from the University of Texas. Two years prior to entering law school, Anya received a master’s degree in Global Policy Studies, also from the University of Texas, and wrote a thesis on asymmetric warfare.
Anya spent her childhood in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. At 16, she left her family behind and came to America on a university scholarship. Her upbringing motivated her to study law and become an advocate for a strong, independent judiciary.
Anya’s work has been featured in numerous publications, including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, and the Guardian. She is also the host of live recordings of our Short Circuit podcast and a co-producer of our documentary-style podcast Bound by Oath.
Attorney General of Utah
Attorney General Derek Brown discovered his passion for public service early in his career. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Brigham Young University, complemented by minors in business administration and music. Afterward, he accepted an offer to attend law school. However, he and his wife, Emilie, embarked on a transformative journey by deferring for a year to travel. Upon their return, Derek embraced opportunities as an intern at the Utah Legislature and at the Office of the Utah Attorney General under Jan Graham. Importantly this laid the groundwork for a meaningful career dedicated to serving others.
Attorney General Brown’s journey embodies determination and excellence. As editor-in-chief of the Pepperdine Law Review at Pepperdine Law School, he laid the foundation for a remarkable career. Then, graduating in 2000, he honed his skills by clerking for Ruggero Aldisert, the esteemed former chief judge of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals. His passion for justice continued while he practiced litigation and appellate law with Mayer Brown. Meanwhile, he continued to forge a path dedicated to making a difference.
In 2002, Mike Lee, who would later become a senator from Utah, recognized Attorney General Brown’s potential. Sen. Lee then recruited him to practice constitutional and appellate law at Sidley Austin, where he flourished until 2004. After this pivotal period, Attorney General Brown served as legal counsel to Senator Bob Bennett from 2004 to 2006. And then he served as counsel to Senator Orrin Hatch from 2006 to 2007, contributing his expertise to the nation’s governance.
Transitioning back to the private sector, Attorney General Brown embraced the opportunity to teach communications law as an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University, shaping the minds of future leaders. In 2010, he took on the honor of representing House District 49 in the Utah House of Representatives, making a difference in his community.
Legal Director, ACLU of Utah
Jason M. Groth joined the ACLU of Utah in October 2024 as the Legal Director.
Jason received his bachelor’s degrees from the University of Dubuque, his master’s degree in creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and his law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law where he was awarded the Willard L. Boyd Public Service Distinction with Highest Honors.
Jason began his legal career as a public defender in Colorado, where he represented juveniles and adults in misdemeanor and felony cases. He moved to Utah in 2018 to lead the ACLU’s Campaign for Smart Justice to advocate for statewide criminal legal reform. His advocacy role expanded to litigating civil rights cases as the ACLU of Utah's Deputy Legal Director.
Jason briefly left the ACLU to return to public defense at the Salt Lake Legal Defender Association where he represented indigent clients in serious felony cases while regularly volunteering his time with the S.J. Quinney College of Law Pro Bono Initiative. He then joined the Indigent Appellate Defense Division representing clients in post-conviction relief cases before returning to the ACLU in his current role.
In his spare time, you can find Jason going on hikes with his spouse and dog, playing Magic: the Gathering at a local game store, or smoking a brisket in his backyard.
Associate Professor of Law, J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University
Tyler Lindley joined BYU Law School in 2024 as an Associate Professor of Law. His research centers on the judicial role and the historical evolution of the judiciary in America. He has extensively examined and published on judicial remedies, federal courts, constitutional law, and administrative law. His scholarly contributions have been or will be featured in the Alabama Law Review, BYU Law Review, Georgia Law Review, Virginia Law Review, and Wake Forest Law Review.
Professor Lindley holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Brigham Young University (2018) and a Juris Doctor from The University of Chicago Law School (2021). During his legal studies, he served as a judicial extern for Judge Ryan Nelson on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to joining the faculty at BYU Law, he clerked for Chief Judge William Pryor on the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and Judge Gregory Katsas on the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He also served as a Research Fellow at BYU Law between his clerkships.
