Partner, King & Spalding PLLC
Will Barnette is a partner in the Atlanta office of King & Spalding, where he is a member of the firm’s business litigation practice and class action defense group. During his 30-year career, Will has consistently led clients to successful outcomes in their most sensitive and high exposure class action, MDL, and related regulatory matters. From litigating high-stakes tobacco class actions at the turn of the century, to defending massive data breach litigation in the last decade, and winning several lucrative antitrust opt-out settlements more recently, Will has played a key role in much of the leading complex litigation of the era and led clients to tremendous success on both sides of the “v.” In particular, he has deep experience in litigating consumer, products, and antitrust class actions, commercial disputes, and managing internal investigations.
Prior to rejoining King & Spalding, where he worked earlier in his career, Will served as Associate General Counsel for The Home Depot and was a member of the company’s Legal Senior Leadership Team. As leader of The Home Depot’s commercial litigation team for more than ten years, he was responsible for the company’s most significant commercial and business litigation, which frequently challenged core aspects of the company’s business. During his 21-year tenure with The Home Depot, Will led the successful defense of several hundred class actions, created and led the company’s recovery litigation program, and successfully managed multiple high-profile investigations and favorably resolved significant related regulatory matters, including with the United States Department of Justice, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and multi-state Attorney General groups.
A recognized thought leader in complex litigation, Will argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2019 term—one of the few in-house counsel to do so. He received the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Corporate Counsel Award for Advocacy in 2016 and has authored seven law review articles. His recent works, Misunderstanding Original Jurisdiction and There Is No Conservative Case for Class Actions, ranked among the top SSRN downloads in Federal Courts and Jurisdiction. He frequently lectures on class actions, MDL litigation, and internal investigations, and teaches Complex Litigation at the University of Tennessee Winston College of Law, where he earned the Harold C. Warner Outstanding Adjunct Professor Award in 2025.
Will chairs the Board of Georgians for Lawsuit Reform, which was instrumental in passing Georgia’s 2025 tort reform legislation. He also serves as Chair of the Class Actions Section for the State Bar of Georgia and is a former President of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society. Will played varsity college basketball at Sewanee.
Executive in Residence, Wake Forest University School of Business
John Allison is an Executive in Residence at the Wake Forest School of Business. He is a member of the Cato Institute’s Board of Directors and Chairman of the Executive Advisory Council of the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives. Allison was president and CEO of the Cato Institute from October 2012 to April 2015. Prior to joining Cato, Allison was chairman and CEO of BB&T Corporation, the 10th-largest financial services holding company headquartered in the United States. During his tenure as CEO from 1989 to 2008, BB&T grew from $4.5 billion to $152 billion in assets. He was recognized by theHarvard Business Reviewas one of the top 100 most successful CEOs in the world over the last decade.
Allison has received the Corning Award for Distinguished Leadership, been inducted into the North Carolina Business Hall of Fame, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from theAmerican Banker. He is the author of The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure: Why Pure Capitalism Is the World Economy’s Only Hope and The Leadership Crisis and the Free Market Cure: Why the Future of Business Depends on the Return to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. In addition, he is a former Distinguished Professor of Practice at Wake Forest University School of Business, and serves on the Board of Visitors at the business schools at Wake Forest, Duke, and the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.
Allison is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. He received his master’s degree in management from Duke University and is also a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking. Allison is the recipient of six honorary doctorate degrees.
CEO, Sunstone Trust Company
Daniel Wheeler is a founder and the CEO of Sunstone Trust Company which provides high touch fiduciary and wealth management services to high net worth individuals and families. We specialize in serving first and second generation immigrant families but welcome anyone who values personal attention and responsive service.
Prior to becoming a financial services executive, Dan was a Banking and Fintech regulatory partner in the Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner international law firm and led the firm's fintech regulatory practice. For 22 years, he advised banks, crypto and blockchain companies, financial technology companies, credit unions and other financial institutions on their most important challenges and opportunities.
