Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School
Professor Derek Muller is a nationally-recognized scholar in the field of election law. His research focuses on the role of states in the administration of federal elections, the constitutional contours of voting rights and election administration, the limits of judicial power in the domain of elections, and the Electoral College.
He has published more than two dozen academic works, and his op-eds have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He has testified before Congress, and he is a contributor at the Election Law Blog. He is a co-author on a Federal Courts casebook published by Carolina Academic Press. He is also the co-reporter on a new Restatement of the Law, Election Litigation, an effort led by the American Law Institute.
Professor Muller teaches Election Law, Civil Procedure, and Evidence.
Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School
Professor Derek Muller is a nationally-recognized scholar in the field of election law. His research focuses on the role of states in the administration of federal elections, the constitutional contours of voting rights and election administration, the limits of judicial power in the domain of elections, and the Electoral College.
He has published more than two dozen academic works, and his op-eds have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He has testified before Congress, and he is a contributor at the Election Law Blog. He is a co-author on a Federal Courts casebook published by Carolina Academic Press. He is also the co-reporter on a new Restatement of the Law, Election Litigation, an effort led by the American Law Institute.
Professor Muller teaches Election Law, Civil Procedure, and Evidence.
Vice President for Legal Strategy, Stand Together
Casey Mattox is Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at
Americans for Prosperity. In these roles he advocates for and creates strategies and
partnerships to ensure a constitutionally limited government that protects the civil liberties of all
Americans. Prior to joining Stand Together and AFP Casey’s legal career focused on defending
the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, healthcare workers and religious organizations.
Casey has a J.D. from Boston College School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @CaseyMattox_ and on LinkedIn at
@Casey-Mattox-ST.
Associate, Wiley Rein LLP
Krystal represents and advises clients in a variety of complex litigation and appellate matters in state and federal courts. She has served in legal capacities in both public and private entities, including the U.S. Department of Justice and federal trial and appellate courts, and has extensive litigation experience ranging from pre-complaint investigations and discovery disputes to critical motions practice, trial preparation, and appeals. Krystal specializes in providing creative litigation solutions to give her clients a strategic advantage, both in and out of the courtroom.
Her experience spans a wide variety of practice areas, including government contracts, intellectual property, environment and product regulation, telecommunications, health care, as well as election law and government ethics. Krystal’s appellate work, including before the U.S. Supreme Court, has focused on significant First Amendment issues.
Krystal served as a law clerk for the Honorable Mark S. Davis on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (the “Rocket Docket”). In addition, she served as a law clerk for the Honorable Alice M. Batchelder on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Krystal also maintains an active pro bono practice, and for two consecutive years has won firm awards for her contributions. Most recently, she briefed and argued a multi-issue appeal of a trial verdict in the Ninth Circuit, and successfully obtained remand from the Board of Immigration Appeals after her client was denied protection under the U.N. Convention Against Torture.
Partner, Clement & Murphy, PLLC
Paul served as the 43rd Solicitor General of the United States from June 2005 until June 2008. Before his confirmation as Solicitor General, he served as Acting Solicitor General for nearly a year and as Principal Deputy Solicitor General for over three years.
Paul has argued over 100 cases before the United States Supreme Court, including McConnell v. FEC, Tennessee v. Lane, United States v. Booker, MGM v. Grokster, Hobby Lobby v. Burwell, Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, Rucho v. Common Cause, Facebook v. Duguid, and TransUnion v. Ramirez. Paul has argued more Supreme Court cases since 2000 than any lawyer in or out of government. He has also argued many important cases in the lower courts, including Walker v. Cheney, United States v. Moussaoui and NFL v. Brady.
Paul’s practice focuses on appellate matters, constitutional litigation and strategic counseling. He represents a broad array of clients in the Supreme Court and in federal and state appellate courts. Last year, for example, he successfully argued Supreme Court cases involving significant issues of energy regulation, statutory interpretation, state sovereign immunity and Article III standing, and successfully argued a trademark appeal in the Fourth Circuit, and a constitutional appeal before the en banc Eleventh Circuit.