Criminal Deputy Attorney General, Utah Attorney General's Office
While in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Utah, Stewart Young served as Senior Litigation Counsel and Training Officer. He also worked in the Financial Fraud Section, the Violent Crime Section, and the Narcotics Section. He has been lead or co-counsel on twenty felony jury trials and 22 appellate briefs. Young recently returned from Amman, Jordan, where he served as a counterterrorism prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Young has investigated and prosecuted public corruption, bribery, mail/wire fraud, Ponzi schemes, criminal tax violations, narcotics trafficking, and continuing criminal enterprise. He has also trained federal prosecutors at the National Advocacy Center and been responsible for large-scale investigations involving multiple defendants relating to complex white-collar and securities violations, narcotics trafficking, and violent street gang-affiliated conspiracies.
Young, a Stanford Law School and Princeton University graduate, started his prosecutorial career as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of California. He spent several years as a tenure-track law professor at the University of Wyoming College of Law, teaching classes on criminal procedure, criminal adjudication, and border crimes. He also clerked at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Judge Paul Cassell at the United States District Court for the District of Utah.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Patrick J. Bumatay was confirmed as a U.S. Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in December 2019. He is based in San Diego, California.
Prior to his appointment, Judge Bumatay served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, where he was a member of the Appellate and Narcotics Sections. He also served as a Counselor to the Attorney General on criminal law issues, including on national opioid strategy and combating transnational organized crime. Judge Bumatay has also worked in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the Office of the Associate Attorney General, and the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice. Judge Bumatay has twice received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award.
Judge Bumatay previously worked as an associate at Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, and Bohrer in New York, New York. Judge Bumatay clerked for the Honorable Timothy M. Tymkovich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the Honorable Sandra L. Townes of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Bumatay earned his B.A., cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Vice President for Legal Strategy, Stand Together
Casey Mattox is Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at
Americans for Prosperity. In these roles he advocates for and creates strategies and
partnerships to ensure a constitutionally limited government that protects the civil liberties of all
Americans. Prior to joining Stand Together and AFP Casey’s legal career focused on defending
the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, healthcare workers and religious organizations.
Casey has a J.D. from Boston College School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @CaseyMattox_ and on LinkedIn at
@Casey-Mattox-ST.
John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law Emerita, New York Law School; Former President, American Civil Liberties Union
Nadine Strossen, New York Law School Professor Emerita and Senior Fellow at FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), was national President of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1991 to 2008. An internationally acclaimed free speech scholar and advocate, who regularly addresses diverse audiences and provides media commentary around the world, Strossen is also the Host and Project Consultant for Free To Speak, a 3-hour documentary film series distributed on public television in 2023. Her books about free speech include: Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know® (Oxford University Press 2023); HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship (Oxford University Press 2018); and Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women’s Rights (Scribner 1995), which was republished with a new Preface in 2024 as part of the NYU Classics Series. Her many honors and awards include the National Coalition Against Censorship’s Judy Blume Lifetime Achievement Award for Free Speech. She serves on the Advisory Boards of several organizations that do free speech work, including: ACLU, Academic Freedom Alliance, Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR), Heterodox Academy, National Coalition Against Censorship, and the University of Austin.
Deputy Solicitor General of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Department of Justice
Solicitor General of Missouri
Lou Capozzi is the Solicitor General of Missouri. In that role, he oversees all appeals for the State of Missouri. He is also the Director of Special Litigation and litigates high-stakes cases at trial.
Lou previously worked at Jones Day, where he specialized in administrative and election law. At Jones Day, he helped lead a six-week bench trial in federal court, during which he cross-examined important expert and fact witnesses, delivered closing argument, asserted evidentiary objections, and argued several motions, including a motion for a directed verdict. He has also authored briefs at all phases of litigation--from evidentiary motions to dispositive motions and appeals.
Lou is also Lecturer in Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and a Public Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States. He has published several academic articles focusing on administrative law.
Lou clerked for Justice Neil Gorsuch at the United States Supreme Court in the 2021 Term, as well as for Judges J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and Anthony Scirica of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He gradated as the valedictorian from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2019.
