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Oct 21 2026
Wednesday 12:00 p.m. CST    

Lessons from DOGE and Presidential Transition

Nashville Lawyer Chapter

Nashville , TN
Speakers:
Thomas Beck
Sponsors:
Nashville Lawyer Chapter
  • In-Person Event
Oct 20 2026
Tuesday 8:00 p.m. EST    

SOC! SIDEBAR: Coaching Basketball

Speakers:
Sarah Hawkins Warren
Sponsors:
Virginia Student Chapter
  • In-Person Event
  • Webinar
Oct 20 2026
Tuesday 11:45 a.m. MST    

35 Years on the Supreme Court: Justice Thomas’s Legacy and Jurisprudence

Salt Lake City Lawyer Chapter

Salt Lake City, UT
Speakers:
Allison H. Eid • Tyler Green • Jeffrey Hetzel • Jay T. Jorgensen
Sponsors:
Salt Lake City Lawyer Chapter
  • In-Person Event
Oct 19 2026
Monday 5:30 p.m. PST    

The Presidential Pardon: A Conversation with Professor Saikrishna Prakash

Portland Lawyer Chapter

Portland, OR
Sponsors:
Portland Lawyer Chapter
  • In-Person Event
Oct 16 2026
Friday 12:00 p.m. CST    

Supreme Court Roundup with Kannon Shanmugam

Indianapolis, IN
Speakers:
Kannon K. Shanmugam
Sponsors:
Indianapolis Lawyer Chapter
  • In-Person Event
Oct 15 2026
Thursday 6:30 p.m. EST    

Supreme Court 2026 Term Preview with Ilya Shapiro

Puerto Rico Lawyer Chapter

San Juan, PR
Speakers:
Ilya Shapiro
Sponsors:
Puerto Rico Lawyer Chapter
  • In-Person Event
Oct 14 2026
Wednesday 5:00 p.m. CST    

Grave Robbers, Nazis, Alvin Bragg, and KLM: Is Restitution Still in Style?

Kansas City Lawyer Chapter

Kansas City, MO
Speakers:
Brian T. Allen
Sponsors:
Kansas City Lawyer Chapter
  • In-Person Event
Oct 14 2026
Wednesday 12:00 p.m. EST    

A Nation of Litigants? Lawsuits from the Founding to Today

The Founders Gave Us the Tools Series

Speakers:
Michael Buschbacher • Richard A. Epstein • Diego A. Zambrano
Topics:
Founding Era & History • Litigation
Sponsors:
Litigation Practice Group • The American History & Tradition Project
  • Webinar
Oct 14 2026
Wednesday 11:30 a.m. CST    

The Declaration at 250: The Role of the Declaration of Independence in an Originalist Constitutional Interpretation

Houston Lawyer Chapter

Houston, TX
Speakers:
Donald J. Kochan
Sponsors:
Houston Lawyer Chapter • The American History & Tradition Project
  • In-Person Event
Oct 14 2026
Wednesday 11:30 a.m. CST    

2026 Supreme Court Preview with Jordan Lorence

Montgomery Lawyer Chapter

Montgomery, AL
Speakers:
Jordan Lorence
Sponsors:
Montgomery Lawyer Chapter
  • In-Person Event
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Speaker Information
Thomas Beck

Thomas Beck

Member, Federal Service Impasses Panel, Federal Labor Relations Authority

Biography

Thomas Beck was appointed as a member of the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP) on July 9, 2026. Previously, he was Senior Adviser to Littler Mendelson’s Workplace Policy Institute. He spent 13 years as Vice President, Labor and Employee Relations for HCA Healthcare, the largest healthcare system in the United States, with approximately 300,000 employees, 36,000 of whom are represented by labor unions. Before joining HCA, he served for four years as a Member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, having been appointed to the agency and designated as its Chairman by President George W. Bush. Prior to his time at the FLRA, Thomas was a partner with global law firm Jones Day, where he practiced primarily labor and employment law for 16 years. During his time with Jones Day, Thomas counseled large employers in the telecommunications, manufacturing, healthcare, retail, and transportation sectors on collective bargaining and other labor relations matters.

