Vice President and Deputy Chief Counsel, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Jennifer B. Dickey is vice president and deputy chief counsel at the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, the litigation arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Dickey handles a variety of litigation matters for the Chamber.
Dickey joined the Chamber following her service as Acting Assistant Attorney General and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. She also previously served as Deputy Associate Attorney General, providing strategic oversight of the Civil Division, Civil Rights Division, and Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, as well as Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel to the President. In the latter capacity, she provided legal advice on a wide array of executive actions and rulemakings, civil litigation, and judicial nominations.
Dickey also practiced law at Kirkland & Ellis LLP before her government service. She was a commercial and appellate litigator, representing businesses in federal and state courts.
Earlier in her career, Dickey served as a law clerk for the Honorable Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States and the Honorable William H. Pryor Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Dickey earned her law degree magna cum laude from Duke University School of Law, where she was an Executive Editor of the Duke Law Journal, and her undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Dartmouth College.
Associate Counsel, The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL)
Lauren Greuel is Associate Counsel at WILL. She focuses on legal and policy issues related to K-12 education in Wisconsin.
Lauren returned to Wisconsin this year after receiving her law degree, from Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, VA. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Economy, from Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, MI.
Lauren worked for WILL from 2018-2020 as a policy intern and is happy to return as an attorney—to continue to fight for an education system that is student-centered and prioritizes the freedom of families to choose the best education for their children.
Executive Director & Secretary, American Civil Rights Project
Dan Morenoff is the executive director at the American Civil Rights Project and an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
His work focuses on protecting and, where necessary, restoring the primacy of all Americans' shared civil rights against the identitarian alternative.
Before practicing law, Morenoff served on the legislative staff of Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX). Morenoff holds a B.A. from Columbia College of Columbia University in the City of New York and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. He has also served as an officer or director of several community organizations in Dallas, Texas.
Executive Director & Secretary, American Civil Rights Project
Dan Morenoff is the executive director at the American Civil Rights Project and an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
His work focuses on protecting and, where necessary, restoring the primacy of all Americans' shared civil rights against the identitarian alternative.
Before practicing law, Morenoff served on the legislative staff of Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX). Morenoff holds a B.A. from Columbia College of Columbia University in the City of New York and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. He has also served as an officer or director of several community organizations in Dallas, Texas.
Partner, Duane Morris LLP; Managing Principal, Duane Morris Institute
Jonathan A. Segal is a partner at Duane Morris LLP in the Employment, Labor, Benefits and Immigration Practice Group. He is also the managing principal of the Duane Morris Institute. The Duane Morris Institute provides training for human resource professionals, in-house counsel, benefits administrators and managers at Duane Morris, at client sites and by way of webinar on myriad employment, labor, benefits and immigration matters.
Previously a litigator, Jonathan’s practice now focuses almost entirely on helping employers meet their business objectives or missions by minimizing legal risk, maximizing compliance and focusing on relationship with business objectives or mission and legal requirements or restrictions.
Legal Fellow, Center for the Separation of Powers, Pacific Legal Foundation
Alison Somin joined Pacific Legal Foundation in May 2020 as a legal fellow in the Center for the Separation of Powers and part of the equality before the law practice group.
Before joining the Pacific Legal Foundation team, Alison was a special assistant and counsel for over a decade to Gail Heriot, a member of the bipartisan United States Commission on Civil Rights. She also has deep roots in the liberty movement. Alison was a Koch Associate at the National Federation for Independent Business Legal Foundation and, during law school, completed summer clerkships at the Institute for Justice and the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. She holds a J.D. from Emory University School of Law and an A.B. in history from Dartmouth College.
Her work has been published in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Daily Journal, Texas Journal of Law and Politics, and The Federalist Society’s Engage magazine and blog.
She lives in northern Virginia with her husband Ilya; two children; and golden retriever Willow. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, baking and cooking, children’s art projects, and training and exercising Willow.