Paul focuses on high-stakes appeals. In recent years, he successfully defended a $1.2 billion jury verdict for clients in a Tenth Circuit case, while securing the reversal of an over $2 billion jury verdict for another client in the Seventh Circuit and the approval of a nearly $1 billion dollar class action settlement in the Third Circuit. He has initiated major administrative law challenges and constitutional litigation against the federal government, such as the successful challenge to the HHS drug-pricing rule and threatened challenges that led to the withdrawal of the Treasury Department’s proposed cryptocurrency regulations. He also counsels clients on a variety of strategic legal questions, whether arising from pending legislation, government inquiries or ongoing litigation.
Paul has undertaken substantial pro bono engagements in the Supreme Court, such as twice successfully representing the defendant in Bond v. United States and successfully representing the Omaha Tribe in Nebraska v. Parker, the guardian ad litem in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, the defendant in Sekhar v. United States, a high school football coach in Kennedy v. Bremerton, and the Little Sisters of the Poor. Paul’s pro bono representation also precipitated the federal government’s confession of error in United States v. Rojas.
Following law school, Paul clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court. After his clerkships, he went on to serve as Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights.
Paul is a Distinguished Lecturer in Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he has taught in various capacities since 1998. He also serves as a Senior Fellow of the Law Center’s Supreme Court Institute. He is the Justice Joseph Story Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at the Gray Center at Scalia Law School.
Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Judge Stephen Alexander Vaden was appointed as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture on July 7, 2025. Alongside Secretary Brooke L. Rollins, Deputy Secretary Vaden leads the Department’s operations and implements policies that support America’s food and farm systems. A native of Union City, Tennessee, Deputy Secretary Vaden brings expertise in agricultural policy, law, and rural development. Previously, he served as a judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade and as General Counsel of USDA. Throughout Deputy Secretary Vaden’s time as General Counsel, he led successful Supreme Court litigation, advanced regulatory reform, and supported the implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and Vanderbilt University. A public servant with strong agricultural roots, Deputy Secretary Vaden is committed to revitalizing rural America and ensuring an abundant, affordable, and safe U.S. food supply.
Vice President, Cornerstone Research, Economic and Financial Consulting and Expert Testimony
Greg Eastman analyzes complex economic and accounting issues related to tax, mergers, securities and financial products, and healthcare. He has extensive trial and arbitration expertise and directs large teams supporting multiple experts. As a testifying expert, Dr. Eastman has addressed profitability, cost efficiencies, class certification, valuation and damages, and unjust enrichment issues. He has provided testimony before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Dr. Eastman has more than twenty years of experience consulting in a range of industries, including electric utilities, energy, financial institutions, insurance, medical services, nuclear utilities, oil, private equity, and transportation.
In his tax controversy work, Dr. Eastman has analyzed the economic substance and business purpose of transactions. He has reviewed structured transactions, assessed a multinational company’s debt capacity, analyzed guarantee fee payments, and evaluated the risk management functions of a multinational financial institution. In addition, he has worked on cases involving transfer pricing, the relative value of software components, and the manufacturing and Food and Drug Administration approval processes for medical devices.
Dr. Eastman’s tax accounting work has covered stock option awards, uncertain tax benefits, deferred tax assets, and net operating loss carryforwards. He supported experts on tax accounting and poison pill issues in the Selectica, Inc. v. Versata Enterprises, Inc., and Trilogy, Inc. trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery.
Dr. Eastman has been retained as a testifying expert to assess merger-specificity and verifiability of claimed efficiencies in multiple industries. He helped to estimate the profitability of the individual commercial health insurance business in the Aetna–Humana merger. Dr. Eastman has also been retained to perform profitability analyses and to assess whether firms are failing and their assets are likely to exit the relevant market. He was the DOJ’s testifying expert in United States v. EnergySolutions Inc. et al.