Dan is particularly adept at financial services innovation, including the design and upgrade of consumer and commercial financial products and business lines. Mr. Wheeler has successfully navigated many significant regulatory challenges. Sometimes this involves intervention and advocacy with the Federal Reserve, FDIC, OCC, NCUA, CFPB and state financial regulators, as well as negotiation of enforcement actions.
Dan is also the founder and adviser to Financial Technology Bank which will empower money service businesses and fintechs to better serve low and moderate income communities.
Specialties: financial innovation, banking, wealth management, cryptocurrency.
George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
TODD J. ZYWICKI is George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and Research Fellow of the George Mason Law and Economics Center. During the Fall 2023 semester he served as the Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy for the Bruce Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado-Boulder. From 2020-2021 he was Chair of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law. In 2021 he was inducted to the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers. He is also a Senior Fellow of the F.A. Hayek Program for the Advanced Study of Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at George Mason University and a former Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute. From 2015-2017 he was Executive Director of the George Mason Law and Economics Center. He served as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review from 2006-2017. From 2003-2004, Professor Zywicki served as the Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission. He has also taught at Vanderbilt University Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Boston College Law School, Mississippi College School of Law, and China University of Political Science and Law.
Professor Zywicki clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and worked as an associate at Alston & Bird in Atlanta, Georgia, where he practiced bankruptcy and commercial law. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia, where he was executive editor of the Virginia Tax Review and John M. Olin Scholar in Law and Economics. Professor Zywicki also received an M.A. in Economics from Clemson University and an A.B. cum Laude with high honors in his major from Dartmouth College.
Professor Zywicki is also a Lone Mountain Fellow of the Property and Environment Research Center, a Fellow of the International Centre for Economic Research in Turin, Italy, and a former Senior Fellow of the Goldwater Institute. During the Fall 2008 Semester Professor Zywicki was the Searle Fellow of the George Mason University School of Law and was a 2008-09 W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow and the Arch W. Shaw National Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace. He has lectured and consulted with government officials around the world, including Iceland, Italy, Japan, and Guatemala. In 2006 Professor Zywicki served as a Member of the United States Department of Justice Study Group on “Identifying Fraud, Abuse and Errors in the United States Bankruptcy System.”
Professor Zywicki is the author of more than 130 articles in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed economics journals. He is one of the Top 10 most-cited law professors in the field of Commercial Law and one of the Top 25 law professors on Twitter as measured by engagement levels. He is one of the Top 50 Most Downloaded Law Authors at the Social Science Research Network. He has testified multiple times before Congress on issues of consumer bankruptcy law and consumer credit and is a frequent commentator on legal issues in the print and broadcast media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Nightline, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Neil Cavuto Show, Fox & Friends, Smerconish, Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream, Fox Business, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg News, BBC, The Diane Rehm Show, Lou Dobbs Show, Jerry Doyle Show, and The Laura Ingraham Show.
Professor Zywicki is former Chairman and a current member of the Board of Directors of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Humane Studies, Bill of Rights Institute, the Executive Committee for the Federalist Society's Financial Institutions and E-Commerce Practice Group, the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment. He formerly served on the Governing Board and the Advisory Council for the Financial Services Research Program at George Washington University School of Business. He is currently the Chair of the Academic Advisory Council for the following organizations: The Bill of Rights Institute, the film “We the People in IMAX,” and the McCormick-Tribune Foundation “Freedom Museum” in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of the Board of Visitors of Ralston College and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Yorktown University. From 2005-2009 he served as an elected Alumni Trustee of the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees.