Solicitor General, West Virginia
Michael Williams is the Solicitor General for the State of West Virginia. In that role, Michael represents the State in appeals before state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Michael also coordinates strategic affirmative litigation on the State’s behalf, including litigation against the federal government.
Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, Michael co-led the complex briefing and appeals group at a Michigan boutique firm, representing Fortune 50 companies and others in actions across the country. He also practiced in the litigation groups of two Washington, D.C. firms and clerked with the Appellate Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine.
Michael’s work has been honored with a Best Brief Award from the National Associationof Attorneys General and a Leader in the Law Award from Michigan Lawyers Weekly. He often speaks and writes on appellate-related issues.
Michael clerked twice in the Fourth Circuit: once with then-Chief Judge Deborah Chasanow of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and later with Judge G. Steven Agee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He attended George Washington University Law School and Bates College.
Solicitor General, State of Idaho
Solicitor General, Tennessee Attorney General's Office
Matt Rice serves as the Solicitor General of Tennessee. Before joining the State, Matt worked in private practice at Williams & Connolly LLP. He clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the United States Supreme Court as well as Judge Sandra Ikuta on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before his legal career, Matt played professional baseball in the Tampa Bay Rays organization.
Garwood Visiting Professor and Visiting Fellow, James Madison Pr, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
David F. Forte is Professor of Law at Cleveland State University, where he was the inaugural holder of the Charles R. Emrick, Jr.- Calfee Halter & Griswold Endowed Chair. This fall, Professor Forte will be the Garwood Visiting Professor at Princeton University in the Department of Politics, and Visiting Fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. He holds degrees from Harvard College, Manchester University, England, the University of Toronto and Columbia University.
During the Reagan administration, Professor Forte served as chief counsel to the United States delegation to the United Nations and alternate delegate to the Security Council. He has authored a number of briefs before the United States Supreme Court, and has frequently testified before the United States Congress and consulted with the Department of State on human rights and international affairs issues. His advice was specifically sought on the approval of the Genocide Convention, on world-wide religious persecution, and Islamic extremism. He has appeared and spoken frequently on radio and television, both nationally and internationally. In 2002, the Department of State sponsored a speaking tour for Professor Forte in Amman, Jordan, and he was also a featured speaker to the Meeting of Peoples in Rimini, Italy, a meeting which gathers over 500,000 people from all over Europe. He has also been called to testify before the state legislatures of Ohio, Kansas, and Idaho as well as the New York City Council. He has assisted in drafting a number of pieces of legislation for the Ohio General Assembly dealing with abortion, international trade, and federalism. He has sat as acting judge on the municipal court of Lakewood Ohio and was chairman of Professional Ethics Committee of the Cleveland Bar Association. He has received a number of awards for his public service, including the Cleveland Bar Association’s President’s Award, the Cleveland State University Award for Distinguished Service, the Cleveland State University Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence. He served as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Family under Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. In 2003, Dr. Forte was a Distinguished Fulbright Chair at the University of Trento and returned there in 2004 as a Visiting Professor. For the academic year, 2008-2009, Professor Forte was Senior Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Religion and the Constitution in at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. He was the Robert E. Henderson Constitution Day Lecturer at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, and he has given over 300 invited addresses and papers at more than 100 academic institutions. His work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Professor Forte was a Bradley Scholar at the Heritage Foundation, and Visiting Scholar at the Liberty Fund. He has been President of the Ohio Association of Scholars, was on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Society, and is also adjunct Scholar at the Ashbrook Center. He has been appointed to the Ohio State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He has also been a Civil War re-enactor and a Merit Badge Counselor for the Boy Scouts.
He writes and speaks nationally on topics such as constitutional law, religious liberty, Islamic law, the rights of families, and international affairs. He served as book review editor for the American Journal of Jurisprudence and has edited a volume entitled, Natural Law and Contemporary Public Policy, published by Georgetown University Press. His book, Islamic Law Studies: Classical and Contemporary Applications, has been published by Austin & Winfield. He is Senior Editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution (2006), 2d edition (2014), published by Regnery & Co, a clause by clause analysis of the Constitution of the United States.