Thomas handled the “labor portfolio” in both Trump presidential transitions, which included advising on workplace policy and recommending to the president-elect individuals to serve in senior leadership at the Department of Labor, National Labor Relations Board, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

He has testified on labor law reform in the United States Senate.

In addition to his work in labor law and labor-management relations, Thomas has taught law school courses on separation of powers and statutory interpretation. He is the author of the legal casebook, Constitutional Separation of Powers: Cases and Commentary, and several opinion pieces such as Artificial intelligence will change jobs, not erase them, Washington Times,1/5/26; How Trump Can Impound Money, WSJ, 6/12/25; The Constitution empowers the president to pardon civil offenses, The Hill, 6/11/25; Congress Ought to at Least Show Up to Vote, WSJ, 4/23/13; Why U.S. Credit Rating Doesn’t Matter, Politico, 7/29/11; Military Commissions: Fundamentally Just, National Law Journal, 5/23/11

Thomas is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law.

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Sarah Hawkins Warren

Sarah Hawkins Warren

Presiding Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia

Biography

Justice Sarah Hawkins Warren was appointed to the Supreme Court of Georgia by Governor Nathan Deal and was sworn in on September 17, 2018.  She previously served as Solicitor General for the State of Georgia under Attorney General Chris Carr.

Justice Warren earned a B.A. in Public Policy and Spanish, magna cum laude, from Duke University.  After graduation, Justice Warren served as Deputy Press Secretary for the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Justice Warren received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Duke University School of Law, where she served as Editor in Chief of Law and Contemporary Problems and on the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society.

Following her graduation from law school, Justice Warren served as a law clerk to then-Chief Judge J.L. Edmondson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and to the Honorable Richard J. Leon of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She also practiced as a litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Washington, D.C., where she represented clients before state and federal courts and was outside counsel to Georgia in Florida v. Georgia, No. 142 Original (United States Supreme Court).

In 2015, Justice Warren and her family returned home to Georgia, where she began service in the Office of Attorney General Sam Olens as Deputy Solicitor General and Special Counsel for Water Litigation.  In January 2017, she was appointed Solicitor General by Attorney General Chris Carr, and in that role served as the chief appellate lawyer for the State of Georgia and the primary constitutional law advisor to the Attorney General.  As Solicitor General, Justice Warren represented Georgia in multi-state litigation and in appeals before state and federal courts, including in an argument before the United States Supreme Court.

Justice Warren currently serves on the Duke Law School Board of Visitors, the Berry College Board of Trustees, and the Advisory Board for the Atlanta Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society.  She lives in Atlanta with her husband, Blaise, and their three children.

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Allison H. Eid

Allison H. Eid

U.S. Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit

Biography

Allison Hartwell Eid is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. She joined the court in 2017 after a nomination from President Donald Trump.

Prior to her service on the Tenth Circuit, Judge Eid was a justice on the Colorado Supreme Court. She was the 95th justice to serve on the court, serving from 2006 to 2017. Before joining the Court, Judge Eid was the Solicitor General of the State of Colorado, serving as the chief legal officer to the Colorado Attorney General and representing Colorado officials and agencies in state and federal court.   She was also a tenured Associate Professor of Law at the University of Colorado School of Law, teaching Constitutional Law, Legislation, and Torts, and writing on the topic of constitutional federalism.

Prior to joining the faculty of the University of Colorado School of Law, Judge Eid practiced commercial and appellate litigation with the Denver office of the national law firm of Arnold & Porter.   She clerked for the Honorable Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Houston, Texas.

Judge Eid earned her bachelor’s degree in American Studies (With Distinction and Phi Beta Kappa) from Stanford University in 1987.   She then served as a Special Assistant and Speechwriter to U.S. Secretary of Education William J. Bennett.  In 1991, she graduated with High Honors from The University of Chicago Law School, where she was Articles Editor of The University of Chicago Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.  In 2002, President George W. Bush appointed her to serve on the Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise, established by Congress in 1955 to prepare the history of the U.S. Supreme Court.   She is a member of the American Law Institute and studied comparative law in London as a Temple Bar Scholar.