Executive in Residence, Wake Forest University School of Business
John Allison is an Executive in Residence at the Wake Forest School of Business. He is a member of the Cato Institute’s Board of Directors and Chairman of the Executive Advisory Council of the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives. Allison was president and CEO of the Cato Institute from October 2012 to April 2015. Prior to joining Cato, Allison was chairman and CEO of BB&T Corporation, the 10th-largest financial services holding company headquartered in the United States. During his tenure as CEO from 1989 to 2008, BB&T grew from $4.5 billion to $152 billion in assets. He was recognized by theHarvard Business Reviewas one of the top 100 most successful CEOs in the world over the last decade.
Allison has received the Corning Award for Distinguished Leadership, been inducted into the North Carolina Business Hall of Fame, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from theAmerican Banker. He is the author of The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure: Why Pure Capitalism Is the World Economy’s Only Hope and The Leadership Crisis and the Free Market Cure: Why the Future of Business Depends on the Return to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. In addition, he is a former Distinguished Professor of Practice at Wake Forest University School of Business, and serves on the Board of Visitors at the business schools at Wake Forest, Duke, and the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.
Allison is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. He received his master’s degree in management from Duke University and is also a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking. Allison is the recipient of six honorary doctorate degrees.
George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
TODD J. ZYWICKI is George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and Research Fellow of the George Mason Law and Economics Center. During the Fall 2023 semester he served as the Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy for the Bruce Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado-Boulder. From 2020-2021 he was Chair of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law. In 2021 he was inducted to the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers. He is also a Senior Fellow of the F.A. Hayek Program for the Advanced Study of Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at George Mason University and a former Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute. From 2015-2017 he was Executive Director of the George Mason Law and Economics Center. He served as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review from 2006-2017. From 2003-2004, Professor Zywicki served as the Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission. He has also taught at Vanderbilt University Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Boston College Law School, Mississippi College School of Law, and China University of Political Science and Law.
Professor Zywicki clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and worked as an associate at Alston & Bird in Atlanta, Georgia, where he practiced bankruptcy and commercial law. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia, where he was executive editor of the Virginia Tax Review and John M. Olin Scholar in Law and Economics. Professor Zywicki also received an M.A. in Economics from Clemson University and an A.B. cum Laude with high honors in his major from Dartmouth College.
Professor Zywicki is also a Lone Mountain Fellow of the Property and Environment Research Center, a Fellow of the International Centre for Economic Research in Turin, Italy, and a former Senior Fellow of the Goldwater Institute. During the Fall 2008 Semester Professor Zywicki was the Searle Fellow of the George Mason University School of Law and was a 2008-09 W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow and the Arch W. Shaw National Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace. He has lectured and consulted with government officials around the world, including Iceland, Italy, Japan, and Guatemala. In 2006 Professor Zywicki served as a Member of the United States Department of Justice Study Group on “Identifying Fraud, Abuse and Errors in the United States Bankruptcy System.”
Professor Zywicki is the author of more than 130 articles in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed economics journals. He is one of the Top 10 most-cited law professors in the field of Commercial Law and one of the Top 25 law professors on Twitter as measured by engagement levels. He is one of the Top 50 Most Downloaded Law Authors at the Social Science Research Network. He has testified multiple times before Congress on issues of consumer bankruptcy law and consumer credit and is a frequent commentator on legal issues in the print and broadcast media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Nightline, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Neil Cavuto Show, Fox & Friends, Smerconish, Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream, Fox Business, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg News, BBC, The Diane Rehm Show, Lou Dobbs Show, Jerry Doyle Show, and The Laura Ingraham Show.
Professor Zywicki is former Chairman and a current member of the Board of Directors of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Humane Studies, Bill of Rights Institute, the Executive Committee for the Federalist Society's Financial Institutions and E-Commerce Practice Group, the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment. He formerly served on the Governing Board and the Advisory Council for the Financial Services Research Program at George Washington University School of Business. He is currently the Chair of the Academic Advisory Council for the following organizations: The Bill of Rights Institute, the film “We the People in IMAX,” and the McCormick-Tribune Foundation “Freedom Museum” in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of the Board of Visitors of Ralston College and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Yorktown University. From 2005-2009 he served as an elected Alumni Trustee of the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees.
