President & General Counsel, ExploraMed
At the ExploraMed incubator, Earl "Eb" Bright has many years of technology development, company formation and financing experience. He is a founder of several companies, a patent attorney and has served on the executive management teams of many start-up companies in multiple capacities (Acclarent, Neotract, Vibrynt, Moximed, Nuelle, Willow).
He is a co-founder of and serves on the Alliance for U.S. Startups & Inventors for Jobs (USIJ) Advisory Committee. He is a former member of the United States Patent Public Advisory Committee. Previously, Eb was Director of Intellectual Property West Coast Operations at Guidant Corporation where he directed a 9 member team involved in litigation and the strategic development of over 1,300 patent and trademark applications related to the Vascular Intervention, Cardiac Surgery and Endovascular Solutions divisions as well as handling legal issues for Guidant Japan and the Compass Group, the unit responsible for Guidant’s venture capital and merger and acquisition activities.
Eb is an inventor on fourteen U.S. issued patents with others currently pending. He holds M.B.A.s from Columbia University and University of California, Berkeley, and Juris Doctorate and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering degrees from the University of Oklahoma.
Executive Director, High Tech Inventors Alliance
David W. Jones is the Executive Director of the High Tech Inventors Alliance. Prior to HTIA, David was Assistant General Counsel for Patent Policy at Microsoft, where he spent more than a decade handling both domestic and international patent issues. He previously held multiple positions on Capitol Hill, most recently as antitrust and IP counsel to Senator Orrin Hatch on the Senate Judiciary Committee. David clerked for Chief Judge Sharon Prost on the Federal Circuit and Judge Will Garwood on the Fifth Circuit and is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law.
Principal, Clear IP, LLC
Joseph Matal is the Principal at Clear IP, LLC.
Joe has served as both the U.S. Patent and Trademark’s Acting Director and Acting Solicitor. As Acting Solicitor, he defended the agency in intellectual property cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court. In his role in the Solicitor’s Office, he participated in briefing almost every major case involving PTAB trials that has come before the Federal Circuit, including cases that have defined the Board’s powers and the evidence that it may consider, the content of final decisions, and the burdens and scope of motions to amend. Recent cases include Uniloc v. Hulu, Thryv v. Click-to-Call, and Aqua Products v. Matal. Previously, Joe served in senior legal roles for more than a decade for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. In that capacity, he negotiated and drafted many of the key provisions of the America Invents Act.
In his roles at the USPTO, Joe briefed and argued numerous appeals of patent and trademark decisions before the Federal Circuit; oversaw the management of the USPTO and its 13,000 employees; and advised the U.S. Solicitor General’s Office in key IP cases before the Supreme Court.
U.S. Court of Appeals For the Federal Circuit (Ret.)
Judge Kathleen (Kate) O’Malley (Ret.) was a Federal Judge for over 27 years. She was appointed to the District Court in 1994 at the age of 37 and was elevated to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) in 2010. Judge O’Malley is the only former District Court judge to be appointed to the CAFC. The CAFC is the only Court of Appeals in the country that handles appeals of patent cases, presiding over appeals from all fora in which such matters originate—District Courts, the Court of Claims, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the Patent Trial and Trademark Office, and the International Trade Commission. She also has substantial experience with other intellectual property (IP) issues—Copyright, Trademark, Trade Secret, and the intersection of IP and antitrust—and with other areas of federal law, including securities fraud, tax matters, and mass torts.
Judge O’Malley lectures regularly on various IP topics, including the importance of IP to innovation and the importance of innovation to the economy. Judge O’Malley has received numerous awards over these years. For her contributions to the development of IP law alone, she has received the following: the Sedona Conference Lifetime Achievement Award, the New Jersey Intellectual Property Law Association Jefferson Medal, the New York Intellectual Property Law Association Outstanding Public Service Award, and the Intellectual Property Owners Association’s 2020 Distinguished IP Professional Award and was named to the Globe Business Media Group’s IP Hall of Fame. The Kathleen M. O’Malley Inn of Court was recently chartered in Cleveland, Ohio, as a tribute to Judge O’Malley’s service.