His teaching competencies include Constitutional Law, the First Amendment, Islamic Law, Jurisprudence, Natural Law, International Law, International Human Rights, the Presidency, and Constitutional History.
General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs
James Baehr was confirmed as General Counsel for the Department of Veterans Affairs in October, 2025.
Previously, Baehr was a Constitutional litigator and a founder of the Pelican Center for Justice. Before that, served as a Special Assistant to the President in the Domestic Policy Council in the White House. He coordinated and oversaw DPC’s policy portfolio across a number of agencies, including the Department of Veteran’s Affairs and the Department of Justice.
Baehr serves as a Major in the Marine Corps Reserves as the Reserve Regional Defense Counsel-East Coast. In 2018, he activated and deployed to the Middle East for Operation Inherent Resolve, where he worked on the Command Staff and earned the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.
In his civilian career, Baehr was a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans, prosecuting over 100 defendants for felony-level violations in the Eastern District of Louisiana including narcotics, fraud, murder, and corruption. He previously clerked for Judge Edith Clement of the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Baehr’s first job after law school was as an active-duty Marine judge advocate defense counsel. He defended over 200 Marines in trials, presentencing trials, and administrative boards.
Baehr received his J.D. and a Masters in History from the University of Virginia in 2008. He graduated from Dartmouth College with honors in History and Government in 2005.
Colonel, U.S. Army
Colonel Toby Curto serves as a Staff Judge Advocate for the US Army 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg. He received his JD from Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, his LLM in Military Law from The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center & School, and a Master of Strategic Studies from the US Army War College.
Partner, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP; Former General Counsel of the Department of Defense
Paul Ney is a partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP practicing in with the Defense & National Security and Government Enforcement and Investigations teams. Before joining Bradley, he served as the Legal Advisor to the National Security Council. Previously, he was Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Momentus Inc., a space infrastructure company. Ney has nearly four decades of public service and private law practice experience.
Before joining Momentus, he was presidentially appointed and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as the General Counsel of the Department of Defense. In this position, he was the Department’s chief legal officer leading a team of over 12,000 lawyers that served the Department’s more than 2.8 million military and civilian personnel, and he served as the Designated Agency Ethics Official overseeing the Department’s Standards of Conduct Office. During his tenure in the Department of Defense, the U.S. Space Force and the U.S. Space Command were established.
In earlier government roles, Ney was the Principal Deputy and the acting General Counsel of the United States Department of the Navy and Chief Deputy Attorney General for the State of Tennessee. He also served as Director of the Nashville Davidson County Mayor's Office of Economic and Community Development.
Ney has been a partner in two Nashville law firms. He is a registered patent attorney and he has more than 25 years of experience in private practice engaged in commercial litigation, administrative and regulatory law, and intellectual property law.
Founding Partner, The Sander Group, PLLC; Former General Counsel, U.S. Department of the Navy
Bob is the Founding Partner of The Sander Group, PLLC, which is a National Security and Government Contracts Boutique Law Firm located in Alexandria, VA. Bob previously served as the 23rd General Counsel of the Department of the Navy after his unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate on December 19, 2019. As General Counsel, Bob served as the Department of the Navy’s (DON) Chief Legal Officer and head of the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) where he led a team of over 1,100 civilian and uniformed attorneys and professional support staff in 140 offices worldwide. During this time, Bob provided legal advice to the Secretary of the Navy, the Under Secretary of the Navy, the Assistant Secretaries of the Navy and their staffs, and the multiple components of the Department, including the Navy and the Marine Corps.
Previously, in July 2018, Bob became the Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Department of the Army. He then became the Chief Legal Officer for the Army serving as The Senior Official Performing the Duties of the General Counsel of the Army in June 2019. During his time with the Army Office of General Counsel, Bob’s duties included providing legal and policy advice to the Secretary of the Army, the Army Secretariat, and other Senior Army leaders.