CEO, Sunstone Trust Company
Daniel Wheeler is a founder and the CEO of Sunstone Trust Company which provides high touch fiduciary and wealth management services to high net worth individuals and families. We specialize in serving first and second generation immigrant families but welcome anyone who values personal attention and responsive service.
Prior to becoming a financial services executive, Dan was a Banking and Fintech regulatory partner in the Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner international law firm and led the firm's fintech regulatory practice. For 22 years, he advised banks, crypto and blockchain companies, financial technology companies, credit unions and other financial institutions on their most important challenges and opportunities.
Dan is particularly adept at financial services innovation, including the design and upgrade of consumer and commercial financial products and business lines. Mr. Wheeler has successfully navigated many significant regulatory challenges. Sometimes this involves intervention and advocacy with the Federal Reserve, FDIC, OCC, NCUA, CFPB and state financial regulators, as well as negotiation of enforcement actions.
Dan is also the founder and adviser to Financial Technology Bank which will empower money service businesses and fintechs to better serve low and moderate income communities.
Specialties: financial innovation, banking, wealth management, cryptocurrency.
General Counsel, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation
Tim Cerio is the General Counsel for Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Prior to joining Citizens, Tim practiced administrative and health care law with GrayRobinson, PA. Tim formerly served as General Counsel to Governor Rick Scott, and also as General Counsel, and later Chief of Staff, of the Florida Department of Health. Tim currently serves on the Board of Governors of the State University System of Florida, the constitutional body charged with overseeing Florida’s twelve public universities. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the James Madison Institute. Tim was a member of the 2017-2018 Constitution Revision Commission, which is convened once every twenty years for the purpose of reviewing Florida’s constitution and proposing amendments for voter consideration. Tim also formerly served on the First District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission. Tim and his family live in Tallahassee, Florida.
Shareholder, Lawson Huck Gonzalez, PLLC
Jason Gonzalez is an experienced appellate and litigation attorney and regularly consults on executive branch government affairs. He represents businesses and state agencies in state and federal courts in contracts, government procurements, insurance disputes, class actions, tort defense, banking, finance, professional licenses, and elections matters.
Recently, Jason advocated for business association clients in two amicus briefs filed before the Florida Supreme Court, supporting the adoption of the federal summary judgment standard, a development widely viewed as the most significant Florida civil justice system reform in the modern era. In 2019, Florida Politics reported that Jason was representing parties in more pending civil cases at the Florida Supreme Court than any other attorney in the State.
Over the course of his career, Jason has been at the forefront of emerging legal developments, helping to shape Florida’s justice system.
Jason has served on the Florida Supreme Court Nominating Commission, as Chairman of the First District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission and Chairman of the Second Judicial Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission, as well as two terms as General Counsel and former Executive Board Member of the Republican Party of Florida. Prior to co-founding Lawson Huck Gonzalez, Jason served as General Counsel to the Florida Governor.
In 2010, Jason served as lead counsel for Transocean Ltd. in its Florida Panhandle litigation and regulatory matters immediately following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon. Over a two-year period, Jason successfully obtained orders dismissing or removing every one of the more than 70 individual and class action lawsuits filed against Transocean in Florida.
In 2016, Governor Rick Scott appointed Jeffrey Kuntz to be a judge on Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal. After his appointment to the court, Florida’s Chief Justice appointed Judge Kuntz to serve on the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee, the Appellate Court Technology Committee, and the Appellate Case Management Change Advisory Board. Judge Kuntz also served on the Appellate Court Rules Committee for six years and continues to serve on the Rules of Judicial Administration Committee.
Before his appointment, Judge Kuntz was a shareholder with the GrayRobinson law firm. While in private practice, Judge Kuntz argued cases in every District Court of Appeal in Florida, the Florida Supreme Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Judge Kuntz was twice appointed to serve on the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit’s judicial nominating commission, and served as the Vice-Chair of that commission until his appointment.