Judge O’Malley is the only U.S. representative on the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) judicial advisory council, participates in WIPO’s project relating to the ethical and IP implications of artificial intelligence (AI) and, at the invitation of the Queen’s College of London, served on a committee to establish an IP court system in the Ukraine and to train the judges thereon. Judge O’Malley is currently a Senior Adviser to the Renewing American Innovation Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She has also trained judges, lawyers, and stakeholders on the U.S. IP system in over a dozen countries around the world.
In addition to her judicial duties, Judge O’Malley has been involved in numerous projects relating to the intersection of science and the law and the education of the judiciary on how best to handle and understand such issues. At the invitation of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Technology and the Federal Judicial Center, Judge O’Malley served on the Committee on the Development of the Third Edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence and recently co-chaired a planning committee for a workshop on Emerging Areas of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine, and the Courts that explored, among other cutting edge scientific questions, legal questions relating to climate change, the ethical and IP implications of AI, implicit bias, computer science, and engineering.
Before joining the bench, Judge O’Malley served as Chief Counsel and First Assistant to the Ohio Attorney General. She also was in private practice, litigating complex commercial matters at Jones Day and Porter Wright in Ohio. Judge O’Malley began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. She received her A.B. in Economics and History from Kenyon College and earned her JD from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Chief Policy Officer and Counsel, The Council for Innovation Promotion
Jamie Simpson is Chief Policy Officer and Counsel for The Council for Innovation Promotion (c4IP), which is a bipartisan coalition dedicated to promoting strong and effective intellectual property rights that drive innovation, boost economic competitiveness, and improve lives everywhere.
Simpson has almost 20 years of experience in policy and a specific focus on IP-related issues. She previously served as Chief Counsel on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, IP, and the Internet; Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee while on detail from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; and Associate Solicitor at the USPTO.
A graduate of Harvard Law School and, previously, a law clerk at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Simpson has extensive expertise in intellectual property law and policy, as well as an earlier background of working on patent litigation and licensing disputes.
Legal Director, The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
Will began defending student and faculty rights for FIRE in 2006 after graduating from New York University School of Law, where he served as an associate executive editor for the New York University Law Review. Will has appeared on national cable television and radio on behalf of FIRE and has spoken to students, faculty, administrators, and attorneys at events across the country. Will’s writing has been published by The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Jurist, Inside Higher Ed, Daily Journal, the Charleston Law Review, and many other outlets. Will edited the second edition of FIRE’s Guide to Due Process and Campus Justice, co-edited the second edition of FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus, and has coauthored amicus curiae briefs submitted to a number of courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits. Will has taught FIRE’s Continuing Legal Education programs in New York, Pennsylvania, and online. A member of the New York State Bar and the First Amendment Lawyers Association, Will serves as Co-Chair of the Education Subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice.
Will graduated magna cum laude from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2003. A proud native of Buffalo, New York, Will now lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children.
Special Counsel, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Aharon Friedman is Special Counsel at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. He is also a Visiting Scholar at the Hoover Institution. He formerly served as senior counsel to the House Ways and Means Committee, senior adviser to the U.S. Treasury Department and as a law clerk for Israel’s Supreme Court.
Professor of Law and Director, Center for the Middle East and International Law, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School
Professor of Law Eugene Kontorovich is one of the world’s preeminent experts on universal jurisdiction and maritime piracy, as well as international law and the Israel-Arab conflict. He is also the Director of Scalia Law School's Center for the Middle East and International Law. Professor Kontorovich joined the Scalia Law School from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law where he was a Professor of Law from 2011 to 2018 and an Associate Professor from 2007 to 2011. Previously, he was a Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago from 2005 to 2007 and an Assistant Professor at George Mason School of Law from 2003 to 2007.
Professor Kontorovich has published over thirty major scholarly articles and book chapters in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed journals in the United States and Europe, including the American Journal of International Law, International Review of Law & Economics, Stanford Law Review, California Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and Virginia Law Review. His scholarship has been cited in leading foreign relations and international law
His expertise is often sought out and quoted by major news organizations such the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR News, The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, and numerous television and radio programs. Prof. Kontorovich’s popular writings have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, POLITICO, Commentary, Haaretz, and numerous other leading publications. He is also a regular contributor to the Washington Post’s Volokh Conspiracy legal blog.