Judge Eid grew up in Spokane, Washington.  She and her husband Troy, an attorney, have two children.

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Tyler Green

Tyler Green

Partner, Consovoy McCarthy

Biography

Mr. Green helps clients litigate constitutional, statutory, and regulatory issues in courts and agencies throughout the country. Before joining the firm, he served as the Solicitor General of the State of Utah for five years. In that role, he oversaw all civil and criminal appellate matters in which the State of Utah or its officers or agencies were a party. While serving as solicitor general, he successfully argued cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and the Utah Supreme Court. He also led the Utah Attorney General office’s multistate litigation efforts, both challenging and defending regulatory actions by the federal government and other states. And he oversaw the division of the Utah Attorney General’s office responsible for defending cases challenging the constitutionality of state law. Before his service to the State of Utah, Mr. Green was Deputy Chief Counsel for Litigation at the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center. He began his career at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP’s Washington, D.C. office, where he litigated a variety of appellate and trial-court cases. Mr. Green served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas at the U.S. Supreme Court, to Judge Michael McConnell at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and to Judge Paul Cassell at the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. He earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Utah.  At the College of Law, he served as Editor in Chief of the Utah Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif and first in his class. He currently serves on the Utah Supreme Court’s advisory committee for the Utah Rules of Appellate Procedure and has been named one of Utah’s Legal Elite by Utah Business magazine.

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Jeffrey Hetzel

Jeffrey Hetzel

Law Clerk to the Hon. Kevin Newsom

Biography

Jeff Hetzel is a law clerk for Judge Kevin Newsom of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He attended Stanford Law School, where he was president of the Federalist Society, a Bradley Fellow at the Constitutional Law Center, and a Hoover Institution Rising Fellow. He also served as a research assistant for Professors Michael McConnell and William Baude. He was a summer associate at Latham & Watkins LLP, Gibbs & Bruns LLP, and the New Hampshire Public Defender. Before law school, he worked in criminal defense for three years. He holds a B.A. from Middlebury College.

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Jay T. Jorgensen

Jay T. Jorgensen

Justice, Utah Supreme Court

Biography

Justice Jay T. Jorgensen was appointed to the Utah Supreme Court in June, 2026 by Governor Spencer J. Cox.
At the time, he served as senior counsel in the Office of General Counsel for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He previously served as general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary for Coupang, and as executive vice president and global chief ethics and compliance officer for Walmart. Earlier in his career, he was a partner at Sidley Austin LLP and clerked for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court and then-Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He graduated summa cum laude from Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School. Justice Jorgensen is from Ioka, Utah. 6/26

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Kannon K. Shanmugam

Kannon K. Shanmugam

Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

Biography

Kannon is the head of our Supreme Court & Appellate practice. He has argued 41 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and has argued more than 150 appeals in courts across the country, including every federal court of appeals and numerous state courts. 

Kannon is ranked as a “Star Individual” in appellate law by Chambers USA, where a client notes, “It’s hard to think of enough superlatives to describe his talent, his judgment, his ability, his experience – he is as good as it gets.” Legal 500 U.S. recognizes Kannon in its Hall of Fame for appellate work. A client shares, “His work is the best in the business, and he is a wonderful human being in addition to being a world-class appellate litigator.”

In 2024 and 2022, Kannon was a finalist for the American Lawyer’s “Litigator of the Year” award. He was named “Appellate Litigator of the Year” by Benchmark Litigation in 2021 and was a 2026 finalist for that recognition. 

Before entering private practice, Kannon served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Ilya Shapiro

Ilya Shapiro

Senior Fellow and Director of Constitutional Studies, Manhattan Institute

Biography

Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. Previously he was executive director and senior lecturer at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, and before that a vice president of the Cato Institute.

Shapiro is the author of Lawless: The Miseducation of America’s Elites (2025) and Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court (2020), coauthor of Religious Liberties for Corporations? (2014), and editor of 11 volumes of the Cato Supreme Court Review (2008-18). He has contributed to a variety of academic, popular, and professional publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, National Review, and Newsweek. He also regularly provides commentary for various media outlets, writes the Shapiro’s Gavel newsletter on Substack, and once appeared on the Colbert Report.