Florida Third District Court of Appeal
On October 18, 2013 Governor Rick Scott appointed Judge Edwin A. Scales, III to the Third District Court of Appeal, making him the first Monroe County attorney ever appointed to the Court.
Before his appointment, Judge Scales was a sole practitioner in Key West, Florida. His practice concentrated in the areas of appellate litigation, commercial and real estate litigation, administrative law, and mediation. Additionally, through his “of-counsel” affiliation with the GrayRobinson law firm, Judge Scales served as the General Counsel to the Florida Citrus Commission.
Prior to moving to Key West, Judge Scales was a shareholder in the Lakeland, Florida law firm of Lane, Trohn, Bertrand, & Vreeland, P.A. In 1998, Judge Scales became the General Counsel for Historic Tours of America, Inc., a national site-seeing company with headquarters in Key West, Florida.
From 2011 thru 2013, Judge Scales served on the Florida Commission on Ethics and was its vice chairman. In 2005, Monroe County's attorneys elected Judge Scales to serve on the Florida Bar's Board of Governors, and he was re-elected to that position four times. He served on the Bar’s Executive Committee for three years and chaired both the Bar’s Legislation Committee and Citizen’s Forum.
In 2006, Judge Scales was appointed by Florida Governor Jeb Bush to the Board of Trustees of the Florida Keys Community College. He was reappointed to the Board by Governors Crist and Scott. He chaired the Board from 2007 to 2009, and again in 2011 and 2012.
From 2000 to 2005, Judge Scales served on the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission for Florida's Southern District. In 2009, he was appointed by Governor Charlie Crist to the Judicial Nominating Commission for Florida's 16th Judicial Circuit, and was reappointed to the JNC by Gov. Rick Scott in 2012.
In 2001, he was elected to serve a four-year term on the Key West City Commission, and in 2003 was appointed to the Florida Keys Tourist Development Council, where he served two years as Treasurer.
Since 1999, Judge Scales has hosted the weekly "Ed Scales Show" heard on Keys radio station US-1 (104.1 FM - www.us1radio.com). He has an extensive background in both radio and television, hosting "The Legal Beagles" radio program in the Tampa Bay area from 1996 to 1998.
Judge Scales was born on August 13, 1966 in Birmingham, Alabama, and was raised in Lakeland, Florida. He received his B.S. in Telecommunications with Honors from the University of Florida in 1988. While an undergraduate at the University of Florida, he was appointed by Governor Bob Martinez to serve on the Florida Board of Regents from 1987 to 1988, and was tapped into the Florida Blue Key leadership honorary. He also served as the "mike man" for the Florida Gators and is a 2-year UF Varsity Letterman. In 1988, he was named the University of Florida's outstanding male graduate and was named to the University of Florida Hall of Fame. In 1991 he received his J.D. from the University of Florida College of Law. While in law school, Judge Scales served as President of the University of Florida Student Body, he received the Bill Fleming Memorial Award for outstanding service to the University of Florida community, and he received the Book Award for Florida Administrative Law demonstrating academic excellence in that area.
Attorney General, Florida
James Uthmeier is the Attorney General of the State of Florida. Before this, he served as Chief of Staff to Governor Ron DeSantis. Previously, he was General Counsel to the Governor, overseeing litigation and judicial nominations. He also served as a senior advisor at the U.S. Department of Commerce. A Georgetown Law graduate, Uthmeier is an adjunct professor at Florida State University College of Law and co-teaches religious education in Tallahassee.