Senior Counsel, Miller Johnson
Brett Swearingen is a Senior Counsel in Miller Johnson’s Employment and Labor practice. A native of Southwest Michigan, Brett’s practice focuses on employment and ERISA litigation, as well as counseling clients on employment matters and dealing with the government.
Mr. Swearingen litigates on behalf of clients in complex matters of employment and ERISA law, including FLSA collective actions, multiemployer pension withdrawal liability disputes, and government investigations. In addition, Brett regularly advises clients—especially state and federal contractors and grantees—on compliance with civil rights laws, as well as religious non-profits on matters regarding employment law and religious liberty. Brett is also experienced in the statistical analysis of workplace issues, such as using “disparate impact analysis” to help employers test for (and root out) potential discriminatory effects of workplace policies and practices.
Brett previously served as Counselor to the Deputy Secretary at the United States Department of Labor. At the DOL, he advised the Deputy Secretary and Secretary on employee benefits and civil rights matters and was a key advisor on several important rulemakings within the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), including regulations concerning ESG investing, proxy voting, and fiduciary investment advice, and reforms to OFCCP’s enforcement procedures and religious exemption.
Prior to his time at DOL, Brett was a litigator in the employee benefits practice of a global law firm, where he defended clients in several multi-million dollar ERISA withdrawal liability cases against multiemployer pension funds concerning alleged evade or avoid liability, successor liability, and employer challenges to pension funds’ discount rates.
Mr. Swearingen is currently licensed in Michigan and Washington, D.C.
Chairman, Center for Equal Opportunity
Linda Chavez is Chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity. She has published opinions and columns in newspapers across the country and appears regularly on cable news. Chavez is the author of the three books: Out of the Barrio: Toward a New Politics of Hispanic Assimilation, An Unlikely Conservative: The Transformation of an Ex-Liberal, and Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics. She has been honored by the Library of Congress as a "Living Legend" and as nominee for Secretary of Labor by President George W. Bush.
Chavez has held many appointed positions and has served on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards. Among her appointed positions has been Chairman, National Commission on Migrant Education (1988-1992); White House Director of Public Liaison (1985); Staff Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1983-1985); and member of the Administrative Conference of the United States (1984-1986). Chavez was also the Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Maryland in 1986 and was elected by the United Nations' Human Rights Commission to serve a four-year term as U.S. Expert to the U.N. Sub-commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.
Chavez earned her BA from the University of Colorado.
Senior Counsel, America First Legal Foundation
Nicholas Barry has been a senior litigation counsel at America First Legal since 2022. During that time, he has filed numerous lawsuits challenging lawless actions by governments and businesses. Previously, he litigated catastrophic malpractice cases, and before that, he litigated cases as an Assistant Attorney General for the Tennessee Attorney General's Office. He began his career clerking for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky for Judge William O. Bertelsman and was an associate at Stites & Harbison before joining the Tennessee Attorney General's Office. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt Law School.
General Counsel, Mountain States Legal Foundation
William E. Trachman is General Counsel for Mountain States Legal Foundation, where he protects the rights of individuals to live freely and securely under the U.S. Constitution. Previously, he was appointed to serve in the Department of Education as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office for Civil Rights. Prior to his appointment, he served as General Counsel to the Douglas County School District, where he helped litigate the fight for school choice in the school district. Presently, Mr. Trachman serves as Chair of the Colorado Federalist Society and the Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ Colorado Advisory Board. He previously taught as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. He attended U.C. Berkeley for both undergraduate and law school, and then clerked for the Honorable Harris Hartz on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Trachman is licensed in Colorado, California, and Washington, D.C.
Partner, Jones Day
Eric Dreiband represents clients in investigations, litigation, and counseling in civil rights, employment discrimination, whistleblower, wage and hour, and other matters. Prior to rejoining Jones Day in 2021, Eric served as the 18th Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and he also served as the 12th General Counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Under Eric's leadership, DOJ's Civil Rights Division set enforcement records for prosecutions of law enforcement officers and sexual harassment, religious liberty, and servicemember cases; charged the highest number of hate crimes cases in decades; significantly expanded resources for human trafficking prosecutions; prosecuted race and other forms of illegal discrimination in education, employment, housing, lending, and voting; reached historic disability rights settlements with several states; opposed unlawful COVID-19-related civil liberty restrictions; and successfully litigated to protect the Constitutional and civil rights of all people in the United States.