Shapiro has testified many times before Congress and state legislatures and has filed more than 500 amicus curiae “friend of the court” briefs in the Supreme Court. He lectures regularly on behalf of the Federalist Society, is a member of the board of fellows of the Jewish Policy Center, was an inaugural Washington Fellow at the National Review Institute, and has been an adjunct law professor at the George Washington University and University of Mississippi. He is also the chairman of the board of advisers of the Mississippi Justice Institute, a barrister in the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, and a former member of the Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Earlier in his career, Shapiro was a special assistant/​adviser to the Multi-​National Force in Iraq on rule-of-law issues and practiced at Patton Boggs and Cleary Gottlieb. Before entering private practice, he clerked for Judge E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He holds an AB from Princeton University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School.

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Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen

Art Critic, The National Review

Speaker Information
Michael Buschbacher

Michael Buschbacher

Managing Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC

Biography

Michael Buschbacher is the managing partner of Boyden Gray PLLC. He represents public and private companies, trade associations, non-profits, and individuals in high-stakes litigation and administrative proceedings, with a particular focus on environmental and energy matters.

In addition to trial-level work, Mr. Buschbacher maintains an active appellate practice, both as merits counsel and as counsel for amici curiae. He has written amicus briefs quoted by the Seventh and Ninth Circuits. And his Supreme Court advocacy has been cited by The New Yorker, The New York Times, and E&E News. Mr. Buschbacher’s commentary on legal issues has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and The American Conservative.

Before joining the firm, Mr. Buschbacher served at the U.S. Department of Justice as counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. There, he advised senior Department leadership, served as the lead attorney on several lawsuits, and helped draft policy memoranda for the Department on the proper scope and procedure for environmental enforcement. Prior to serving in the government, Mr. Buschbacher was an associate in the D.C. office of Sidley Austin.

Mr. Buschbacher is a former clerk to Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and to Magistrate Judge Paul R. Cherry of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.

Mr. Buschbacher holds a B.A. in Music and Germanic Studies from Indiana University and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Notre Dame Law School.

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Richard A. Epstein

Richard A. Epstein

Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Senior Fellow, The Civitas Institute, University of Texas at Austin

Biography

Richard A. Epstein is the inaugural Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at NYU School of Law. Prior to his joining the faculty, he was a visiting law professor at NYU from 2007 through 2009. He served as the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution from 2000 to 2024. Since 2024 to the present he is a senior lecturer at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas—Austin. Epstein is also the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law Emeritus and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago. His initial law school appointment was at the University of Southern California from 1968 to 1972. Epstein received an LL.D., h.c. from the University of Ghent, 2003. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985 and was a Senior Fellow of the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago Division of Biological Sciences, also from 1983. to 2022 He served as editor of the Journal of Legal Studies from 1981 to 1991, and of the Journal of Law and Economics from 1991-2001. From 2001 to 2010 he was a director of the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago.

His newest book, The Myth of Birthright Citizenship: What the Fourteenth Amendment Really Says was published in 2026 (Encounter Books). Prior to that he has published many books including, The Dubious Morality of the Modern Administrative State (Roman & Littlefield 2020).Earlier he published th Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (Harvard 2014) iHis previous books include Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (Harvard 2011); The Case Against the Employee Free Choice Act (Hoover 2009); Supreme Neglect: How to Revive the Constitutional Protection of Property Rights (Oxford 2008); Antitrust Decrees in Theory and Practice: Why Less is More (AEI 2007); Overdose: How Excessive Government Regulation Stifles Pharmaceutical Innovation (Yale University Press. 2006); How Progressives Rewrote the Constitution (Cato 2006); Cases and Materials on Torts (Aspen Law & Business; 8th ed. 2004); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism (University of Chicago, 2003); Torts (Aspen Law & Business 1999); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty with the Common Good (Perseus Books, 1998): Mortal Peril: Our Inalienable Rights to Health Care (Addison-Wesley, 1997); Simple Rules for a Complex World (Harvard, 1995); Bargaining With the State (Princeton, 1993); Forbidden Grounds: The Case Against Employment Discrimination Laws (Harvard , 1992); Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain (Harvard, 1985); and Modern Products Liability Law (Greenwood Press, 1980). He has also edited(with Catherine M. Sharkey) Cases and Materials on the Law of Torts (10th edition 2012).