Executive in Residence, Wake Forest University School of Business
John Allison is an Executive in Residence at the Wake Forest School of Business. He is a member of the Cato Institute’s Board of Directors and Chairman of the Executive Advisory Council of the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives. Allison was president and CEO of the Cato Institute from October 2012 to April 2015. Prior to joining Cato, Allison was chairman and CEO of BB&T Corporation, the 10th-largest financial services holding company headquartered in the United States. During his tenure as CEO from 1989 to 2008, BB&T grew from $4.5 billion to $152 billion in assets. He was recognized by theHarvard Business Reviewas one of the top 100 most successful CEOs in the world over the last decade.
Allison has received the Corning Award for Distinguished Leadership, been inducted into the North Carolina Business Hall of Fame, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from theAmerican Banker. He is the author of The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure: Why Pure Capitalism Is the World Economy’s Only Hope and The Leadership Crisis and the Free Market Cure: Why the Future of Business Depends on the Return to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. In addition, he is a former Distinguished Professor of Practice at Wake Forest University School of Business, and serves on the Board of Visitors at the business schools at Wake Forest, Duke, and the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.
Allison is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. He received his master’s degree in management from Duke University and is also a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking. Allison is the recipient of six honorary doctorate degrees.
CEO, Sunstone Trust Company
Daniel Wheeler is a founder and the CEO of Sunstone Trust Company which provides high touch fiduciary and wealth management services to high net worth individuals and families. We specialize in serving first and second generation immigrant families but welcome anyone who values personal attention and responsive service.
Prior to becoming a financial services executive, Dan was a Banking and Fintech regulatory partner in the Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner international law firm and led the firm's fintech regulatory practice. For 22 years, he advised banks, crypto and blockchain companies, financial technology companies, credit unions and other financial institutions on their most important challenges and opportunities.
Dan is particularly adept at financial services innovation, including the design and upgrade of consumer and commercial financial products and business lines. Mr. Wheeler has successfully navigated many significant regulatory challenges. Sometimes this involves intervention and advocacy with the Federal Reserve, FDIC, OCC, NCUA, CFPB and state financial regulators, as well as negotiation of enforcement actions.
Dan is also the founder and adviser to Financial Technology Bank which will empower money service businesses and fintechs to better serve low and moderate income communities.
Specialties: financial innovation, banking, wealth management, cryptocurrency.
George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
TODD J. ZYWICKI is George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and Research Fellow of the George Mason Law and Economics Center. During the Fall 2023 semester he served as the Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy for the Bruce Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado-Boulder. From 2020-2021 he was Chair of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law. In 2021 he was inducted to the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers. He is also a Senior Fellow of the F.A. Hayek Program for the Advanced Study of Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at George Mason University and a former Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute. From 2015-2017 he was Executive Director of the George Mason Law and Economics Center. He served as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review from 2006-2017. From 2003-2004, Professor Zywicki served as the Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission. He has also taught at Vanderbilt University Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Boston College Law School, Mississippi College School of Law, and China University of Political Science and Law.
Professor Zywicki clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and worked as an associate at Alston & Bird in Atlanta, Georgia, where he practiced bankruptcy and commercial law. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia, where he was executive editor of the Virginia Tax Review and John M. Olin Scholar in Law and Economics. Professor Zywicki also received an M.A. in Economics from Clemson University and an A.B. cum Laude with high honors in his major from Dartmouth College.
Professor Zywicki is also a Lone Mountain Fellow of the Property and Environment Research Center, a Fellow of the International Centre for Economic Research in Turin, Italy, and a former Senior Fellow of the Goldwater Institute. During the Fall 2008 Semester Professor Zywicki was the Searle Fellow of the George Mason University School of Law and was a 2008-09 W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow and the Arch W. Shaw National Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace. He has lectured and consulted with government officials around the world, including Iceland, Italy, Japan, and Guatemala. In 2006 Professor Zywicki served as a Member of the United States Department of Justice Study Group on “Identifying Fraud, Abuse and Errors in the United States Bankruptcy System.”