As EEOC general counsel, Eric led the Commission's litigation of the federal employment antidiscrimination laws, and he issued the Regional Attorneys' Manual, which established the policies of EEOC's litigation program. Eric also served at the Department of Labor (DOL) as deputy wage and hour administrator and directed DOL's enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and other laws.
From 1997 to 2000, Eric served as a prosecutor in the Office of Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr.
Eric has spoken and written extensively about civil rights and other employment laws, and he has testified about these subjects before committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
Shareholder, Littler
Bradford J. Kelley has a broad practice representing employers in employment anti-discrimination and wage and hour matters. He focuses on advising clients about emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), and their impact in the workplace.
Brad is an internationally recognized workplace AI authority. He advises clients on how to maximize the benefits of using AI in the workplace while minimizing potential legal and business risks. His deep background in this area provides employers with the tools and insights they need to develop, deploy, and monetize AI and other emerging technologies to bolster business operations and efficiency.
Associate Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston
Ryan H. Nelson joined the faculty at South Texas College of Law Houston in 2021. His research focuses on leveraging the civil litigation and other dispute resolution systems to advance the rights of poor and other marginalized workers, most often with respect to discrimination, harassment, wages, leaves of absence, and accommodations. His scholarship has been published or is forthcoming in the Michigan Law Review, Fordham Law Review, BYU Law Review, Yale Law and Policy Review, and the online companions to the NYU Law Review, California Law Review, and Vanderbilt Law Review. He has advised state attorneys’ general offices and other administrative agencies on employment law reforms and helped to draft associated proposed legislation and regulations. Moreover, he has provided legal commentary for Fox 26 Houston, KPRC 2 News | Houston, and in periodicals like Slate, USA Today, the Texas Tribune, and the Houston Chronicle.
Before joining South Texas, Ryan completed a research fellowship with the Harvard Law School Project on Disability and taught on the adjunct faculty at Boston University School of Law, New England Law | Boston, and New York Law School. He also spent nearly a decade practicing labor and employment law, including as in-house employment law counsel for one of the world’s largest financial services companies and as an attorney with one of the top labor and employment law firms in the country where he specialized in workplace affirmative action law. He obtained his LL.M. from Harvard Law School where he was awarded the Irving Oberman Memorial Prize for Best Paper on Law and Social Change; his J.D., cum laude, from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, where he served on the Editorial Board of the Moot Court Honor Society; and his B.S.B.A. with a major in economics from the University of Florida where he was a National Merit Scholar and became an avid fan of Florida Gators football.
Senior Counsel, America First Legal Foundation
Nicholas Barry has been a senior litigation counsel at America First Legal since 2022. During that time, he has filed numerous lawsuits challenging lawless actions by governments and businesses. Previously, he litigated catastrophic malpractice cases, and before that, he litigated cases as an Assistant Attorney General for the Tennessee Attorney General's Office. He began his career clerking for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky for Judge William O. Bertelsman and was an associate at Stites & Harbison before joining the Tennessee Attorney General's Office. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt Law School.
General Counsel, Mountain States Legal Foundation
William E. Trachman is General Counsel for Mountain States Legal Foundation, where he protects the rights of individuals to live freely and securely under the U.S. Constitution. Previously, he was appointed to serve in the Department of Education as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office for Civil Rights. Prior to his appointment, he served as General Counsel to the Douglas County School District, where he helped litigate the fight for school choice in the school district. Presently, Mr. Trachman serves as Chair of the Colorado Federalist Society and the Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ Colorado Advisory Board. He previously taught as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. He attended U.C. Berkeley for both undergraduate and law school, and then clerked for the Honorable Harris Hartz on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Trachman is licensed in Colorado, California, and Washington, D.C.