Dr. Eastman has led a variety of consulting projects involving accounting and financial reporting issues. In these matters, he has evaluated the adequacy of disclosures, fair value and asset impairments, materiality, goodwill, accounting for loan losses, concentrations of risk, revenue recognition, and other issues pertaining to whether financial statements were prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and whether audit and review procedures complied with generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS).
Dr. Eastman has conducted liability and damages analyses in securities class actions, including In re Vivendi Securities Litigation, In re Omnicom Securities Litigation, and In re Williams Securities Litigation. In financial cases, he has analyzed issues related to debt and equity securities, derivative contracts, mutual fund trading, cost of capital, real estate investments, private equity investments, and valuation. He worked with experts on insider trading and failure to report transactions in the SEC v. Samuel E. Wyly et al. trial. Dr. Eastman also supported multiple experts in a trial involving risks and investment returns in a large portfolio of high-yield bonds.
Dr. Eastman has performed drug valuations in multiple contexts, including in appraisal and breach of contract cases. As the testifying expert in an international arbitration, he estimated damages related to allegations of breach of contract to market a drug. He has also analyzed medical devices, cord blood services, cancer treatment services, and other healthcare-related industries. Dr. Eastman worked on firm profitability and cost efficiencies issues in the Aetna–Humana and Anthem–Cigna proposed mergers. He was retained as a testifying expert to analyze cost efficiencies and failing firm defenses in a hospital and physician practice merger.
Partner, White & Case
Mr. Grannon helps clients with antitrust matters, including civil and criminal defense as well as counseling for mergers and acquisitions and settlements of pharmaceutical patent litigation. Since 2001, he also has helped clients with concerns under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other anti-corruption issues. Mr. Grannon began at the firm as a summer associate in 1997 and has been a partner since 2007.
A former prosecutor, Mr. Grannon returned to White & Case after serving as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2003-04, where he helped formulate US antitrust enforcement policy and manage the civil and criminal investigations and court cases brought by the Antitrust Division. He ended his DOJ service with a detail as a Special Assistant US Attorney in the District of Columbia, trying twenty bench and jury trials as lead counsel.
In private practice, Mr. Grannon has argued on behalf of clients in district courts across the country, including a successful verdict for defendants in an antitrust jury trial, argued appeals in the Eleventh and DC Circuits, and worked on eleven matters before the US Supreme Court, ten of which were antitrust cases.
Mr. Grannon clerked for the Honorable Walter K. Stapleton, US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1999-2000, and the Honorable Federico A. Moreno, US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, 1998-99.
He is a member of the Legal Policy Board of the Washington Legal Foundation.
Mr. Grannon served a three-year term, 2015-18, on the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Amicus Curiae Briefs.
He previously served as Vice-Chair of the Health Care and Pharmaceuticals Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law, and prior to that as Vice-Chair of its Compliance and Ethics Committee.
Mr. Grannon has served as an adjunct faculty member at the Howard University School of Law, where he taught a seminar on advanced antitrust law.
Partner,, White & Case LLP
George Paul is an antitrust lawyer who advises clients on a range of international competition issues, with a particular focus on merger clearances, cartel defense and litigation.
As reported by The Legal 500 US, clients said George's "'depth of experience, ability to make the complex simple and business-oriented and succinct approach' make him 'an in-house lawyer's dream.'" Further acclaimed as a "world-class" practitioner, George's reputation is based on his "impressive track record", spanning more than 20 years. He has played a key role in numerous high-profile cases, which have often involved multiple competition agencies across the globe. George provides clarity to clients in a complex area that requires highly detailed and technical knowledge, and where regulations change rapidly and can even conflict across jurisdictions.
