Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Russell Balikian is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He practices in the firm’s Appellate & Constitutional Law Group and Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice Group. He represents clients in high-stakes litigation before the Supreme Court of the United States and other federal and state courts across the country, as well as in major proceedings before administrative agencies. Russell was named “One to Watch” in Appellate Practice by Best Lawyers in 2023 and a “Rising Star” in Telecommunications by Law360 in 2024.
Russell has extensive experience in administrative law, especially in the telecom and technology sectors. He regularly represents clients challenging or supporting agency rules and orders, and he defends companies against enforcement actions by federal regulators, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Russell brings the capabilities of an appellate attorney to all stages of the case, from building the record before the agency to litigating the case in court.
Russell also has nationwide experience litigating appeals and dispositive motions in high-profile matters, including putative class actions, major commercial disputes, and mass-tort cases. He has represented clients at every level of the federal and state judiciary. Russell also advises clients on appellate strategy and critical legal issues.
Russell clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge Gregory G. Katsas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Diane S. Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He received his law degree from Yale Law School, where he was Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law & Policy Review. He graduated summa cum laude from Taylor University with a bachelor’s degree in both Political Science and Biblical Literature.
Russell is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
General Counsel, Senior Litigation Counsel, New Civil Liberties Alliance
Zhonette brings a quarter-century of litigation experience to NCLA. After a federal clerkship, she spent many years litigating at large law firms in Washington, D.C., and Denver, Colorado, before beginning public interest litigation in 2018.
Zhonette has litigated in state, federal, and international venues and in matters ranging from pro bono custody issues to multi-district and class action cases for Fortune 100 companies. Zhonette spent the first part of her career focused on high-stakes complex commercial litigation and white-collar defense. Since changing her legal practice to taming the Administrative State, Zhonette has focused on the Administrative Procedure Act, natural resources, takings issues and other constitutional claims.
Zhonette is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, the State of Colorado, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and various federal courts.
Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP
Roman Martinez is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Latham & Watkins. As a member of the firm’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice, he focuses primarily on appeals in the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Courts of Appeals, and state appellate courts. Mr. Martinez has handled civil and criminal matters involving a wide range of constitutional, statutory, and administrative law issues, and he has argued cases in the Supreme Court and the D.C., Sixth, Ninth, and Federal Circuits, among other courts.
Mr. Martinez’s appellate practice encompasses civil and criminal matters spanning virtually all areas of law. He recently rejoined Latham after serving as an Assistant to the Solicitor General at the US Department of Justice. In that role, he represented the United States in litigation before the Supreme Court and advised the Solicitor General on the government’s appellate litigation throughout the country.
Mr. Martinez has personally argued seven cases in the Supreme Court, including important cases in the fields of patent law, criminal law, civil rights, and civil procedure. He has filed over 75 briefs in the Supreme Court involving a wide range of legal issues, including administrative, tax, securities, intellectual property, criminal, environmental, education, civil rights, immigration, and First Amendment law.
Over the past year, Mr. Martinez has led Latham appellate teams in cases involving the Administrative Procedure Act, securities, ERISA, products liability, and employment law. Earlier this year, he successfully persuaded the Supreme Court to reject the State of Connecticut’s high-profile effort to reinstate the murder conviction of Michael Skakel. He frequently consults with clients to develop creative approaches to difficult legal questions that arise in and out of litigation.
Mr. Martinez’s extensive pro bono practice focuses chiefly on administrative law challenges to unlawful agency action by the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as on criminal defense appeals. In 2018, he persuaded the Supreme Court to grant certiorari on behalf of a veteran seeking judicial review of an unlawful regulation promulgated by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Before joining Latham, Mr. Martinez served as a law clerk to Chief Justice John G. Roberts of the Supreme Court of the United States and to then Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of the D.C. Circuit.
From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Martinez served as an advisor on the Iraqi political and constitutional process, in various roles at the White House, at the US Embassy and Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, and at the Department of Defense. He received the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Global War on Terrorism and the US Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award for his service in Iraq.
Mr. Martinez is a member of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, and he serves on the US Chamber of Commerce's Administrative Law & Government Litigation Advisory Committee. He previously served as a member of the D.C. Circuit’s Advisory Committee on Procedures, and he now serves on the US District Court for the District of Columbia’s Committee on Grievances. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and other publications. He has appeared as a guest on the PBS NewsHour and other television programs to discuss the Supreme Court.