Associate, Wiley Rein LLP
Joel S. Nolette is an associate at Wiley Rein LLP, where he advocates on behalf of corporate and individual clients in a broad spectrum of complex litigation matters. In 2017, Joel graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as the Editor in Chief of Volume 15 of the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy. From 2019 to 2021, Joel clerked for the Honorable Raymond W. Gruender of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; and from 2021 to 2022, he clerked for the Honorable Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Before attending law school, Joel graduated summa cum laude from Gordon College in Wenham, MA, with his Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies and worked as a letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service.
Partner, Duane Morris LLP; Managing Principal, Duane Morris Institute
Jonathan A. Segal is a partner at Duane Morris LLP in the Employment, Labor, Benefits and Immigration Practice Group. He is also the managing principal of the Duane Morris Institute. The Duane Morris Institute provides training for human resource professionals, in-house counsel, benefits administrators and managers at Duane Morris, at client sites and by way of webinar on myriad employment, labor, benefits and immigration matters.
Previously a litigator, Jonathan’s practice now focuses almost entirely on helping employers meet their business objectives or missions by minimizing legal risk, maximizing compliance and focusing on relationship with business objectives or mission and legal requirements or restrictions.
Partner & Deputy General Counsel, Wiley Rein LLP
Rick is a trial lawyer and appellate advocate. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Rick learned to love nothing so much as going to trial, unless it is crafting briefs and presenting oral argument in an important appeal. Assistants in that office were fortunate to be able to do both.
Rick represents lawyers and other professionals in malpractice claims, defends insurers in coverage and “bad faith” litigation, and represents clients in commercial litigation. He also represents lawyers in disciplinary proceedings, provides legal ethics advice to law firms, has served as an expert witness on legal ethics and insurance coverage, and is Deputy General Counsel at Wiley.
Rick recently completed a three-year term as Chair of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Lawyers Professional Liability and now serves as a Special Advisor to the Committee. During his tenure as Chair of the Standing Committee, Rick also served as a member of the Coordinating Council of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility. Previously, Rick served a three-year term as a member of the Standing Committee. He speaks regularly on professional liability and insurance coverage topics.
Rick has acted as lead counsel for trials in the District of Columbia, Florida, Maryland, New York, Texas, and Virginia, as well as for arbitration hearings. On the appellate side, Rick has presented oral argument in the Supreme Court of the United States; 10 of the federal courts of appeals; the Supreme Courts of Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, and Ohio; and state intermediate appellate courts in California, Florida, Maryland, New York, and Texas. His strong record of success includes winning his case in the United States Supreme Court and all five state Supreme Court cases.
Beginning with the Marc Rich cases while he was an AUSA (for those who can remember that far back), Rick has handled many high-profile representations, including dealing with the press as appropriate. Those matters include conducting an internal investigation for a U.S. Senator and representing the Senator in connection with a grand jury investigation, representing high-level White House officials in connection with criminal and congressional investigations arising from the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky investigations, and representing Prof. Alan Dershowitz in connection with a defamation case in Florida.
Rick is an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law, where he is the co-director of the Supreme Court Program, which operates as a clinic in which students assist in preparing submissions to the United States Supreme Court. From 2003 to 2017, Rick was an Adjunct Instructor in Trial Advocacy at the University of Virginia School of Law.
Deputy Director, Regulatory Studies Center, George Washington University
Will Yeatman is deputy director of the GW Regulatory Studies Center. A lawyer, he has spent almost two decades working on federal regulatory policy, with an emphasis on administrative law.
Yeatman has testified many times before Congress and state legislatures, and his scholarly work has appeared in such academic journals as Georgetown Law Journal, Administrative Law Review, and the (forthcoming) Catholic University Law Review. His popular writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, and Bloomberg.
Yeatman came to the RSC from the Pacific Legal Foundation. Previously, he had been at the Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. From 2004 to 2006, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Kyrgyz Republic.