Merger Clearances
George is regularly involved in antitrust counseling and litigation arising from US and cross-border mergers and joint ventures. He advises clients on merger control filings for cross-border transactions and coordinates their HSR and international filings efforts. George has handled complex antitrust issues across an array of industries, including retail/consumer goods, healthcare and medical devices, paper and pulp, petrochemicals, broadcasting and electronics. His work on complex, cutting edge matters has received Deal of the Year recognition by numerous publications, such as the Financial Times, the American Lawyer Legal Awards, The Deal and M&A Advisor.
George has particular experience advising clients on global transactions with multiple merger clearance requirements. He is co-editor of Worldwide Merger Notification Requirements, a comprehensive survey of merger notification and control laws across 217 jurisdictions, and regularly writes and speaks on antitrust and competition law matters.
Cartels
George regularly counsels companies and individuals on criminal antitrust matters before enforcement agencies around the world, including the US Department of Justice (DOJ), US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the EU, Australia, Japan and South Korea. He was counsel to Stolt-Nielsen in its landmark action against the DOJ, which revoked Stolt's amnesty and indicted the company and its senior executives. The case was the first time a court enforced an antitrust amnesty agreement.
Litigation/Anticompetitive Practices
George has represented clients before the competition agencies as plaintiffs and defendants in federal and state courts in the US. He has been involved in a number of US agency merger challenges, and has successfully defended clients in non-merger investigations related to alleged market allocation, consumer protection requirements and monopolization. George has represented overseas manufacturers against charges of an alleged global price-fixing cartel, and has also represented clients in numerous antitrust class action proceedings.
Chief of Staff, Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Mr. Delacourt is Chief of Staff of the Federal Communications Commission. In this role, he manages the Chairman's policy agenda and strategic initiatives and serves as Chief Operating Officer for the Agency. He has a broad range of experience in telecommunications and technology law and policy spanning both the governmental and private sectors. Scott joined the FCC from Wiley Rein LLP where he served as Partner and Chair of the Wireless Practice Group. He previously served in leadership positions at the FCC, including Deputy Bureau Chief and Chief of Staff of the Wireless Bureau, Senior Counsel in the Office of General Counsel, and Legal Advisor to the Wireless Bureau Chief. Scott received his Law Degree, cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, and his Bachelor’s Degree, summa cum laude, from Georgetown University.
Visiting Fellow, Hudson Institute
Michael O’Rielly is a visiting fellow with Hudson Institute’s Center for the Economics of the Internet.
Comm. O'Rielly was nominated for a seat on the Federal Communications Commission by President Barack Obama on August 1, 2013 and was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate on October 29, 2013. He was sworn into office on November 4, 2013. On January 29, 2015, he was sworn into office for a new term, following his re-nomination by the President and confirmation by the United States Senate and served through December 11, 2020.
Prior to joining the agency Commissioner O’Rielly served as a Policy Advisor in the Office of the Senate Republican Whip, led by U.S. Senator John Cornyn, since January 2013. He worked in the Republican Whip’s Office since 2010, as an Advisor from 2010 to 2012 and Deputy Chief of Staff and Policy Director from 2012 to 2013 for U.S. Senator Jon Kyl.
He previously worked for the Republican Policy Committee in the U.S. Senate as a Policy Analyst for Banking, Technology, Transportation, Trade, and Commerce issues from 2009 to 2010. Prior to this, Commissioner O’Rielly worked in the Office of U.S. Senator John Sununu, as Legislative Director from 2007 to 2009, and Senior Legislative Assistant from 2003 to 2007. Before his tenure as a Senate staffer, he served as a Professional Staff Member on the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the United States House of Representatives from 1998 to 2003, and Telecommunications Policy Analyst from 1995 to 1998.
He began his career as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Congressman Tom Bliley from 1994 to 1995.
Commissioner O’Rielly received his B.A. from the University of Rochester.