Partner, Williams & Connolly
Luke McCloud’s practice focuses on complex civil matters, with an emphasis on patent litigation. Luke has tried cases to judgment in federal and state courts. His clients have included global pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, leading technology companies, financial institutions, law firms, and individuals. In 2023, Luke was recognized as a “Leading Lawyer” by The Legal 500, a “Rising Star” by Law360 and The National Law Journal, and among Bloomberg Law’s “40 Under 40” list. He has also been named a “Rising Star—General Commercial Disputes” by The Legal 500 (2020-2022), and a Managing IP “Rising Star” (2020).
Luke is also an experienced appellate advocate. He has argued twice in the U.S. Supreme Court and in multiple federal courts of appeals, and has filed dozens of briefs in high-stakes cases throughout the federal system. His appellate oral advocacy was praised by The Recorder as “poised and polished.” In the October Term 2014, Luke served as a law clerk to Justice Sonia M. Sotomayor on the Supreme Court of the United States. He previously clerked for then Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Judge Paul V. Niemeyer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Attorney General, Office of the Iowa Attorney General
In November 2022, Brenna Bird was elected as Iowa Attorney General – the first Republican to hold the office since 1979.
Before taking office as Iowa Attorney General, Brenna served as a prosecutor for six years, first as the Fremont County Attorney and then since 2018 as the Guthrie County Attorney. She was elected by her fellow county attorneys to leadership roles with the Iowa County Attorney Association, and served as the Association's President.
Brenna has also engaged in the private practice of law, worked in the Iowa Governor’s Office and the U.S. House of Representatives, and taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Iowa College of Law.
Born and raised on an Iowa farm, where she was homeschooled. Brenna graduated from Drake University and went on to receive her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where she served as symposium editor of the school’s law journal. In addition to her law studies, Brenna also helped entrepreneurs on Chicago’s South Side start their own businesses.
Executive Vice President of Global Governance, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, Walmart Inc.
Rachel Brand is Walmart’s executive vice president of global governance, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary. She oversees the company’s global legal, compliance, ethics, corporate governance, digital citizenship, aviation, investigative, and corporate security functions, including Walmart’s Emergency Operations Center.
Immediately before joining Walmart, Rachel served as the United States Associate Attorney General and holds the distinction of being the first woman to serve in this role. She had previously served in the U.S. Department of Justice as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy during President George W. Bush’s administration. Her other government service includes an appointment by President Obama to serve as a Member of the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, service as an Associate Counsel to the President at the White House, and judicial clerkships with Justice Charles Fried of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and Justice Anthony Kennedy at the Supreme Court of the United States. In the private sector, Rachel was a lawyer in private practice at two law firms in Washington, D.C. and served as the Vice President and Chief Counsel for Regulatory Litigation at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Litigation Center.
Rachel serves on the board of directors for the Walmart Foundation and is the executive sponsor for Walmart’s Tribal Voices Associate Resource Group. Outside of Walmart, she serves on the board of directors for the International Justice Mission and is a member of The American Law Institute.
Rachel earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota-Morris and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Partner, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Martine Cicconi focuses her practice on high‑stakes investigations and litigation led by state attorneys general. She advises clients on navigating enforcement actions and complex regulatory challenges, drawing on extensive experience across U.S. state and federal executive and judicial bodies. Praised by clients as “extremely smart” and “a sophisticated strategist, a responsive counselor and consummate diplomat” in Chambers USA, Martine advises clients through matters that often carry significant legal, political and reputational considerations.
Before joining the Firm, Martine served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Counsel in the Office of White House Counsel, where she handled sensitive matters involving congressional oversight, executive privilege and inquiries by inspectors general. In that role, she worked closely with senior leadership across the Executive Branch on issues at the intersection of law, governance and public policy.
Martine also served as Deputy Solicitor General for Virginia, where she briefed and argued major cases at all levels of the federal and state judiciary. Her government experience further includes service in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, advising on constitutional and statutory questions affecting all three branches of government, and as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General.
She served as a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Merrick B. Garland on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Prior to attending law school, Martine was a dancer with the New York City Ballet.