Professor Zywicki is the author of more than 130 articles in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed economics journals. He is one of the Top 10 most-cited law professors in the field of Commercial Law and one of the Top 25 law professors on Twitter as measured by engagement levels. He is one of the Top 50 Most Downloaded Law Authors at the Social Science Research Network. He has testified multiple times before Congress on issues of consumer bankruptcy law and consumer credit and is a frequent commentator on legal issues in the print and broadcast media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Nightline, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Neil Cavuto Show, Fox & Friends, Smerconish, Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream, Fox Business, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg News, BBC, The Diane Rehm Show, Lou Dobbs Show, Jerry Doyle Show, and The Laura Ingraham Show.
Professor Zywicki is former Chairman and a current member of the Board of Directors of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Humane Studies, Bill of Rights Institute, the Executive Committee for the Federalist Society's Financial Institutions and E-Commerce Practice Group, the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment. He formerly served on the Governing Board and the Advisory Council for the Financial Services Research Program at George Washington University School of Business. He is currently the Chair of the Academic Advisory Council for the following organizations: The Bill of Rights Institute, the film “We the People in IMAX,” and the McCormick-Tribune Foundation “Freedom Museum” in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of the Board of Visitors of Ralston College and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Yorktown University. From 2005-2009 he served as an elected Alumni Trustee of the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees.
Tazewell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor, William & Mary Law School
Jonathan H. Adler joined the William & Mary law faculty as the Tazwell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor in 2025. Prior to joining the faculty, he was the inaugural Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Professor Adler is the author or editor of seven books, including Climate Liberalism: Perspectives on Liberty, Property and Pollution (Palgrave, 2023), Marijuana Federalism: Uncle Sam and Mary Jane (Brookings Institution Press, 2020), Business and the Roberts Court (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Rebuilding the Ark: New Perspectives on Endangered Species Act Reform (AEI Press, 2011).
His articles have appeared in publications ranging from the Harvard Environmental Law Review and Yale Journal on Regulation to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. He has testified before Congress a dozen times, and his work has been cited in the U.S. Supreme Court. A 2024 study identified Professor Adler as the seventh most cited legal academic in administrative and environmental law from 2019 to 2023.
Professor Adler is a contributing editor to Civitas Outlook and a regular contributor to the popular legal blog, The Volokh Conspiracy. A regular commentator on constitutional and regulatory issues, he has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, ranging from the PBS Newshour and National Public Radio to the Fox News Channel and Entertainment Tonight.
Professor Adler is a senior fellow at the Property & Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana. In 2018, Professor Adler was elected to membership in the American Law Institute and helped co-found the organization Checks and Balances. In 2024, Professor Adler was appointed a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States.
Professor Adler clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Partner, Hunton Andrews Kurth
Mr. Leopold is a Partner with the law firm of Hunton Andrews Kurth in Washington, DC. He is the former Senate-confirmed general counsel of the U.S. EPA from 2018-2020, and he previously was a litigator at the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division form 2007-2013. As EPA General Counsel, he counseled on the development and defense of EPA’s most significant rulemakings, including the Affordable Clean Energy Rule, the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, and the Safe Affordable Fuel‐Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule, as well as several pesticide actions. He was personally involved in defending EPA in litigation, including the County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund in the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Leopold’s prior government service also includes working in Florida as general counsel of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. He now represents clients in regulatory advocacy before federal agencies, litigates federal environmental actions, and defends clients with EPA enforcement issues.
Chief of Staff and Associate Chief Counsel, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center
Stephanie Maloney is chief of staff and associate chief counsel at the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, the litigation arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In this capacity, Maloney handles a variety of matters for the Chamber, including environment and energy litigation.
Most recently, Maloney served as Chief of Staff and Counsel in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. In that capacity, she directed litigation strategy, oversaw case briefing, and managed coordination and communication with agency clients in priority cases. And she served as government counsel in cases arising under various environmental and natural resources laws.