Partner, Barr & Klein PLLC
Steve Klein, a partner at Barr & Klein PLLC, is an experienced free speech attorney who has successfully fought for the First Amendment rights of his clients against local, state and federal regulators. As a lobbyist, Steve’s advocacy has led to the successful amendment of state laws to respect political engagement and prevented the enactment of laws that burden it. Steve has published articles in several legal journals, and his commentary has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, The Detroit News, and other outlets. Steve earned a bachelors degree in politics at Hillsdale College and a law degree from Ave Maria School of Law, where he served as Managing Editor of the Ave Maria Law Review. He is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia, Illinois and Michigan.
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Austin E. Owen Research Scholar & Professor of Law, The University of Richmond School of Law
Dean Kristen Jakobsen Osenga teaches and writes in the areas of patent law, antitrust, and legislation and regulation. Some of her recent scholarship focuses on standard development organizations, patent eligible subject matter, patent licensing firms, litigation and remedies for patent infringement, and patent law reform. She has written numerous law review articles on these and other topics, as well as book chapters and op eds on various aspects of patent law. Additionally, she has spoken on these issues at many academic conferences and bar events. Dean Osenga is Chief Policy Counselor for the Inventors Defense Alliance, as well as an active member of the Federal Circuit Bar Association and the American Intellectual Property Law Association.
Dean Osenga received a B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Iowa, an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale, and a J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law, where she graduated magna cum laude. After law school, she practiced at the law firm of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett, & Dunner LLP, (now Finnegan) where she did patent prosecution and litigation. She then clerked for the Judge Richard Linn of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. After clerking, she entered academia, teaching first at Chicago-Kent College of Law and then at the University of Richmond, where she has been since 2006. She has also been a Visiting Professor at Emory University School of Law and at William & Mary School of Law.
Professor of Law, Southern Illinois University School of Law
Professor Mark F. Schultz joined the faculty in 2003. He teaches and writes primarily in the area of intellectual property.
Professor Schultz is a frequent author and speaker known for his work on the law and economics of the global intellectual property system. In one of his most influential projects, he worked with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to construct a groundbreaking global trade secret protection index (the TSPI). The TSPI is influencing policy discussions on this cutting-edge topic in capitals around the world. Other recent projects have included an empirical study that quantified for the first time the backlogs in patent offices worldwide, a report on how patented innovation is meeting global health challenges, and the construction of a new global index of copyright strength.
Professor Schultz is an influential voice in public policy debates regarding intellectual property. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on copyright law at the invitation of the House Judiciary Committee and has briefed the staff of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on trade secret legislation. He speaks frequently around the world about the connection between secure and effective intellectual property rights and flourishing national economies and individual lives, with invitations from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Trade Representative, and the U.S. Copyright Office, as well as numerous academic institutions, think tanks, and industry groups. He served as an NGO delegate to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for several years during the WIPO Development Agenda talks. He is also one of the organizers of an ongoing multilateral diplomatic dialogue on best practices in national trade secret laws, and is co-founder of the Center for Protection of Intellectual Property (CPIP) at George Mason University in Washington, D.C.
Among the awards and recognition he has received for his scholarship was the School of Law's Outstanding Scholar of the Year award in 2008. He has been a distinguished visiting scholar at the University of Botswana and a visiting professor at DePaul University College of Law.
Professor Schultz graduated with honors from the George Washington University School of Law. Following law school, he was a judicial clerk for the Hon. Daniel M. Friedman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., and the Hon. Eric G. Bruggink of the United States Court of Federal Claims. Prior to joining academia, he practiced law for a decade, serving as outside general counsel to several tech startups and helping technology companies to expand their businesses and commercialize their intellectual property in dozens of countries. He holds a B.A. in International Economics from George Washington University and has done PhD level coursework in development economics at Southern Illinois University.
He is active in leadership roles in local and national organizations. He has served as chair of the Federalist Society's Intellectual Property Practice Group and the AALS Section on Internet and Computer Law. He is an officer of the American Bar Association's International IP Committee of the International Law Section and the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s Trade Secret Law Committee. He currently is chair of the Academic Advisory Board of the Copyright Alliance.
