Frank Knaack is the Executive Director of Alabama Appleseed, where he serves as the organization’s chief strategic officer and voice for its mission, vision, values, and programs. Prior to joining Alabama Appleseed, Frank spent nearly eight years with the ACLU and its Virginia and Texas affiliates. Most recently, Frank served as the Director of Public Policy and Communications for the ACLU of Virginia, where he led the organization’s advocacy before state and local government bodies and oversaw the design and implementation of the organization’s communications strategy. Under his leadership the organization secured major public policy victories in the areas of criminal justice, death penalty, government surveillance, reproductive freedom, and immigrants’ rights. Prior to joining the ACLU of Virginia, Frank developed and managed the ACLU of Texas’ statewide campaigns and led the organization’s successful efforts at the Texas Legislature to pass legislation designed to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. Frank began his human rights advocacy career with the national ACLU, where he researched domestic human rights violations and coordinated national advocacy campaigns designed to hold the United States accountable to its international human rights treaty obligations. Frank has also served as a Palestine Works Fellow with Adalah.
Frank has been quoted on human rights issues in a variety of publications including The Washington Post, Slate, and the Associated Press. Frank received his M.A. in International Human Rights Law from The American University in Cairo and B.A. from the University of Vermont.
Former Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, The White House
Jordan is an experienced litigator and public policy leader with significant experience in federal trial and appellate matters. He advises clients on complex federal litigation and appeals informed by senior service in the White House, federal judicial clerkships, and private practice.
Jordan previously served as a Special Assistant to the President on the White House Domestic Policy Council and as an advisor to the White House Office of American Innovation. In those roles, he helped shape federal policy on criminal justice, regulatory reform, and law enforcement matters. He played a central role in implementing the FIRST STEP Act, coordinated review of major executive actions, and oversaw clemency reviews with the Office of White House Counsel and the Department of Justice, working across federal agencies to execute complex policy initiatives.
Earlier, Jordan served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Labor, where he advised on workforce and reentry policy and provided legal review of significant departmental guidance and funding initiatives.
Prior to his federal service, Jordan worked with nonprofit policy organizations in Washington, D.C., including the Heritage Foundation and Americans for Prosperity, focusing on criminal justice reform and constitutional issues. He contributed to policy development efforts and provided testimony and legal briefings to state legislatures. For his accomplishments on these issues, he was named to Forbes 30-Under-30 in Law & Policy in 2018.
Jordan also had the privilege of serving as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. Barbara Lagoa of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the Hon. Aileen M. Cannon of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Following his service in the White House, Jordan practiced as a civil litigator in Miami, serving on multiple trial teams and representing clients in complex matters in federal and state courts, with regular appearances in both trial and appellate proceedings.
In 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Jordan to serve on the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, where he currently serves as Vice Chair. In that role, he evaluates applicants for judicial office and participates in the recommendation of nominees to the Governor.
Jordan earned his B.A., summa cum laude, from Marshall University and his J.D. from Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law.
Professor of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh
Chris W. Bonneau is Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh, where he has been since 2002. His research is primarily in the areas of judicial selection (specifically, judicial elections) and judicial decisionmaking. Professor Bonneau’s work has been supported by the National Science Foundation and he has published numerous articles, including in the American Journal of Political Science and Journal of Politics. He is also the coauthor of three books: Strategic Behavior and Policy Choice on the U.S. Supreme Court (2005), In Defense of Judicial Elections (2009), and the award-winning Voters’ Verdicts: Citizens, Campaigns, and Institutions in State Supreme Court Elections (2015).
Professor Bonneau teaches undergraduate classes in constitutional law, judicial politics, and research methods, as well as graduate classes in judicial politics and research design.
Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice
Paul Avelar is the Managing Attorney of the Institute for Justice Arizona Office. He joined the Institute in March 2010 and litigates free speech, property rights, economic liberty, school choice and other constitutional cases in federal and state courts.
As the head of IJ’s national Braiding Freedom Initiative, Paul represents natural hair braiders across the country to protect their right to earn an honest living. The Initiative uses lawsuits, activism and research to remove laws that require potential braiders to undergo hundreds of costly training hours just to braid hair. Since IJ launched the Braiding Freedom Initiative in 2014, 12 additional states have freed braiders from unnecessary licensing burdens. Paul drafted the model Natural Hair Braiding Protection Act, which has been adopted in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Texas and South Dakota. He is currently representing braiders in Missouri, where state laws infringe upon their right to earn an honest living.
In his free speech work, Paul has challenged numerous laws that trample First Amendment rights. In Arizona Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett, he represented candidates and independent groups in a successful U.S. Supreme Court challenge to the “matching funds” provision of Arizona’s publicly financed elections system. He represented grassroots groups and individuals in Arizona, Mississippi and Washington, where state laws burdened their political speech by requiring them to register with the government, to navigate complex regulations and to face fines and possible criminal penalties merely because they talked about political issues. In Washington, Paul protected a lawyer’s right to defend, pro-bono, the First Amendment rights of political speakers. Through litigation and legislation, Paul leads the fight against abusive civil forfeiture laws in Arizona and elsewhere.
Paul also co-authored the most comprehensive published study of economic liberty protections in the Arizona Constitution. The Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court appointed Paul to the Task Force on the Review of the Role and Governance Structure of the State Bar of Arizona, where he dissented from the majority report and called on leaders to substantially reform the Bar and state regulation of the practice of law. He often speaks at law schools across the country about constitutional issues and his work at IJ.