Partner, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP
Jesse, the former third-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Justice, helps clients with their most difficult litigation and regulatory issues─whether that means defending against an enforcement action, pursuing high-stakes litigation and appeals, navigating regulatory thickets at federal and state agencies, or crafting a comprehensive strategy to manage a crisis. He approaches these problems with the knowledge gained both from his broad private-practice experience and from having served at the highest levels of federal and state government.
Jesse has experience across a range of substantive and regulatory areas. He has sued the federal government and has also been one of its top law-enforcement officials; he has represented states and has also navigated their regulatory agencies on behalf of clients; and he has represented companies in business disputes, both as defendants and plaintiffs.
Before joining the firm, Jesse was the Acting Associate Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice. In that role, he oversaw the civil and criminal work of the Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment and Natural Resources, and Tax Divisions. During Jesse’s tenure, the Associate’s office closely managed the Department’s most significant litigation, including matters involving large financial institutions, healthcare companies, automakers, energy companies, and state and local governments. In addition, Jesse served as Chair of DOJ’s Regulatory Reform Task Force and Vice Chair of DOJ’s Task Force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud. Jesse regularly provided legal and strategic advice to the highest-level decision makers in the federal government, including the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, general counsels across the spectrum of federal agencies, and White House officials.
Jesse served for three years as the secretary of Florida’s labor, economic-development, and land-use agency, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. Before that, he served as Governor (now Senator) Rick Scott’s general counsel.
Jesse maintains offices in both Washington D.C. and Florida. From Washington, he focuses on federal litigation and crisis management. In Florida, in addition to federal litigation, Jesse employs his knowledge of state government and regulation to help clients in courts across the state, from trial through the Florida Supreme Court.
Jesse currently serves on the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission, the body that provides the governor with nominees for appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Jesse is also a fellow at the Center for the Study of the Administrative State at the Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where he writes and speaks about administrative law.
Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice
T. Elliot Gaiser is the Office of Legal Counsel’s 27th Assistant Attorney General. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on April 29, 2025, confirmed by the United States Senate on July 30, 2025, and sworn in as AAG by Attorney General Pam Bondi on August 4, 2025.
Prior to joining the Office of Legal Counsel, Mr. Gaiser served as the 11th Solicitor General of Ohio. In that role, he represented his home state and its agencies before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the Supreme Court of Ohio, and other state and federal courts. He also advised Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on significant legal and constitutional matters important to the people of Ohio.
Mr. Gaiser clerked for Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge Neomi Rao of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Edith H. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In the private sector, Mr. Gaiser worked at the law firms Jones Day, Boyden Gray, and Gibson Dunn. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and Hillsdale College. He is also a husband and father.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
Britt C. Grant is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Judge Grant was appointed to the federal bench in August 2018 after serving as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Georgia. Prior to her judicial appointment, she served as the Solicitor General of Georgia and practiced in the Washington, D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Grant served as a law clerk to then-Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She earned her J.D., with distinction, from Stanford Law School, where she was the Co-Founder of the Stanford National Security and the Law Society, and the President of the Stanford Law chapter of the Federalist Society. Before enrolling in law school, Judge Grant served in The White House in a variety of domestic policy roles as well as on the staff of Congressman Nathan Deal. Judge Grant earned her B.A., summa cum laude, from Wake Forest University, where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She now lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and three children.
Partner, Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff & Murray LLC
At Olson Grimsley, Eric has co-led a trial team that obtained a $20 million antitrust verdict against Johns Manville, a construction material company owned by Berkshire Hathaway; co-leads a team seeking to secure the fair share for college athletes of the revenue they create; and fights for workers who built the Qatar stadiums who claim they are victims of human trafficking.
Before co-founding Olson Grimsley, Eric served as the Solicitor General of Colorado, where he was lead counsel on five merits cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. He led investigations of the Aurora Police and Fire Departments after the killing of Elijah McClain that resulted in one of the first state consent decrees in the country and the Catholic Church for child sex abuse. Eric also designed and executed settlement strategies with McKinsey that led to a $573 million, 49-state settlement for its work contributing to the opioid crisis and separately with local governments for a first-in-the-country agreement that brought $740 million in opioid settlements to Colorado. Eric received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Performance and the Mentor of the Year Award.
Eric previously was a trial lawyer at Bartlit Beck for 16 years where he tried cases to verdict in seven states, served in leadership roles in three major MDLs including trying an MDL class action case to verdict and arguing before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, and recovered over $900 million for plaintiffs in patent, antitrust, and employment cases.