Professor Schultz teaches Copyright Law, Trade Secret Law, Trademark Law, and a senior seminar on Intellectual Property and Global Development. He established and directs both the Specialization in Intellectual Property Law and the IP Semester in Practice Externship Program. He also co-founded a Legal Globalization Class, offered every other year, that takes students to South Africa and Botswana after spending a semester learning about the legal system, culture, history, and politics of southern Africa. The popular course is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that introduces students to leading lawyers, judges, government officials, and human rights advocates, taking them from Cape Town to Johannesburg to Gaborone as well as many popular destinations including game reserves, national parks, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Cradle of Humankind.
Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, Georgetown University
Urska Velikonja is a Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. Before joining the Georgetown faculty in 2017, Professor Velikonja taught at Emory University and the University of Maryland, and visited at UC Berkeley, the University of Chicago and Duke Law School. She graduated first in her class at University of Ljubljana School of Law and earned her LL.M. and J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. Prior to entering academia, Professor Velikonja clerked for Judge Stephen F. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and worked for several years as a banking and finance associate and cross-border M&A with an Austrian law in her native Slovenia.
Professor Velikonja has written extensively on securities regulation and securities enforcement. Her work has been published by the California Law Review, the Cornell Law Review, the Notre Dame Law Review, the Stanford Law Review, the Washington University Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, and the Yale Journal on Regulation, among others. Her article on SEC fair funds was selected as one of top ten articles published in 2015, and two of her articles were selected for presentation at the Harvard-Stanford-Yale Junior Faculty Forum.
Professor Velikonja’s work on SEC enforcement is regularly discussed by regulators and has been featured in exclusive and/or major stories in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, the New York Times, and The Economist, and quoted in the Financial Times, Reuters, The American Banker, as well as international press. Professor Velikonja also regularly contributes to three corporate law and financial regulation law blogs: the Harvard Law School Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation Forum, the NYU PCCE Compliance & Enforcement Blog, and the Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog.
Associate Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Associate Professor of Law J.W. Verret joined the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University faculty in 2008. In 2013, he took leave for two years to serve as the Chief Economist and Senior Counsel for the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. He received his JD and MA in Public Policy from Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, respectively, in 2006. While in law school, Professor Verret served an Olin Fellowship in Law and Economics at the Harvard Program on Corporate Governance under the guidance of Prof. Lucian Bebchuk.
Professor Verret then served as a law clerk for Vice-Chancellor John W. Noble of the Delaware Court of Chancery. Prior to joining the faculty at Scalia Law, Professor Verret was an associate in the SEC Enforcement Defense Practice Group at Skadden, Arps in Washington, D.C. He has written extensively on corporate law topics, including Delaware's Guidance, co-written with Chief Justice Myron T. Steele of the Delaware Supreme Court. His academic work has been featured in the Yale Journal on Regulation, The Business Lawyer, the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, the Stanford Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law, and the Virginia Law and Business Review. Professor Verret was selected by the Northwestern Law School Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth for a 2009-2010 Searle-Kaufmann Research Fellowship.
Professor Verret is also a Senior Scholar at the Mercatus Center Working Group on Financial Markets, where he regularly briefs Congressional staff, members of Congress, SEC Commissioners and other financial regulatory agencies on financial regulation topics. He also directs the Corporate Federalism Initiative, where he obtains research grants for a network of students and faculty scholars who study the division between states and the federal government as sources of corporate law. Professor Verret has been invited to testify before various House and Senate Committees four times during the financial crisis of 2009 regarding all of the central provisions of the Obama Administration's 2009 financial regulatory reform proposals. For a full list of Professor Verret's C-Span appearances, including testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, see http://www.c-spanvideo.org/jwverret.