Prior to becoming Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Army, Bob performed a detail to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Office of General Counsel. From 2010 to 2019, Bob worked as a Federal Prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice, National Security Division, Counterterrorism Section. Previously, Bob served as the Chief of the Economic Crimes Unit and the Captain of the Narcotics Enforcement Team in the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney’s Office. Bob also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. As a state and federal prosecutor, Bob has handled thousands of cases, which includes trying dozens of jury trials to verdict.
In his military capacity, Bob is a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where he serves as the Senior Legal Advisor/Staff Judge Advocate (IMA) for the Network Enterprise Technology Command and the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence at Fort Huachuca, AZ. Bob previously served as the Chief of the Procurement Fraud/Business Integrity Section for the Defense Logistics Agency at Fort Belvoir, VA and has performed duties as an Adjunct Professor at the National Intelligence University in Bethesda, Maryland. Bob previously deployed to Djibouti, Africa for 13 months as the Acting/Deputy Staff Judge Advocate for the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, and was deployed for six months in support of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, where he served as Trial Counsel for V Corps in Darmstadt, Germany.
Bob received his Juris Doctor Degree from the Widener University School of Law, where he was a member of Law Review for the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law and a member of the Student Bar Association. Bob also has a Master of Science of Strategic Intelligence Degree from the National Intelligence University and a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Finance from Temple University. Bob holds an active Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS-SCI) Security Clearance.
General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs
James Baehr was confirmed as General Counsel for the Department of Veterans Affairs in October, 2025.
Previously, Baehr was a Constitutional litigator and a founder of the Pelican Center for Justice. Before that, served as a Special Assistant to the President in the Domestic Policy Council in the White House. He coordinated and oversaw DPC’s policy portfolio across a number of agencies, including the Department of Veteran’s Affairs and the Department of Justice.
Baehr serves as a Major in the Marine Corps Reserves as the Reserve Regional Defense Counsel-East Coast. In 2018, he activated and deployed to the Middle East for Operation Inherent Resolve, where he worked on the Command Staff and earned the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.
In his civilian career, Baehr was a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans, prosecuting over 100 defendants for felony-level violations in the Eastern District of Louisiana including narcotics, fraud, murder, and corruption. He previously clerked for Judge Edith Clement of the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Baehr’s first job after law school was as an active-duty Marine judge advocate defense counsel. He defended over 200 Marines in trials, presentencing trials, and administrative boards.
Baehr received his J.D. and a Masters in History from the University of Virginia in 2008. He graduated from Dartmouth College with honors in History and Government in 2005.
Colonel, U.S. Army
Colonel Toby Curto serves as a Staff Judge Advocate for the US Army 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg. He received his JD from Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, his LLM in Military Law from The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center & School, and a Master of Strategic Studies from the US Army War College.
Partner, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP; Former General Counsel of the Department of Defense
Paul Ney is a partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP practicing in with the Defense & National Security and Government Enforcement and Investigations teams. Before joining Bradley, he served as the Legal Advisor to the National Security Council. Previously, he was Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Momentus Inc., a space infrastructure company. Ney has nearly four decades of public service and private law practice experience.
Before joining Momentus, he was presidentially appointed and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as the General Counsel of the Department of Defense. In this position, he was the Department’s chief legal officer leading a team of over 12,000 lawyers that served the Department’s more than 2.8 million military and civilian personnel, and he served as the Designated Agency Ethics Official overseeing the Department’s Standards of Conduct Office. During his tenure in the Department of Defense, the U.S. Space Force and the U.S. Space Command were established.
In earlier government roles, Ney was the Principal Deputy and the acting General Counsel of the United States Department of the Navy and Chief Deputy Attorney General for the State of Tennessee. He also served as Director of the Nashville Davidson County Mayor's Office of Economic and Community Development.
Ney has been a partner in two Nashville law firms. He is a registered patent attorney and he has more than 25 years of experience in private practice engaged in commercial litigation, administrative and regulatory law, and intellectual property law.