Eric has also served as a mediator in complex business disputes, bringing his diverse experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants to help parties resolve complicated cases.
Eric was first ranked by Chambers in 2013 and is currently ranked in Appellate and Litigation. He was recently selected as one of Denver Business Journal’s Power Book of 45 Business Leaders to Watch and, along with all five founders of Olson Grimsley, Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Plaintiffs Financial Lawyers.
Attorney General of Tennessee
Jonathan Skrmetti was sworn in to an eight-year term as Tennessee’s Attorney General and Reporter on September 1, 2022.
Prior to his current role, General Skrmetti served as Chief Counsel to Governor Bill Lee and as Chief Deputy Attorney General to his predecessor, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery.
Before working for the State of Tennessee, General Skrmetti was a partner at Butler Snow LLP in Memphis. His legal career began with nearly a decade as a federal prosecutor. He worked at the Civil Rights Division at Main Justice and then at the Memphis U.S. Attorney’s Office and prosecuted sex traffickers, corrupt government officials, and violent white supremacists. In addition, General Skrmetti taught cyberlaw as an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis.
General Skrmetti earned honors degrees from George Washington University, the University of Oxford, and Harvard Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Following law school, Jonathan clerked for Judge Steven Colloton on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He lives in Franklin, Tennessee, with his wife and four children.
Judge, Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One
The Honorable Jennifer M. Perkins began service on the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, on October 30, 2017. At the time of her appointment by Governor Douglas Ducey, Judge Perkins was Assistant Solicitor General for the State of Arizona.
Judge Perkins was born in Portales, New Mexico, and primarily raised in Albuquerque. She attended the prestigious Albuquerque Academy from 1988-1995, before moving to Washington D.C. to attend the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University as a National Merit Scholar. Therafter, she relocated again to Dallas, Texas, and earned her juris doctor from the SMU Dedman School of Law, graduating cum laude in 2002.
Judge Perkins started her career at the law firm of Browning & Peifer (now Peifer, Hanson, Mullins, and Baker) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. While there, she litigated complex commercial matters including class action plaintiff and defense work, and assisted with employment and contract litigation. In 2003, the judge accompanied the Honorable James O. Browning in transitioning to the federal district court bench, serving as his first law clerk.
After her clerkship, Judge Perkins moved to Arizona to work for the Institute for Justice, Arizona Chapter, a public interest law firm. She spent five years with IJ-AZ litigating civil rights cases in Arizona and across the country. In 2009, the judge became Disciplinary Counsel for the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct, where she reviewed and prosecuted ethics complaints against state court judges throughout Arizona. After five years serving the state in this capacity, Judge Perkins entered private practice by joining an appellate law firm in Phoenix. While there, she worked on state and federal appeals involving a wide range of legal subjects, including complex business disputes, property rights, judicial ethics, and personal injury matters.
In January 2015, Judge Perkins joined the Office of the Arizona Attorney General to serve as the first Assistant Solicitor General; in that capacity, she was responsible for oversight of Attorney General Opinions and served as ethics counsel to the entire office. In addition to these two primary roles, the judge assisted on a variety of matters including trial and appellate litigation of election-related matters; federal appellate litigation with the Federalism Unit; state criminal appeals; and drafting amicus briefs on behalf of Arizona in state and federal courts.
Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke LLP
Misha leads Troutman Peppers' national appellate and Supreme Court practice. Most recently, he successfully obtained orders from the Supreme Court blocking an unconstitutional restriction on places of worship, as well as overturning a lower court order that had blocked several state election laws. He has also argued and prevailed before the Supreme Court in Gill v. Whitford, one of the most significant redistricting cases in decades, as well as Murr v. Wisconsin, a high-stakes regulatory taking case.
Before joining Troutman, Misha served as Solicitor General of the State of Wisconsin. Misha previously served as a law clerk for the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court, Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit, and Alex Kozinski of the 9th Circuit. He graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was President of the Federalist Society Chapter.
Partner, Co-chair of the Litigation & Trial Practice Group, Alston & Bird LLP
Adam Biegel is co-chair of Alston & Bird’s Litigation & Trial Practice Group and former co-chair of its Antitrust Team. He has substantial experience representing clients on antitrust counseling and litigation matters, including those involving government and internal investigations, mergers and joint ventures, pricing and distribution, compliance counseling and training, pre-merger reviews under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act, and multidistrict litigation. He regularly represents clients before the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general, and in federal courts.