Professor Verret has been an invited panelist for various television appearances, including an interview on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Professor Verret has been quoted in various media on financial regulation and corporate law topics, including the New York Times, CNN Money, the CNN Political Ticker, CNBC, ABC News, Investor's Business Daily, ESPN.com, The American Banker, The American Lawyer, The Huffington Post, CBS.com, and AP News. Professor Verret's op-eds have been featured in Forbes, The Chicago Tribune, The Orange County Register, and The Wall Street Journal. Professor Verret is also a regular guest contributor to three of the most noted corporate law and financial regulation law blogs: the Harvard Law School Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation Forum, Deallawyers.com, and The Conglomerate.
Senior Counsel, Corporate Engagement Team, Alliance Defending Freedom
Brian Knight serves as senior counsel on the Corporate Engagement Team. His work focuses on issues of financial access, debanking, and preventing the power of the private sector from being weaponized against people of faith by both public and private actors.
Prior to joining ADF, Knight spent almost nine years at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, as both a senior research fellow and as a program director. In addition to managing a team of scholars, Knight’s research focused on financial regulation and the politicization of financial services. His research helped inform legislation and regulation at the federal and state level. He was also the lead author for two amicus briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of National Rifle Association v. Vullo.
Before joining Mercatus, Knight worked at the Milken Institute, where he focused on financial technology. He was also an entrepreneur, co-founding a firm focused on compliance for crowdfunding.
Knight earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts from the College of William and Mary.
Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Conference of State Bank Supervisors
Margaret Liu is Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS). Margaret serves as a part of the CSBS legal and policy team, providing legal support for CSBS and its affiliated organizations as well as overseeing CSBS efforts representing the policy perspectives of state banking commissioners before Congress. She also serves as the lead CSBS staff member on fintech issues.
Margaret has worked as a consultant on financial services policy issues and in a variety of roles at Fannie Mae, including Vice President of Single Family Mortgage Business, Vice President for Industry Relations, and Vice President for Policy Communications at Fannie Mae.
Margaret is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Chicago Law School.
CO Dept. of State v. Baca and Chiafalo v. WA - Post-Decision SCOTUscast
Derek T. Muller
On July 6, 2020, the Supreme Court affirmed the power of the states to regulate...
Courthouse Steps Decision: CO Dept. of State v. Baca and Chiafalo v. WA
Derek T. Muller
In Chiafalo v. Washington and its companion case Colorado Department of State v. Baca, the Supreme Court...
Courthouse Steps Decision: USAID v. Alliance for Open Society International, Inc.
Casey Mattox, Krystal Brunner Swendsboe
On Monday, the Supreme Court released its decision in United States Agency for International Development...
Courthouse Steps Decision Teleforum: United States Forest Service v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association
Paul D. Clement, Stephen Alexander Vaden
On June 15, 2020, the Supreme Court released its decision in the case of United States...
The Antitrust "Failing Firm” Defense in the Wake of the COVID-19 Crisis
Greg Eastman, Eric Grannon, George L. Paul
Since 1930, the Supreme Court has recognized a failing firm defense to an otherwise unlawful...
A Conversation with FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly: The Telephone Consumer Protection Act Landscape after Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants
Scott D. Delacourt, Michael O'Rielly
On May 6, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Barr v. American Association...
Citizens’ Secret Recording and the First Amendment
Stephen R. Klein
For over half a century, federal law and most states have regulated secretly recording speech...
Deep Dive Episode 47 – The Songwriting Industry and Antitrust Consent Decrees
Kristen Osenga, Mark F. Schultz
Most people would be surprised to discover that music is among the most regulated of...
Deep Dive Episode 38 – The Debate Over the SEC's Accredited Investor Standard
Urska Velikonja, J.W. Verret
This teleforum will consider the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s accredited investor standard. This standard...
Fintech Licensing and the OCC Charter
Brian Knight, Margaret Liu
Innovations in financial technology have enabled financial services to be provided in new ways and...