Professor Epstein has written numerous articles on a wide range of legal and interdisciplinary subjects. He has taught courses in administrative law, antitrust law, civil procedure, communications, constitutional law, contracts, corporations, criminal law, employment discrimination law, environmental law, food and drug law health law and policy, legal history, labor law, property, real estate development and finance, jurisprudence, labor law; land use planning, patents, individual, estate and corporate taxation, Roman Law; torts, and workers' compensation.

Professor Epstein also writes a regular column for Civitas Institute, which also sponsors his podcast, The Libertarian with Charles C.W. Cooke, and Law Talk, with Cooke and John Yoo. He also does a podcast with John Batchelor. And appears regularly on the Freedom File with Judge Andrew Napolitano.

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Diego A. Zambrano

Diego A. Zambrano

Professor of Law, Associate Dean for Global Programs, Faculty Director for the Neukom Center for the Rule of Law, Stanford University

Biography

Diego A. Zambrano’s primary research and teaching interests lie in the areas of civil procedure and comparative law. A central focus of his research is private enforcement—the distinctively American phenomenon of regulating major policy areas through private litigation rather than public agencies. Professor Zambrano is authoring a book on this subject, How Americans Enforce the Law, which traces the historical roots of this regulatory approach and evaluates where private enforcement is effective and where it falls short, including his critique of its use in areas like environmental law. He also has an interest in comparative constitutional law and legal developments related to Latin America. Professor Zambrano is the Associate Dean for Global Programs and faculty director of the Neukom Center for the Rule of Law. In 2021, Professor Zambrano received the Barbara Allen Babcock Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Professor Zambrano’s scholarship has appeared or is forthcoming at the Columbia Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, Michigan Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Stanford Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and Virginia Law Review, among other journals, and has been honored by the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) and the National Civil Justice Institute. Professor Zambrano is a co-author of the leading casebook Civil Procedure: A Modern Approach (8th ed. 2024) (with Marcus, Pfander, and Redish). In addition, Professor Zambrano served as chair of the Federal Courts Section of the AALS. He also writes about legal issues for broader public audiences, with his contributions appearing in the Journal of Democracy, Wall Street Journal, BBC News, and Lawfare.

After graduating with honors from Harvard Law School in 2013, Professor Zambrano spent three years as an associate at Cleary Gottlieb in New York, focusing on transnational litigation and arbitration. Before joining Stanford Law School in 2018, Professor Zambrano was a Bigelow Teaching Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School.

Professor Zambrano’s forthcoming publications include: “Common Informers and Government by Lawsuit” and “Boring Constitutionalism.” For a list of recent papers, visit his SSRN page.

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Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

Professor of Law and Executive Director, Law and Economics Center, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University

Biography

Donald Kochan is Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Law & Economics Center (LEC). Professor Kochan is an elected member of the American Law Institute (ALI) and serves as an Adviser to ALI's Restatement of the Law Fourth, Property project. Professor Kochan is a Nonresident Scholar at the Center for the Constitution at Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a Visiting Scholar in residence during Fall 2018.  Before joining the Antonin Scalia Law School faculty, he was the Parker S. Kennedy Professor in Law at Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law from 2004 to 2020. From 2003 to 2004, Professor Kochan was an Olin Fellow at the University of Virginia School of Law. During 2002-2003, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at George Mason’s Scalia Law School.  

Professor Kochan’s scholarship focuses on areas of property law, constitutional law, administrative law, local government law, natural resources and environmental law, and law & economics. He has published several books and more than 50 scholarly articles and essays in well-regarded law journals.  His work has been cited in more than a dozen state and federal court opinions, in more than 75 briefs filed in state and federal courts including more than 25 filed in the U.S. Supreme Court, in dozens of books and treatises, and in more than 800 scholarly articles.