Founding Partner, The Sander Group, PLLC; Former General Counsel, U.S. Department of the Navy
Bob is the Founding Partner of The Sander Group, PLLC, which is a National Security and Government Contracts Boutique Law Firm located in Alexandria, VA. Bob previously served as the 23rd General Counsel of the Department of the Navy after his unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate on December 19, 2019. As General Counsel, Bob served as the Department of the Navy’s (DON) Chief Legal Officer and head of the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) where he led a team of over 1,100 civilian and uniformed attorneys and professional support staff in 140 offices worldwide. During this time, Bob provided legal advice to the Secretary of the Navy, the Under Secretary of the Navy, the Assistant Secretaries of the Navy and their staffs, and the multiple components of the Department, including the Navy and the Marine Corps.
Previously, in July 2018, Bob became the Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Department of the Army. He then became the Chief Legal Officer for the Army serving as The Senior Official Performing the Duties of the General Counsel of the Army in June 2019. During his time with the Army Office of General Counsel, Bob’s duties included providing legal and policy advice to the Secretary of the Army, the Army Secretariat, and other Senior Army leaders.
Prior to becoming Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Army, Bob performed a detail to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Office of General Counsel. From 2010 to 2019, Bob worked as a Federal Prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice, National Security Division, Counterterrorism Section. Previously, Bob served as the Chief of the Economic Crimes Unit and the Captain of the Narcotics Enforcement Team in the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney’s Office. Bob also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. As a state and federal prosecutor, Bob has handled thousands of cases, which includes trying dozens of jury trials to verdict.
In his military capacity, Bob is a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where he serves as the Senior Legal Advisor/Staff Judge Advocate (IMA) for the Network Enterprise Technology Command and the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence at Fort Huachuca, AZ. Bob previously served as the Chief of the Procurement Fraud/Business Integrity Section for the Defense Logistics Agency at Fort Belvoir, VA and has performed duties as an Adjunct Professor at the National Intelligence University in Bethesda, Maryland. Bob previously deployed to Djibouti, Africa for 13 months as the Acting/Deputy Staff Judge Advocate for the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, and was deployed for six months in support of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, where he served as Trial Counsel for V Corps in Darmstadt, Germany.
Bob received his Juris Doctor Degree from the Widener University School of Law, where he was a member of Law Review for the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law and a member of the Student Bar Association. Bob also has a Master of Science of Strategic Intelligence Degree from the National Intelligence University and a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Finance from Temple University. Bob holds an active Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS-SCI) Security Clearance.
General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs
James Baehr was confirmed as General Counsel for the Department of Veterans Affairs in October, 2025.
Previously, Baehr was a Constitutional litigator and a founder of the Pelican Center for Justice. Before that, served as a Special Assistant to the President in the Domestic Policy Council in the White House. He coordinated and oversaw DPC’s policy portfolio across a number of agencies, including the Department of Veteran’s Affairs and the Department of Justice.
Baehr serves as a Major in the Marine Corps Reserves as the Reserve Regional Defense Counsel-East Coast. In 2018, he activated and deployed to the Middle East for Operation Inherent Resolve, where he worked on the Command Staff and earned the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.
In his civilian career, Baehr was a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans, prosecuting over 100 defendants for felony-level violations in the Eastern District of Louisiana including narcotics, fraud, murder, and corruption. He previously clerked for Judge Edith Clement of the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Baehr’s first job after law school was as an active-duty Marine judge advocate defense counsel. He defended over 200 Marines in trials, presentencing trials, and administrative boards.
Baehr received his J.D. and a Masters in History from the University of Virginia in 2008. He graduated from Dartmouth College with honors in History and Government in 2005.
Colonel, U.S. Army
Colonel Toby Curto serves as a Staff Judge Advocate for the US Army 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg. He received his JD from Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, his LLM in Military Law from The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center & School, and a Master of Strategic Studies from the US Army War College.