Yeatman holds a BA in environmental sciences from the University of Virginia, an MA in international studies from the Denver University Graduate School of International Studies, and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center. He is a member of the Washington, DC Bar.
Chief Civil Counsel, Senate Judiciary Committee
Austin Rogers serves as Chief Counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee, covering the civil portfolio for the Chairman. He obtained dual graduate degrees in Law and Theology from Duke University (summa cum laude), where he served on the Duke Law Journal and Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. After law school, he clerked for Chief Judge Steven D. Merryday in the Middle District of Florida. Following his clerkship, he practiced law at White & Case, specializing in commercial and appellate litigation. Prior to serving as Chief Civil Counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee, he served as Senior Counsel of Oversight and Investigations for the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Austin obtained undergraduate degrees (summa cum laude) in International Business and Theology from Southeastern University and Wheaton College, respectively, and played college soccer at both schools.
He has published First Amendment scholarship in the Duke Law Journal and the Marquette Law Review, and he has a forthcoming article that will be published in the Florida Law Review. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, the Republican National Lawyers Association, and the Federalist Society, where he serves in a volunteer capacity. Austin is actively involved in his church and serves on its worship team.
Clinical Instructional Fellow, Religious Freedom Clinic, Harvard Law School
Katie is a fellow for the Religious Freedom Clinic. Before joining the clinic, she clerked for the Honorable Amul R. Thapar on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She received her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she served as an Editor of the Yale Law Journal, Co-President of the Catholic Law Students Association, and Executive Vice President of the Yale Federalist Society. Before law school, Katie worked at the New Jersey Reentry Corporation, conducting research and developing programs to provide services to prisoners following their release. She received her B.A. in Philosophy from Cornell University.
Counsel, First Liberty Institute
Kayla Toney is Associate Counsel with First Liberty Institute, concentrating on religious liberty matters and First Amendment rights for clients of all faiths.
Prior to joining First Liberty, Kayla litigated religious freedom cases as a Constitutional Law Fellow at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. She clerked for Judge Gregory E. Maggs on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, where she gained valuable experience in the military justice system. Kayla also worked as a litigation associate in the D.C. office of Winston & Strawn LLP, where she enjoyed working on pro bono religious liberty matters.
Kayla earned her law degree from George Washington University, where she served as president of the Federalist Society chapter, a member of the GW International Law Review, and a writing fellow. She graduated summa cum laude from Grove City College with a degree in history and economics.
A native of Michigan, Kayla is based in First Liberty’s Washington, D.C. office and is licensed to practice law in Virginia and D.C.
Chair, Stephen Hopkins Center for Civil Rights
Attorney Giovanni D. Cicione is a business attorney with over 25 years of corporate and legal management experience. Since 2019, he has served as general counsel for North American Crane and Rigging, LLC, a regional crane, rigging and heavy hauling business which he helped expand from a New England footprint to a respected east coast regional presence. He previously practiced as a corporate attorney at prominent Rhode Island law firms including Cameron & Mittleman, LLP and Adler Pollock & Sheehan PC, and in his own private practice where he specialized in government affairs, legislative review and drafting, and permitting. Attorney Cicione also served as lead counsel at the RI Economic Development Corporation, where he focused on contract structuring and negotiation, corporate financing and commercial transactions, corporate compliance, brownfields redevelopment, business development and intergovernmental relations.
Attorney Cicione is a founder and current chairman of the Stephen Hopkins Center for Civil Rights, a public interest litigation firm whose mission is to represent citizens, regardless of means, to enforce their constitutional rights to free speech, property and economic liberty. For over a decade the Hopkins Center, under Attorney Cicione’s leadership and direction, has quietly and diligently pursued cases consistent with its mission, resulting in significant awards for its clients and real change in unconstitutional government practices throughout the state.
A 1988 graduate of Cranston High School East, Attorney Cicione graduated from George Mason University and received his law degree from Boston University School of Law. He is a member of the RI Bar, Massachusetts Bar, and the Federal District Court of RI.