He attended the University of Chicago for college and law school. After law school, he clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He has been honored with a fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, in 2011-12, and with the Federalist Society’s prestigious Bator Award, given annually to a young scholar (under 40), for outstanding scholarship and teaching.
Legal Director, The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
Will began defending student and faculty rights for FIRE in 2006 after graduating from New York University School of Law, where he served as an associate executive editor for the New York University Law Review. Will has appeared on national cable television and radio on behalf of FIRE and has spoken to students, faculty, administrators, and attorneys at events across the country. Will’s writing has been published by The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Jurist, Inside Higher Ed, Daily Journal, the Charleston Law Review, and many other outlets. Will edited the second edition of FIRE’s Guide to Due Process and Campus Justice, co-edited the second edition of FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus, and has coauthored amicus curiae briefs submitted to a number of courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits. Will has taught FIRE’s Continuing Legal Education programs in New York, Pennsylvania, and online. A member of the New York State Bar and the First Amendment Lawyers Association, Will serves as Co-Chair of the Education Subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice.
Will graduated magna cum laude from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2003. A proud native of Buffalo, New York, Will now lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children.
Special Counsel, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Aharon Friedman is Special Counsel at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. He is also a Visiting Scholar at the Hoover Institution. He formerly served as senior counsel to the House Ways and Means Committee, senior adviser to the U.S. Treasury Department and as a law clerk for Israel’s Supreme Court.
Professor of Law and Director, Center for the Middle East and International Law, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School
Professor of Law Eugene Kontorovich is one of the world’s preeminent experts on universal jurisdiction and maritime piracy, as well as international law and the Israel-Arab conflict. He is also the Director of Scalia Law School's Center for the Middle East and International Law. Professor Kontorovich joined the Scalia Law School from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law where he was a Professor of Law from 2011 to 2018 and an Associate Professor from 2007 to 2011. Previously, he was a Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago from 2005 to 2007 and an Assistant Professor at George Mason School of Law from 2003 to 2007.
Professor Kontorovich has published over thirty major scholarly articles and book chapters in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed journals in the United States and Europe, including the American Journal of International Law, International Review of Law & Economics, Stanford Law Review, California Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and Virginia Law Review. His scholarship has been cited in leading foreign relations and international law
His expertise is often sought out and quoted by major news organizations such the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR News, The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, and numerous television and radio programs. Prof. Kontorovich’s popular writings have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, POLITICO, Commentary, Haaretz, and numerous other leading publications. He is also a regular contributor to the Washington Post’s Volokh Conspiracy legal blog.
He attended the University of Chicago for college and law school. After law school, he clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He has been honored with a fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, in 2011-12, and with the Federalist Society’s prestigious Bator Award, given annually to a young scholar (under 40), for outstanding scholarship and teaching.
President & General Counsel, ExploraMed
At the ExploraMed incubator, Earl "Eb" Bright has many years of technology development, company formation and financing experience. He is a founder of several companies, a patent attorney and has served on the executive management teams of many start-up companies in multiple capacities (Acclarent, Neotract, Vibrynt, Moximed, Nuelle, Willow).
He is a co-founder of and serves on the Alliance for U.S. Startups & Inventors for Jobs (USIJ) Advisory Committee. He is a former member of the United States Patent Public Advisory Committee. Previously, Eb was Director of Intellectual Property West Coast Operations at Guidant Corporation where he directed a 9 member team involved in litigation and the strategic development of over 1,300 patent and trademark applications related to the Vascular Intervention, Cardiac Surgery and Endovascular Solutions divisions as well as handling legal issues for Guidant Japan and the Compass Group, the unit responsible for Guidant’s venture capital and merger and acquisition activities.
Eb is an inventor on fourteen U.S. issued patents with others currently pending. He holds M.B.A.s from Columbia University and University of California, Berkeley, and Juris Doctorate and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering degrees from the University of Oklahoma.
