Senior Counsel, Litigation, Defense of Freedom Institute
Don Daugherty is Senior Counsel, Litigation, at the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies. He previously served as a Senior Counsel at the Institute for Free Speech and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. Before that, he was a partner at three of Wisconsin’s largest firms, with nearly 30 years of trial and appellate litigation experience. He has been consistently recognized as among the “Best Lawyers in America,” as well as Wisconsin’s “Super Lawyers.” He received his B.A. from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from Northwestern University Law School. After law school, he served as a clerk to the Honorable Roger J. Miner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Don is on the Board of Advisors for the Milwaukee Lawyers’ Chapter of the Federalist Society, and on the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society’s Litigation Practice Group.
Senior Associate General Counsel/Senior Legal Advisor, Office of Management and Budget/CFPB
Victoria Dorfman is a Senior Associate General Counsel at the Office of Management and Budget and is a Senior Legal Advisor at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. At the OMB, she advises on constitutional and statutory issues. At the CFPB, she is primarily responsible for Enforcement, Supervision, Fair Lending, Oversight, and the Bureau’s litigation.
Prior to entering government service, Victoria was a partner at Jones Day, in Washington, D.C. and in New York, where she represented clients in appellate and complex commercial litigation in U.S. courts and in international arbitration. She has successfully briefed cases at all stages of litigation and argued before federal and state courts of appeals.
Victoria's areas of in-depth experience include jurisdiction and civil procedure, arbitration, bankruptcy, antitrust, and general commercial litigation. She maintained an active First Amendment Establishment and Free Exercise practice and represents religious institutions. Victoria's representations included obtaining unanimous victories in intergovernmental tax immunity and forum non conveniens cases in the U.S. Supreme Court; bankruptcy confirmations, including in appellate and Supreme Court proceedings, of Chrysler, the City of Detroit, Caesar's, Adelphia, and Relativity Media; UNCITRAL and BIT arbitrations; victories for Bayer in antitrust patent challenges to agreements regarding a blockbuster drug's production; and a damages award for Chevron against the government, including a sanction for bad faith litigation conduct.
Prior to joining Jones Day, Victoria clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas of the United States Supreme Court and Judge Michael J. Luttig of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Victoria received her A.B. from Harvard College (cum laude) and J.D. from Harvard Law School (magna cum laude), where she was Articles, Books and Commentaries editor on Harvard Law Review.
Victoria is a native speaker of Russian, and is proficient in French and Portuguese. She published articles on Religion Clauses, bankruptcy, federal jurisdiction and statutory interpretation, and is a contributing author and editor of The Practitioner's Guide to Appellate Advocacy.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
David Stras became a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on January 31, 2018. Before serving on the Eighth Circuit, Judge Stras was an Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, a position he occupied from July 1, 2010 until his appointment to the Eighth Circuit.
Prior to becoming a judge, Stras was a member of the faculty of the University of Minnesota Law School from 2004 through 2010. He taught and wrote in the areas of federal courts and jurisdiction, constitutional law, criminal law, and law and politics.
Judge Stras received his Bachelor of Arts degree, with highest distinction, in 1995 and his Master of Business Administration in 1999, both from the University of Kansas. He also received his law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1999, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Criminal Procedure Edition of the Kansas Law Review.
Following law school, Stras clerked for The Honorable Melvin Brunetti of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and then for The Honorable J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
From 2001 to 2002, he practiced white-collar criminal and appellate litigation with the Washington, D.C., office of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood. Following his year in practice, he clerked for The Honorable Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Senior Associate General Counsel/Senior Legal Advisor, Office of Management and Budget/CFPB
Victoria Dorfman is a Senior Associate General Counsel at the Office of Management and Budget and is a Senior Legal Advisor at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. At the OMB, she advises on constitutional and statutory issues. At the CFPB, she is primarily responsible for Enforcement, Supervision, Fair Lending, Oversight, and the Bureau’s litigation.
Prior to entering government service, Victoria was a partner at Jones Day, in Washington, D.C. and in New York, where she represented clients in appellate and complex commercial litigation in U.S. courts and in international arbitration. She has successfully briefed cases at all stages of litigation and argued before federal and state courts of appeals.
Victoria's areas of in-depth experience include jurisdiction and civil procedure, arbitration, bankruptcy, antitrust, and general commercial litigation. She maintained an active First Amendment Establishment and Free Exercise practice and represents religious institutions. Victoria's representations included obtaining unanimous victories in intergovernmental tax immunity and forum non conveniens cases in the U.S. Supreme Court; bankruptcy confirmations, including in appellate and Supreme Court proceedings, of Chrysler, the City of Detroit, Caesar's, Adelphia, and Relativity Media; UNCITRAL and BIT arbitrations; victories for Bayer in antitrust patent challenges to agreements regarding a blockbuster drug's production; and a damages award for Chevron against the government, including a sanction for bad faith litigation conduct.
Prior to joining Jones Day, Victoria clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas of the United States Supreme Court and Judge Michael J. Luttig of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Victoria received her A.B. from Harvard College (cum laude) and J.D. from Harvard Law School (magna cum laude), where she was Articles, Books and Commentaries editor on Harvard Law Review.
Victoria is a native speaker of Russian, and is proficient in French and Portuguese. She published articles on Religion Clauses, bankruptcy, federal jurisdiction and statutory interpretation, and is a contributing author and editor of The Practitioner's Guide to Appellate Advocacy.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
David Stras became a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on January 31, 2018. Before serving on the Eighth Circuit, Judge Stras was an Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, a position he occupied from July 1, 2010 until his appointment to the Eighth Circuit.
Prior to becoming a judge, Stras was a member of the faculty of the University of Minnesota Law School from 2004 through 2010. He taught and wrote in the areas of federal courts and jurisdiction, constitutional law, criminal law, and law and politics.
Judge Stras received his Bachelor of Arts degree, with highest distinction, in 1995 and his Master of Business Administration in 1999, both from the University of Kansas. He also received his law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1999, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Criminal Procedure Edition of the Kansas Law Review.
Following law school, Stras clerked for The Honorable Melvin Brunetti of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and then for The Honorable J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
From 2001 to 2002, he practiced white-collar criminal and appellate litigation with the Washington, D.C., office of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood. Following his year in practice, he clerked for The Honorable Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
David Stras became a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on January 31, 2018. Before serving on the Eighth Circuit, Judge Stras was an Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, a position he occupied from July 1, 2010 until his appointment to the Eighth Circuit.
Prior to becoming a judge, Stras was a member of the faculty of the University of Minnesota Law School from 2004 through 2010. He taught and wrote in the areas of federal courts and jurisdiction, constitutional law, criminal law, and law and politics.
Judge Stras received his Bachelor of Arts degree, with highest distinction, in 1995 and his Master of Business Administration in 1999, both from the University of Kansas. He also received his law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1999, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Criminal Procedure Edition of the Kansas Law Review.
Following law school, Stras clerked for The Honorable Melvin Brunetti of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and then for The Honorable J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
From 2001 to 2002, he practiced white-collar criminal and appellate litigation with the Washington, D.C., office of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood. Following his year in practice, he clerked for The Honorable Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States.
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