Adam is recognized for his antitrust experience by Chambers USA and selected to The Best Lawyers in America®, including his recognition as “Lawyer of the Year” for Antitrust Litigation in Washington, D.C., in 2022. He is a longtime member of the American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section’s leadership, currently serving as co-chair of its In-House Counsel Task Force and previously having served on its board, and chaired its Corporate Counseling Committee, Long Range Planning Committee, and Spring Meeting conference. He also serves on the board of the Federalist Society’s antitrust practice group.
Adam served as a law clerk to the Hon. Frank M. Hull, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Before attending law school, he worked as a newspaper reporter in Arkansas and on the legislative staff of U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch.
Partner in the Antitrust & Competition Practice Group, Sheppard Mullin
John’s practice focuses on civil and criminal antitrust matters, including mergers & acquisitions, strategic counseling and compliance, and global cartel investigations, where he represents clients before the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Federal Trade Commission, and international and state antitrust enforcement authorities.
Prior to private practice, John was in the Mergers I Division of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition for several years. While with the FTC, he investigated, challenged, and negotiated settlements in a number of potentially anti-competitive business combinations in the aerospace, technology, consumer products, defense, healthcare, and pharmaceutical industries and received an Award for Meritorious Service for work on merger litigation.
John frequently speaks and writes on antitrust issues. He was the lead editor on the American Bar Association, Section of Antitrust Law’s Energy Antitrust Handbook, and has held leadership positions in that organization.
Partner, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP
Rich’s primary practice area is complex litigation, with a particular emphasis on antitrust matters. He frequently represents plaintiffs and defendants in private litigation, in addition to representing parties and third parties in the context of DOJ, FTC, and State Attorney General investigations and litigation. He also advises clients regarding transactions—both their own and those of others—including mergers or acquisitions that may be subject to review by federal, state, or international antitrust authorities. His experience includes both criminal and civil antitrust jury trials, and he is relied upon by clients for clear and practical guidance shaped by years of experience in antitrust enforcement and private practice.
Rich rejoined the firm in December 2013 after serving for four years as the Director of the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commission. He directed the FTC’s antitrust enforcement activity during a period when approximately 80 enforcement actions were initiated in a wide variety of industries. Major matters included, among others, two victories in the Supreme Court (involving pay-for-delay and state action), successful challenges to hospital mergers, and Intel and Google consent orders. He also participated directly in drafting and implementing the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines.
Prior to serving as Bureau Director, Rich was a partner in the firm’s Washington D.C. office from 2001 to 2009. From October 1998 to June 2001, he served as an Assistant Director of the Bureau of Competition, in charge of the Health Care Services and Products Division. The work of that Division focused on antitrust enforcement in the health care industry, including anticompetitive practices and mergers involving health care providers, and anticompetitive conduct in the pharmaceutical industry.
Before initially entering private practice in 1985, Rich worked as a trial attorney in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and also served as Acting Deputy Director of the Division’s Office of Policy Planning and as Acting Assistant Chief of the Division’s Energy Section.
Research Manager, American Economic Liberties Project
Laurel manages AELP’s team of policy analysts and coordinates with expert advisors and fellows to develop original research and policy briefs. An experienced attorney, she also frequently writes and speaks about high profile court cases that impact the economic liberties of the American people.
In private practice, Laurel represented firms of all sizes– from startups to Fortune 500 companies– spanning a wide variety of industries, from software to generic pharmaceuticals to semiconductors. At Comar Mollé LLP, a boutique firm that specializes in serving startups and investors, she provided strategic counseling on employment, privacy, and transactional matters. At Goodwin Procter LLP, a global biglaw firm, she litigated high stakes patent and complex commercial disputes and counseled clients on technology transactions.
Before joining AELP, Laurel researched competition policy issues for the Balanced Economy Project in Europe. Earlier in her career, she analyzed legislation promoting access to essential medicines at the World Health Organization, coordinated patent law training workshops for Vietnamese research institutions through the Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture, and developed public outreach materials for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has also developed and taught courses on topics ranging from legal practice skills to emerging policy issues.