Professor Kochan received his JD from Cornell Law School, where he was a John M. Olin Scholar in Law and Economics and managing editor of the Cornell International Law Journal. During law school, he also served as editor and executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy symposium issues in 1997 and 1998. He received his BA from Western Michigan University, magna cum laude, with majors in both political science and philosophy, where he studied as the John W. Gill Medallion Scholar and was honored as the Presidential Scholar (awarded to the top graduate in the political science department).  

After graduating from law school, Professor Kochan was a law clerk to The Honorable Richard F. Suhrheinrich of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Following his clerkship, Professor Kochan was an associate with the firm of Crowell & Moring LLP in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in natural resources & environmental law as well as tort, products, and consumer civil litigation & legislative affairs.

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Jordan Lorence

Jordan Lorence

Senior Counsel, First Liberty Institute

Biography

Jordan Lorence is Senior Counsel in FLI’s Washington, D.C. office, where he represents First Liberty in strategic efforts promoting religious liberty, and works on important First Amendment projects and litigation, including those at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lorence has a long career of litigating religious liberty cases since 1984. He has worked for many public interest law firms, including Alliance Defending Freedom, Home School Legal Defense Association, the North Star Legal Center and Concerned Women for America.

He has worked on important religious liberty cases. Lorence worked on school choice cases at the Supreme Court, such as Witters v. Washington Department of Services for the Blind (1986), and Trinity Lutheran (2016), which laid the foundation for First Liberty’s crucial win in Carson v. Makin (2022), requiring Maine to include religious schools in its school choice program.

Lorence argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in Regents of the University of Wisconsin v. Southworth (2000). He represented prolife Christian law students from the University of Wisconsin Law School who objected to the University’s requirement that they pay a mandatory student fee that funded the advocacy of student pro-abortion groups. Other Supreme Court cases Lorence has worked on include NIFLA v. Becerra (2018), protecting prolife pregnancy centers from a California statute requiring them to post signs explaining how pregnant women could obtain state-funded abortions; Masterpiece Cakeshop (2017), involving a Christian cake artist sued by the State of Colorado for declining to design a case celebrating the wedding of a same-sex couple and other cases such as Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (2012), Rosenberger v. University of Virginia (1995), Hurley v. GLIB (1995) and Lamb’s Chapel v. Center Moriches Center Moriches School District (1993).

Churches and other religious groups in New York City obtained the right to rent vacant public schools on weekends to conduct worship services after Lorence’s tenacious 20 years of litigation in Bronx Household of Faith. Lorence won protection for churches facing eviction from discriminatory zoning ordinances in Minnesota in Cornerstone Bible Church v. City of Hastings, Minnesota (1991). He also argued at the New Mexico Supreme Court one of the first cases in the nation defending a Christian wedding photographer charged by the State of New Mexico with discrimination for declining to create photos celebrating the commitment ceremony of a lesbian couple in Elane Photography v. Willock (2013).

Lorence defended home schooling families from intrusive school officials during his time working at Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) in the 1980s and 1990s. HSLDA also tasked Lorence with establishing a sister organization in Canada to protect home schooling families there. He traveled extensively in Canada from British Columbia to Prince Edward Island speaking to families how they could protect their right to home school under relevant Canadian law.

Lorence earned his undergraduate degree in journalism from Stanford University and his law degree from the University of Minnesota, his home state. Lorence was born and raised in Minnesota, where he worked one summer building Mighty Dump trucks at Tonka Toys in Mound, Minnesota. For two years immediately after he graduated from law school, Lorence served as the head administrator for a Minnesota Senate committee.

He speaks extensively on First Amendment and other legal issues. Lorence has spoken at least 75 law schools and many legal conferences. Prominent publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and others have printed his opinion pieces on key legal issues involving religious liberty and freedom of speech. He has appeared on such media outlets as Fox News, CNN, National Public Radio, NBC’s Today Show, BBC radio and many others.

Lorence and his wife Marilyn have been married 40 years. They live in the Washington, D.C. area where they raised their seven children.

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