Prior to joining IJ-AZ, Paul worked as an attorney in Philadelphia. He clerked for Judge Roger Miner on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Justice Andrew Hurwitz on the Arizona Supreme Court, and Judge Daniel Barker on the Arizona Court of Appeals.
Paul graduated manga cum laude from the Arizona State University College of Law in 2004 and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 2000.
Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Dominic E. Draye has litigated at every level of the state and federal judiciary—from state trial court to the Supreme Court of the United States. His practice focuses on constitutional, regulatory, and environmental matters, and he has represented clients in both the public and private sectors. In the federal appellate courts, Mr. Draye has represented clients in the Second, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, and D.C. Circuits.
Before joining Greenberg, Mr. Draye served as the Solicitor General of Arizona, where he briefed and argued the State’s highest-profile civil and criminal appeals and served as lead counsel for several multi-state coalitions litigating over agency rulemaking in the D.C. Circuit. Prior to government service, Mr. Draye was a litigator in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where his practice focused on legal issues and appeals.
Mr. Draye is a sought-after speaker on topics of administrative and constitutional law. He clerked for Hon. Edith H. Jones on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Managing Partner, Statecraft
Kory Langhofer is the Managing Attorney at Statecraft PLLC, a law firm focusing on government and political law. His practice is concentrated in campaign finance, constitutional litigation, and political matters. He has previously worked as a federal prosecutor, as litigation counsel to the presidential campaigns for Mitt Romney and Donald Trump, and as general counsel for the 2016-2017 presidential transition team.
Kory received his A.B. in political science, summa cum laude, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as an Editor of The Yale Law Journal.
Jason Bedrick is director of policy for EdChoice. Previously, he was policy analyst with the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom. He also served as a legislator in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and was an education policy research fellow at the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy.
Bedrick received his master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he was a fellow at the Taubman Center for State and Local Government. His thesis, “Choosing to Learn,” assessed scholarship tax credit programs operating in eight states, including their program design, impact on student performance, fiscal impact, and popularity.
Attorney, Institute for Justice
Greg Reed is an attorney with the Institute for Justice. He joined IJ in 2013 and litigates cases promoting economic liberty and educational choice.
Greg is representing two St. Louis-based African-style hair braiders before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in a challenge to an onerous licensing regime. Greg is also representing the Archdiocese of Newark in a challenge to a blatantly protectionist law that prevents religious cemeteries from providing headstones to its parishioners. Greg is currently the lead attorney in a case challenging Baltimore’s arbitrary, anticompetitive prohibition on mobile vendors operating within 300 feet of brick-and-mortar business establishments.
Prior to joining IJ, Greg was the research assistant to nationally syndicated columnist George F. Will. Greg received his law degree from American University Washington College of Law in 2013. Greg graduated from Haverford College in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.
Greg is a member of the Maryland bar.
Assistant Attorney General & Senior Trial Counsel to the Criminal Bureau, Massachusetts Attorney General
Senior Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Loretta A. Preska is a senior judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She joined the court in 1992 after being nominated by President George H.W. Bush. Preska became the chief judge of the court in May of 2009 when Kimba Wood assumed senior status. She served as chief judge of the court for a seven-year term from 2009 to 2016, and took senior status in 2017.
Preska graduated from the College of St. Rose with her Bachelor's degree in 1970 and also graduated from Fordham Law with her Juris Doctor Degree in 1973. She graduated from NYU Law with her Master of Laws degree in 1978.
Legal Scholar and Solo Practitioner
Jack received his B.A. in History from the University of Virginia in 1977, graduating with Highest Distinction. After graduating Yale Law School in 1980, he served active duty in the U.S. Army's JAG Corps, rising to the rank of Major, where he represented the United States in more than 250 cases.
He practiced for a decade as an Associate for Bradley Arant in Birmingham, Alabama. He proudly served the State of Alabama in the Office of the Attorney General, both as Deputy and Assistant Attorney General, handling complex civil and criminal litigation cases for the people of Alabama. In 2000, he won the "Best Brief Award" from the National Association of Attorneys General for his brief in a case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, James Alexander v. Martha Sandoval – a case he won. He was Special Assistant to the Inspector General for the Corporation for National and Community Service, Visiting Legal Fellow for the Center for Judicial and Legal Studies for the Heritage Foundation, Of Counsel at Strickland Brockington Lewis, a solo practitioner, and General Counsel for Indigo Energy.
Most recently, he "re-upped" for military service, volunteering his legal services to the Georgia State Defense Force where twice each month he provided legal services for National Guardsmen who were being deployed. He wore his military uniform for the last time in October 2024.
Jack Park passed away on March 16, 2026.
Bottleneckers: Discussion with Bob Robb & Dick Carpenter
Phoenix Lawyers Chapter
Phoenix, AZCivil Asset Forfeiture
Birmingham, ALPennsylvania Chapters Conference
Harrisburg, PATopics
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Topics
The Georgia Supreme Court Delivers a Victory for School Choice
On Monday, June 26, while the legal world was watching for decisions from the U.S....
The Georgia Supreme Court Delivers a Victory for School Choice
Loretta Preska, John J. Park
On Monday, June 26, while the legal world was watching for decisions from the U.S....