Partner, Global Chair, Antitrust and Competition, Fried Frank
Bernard A. Nigro Jr. (“Barry”) is Global Chair of Fried Frank's Antitrust and Competition Department. Barry previously served as the Department of Justice’s Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust and the Federal Trade Commission’s Deputy Director for the Bureau of Competition.
During his almost 40 years of practice and government service, Barry has handled hundreds of civil and criminal matters in dozens of industries ranging from concrete to high tech and everything in between. For example, Barry has been involved in some of the largest M&A transactions during the past decade, served as the antitrust compliance monitor in United States v. Apple Inc. (S.D.N.Y. 2013), worked on a variety of cartel matters, and counseled on complex compliance and litigation matters. While in government, Barry supported the rollout of the Procurement Collusion Strike Force, an initiative to modernize the merger review process, and revisions to the merger guidelines and remedies policies.
Barry is recognized as a leader by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, a “Leading Lawyer” by Legal 500 in Antitrust: Merger Control, and a “Global Leader” by Who’s Who Legal: Competition. Clients say "Barry is very adept at getting deals across the finish lines. He knows the inside game very well," “he is a skilled and knowledgeable antitrust lawyer with a very practical approach,” and “knows how to marry business and antitrust.” Other clients describe him as “the rare combination of DOJ and FTC expertise that is invaluable to clients who need to understand the agencies’ latest thinking” and note that “his decades of experience generally, and recent experience as the number-two lawyer in the Antitrust Division, make him a knowledgeable and skilled counselor on a broad array of government enforcement matters.” Clients say he is “fabulous” and “figures out quickly what’s important and focuses energies there.” Clients also report that “[n]o one compares to Barry Nigro in terms of goodwill” and note his “years of experience make his counsel and perspective, particularly seeing what is coming down the road, exceptional.”
Barry’s commitment to public service includes having served as Vice Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law (numbering over 10,000 members from across the globe), President of the George Washington University Law Alumni Association, a member of the Executive Committee of Higher Achievement’s DC President’s Council, a member of St. Albans School’s Development Committee, a member of Bishop Ireton High School’s Campaign Leadership Committee, and a member of Georgetown University’s Class of 1982 Executive Committee, among many other roles.
Alexander Hamilton Professor of Business Law, George Washington University Law School
Barak Richman’s primary research interests include the economics of contracting, new institutional economics, antitrust, and healthcare policy. His work has been published in the Columbia Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Law and Social Inquiry, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and Health Affairs. In 2006, he co-edited with Clark Havighurst a symposium volume of Law and Contemporary Problems entitled "Who Pays? Who Benefits? Distributional Issues in Health Care,” and his book Stateless Commerce was published by Harvard University Press in 2017.
Professor Richman represented the NFL Coaches Association in an amicus curiae brief in American Needle v. The Nat’l Football League, which was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in January 2010 and again in Brady v. The Nat’l Football League in 2011. His recent work challenging illegal practices by Rabbinical Associations was featured in the New York Times. And in 2020, he was a member of the Working Group on Platform Scale at Stanford University’s Program on Democracy and the Internet that proposed middleware as a solution to stem the economic and political power of dominant internet platforms.
Professor Richman is also a Senior Scholar at the Clinical Excellence Research Center at the Stanford University School of Medicine and is currently a special counsel for competition policy at the Department of Health and Human Services. He won Duke Law School's Blueprint Award in 2005 and was named Teacher of the Year in 2010. He has had visiting appointments at Columbia, Harvard, and Stanford.
Professor Richman has an AB, magna cum laude, from Brown University, a JD, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied under Nobel Laureate in Economics Oliver Williamson. He served as a law clerk to Judge Bruce M. Selya of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and from 1994-1996 he handled international trade legislation as a staff member of the United States Senate Committee on Finance, then chaired by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Partner, Taft Stettinius & Hollister
Robert McBride is the partner-in-charge of the Kentucky office of Taft Stettinius & Hollister. As a seasoned trial attorney, he is experienced in investigating and prosecuting a wide variety of criminal matters. As lead attorney, Bob prosecuted cases involving complex financial frauds, money laundering, federal tax violations, healthcare fraud, national security matters, violations of the Export Control Act, immigration, and human trafficking crimes, and public corruption. He also prosecuted narcotics trafficking organizations, firearms violations and crimes against children. As a prosecutor, Bob successfully tried many federal cases to jury verdict. Bob is also experienced in litigating forfeiture claims, habeas actions and appeals before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bob has a long record serving the United States as an attorney before entering private practice. He was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Kentucky for over 15 years. As an AUSA, Bob first chaired criminal jury trials in U.S. District Court and handled appeals before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Additionally, he was the District’s National Security Prosecutor and the Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council Coordinator. Bob also held several leadership positions. In 2006, he was assigned as the manager of the London Branch Office. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to Criminal Chief and served in that position until January 2010. As Criminal Chief, Bob supervised the Criminal Division’s personnel and exercised oversight of all prosecutions in the District. More recently, he was the supervisor of the Ft. Mitchell Branch Office, where he handled a number of high profile investigations and prosecutions.