Partner, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP; Former General Counsel of the Department of Defense
Paul Ney is a partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP practicing in with the Defense & National Security and Government Enforcement and Investigations teams. Before joining Bradley, he served as the Legal Advisor to the National Security Council. Previously, he was Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Momentus Inc., a space infrastructure company. Ney has nearly four decades of public service and private law practice experience.
Before joining Momentus, he was presidentially appointed and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as the General Counsel of the Department of Defense. In this position, he was the Department’s chief legal officer leading a team of over 12,000 lawyers that served the Department’s more than 2.8 million military and civilian personnel, and he served as the Designated Agency Ethics Official overseeing the Department’s Standards of Conduct Office. During his tenure in the Department of Defense, the U.S. Space Force and the U.S. Space Command were established.
In earlier government roles, Ney was the Principal Deputy and the acting General Counsel of the United States Department of the Navy and Chief Deputy Attorney General for the State of Tennessee. He also served as Director of the Nashville Davidson County Mayor's Office of Economic and Community Development.
Ney has been a partner in two Nashville law firms. He is a registered patent attorney and he has more than 25 years of experience in private practice engaged in commercial litigation, administrative and regulatory law, and intellectual property law.
Founding Partner, The Sander Group, PLLC; Former General Counsel, U.S. Department of the Navy
Bob is the Founding Partner of The Sander Group, PLLC, which is a National Security and Government Contracts Boutique Law Firm located in Alexandria, VA. Bob previously served as the 23rd General Counsel of the Department of the Navy after his unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate on December 19, 2019. As General Counsel, Bob served as the Department of the Navy’s (DON) Chief Legal Officer and head of the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) where he led a team of over 1,100 civilian and uniformed attorneys and professional support staff in 140 offices worldwide. During this time, Bob provided legal advice to the Secretary of the Navy, the Under Secretary of the Navy, the Assistant Secretaries of the Navy and their staffs, and the multiple components of the Department, including the Navy and the Marine Corps.
Previously, in July 2018, Bob became the Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Department of the Army. He then became the Chief Legal Officer for the Army serving as The Senior Official Performing the Duties of the General Counsel of the Army in June 2019. During his time with the Army Office of General Counsel, Bob’s duties included providing legal and policy advice to the Secretary of the Army, the Army Secretariat, and other Senior Army leaders.
Prior to becoming Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Army, Bob performed a detail to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Office of General Counsel. From 2010 to 2019, Bob worked as a Federal Prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice, National Security Division, Counterterrorism Section. Previously, Bob served as the Chief of the Economic Crimes Unit and the Captain of the Narcotics Enforcement Team in the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney’s Office. Bob also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. As a state and federal prosecutor, Bob has handled thousands of cases, which includes trying dozens of jury trials to verdict.
In his military capacity, Bob is a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where he serves as the Senior Legal Advisor/Staff Judge Advocate (IMA) for the Network Enterprise Technology Command and the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence at Fort Huachuca, AZ. Bob previously served as the Chief of the Procurement Fraud/Business Integrity Section for the Defense Logistics Agency at Fort Belvoir, VA and has performed duties as an Adjunct Professor at the National Intelligence University in Bethesda, Maryland. Bob previously deployed to Djibouti, Africa for 13 months as the Acting/Deputy Staff Judge Advocate for the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, and was deployed for six months in support of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, where he served as Trial Counsel for V Corps in Darmstadt, Germany.
Bob received his Juris Doctor Degree from the Widener University School of Law, where he was a member of Law Review for the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law and a member of the Student Bar Association. Bob also has a Master of Science of Strategic Intelligence Degree from the National Intelligence University and a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Finance from Temple University. Bob holds an active Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS-SCI) Security Clearance.
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James Baehr, Toby Curto, Paul C. Ney, Robert J. Sander
CLE credit for this event will be available at On-Demand CLE. This webinar brings together...
Military Law in Practice: Perspectives from Current and Former General Counsels
James Baehr, Toby Curto, Paul C. Ney, Robert J. Sander
CLE credit for this event will be available at On-Demand CLE. This webinar brings together...
Military Law in Practice: Perspectives from Current and Former General Counsels