Executive Director, High Tech Inventors Alliance
David W. Jones is the Executive Director of the High Tech Inventors Alliance. Prior to HTIA, David was Assistant General Counsel for Patent Policy at Microsoft, where he spent more than a decade handling both domestic and international patent issues. He previously held multiple positions on Capitol Hill, most recently as antitrust and IP counsel to Senator Orrin Hatch on the Senate Judiciary Committee. David clerked for Chief Judge Sharon Prost on the Federal Circuit and Judge Will Garwood on the Fifth Circuit and is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law.
Principal, Clear IP, LLC
Joseph Matal is the Principal at Clear IP, LLC.
Joe has served as both the U.S. Patent and Trademark’s Acting Director and Acting Solicitor. As Acting Solicitor, he defended the agency in intellectual property cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court. In his role in the Solicitor’s Office, he participated in briefing almost every major case involving PTAB trials that has come before the Federal Circuit, including cases that have defined the Board’s powers and the evidence that it may consider, the content of final decisions, and the burdens and scope of motions to amend. Recent cases include Uniloc v. Hulu, Thryv v. Click-to-Call, and Aqua Products v. Matal. Previously, Joe served in senior legal roles for more than a decade for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. In that capacity, he negotiated and drafted many of the key provisions of the America Invents Act.
In his roles at the USPTO, Joe briefed and argued numerous appeals of patent and trademark decisions before the Federal Circuit; oversaw the management of the USPTO and its 13,000 employees; and advised the U.S. Solicitor General’s Office in key IP cases before the Supreme Court.
U.S. Court of Appeals For the Federal Circuit (Ret.)
Judge Kathleen (Kate) O’Malley (Ret.) was a Federal Judge for over 27 years. She was appointed to the District Court in 1994 at the age of 37 and was elevated to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) in 2010. Judge O’Malley is the only former District Court judge to be appointed to the CAFC. The CAFC is the only Court of Appeals in the country that handles appeals of patent cases, presiding over appeals from all fora in which such matters originate—District Courts, the Court of Claims, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the Patent Trial and Trademark Office, and the International Trade Commission. She also has substantial experience with other intellectual property (IP) issues—Copyright, Trademark, Trade Secret, and the intersection of IP and antitrust—and with other areas of federal law, including securities fraud, tax matters, and mass torts.
Judge O’Malley lectures regularly on various IP topics, including the importance of IP to innovation and the importance of innovation to the economy. Judge O’Malley has received numerous awards over these years. For her contributions to the development of IP law alone, she has received the following: the Sedona Conference Lifetime Achievement Award, the New Jersey Intellectual Property Law Association Jefferson Medal, the New York Intellectual Property Law Association Outstanding Public Service Award, and the Intellectual Property Owners Association’s 2020 Distinguished IP Professional Award and was named to the Globe Business Media Group’s IP Hall of Fame. The Kathleen M. O’Malley Inn of Court was recently chartered in Cleveland, Ohio, as a tribute to Judge O’Malley’s service.
Judge O’Malley is the only U.S. representative on the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) judicial advisory council, participates in WIPO’s project relating to the ethical and IP implications of artificial intelligence (AI) and, at the invitation of the Queen’s College of London, served on a committee to establish an IP court system in the Ukraine and to train the judges thereon. Judge O’Malley is currently a Senior Adviser to the Renewing American Innovation Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She has also trained judges, lawyers, and stakeholders on the U.S. IP system in over a dozen countries around the world.
In addition to her judicial duties, Judge O’Malley has been involved in numerous projects relating to the intersection of science and the law and the education of the judiciary on how best to handle and understand such issues. At the invitation of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Technology and the Federal Judicial Center, Judge O’Malley served on the Committee on the Development of the Third Edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence and recently co-chaired a planning committee for a workshop on Emerging Areas of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine, and the Courts that explored, among other cutting edge scientific questions, legal questions relating to climate change, the ethical and IP implications of AI, implicit bias, computer science, and engineering.