Before that, Maloney practiced as an associate in the Appellate and Critical Motions Practice Group at Winston & Strawn LLP. Her work focused on briefing and strategy in complex commercial and appellate litigation at the federal and state level, including merits and amicus curiae briefs to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Maloney served as a law clerk to both the Honorable Edith Brown Clement, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the Honorable Stephen J. Murphy, III, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. She graduated cum laude from Notre Dame Law School, where she served as Symposium Editor of the Notre Dame Law Review, and summa cum laude from Loyola University Maryland, where she received a B.A. in Political Science. Maloney also holds a master’s degree in theology from Emory University.
Partner, Vinson & Elkins
Corinne principally practices in environmental law, with an emphasis on litigation, regulatory compliance, internal investigations, and defense against government investigations and enforcement actions.
Corinne draws on wide experience at the U.S. Department of Justice, including serving as Senior Counsel in the Office of the Associate Attorney General, which oversees all civil litigation on behalf of the United States, and as Counselor in the Office of the Attorney General.
Corinne most recently served as Counsel and Chief of Staff in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she assisted in managing a 600-person division that included 400 lawyers. In this role she helped manage the Division’s civil and criminal litigation arising under more than 150 environmental and natural resources laws.
She also worked closely with the General Counsel’s Offices for multiple federal agencies, including the EPA, Departments of Interior, Defense, Energy, Commerce, and Agriculture, as well as the White House and Counsel on Environmental Quality to advise high-ranking officials on policy and litigation risks associated with the environmental and natural resource laws.
She has personally argued cases in three U.S. Courts of Appeals, and multiple district courts, and served as the lead or co-lead counsel in district court litigation defending agency regulations, approvals, and permits related to oil and gas operations and other energy extraction projects.
Her roles in government have given her a unique perspective into the decision-making processes in the federal government.
In the private sector, Corinne counsels clients on environmental compliance across a variety of industries, including energy, chemical, manufacturing, and mining sectors. In the transactional context, she assists in the drafting and negotiating of the environmental terms in purchase and sale agreements, lease agreements, credit agreements, and disclosures for debt and equity offerings and public filings. She has also drafted comments on behalf of clients to agencies on proposed rules with significant implications for the oil and gas industry.
There Is No Conservative Case for Class Actions
William P. Barnette
A review of The Conservative Case for Class Actions, by Brian T. Fitzpatrick (Chicago), https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo43233299.html (Read...
Cancel Culture Comes to Bank: Should Banks Be Allowed to Cancel Individuals and Industries Based on their Political or Religious Beliefs?
John A. Allison, Daniel Wheeler, Todd J. Zywicki
Bank accounts provide access not only to credit but basic banking and payment services, such...
Cancel Culture Comes to Bank: Should Banks Be Allowed to Cancel Individuals and Industries Based on their Political or Religious Beliefs?
John A. Allison, Todd J. Zywicki, Daniel Wheeler
Bank accounts provide access not only to credit but basic banking and payment services, such...
The Federalist Paper, Summer 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic is coming to an end, and the Federalist Society is starting to...
A Look Into Florida's Judicial Nominating Commission
Inaugural Florida Young Lawyers Summit
Tampa, FLInaugural Florida Young Lawyers Summit
Tampa, FLCancel Culture Comes to Bank: Should Banks Be Allowed to Cancel Individuals and Industries Based on their Political or Religious Beliefs?
San Francisco & Silicon Valley Lawyers Chapters
Cancel Culture Comes to Bank: Should Banks Be Allowed to Cancel Individuals and Industries Based on their Political or Religious Beliefs?
San Francisco & Silicon Valley Lawyers Chapters
The First 100 Days: Environmental Regulation & Policy
Chicago Lawyers Chapter - Online Event
Topics
Florida Supreme Court Invalidates Business Law Section Policy Regarding Composition of CLE Program Panels
On April 15, 2021, the Florida Supreme Court issued an opinion proposing an amendment to...