In addition to Attorney Cicione’s professional accomplishments, he has served numerous community organizations including roles as senior policy and legal advisor to the RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity, advocate and deputy grand knight to Bishop Hickey Council of Knights of Columbus, and trustee to the RI Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. He has also been very involved with Boy Scouts of America and has served as scoutmaster to Barrington Boy Scout Troop 46, as well as committee chair, treasurer and cubmaster to Nayatt Cub Scout Pack 1.
Clinical Professor of Law, Cornell Law School
William A. Jacobson is a Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Securities Law Clinic.
He is a 1981 graduate of Hamilton College and a 1984 graduate of Harvard Law School. At Harvard he was Senior Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal and Director of Litigation for the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project.
Prior to joining the Cornell law faculty in 2007, Professor Jacobson had a highly successful civil litigation and arbitration practice in Providence, Rhode Island, concentrating in investment, employment, and business disputes in the securities industry, including many high profile cases reported in leading newspapers and magazines.
Professor Jacobson has argued cases in numerous federal and state courts, including the Courts of Appeal for the First, Fifth and Sixth Circuits, and the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
Professor Jacobson has a national reputation as a leading practitioner in securities arbitration. He was Treasurer, and is a former member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association, a professional organization of attorneys dedicated to protecting public investors. He frequently is quoted in national media on issues related to investment fraud and investor protection, and in the past has served as one of a small number of private practice attorneys who trained new arbitrators for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Professor Jacobson is co-author of the Securities Arbitration Desk Reference (Thomson-Reuters), updated annually.
Professor Jacobson also is the founder and publisher of Legal Insurrection, a popular politics and law website. He is frequently quoted in the media on political and legal topics, has authored many Op-Eds in major publications, and appears on television and radio to discuss politics and the law.
Staff Attorney, Women Against Abuse Inc.
Nicole Levitt is a family law attorney who represents domestic violence victims in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is an active member of the Philadelphia Jewish community and is a founding volunteer of the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values.
Partner, Allen Harris Law
Michael Thad Allen began his legal career with a unique perspective: after earning a Ph.D. in History and Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania, he spent over a decade in academia as a professor of History. There, he witnessed firsthand how university procedures often fall short of constitutional and procedural fairness—especially in disciplinary matters.
Guided by a passion for individual rights and due process, he earned his J.D. from Yale Law School in 2010 and clerked for the late Hon. Ralph D. Gants, then Justice and later Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Today, Michael is a partner at Allen Harris PLLC, a firm devoted to Title IX and campus misconduct defense. He represents students, faculty, and academic professionals in disciplinary investigations, misconduct hearings, faculty disputes, and related litigation. His cases frequently involve claims of sexual misconduct, retaliation, or speech-related infractions—often in highly charged environments where reputational, academic, and constitutional stakes are high.
Before co-founding Allen Harris PLLC, Michael practiced complex civil litigation at a national firm, handling matters including patent disputes, product liability, and institutional defense in historical claims of sex abuse cases.
With his combined experience in academia and litigation, Michael offers rare insight into the procedural shortcomings of campus disciplinary systems. He focuses on defending individual rights—particularly where university policies intersect with constitutional protections such as due process, free speech, and academic freedom. His work brings legal precision and institutional understanding to high-stakes matters affecting students and faculty across the country.
General Counsel, Mountain States Legal Foundation
William E. Trachman is General Counsel for Mountain States Legal Foundation, where he protects the rights of individuals to live freely and securely under the U.S. Constitution. Previously, he was appointed to serve in the Department of Education as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office for Civil Rights. Prior to his appointment, he served as General Counsel to the Douglas County School District, where he helped litigate the fight for school choice in the school district. Presently, Mr. Trachman serves as Chair of the Colorado Federalist Society and the Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ Colorado Advisory Board. He previously taught as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. He attended U.C. Berkeley for both undergraduate and law school, and then clerked for the Honorable Harris Hartz on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Trachman is licensed in Colorado, California, and Washington, D.C.
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