Before joining the bench, Judge O’Malley served as Chief Counsel and First Assistant to the Ohio Attorney General. She also was in private practice, litigating complex commercial matters at Jones Day and Porter Wright in Ohio. Judge O’Malley began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. She received her A.B. in Economics and History from Kenyon College and earned her JD from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Chief Policy Officer and Counsel, The Council for Innovation Promotion
Jamie Simpson is Chief Policy Officer and Counsel for The Council for Innovation Promotion (c4IP), which is a bipartisan coalition dedicated to promoting strong and effective intellectual property rights that drive innovation, boost economic competitiveness, and improve lives everywhere.
Simpson has almost 20 years of experience in policy and a specific focus on IP-related issues. She previously served as Chief Counsel on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, IP, and the Internet; Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee while on detail from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; and Associate Solicitor at the USPTO.
A graduate of Harvard Law School and, previously, a law clerk at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Simpson has extensive expertise in intellectual property law and policy, as well as an earlier background of working on patent litigation and licensing disputes.
Legal Director, The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
Will began defending student and faculty rights for FIRE in 2006 after graduating from New York University School of Law, where he served as an associate executive editor for the New York University Law Review. Will has appeared on national cable television and radio on behalf of FIRE and has spoken to students, faculty, administrators, and attorneys at events across the country. Will’s writing has been published by The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Jurist, Inside Higher Ed, Daily Journal, the Charleston Law Review, and many other outlets. Will edited the second edition of FIRE’s Guide to Due Process and Campus Justice, co-edited the second edition of FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus, and has coauthored amicus curiae briefs submitted to a number of courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits. Will has taught FIRE’s Continuing Legal Education programs in New York, Pennsylvania, and online. A member of the New York State Bar and the First Amendment Lawyers Association, Will serves as Co-Chair of the Education Subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice.
Will graduated magna cum laude from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2003. A proud native of Buffalo, New York, Will now lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children.
Special Counsel, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Aharon Friedman is Special Counsel at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. He is also a Visiting Scholar at the Hoover Institution. He formerly served as senior counsel to the House Ways and Means Committee, senior adviser to the U.S. Treasury Department and as a law clerk for Israel’s Supreme Court.
Professor of Law and Director, Center for the Middle East and International Law, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School
Professor of Law Eugene Kontorovich is one of the world’s preeminent experts on universal jurisdiction and maritime piracy, as well as international law and the Israel-Arab conflict. He is also the Director of Scalia Law School's Center for the Middle East and International Law. Professor Kontorovich joined the Scalia Law School from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law where he was a Professor of Law from 2011 to 2018 and an Associate Professor from 2007 to 2011. Previously, he was a Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago from 2005 to 2007 and an Assistant Professor at George Mason School of Law from 2003 to 2007.
Professor Kontorovich has published over thirty major scholarly articles and book chapters in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed journals in the United States and Europe, including the American Journal of International Law, International Review of Law & Economics, Stanford Law Review, California Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and Virginia Law Review. His scholarship has been cited in leading foreign relations and international law
His expertise is often sought out and quoted by major news organizations such the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR News, The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, and numerous television and radio programs. Prof. Kontorovich’s popular writings have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, POLITICO, Commentary, Haaretz, and numerous other leading publications. He is also a regular contributor to the Washington Post’s Volokh Conspiracy legal blog.
He attended the University of Chicago for college and law school. After law school, he clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He has been honored with a fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, in 2011-12, and with the Federalist Society’s prestigious Bator Award, given annually to a young scholar (under 40), for outstanding scholarship and teaching.
President and CEO, The Federalist Society
Sheldon Gilbert is the President and CEO of The Federalist Society. Gilbert has been involved in the conservative and libertarian legal movement since law school, and has served in prominent roles at both nonprofit organizations as well as corporate America.
A longtime constitutional litigator, Gilbert has represented clients through amicus and party briefs in nearly a hundred cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, at both the certiorari and merits stages. Most recently, Gilbert served as Senior Lead Counsel for Strategic Initiatives at Walmart, the world’s largest company, where he led teams providing legal advice related to government enforcement, internal investigations, government relations, public relations, and special projects at the center of law and policy.