Bob also served in the United States Navy, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, for 10 years. His major assignments included senior prosecutor on the Island of Guam, Officer-in-Charge of a Detachment in New Orleans focusing on criminal defense, and Staff Judge Advocate, Recruit Training Command. Bob attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He was also an enlisted Combat Engineer in the Army National Guard.
Solicitor General of Missouri
Lou Capozzi is the Solicitor General of Missouri. In that role, he oversees all appeals for the State of Missouri. He is also the Director of Special Litigation and litigates high-stakes cases at trial.
Lou previously worked at Jones Day, where he specialized in administrative and election law. At Jones Day, he helped lead a six-week bench trial in federal court, during which he cross-examined important expert and fact witnesses, delivered closing argument, asserted evidentiary objections, and argued several motions, including a motion for a directed verdict. He has also authored briefs at all phases of litigation--from evidentiary motions to dispositive motions and appeals.
Lou is also Lecturer in Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and a Public Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States. He has published several academic articles focusing on administrative law.
Lou clerked for Justice Neil Gorsuch at the United States Supreme Court in the 2021 Term, as well as for Judges J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and Anthony Scirica of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He gradated as the valedictorian from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2019.
William R. Orthwein Distinguished Professor of Law, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law
Professor Ronald M. Levin is a nationally known scholar who specializes in administrative law and related public law issues. He is the co-author of a casebook on state and federal administrative law, now in its third edition, as well as a nutshell on administrative law and process, now in its fifth edition. Formerly the law school's associate dean, he has published numerous articles and book chapters on administrative law topics, including judicial review, rulemaking, and legislative reform of the regulatory process. He also has written about the law of legislation, lobbying, and legislative ethics. Among his professional affiliations, Professor Levin has chaired the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice and served as the ABA's advisor to the drafting committee to revise the Model State Administrative Procedure Act. He also has chaired the Section on Administrative Law and the Section on Legislation of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). Currently a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), he previously served as a consultant to ACUS and to the Supreme Court of Indonesia. Before joining the law faculty, Professor Levin clerked for the Hon. John C. Godbold, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and practiced for three years in Washington, D.C., with the firm of Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan.
Judge, United States District Court, Southern District of Florida
Rodolfo “Rudy” Armando Ruiz II is a District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Prior to his judicial commission on May 3, 2019, Ruiz was a Circuit Court Judge for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida from 2014 through 2019, and a Miami-Dade County Court Judge from 2012 through 2014. Ruiz also served as an Assistant County Attorney with the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office and an associate with White & Case LLP.
Ruiz received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Duke University and earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University. After graduating from law school, he was a law clerk to the Honorable Federico A. Moreno of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
On March 20, 2018, Judge Elizabeth L. Branch (Lisa) was sworn in as a United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit.
Judge Branch attended and graduated from Davidson College in North Carolina (B.A., cum laude, 1990), and Emory University School of Law (J.D., with distinction, 1994).
After graduating from law school, Judge Branch served as a federal law clerk to The Honorable J. Owen Forrester of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia from 1994 to 1996. Following her clerkship, Judge Branch joined the litigation department of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP in Atlanta as an associate and then a partner.
From 2004 to 2008, Judge Branch was a senior official in the Administration of President George W. Bush in Washington, D.C. She served first as the Associate General Counsel for Rules and Legislation at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and then as the Counselor to the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the U. S. Office of Management and Budget.
She returned to Smith Gambrell in 2008 as a litigation partner. Judge Branch then was appointed to the Court of Appeals of Georgia by Governor Nathan Deal, taking office on September 4, 2012, where she served until March 19, 2018.