Before joining Walmart, Gilbert served as Vice President for Content and Development and Senior Fellow for Constitutional Studies at the National Constitution Center, a congressionally chartered non-partisan center for constitutional education and debate, where he led both fundraising and programming efforts. While at the NCC, Gilbert helped ensure that the Center’s programming and exhibits incorporated constitutional perspectives from experts on both the right and the left, including the launch of the Center’s landmark permanent exhibit on the Civil War and the Reconstruction Amendments.
Prior to the National Constitution Center, Gilbert served as the director of the Institute for Justice’s Center for Judicial Engagement (CJE), where he educated the public about the role of the courts and the Constitution, where he frequently hosted discussions and debates on constitutional issues, and often spoke at Federalist Society lawyer and student chapters across the country.
He was also a litigator with the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, the litigation arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he represented the U.S. Chamber in over 400 cases in federal and state courts addressing a wide range of legal issues, from free speech to property rights.
Gilbert is a graduate of the George Washington University Law School where he helped found a first-of-its-kind National Religious Freedom Moot Court, which hosted law students from across the country to debate important, emerging religious liberty issues. After graduating from GWU, he also taught as a professorial lecturer at the school.
A graduate of the University of Utah, Gilbert is a child of the Mountain West, where he was born in a coal mining town in Utah and raised in Idaho near the Grand Tetons. Before going to law school, Gilbert’s diverse interests led him to work in a wide range of roles, from software development project management for a nonprofit, to working in his University’s radiobiology research lab, to volunteer service in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for his church.
Gilbert is married with four children.
Lincoln Davis Wilson serves as senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom where he represents clients with the Center for Life and in appellate and U.S. Supreme Court matters, including ADF’s successful applications in Idaho v. United States and Labrador v. Poe. Prior to joining ADF, Wilson served as chief of civil litigation and constitutional defense for the Idaho attorney general. In that role, he supervised the state’s civil litigation docket and led a team that defended litigation challenging Idaho laws on issues concerning abortion, gender dysphoria, elections, and other matters.
Before entering government service, Wilson worked in private practice for several New York law firms, including Skadden Arps, Quinn Emanuel, and Dechert LLP, where he served as Counsel. Wilson’s private practice focused on complex class action and products liability litigation in trial and appellate courts around the country. He also maintained an active pro bono practice focusing on religious freedom matters, including a petition for certiorari named a “Petition of the Week” by SCOTUSblog.
Wilson earned his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law, where he earned the Academic Excellence Award and Impact Litigation Award and served as Executive Editor of the Law Review. He also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Idaho College of Law teaching appellate advocacy and complex litigation.
Wilson is president of the Idaho Lawyer’s Chapter of the Federalist Society. He is admitted to practice in Idaho, Washington, New Jersey, and New York, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court and nine federal courts of appeal.
President and CEO, The Federalist Society
Sheldon Gilbert is the President and CEO of The Federalist Society. Gilbert has been involved in the conservative and libertarian legal movement since law school, and has served in prominent roles at both nonprofit organizations as well as corporate America.
A longtime constitutional litigator, Gilbert has represented clients through amicus and party briefs in nearly a hundred cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, at both the certiorari and merits stages. Most recently, Gilbert served as Senior Lead Counsel for Strategic Initiatives at Walmart, the world’s largest company, where he led teams providing legal advice related to government enforcement, internal investigations, government relations, public relations, and special projects at the center of law and policy.
Before joining Walmart, Gilbert served as Vice President for Content and Development and Senior Fellow for Constitutional Studies at the National Constitution Center, a congressionally chartered non-partisan center for constitutional education and debate, where he led both fundraising and programming efforts. While at the NCC, Gilbert helped ensure that the Center’s programming and exhibits incorporated constitutional perspectives from experts on both the right and the left, including the launch of the Center’s landmark permanent exhibit on the Civil War and the Reconstruction Amendments.
Prior to the National Constitution Center, Gilbert served as the director of the Institute for Justice’s Center for Judicial Engagement (CJE), where he educated the public about the role of the courts and the Constitution, where he frequently hosted discussions and debates on constitutional issues, and often spoke at Federalist Society lawyer and student chapters across the country.