Judge Branch is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Atlanta Lawyers Chapter for the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.
Associate Counsel to the President, White House Counsel's Office
Samuel Adkisson serves as Associate Counsel to the President in the White House Counsel’s Office.
Mr. Adkisson previously practiced law at Cooper & Kirk PLLC, where he focused on high-stakes civil-rights, political, and constitutional disputes. His matters included class actions challenging the FAA’s race-based air traffic controller hiring practices and the University of Oklahoma’s financial aid policies; appellate work on behalf of X Corp.; and the successful defense of Florida’s actions during a 2024 abortion referendum. Before joining Cooper & Kirk, he worked on the landmark case challenging Harvard’s affirmative action policies and helped launch a successful challenge to the State Bar of Texas’s membership policies.
Mr. Adkisson clerked for Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts, Jr., Judge Amul R. Thapar of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and Judge Gregory G. Katsas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. During Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, he worked for Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Charles E. Grassley.
Mr. Adkisson received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was President of the Yale Law School Federalist Society and an editor of the Yale Law Journal. He graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University. Prior to joining the Trump Administration in January 2025, he lived on Signal Mountain, TN, with his wife and three children.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
The Honorable Whitney Hermandorfer is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She was nominated to the court by President Donald Trump (R) on May 12, 2025, and confirmed by the United States Senate on July 14, 2025.
Prior to her appointment, she worked in the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General as Director of the Strategic Litigation Unit. In that role, Whitney focused on leading constitutional, statutory, and administrative-law challenges to federal agency action, as well as on defending the State in complex matters at the trial and appellate level.
Whitney previously worked at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, DC, where she focused on appellate and administrative-law litigation. Whitney clerked for Justice Samuel Alito in the OT 2018 Supreme Court term and for Justice Amy Coney Barrett during her inaugural OT 2020 term. Prior to that, Whitney clerked for then-Judge Kavanaugh on the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Richard Leon on the U.S. District Court for D.C. Whitney is a graduate of Princeton University and George Washington University Law School.
Solicitor General of Missouri
Lou Capozzi is the Solicitor General of Missouri. In that role, he oversees all appeals for the State of Missouri. He is also the Director of Special Litigation and litigates high-stakes cases at trial.
Lou previously worked at Jones Day, where he specialized in administrative and election law. At Jones Day, he helped lead a six-week bench trial in federal court, during which he cross-examined important expert and fact witnesses, delivered closing argument, asserted evidentiary objections, and argued several motions, including a motion for a directed verdict. He has also authored briefs at all phases of litigation--from evidentiary motions to dispositive motions and appeals.
Lou is also Lecturer in Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and a Public Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States. He has published several academic articles focusing on administrative law.
Lou clerked for Justice Neil Gorsuch at the United States Supreme Court in the 2021 Term, as well as for Judges J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and Anthony Scirica of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He gradated as the valedictorian from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2019.
William R. Orthwein Distinguished Professor of Law, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law
Professor Ronald M. Levin is a nationally known scholar who specializes in administrative law and related public law issues. He is the co-author of a casebook on state and federal administrative law, now in its third edition, as well as a nutshell on administrative law and process, now in its fifth edition. Formerly the law school's associate dean, he has published numerous articles and book chapters on administrative law topics, including judicial review, rulemaking, and legislative reform of the regulatory process. He also has written about the law of legislation, lobbying, and legislative ethics. Among his professional affiliations, Professor Levin has chaired the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice and served as the ABA's advisor to the drafting committee to revise the Model State Administrative Procedure Act. He also has chaired the Section on Administrative Law and the Section on Legislation of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). Currently a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), he previously served as a consultant to ACUS and to the Supreme Court of Indonesia. Before joining the law faculty, Professor Levin clerked for the Hon. John C. Godbold, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and practiced for three years in Washington, D.C., with the firm of Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan.
Judge, United States District Court, Southern District of Florida
Rodolfo “Rudy” Armando Ruiz II is a District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Prior to his judicial commission on May 3, 2019, Ruiz was a Circuit Court Judge for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida from 2014 through 2019, and a Miami-Dade County Court Judge from 2012 through 2014. Ruiz also served as an Assistant County Attorney with the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office and an associate with White & Case LLP.
Ruiz received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Duke University and earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University. After graduating from law school, he was a law clerk to the Honorable Federico A. Moreno of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
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