He was also a litigator with the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, the litigation arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he represented the U.S. Chamber in over 400 cases in federal and state courts addressing a wide range of legal issues, from free speech to property rights.
Gilbert is a graduate of the George Washington University Law School where he helped found a first-of-its-kind National Religious Freedom Moot Court, which hosted law students from across the country to debate important, emerging religious liberty issues. After graduating from GWU, he also taught as a professorial lecturer at the school.
A graduate of the University of Utah, Gilbert is a child of the Mountain West, where he was born in a coal mining town in Utah and raised in Idaho near the Grand Tetons. Before going to law school, Gilbert’s diverse interests led him to work in a wide range of roles, from software development project management for a nonprofit, to working in his University’s radiobiology research lab, to volunteer service in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for his church.
Gilbert is married with four children.
Solicitor General, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Stephen F. Raiola, the former Solicitor General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a versatile litigator and business lawyer who has represented companies in business negotiations, assisted companies as an outside general counsel, served on several trial teams, deposed dozens of witnesses, and led discovery strategy in nationwide litigation involving mass torts and class actions as well as matters ranging from consumer protection and privacy litigation to intellectual property, constitutional rights, product liability, and commercial litigation. His representations have been national in scope, spanning federal and state courts throughout the country, including courts in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, and West Virginia.
From 2025 to 2026, Stephen served as Solicitor General of Pennsylvania, where he was a member of the Executive Leadership Team of the Attorney General and advised the Office on all multistate and affirmative litigation. In that role, Stephen played a key role in interviewing and retaining outside counsel, and in leading Pennsylvania’s efforts to support energy exploration and protect children online from emerging technologies. He also regularly coordinated with industry leaders and stakeholders in other states to help the office develop consumer protection priorities in addition to counseling on appellate matters in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the U.S. Supreme Court, and Pennsylvania appellate courts. Stephen also regularly spoke with law students and lawyers throughout the Second and Third Circuit to discuss the emergence of State Solicitors General and the ways in which State AG Offices are driving the current litigation landscape.
Beyond his active trial-level litigation practice, Stephen has been recognized by his peers as a “Rising Star” of the Appellate Bar. He has served as counsel of record on two certiorari petitions before the U.S. Supreme Court, one of which was supported by six amici and recognized as the petition of the week by SCOTUSblog. In addition, Stephen has briefed over 20 appellate matters across seven federal circuits, the U.S. Supreme Court, the New York State Appellate Division, the California Court of Appeal, the California Supreme Court, and the Pennsylvania Superior Court. He also has presented oral argument on 10 occasions before the California Court of Appeal as well as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits, and has served as court-appointed amicus curiae for both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Legislative Counsel, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Slate joins WBK from his role as Counsel for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where he represented the interests of Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers on the Communications and Technology Subcommittee.
During his tenure on the committee, he had primary responsibility over wireline and satellite communication policy and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Slate played a role in drafting and revising legislation touching on a myriad of communications matters, including NTIA reauthorization, social media facing national security issues, cybersecurity, and satellite licensing. He also managed hearings discussing rural broadband deployment, administrative oversight of the NTIA, and the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Slate has also assisted in bipartisan, bicameral efforts to reform the FCC’s Universal Service Fund Program.
Prior to taking a position on Capitol Hill, Slate worked as an attorney advisor in NTIA’s Office of the Chief Counsel. In this position, he provided guidance on NTIA’s various grant programs, including the Connecting Minority Communities Program, the Broadband Infrastructure Program, the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, the Digital Equity Programs, and the BEAD Program. He also assisted in grant-related guidance surrounding the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s Build America, Buy America requirements.
Director of Broadband and Spectrum Policy, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Joe Kane is director of broadband and spectrum policy at ITIF. Previously, he was a technology policy fellow at the R Street Institute, where he covered spectrum policy, broadband deployment and regulation, competition, and consumer protection. Earlier, Joe was a graduate research fellow at the Mercatus Center, where he worked on Internet policy issues, telecom regulation, and the role of the FCC.
Joe interned in the office of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. He also interned with the satellite and terrestrial network provider SES, the Satellite Industry Association, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the American Action Forum. Joe holds a J.D. from The Catholic University of America, a master’s in economics from George Mason University, and a bachelor’s in political science from Grove City College.
Visiting Fellow, Hudson Institute
Michael O’Rielly is a visiting fellow with Hudson Institute’s Center for the Economics of the Internet.
Comm. O'Rielly was nominated for a seat on the Federal Communications Commission by President Barack Obama on August 1, 2013 and was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate on October 29, 2013. He was sworn into office on November 4, 2013. On January 29, 2015, he was sworn into office for a new term, following his re-nomination by the President and confirmation by the United States Senate and served through December 11, 2020.
Prior to joining the agency Commissioner O’Rielly served as a Policy Advisor in the Office of the Senate Republican Whip, led by U.S. Senator John Cornyn, since January 2013. He worked in the Republican Whip’s Office since 2010, as an Advisor from 2010 to 2012 and Deputy Chief of Staff and Policy Director from 2012 to 2013 for U.S. Senator Jon Kyl.
He previously worked for the Republican Policy Committee in the U.S. Senate as a Policy Analyst for Banking, Technology, Transportation, Trade, and Commerce issues from 2009 to 2010. Prior to this, Commissioner O’Rielly worked in the Office of U.S. Senator John Sununu, as Legislative Director from 2007 to 2009, and Senior Legislative Assistant from 2003 to 2007. Before his tenure as a Senate staffer, he served as a Professional Staff Member on the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the United States House of Representatives from 1998 to 2003, and Telecommunications Policy Analyst from 1995 to 1998.
He began his career as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Congressman Tom Bliley from 1994 to 1995.
Commissioner O’Rielly received his B.A. from the University of Rochester.
Government Affairs Policy Advocate, Public Knowledge
Nat Purser is a Government Affairs Policy Advocate at Public Knowledge.
Prior to joining Public Knowledge, Nat was a Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) Fellow on the Hill, where she performed legislative research for the Congressional Progressive Caucus. She previously worked on competition, content moderation, and net neutrality policy at Yelp and in the Michigan legislature.
Nat received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of North Georgia. She was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and loves photographing D.C. happenings and catching classic films at Suns Cinema.
Federal Alumni Fellow, Institute for Technology Law & Policy, Georgetown Law
Stephanie Weiner brings over 25 years of experience at the intersection of technology, law, and policy to her role as a Tech & Society Fellow. Most recently, she served as Chief Counsel at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), where she led the legal teams implementing landmark federal investments to expand universal broadband internet access and foster wireless supply chain innovation. Her work also included advising NTIA leadership on critical technology policy issues such as AI accountability, internet governance, children’s online safety, and federal spectrum management.
Stephanie has also held senior advisory positions at the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy. Her private sector experience includes serving as a partner at a leading telecommunications law firm and as Deputy General Counsel for an information and analytics company. She began her legal career clerking for Judge David Tatel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Judge Milton Shadur on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Stephanie earned her Juris Doctor from Northwestern University, a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Chicago, and a Bachelor’s degree from Brown University. Before attending law school, she worked as a budget analyst at the Congressional Budget Office.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
Judge Paul Matey was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 2019 by President Trump.
Before his judicial service, Judge Matey was a partner at Lowenstein Sandler in New Jersey where he practiced complex commercial litigation and criminal defense. Earlier, Judge Matey was the Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for University Hospital Newark, an academic medical center and teaching hospital.
He also served as the Deputy Chief Counsel to Governor Chris Christie, and as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of New Jersey, where he was awarded the Justice Department’s Director’s Award for Superior Performance. He also practiced at the Washington D.C. firm of Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, and served as a law clerk to judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Scranton, a Jesuit University, in 1993, and his juris doctorate, summa cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law in 2001, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Seton Hall Law Review.
In 2019, Judge Matey was elected to membership in the American Law Institute and, since 2020, has lectured on administrative law and the American legal history at Seton Hall.
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