Partner, Baker & Hostetler LLP
Prior to joining BakerHostetler, Allen spent 15 years at the center of the national debate over political regulation. At the FEC, he worked across party lines to restore a key regulatory player to functioning order after years of neglect and partisan gridlock. Those efforts led to the first adoption of a new regulation in over a decade, reform of the commission’s investigations and interagency practices, and more than 150 Statements of Reasons interpreting the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). Substantively, Allen prioritized developments at the edges of the FEC’s jurisdiction, particularly those cases where federal election rules conflict with broader principles of corporate, administrative, and constitutional law.
Previously, Allen spent nearly a decade representing organizations across the political spectrum in First Amendment challenges to state and federal laws governing civil society. His practice emphasized motions and appeals, including a dozen arguments before federal appellate and state supreme courts, and appearances before regulatory agencies. In addition to purely campaign finance matters, Allen's cases included the first federal lawsuit in decades addressing the constitutional scope of lobbying laws, litigation establishing the standard for constitutional challenges to FECA under that statute’s specialized review procedures and the successful defense of a state attorney general leading to the invalidation of an FEC regulation.
Solicitor General, West Virginia
Michael Williams is the Solicitor General for the State of West Virginia. In that role, Michael represents the State in appeals before state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Michael also coordinates strategic affirmative litigation on the State’s behalf, including litigation against the federal government.
Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, Michael co-led the complex briefing and appeals group at a Michigan boutique firm, representing Fortune 50 companies and others in actions across the country. He also practiced in the litigation groups of two Washington, D.C. firms and clerked with the Appellate Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine.
Michael’s work has been honored with a Best Brief Award from the National Associationof Attorneys General and a Leader in the Law Award from Michigan Lawyers Weekly. He often speaks and writes on appellate-related issues.
Michael clerked twice in the Fourth Circuit: once with then-Chief Judge Deborah Chasanow of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and later with Judge G. Steven Agee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He attended George Washington University Law School and Bates College.
Founder, IP Quality Pro, LLC
Dr. Julie Burke, Ph.D., a former TC1600 Quality Assurance Specialist, is founder of IP Quality Pro LLC, where she acts as an expert witness on patent office procedures and practices. She helps practitioners resolve complicated procedural situations in the field of US patent practice. She is also an Advisor for Petition.ai. From 2006-2015, in her role as QAS, Dr. Burke drafted over 800 petition decisions for review and signature by a variety of TC1600 Group Directors. Dr. Burke is a former Vice Chair of IPO’s Patent Office Practice Committee. She frequently gives talks on patent office practices and procedures.
Chief Executive Officer and Chief Legal Officer, DivX
Noel Egnatios is DivX’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Legal Officer, as well as a member of its Management Committee. She leads a global team that builds industry solutions ranging from SDKs with an installed base of 2 billion products, to digital media software with over a billion downloads. The team delivers efficient, immersive entertainment experiences to consumers through its technology in TVs, smart phones, in-car devices and more. Noel is a longtime DivX employee who shepherded the growth of the company’s intellectual property portfolio and spearheaded pivotal corporate transactions and licensing deals. Under Noel’s leadership, the company continues to build on its rich heritage of creating and licensing pioneering products and technologies in video encoding/decoding, streaming and digital rights management.
Before joining DivX, Noel advised companies on intellectual property portfolio management, enforcement and licensing matters. Noel began her career working in private practice at Cooley LLP, where she oversaw the intellectual property portfolios of major Silicon Valley technology and social media companies and represented wireless technology companies in global patent litigation and arbitration.
Noel holds a B.A. and a J.D. from the University of Michigan.
Of Counsel, Foley & Lardner LLP
Eli Mazour’s goal is to help the savviest in-house counsel and business executives deal with their most important patent-related challenges. With deep insight into the patent system, emerging policy trends, and an unwavering commitment to client success, Eli helps companies leverage IP to meet business objectives.
“[Eli] is the best at taking care of our portfolio and strategy” – a longtime client that has successfully enforced patents across the globe.
Known for data-driven, innovative prosecution strategies, Eli helps clients navigate the USPTO efficiently and secure strong patents. When necessary, he also leverages alternate USPTO channels to achieve results. His experience in licensing, enforcement, and opinion work gives him a unique, business-minded approach to prosecution and transactions, helping clients avoid pitfalls and grasp opportunities.
Eli currently focuses on:
Eli also has extensive experience in obtaining license-ready, litigation-grade standard essential patents (SEPs) and preparing corresponding claim charts for licensing negotiations for one of the world’s leading developers of connectivity technology. He was the go-to attorney for the head of that company’s cellular patent development team.
He also has a background in the defense and government contracting space, including experience at a defense agency and a published article in the ABA’s Public Contract Law Journal on the importance of contractors preserving patent and technical data rights. He is particularly interested in supporting clients seeking to apply their dual-use and defense-centric innovations to advance national security objectives.
Eli’s love of talking to people and telling stories led him to start Clause 8, a widely followed IP podcast featuring the most significant voices in the IP community. He is frequently sought out for insights on patent policy, legislative developments, and changes at the USPTO.
Partner, Davidson Kappel LLC
Clint Mehall is a registered patent attorney practicing in multiple technology areas. Mr. Mehall has prosecuted hundreds of U.S. patent applications from filing to issuance, taking into consideration patent analytics for efficient prosecution without unnecessarily narrowing the claims. During prosecution, Mr. Mehall has an aptitude for identifying when an patent examiner will not issue claims of a reasonable scope, and has filed over a hundred appeals with the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeals Board, where he has an exceptional win rate. Representative technologies of his practice include electric vehicle batteries, metallurgy, nuclear energy, aeronautics, image processing, electric vehicle batteries, automated controls systems, automotive drive trains, rail transport, semiconductors, wireless data transmission systems, fuel cells, various software, nonwoven fabrics, convertible vehicle tops, and printing presses.
Mr. Mehall also has experience collaborating with foreign attorneys on patent applications in Europe, Japan and China, litigating patents, post-grant proceedings and client counseling, which includes performing patentability searches, and preparing infringement, validity and freedom to operate opinions. Currently, he serves as the co-chair of NYIPLA’s Patent Law & Practice Committee. Mr. Mehall graduated Cum Laude from DePaul University College of Law in May, 2007. At DePaul, he was an associate editor for DePaul’s Intellectual Property Digest, counseled clients through DePaul’s Intellectual Property/Technology Clinic and was a semifinalist in DePaul’s New Venture Business Challenge. He was admitted to the practice law in New York in February, 2008 and was admitted to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in May, 2008. Mr. Mehall received a Bachelors of Science in biological engineering, with a biomedical emphasis, from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2003.
Managing Attorney, Rogitz & Associates
John M. Rogitz is an IAM 300 World-Leading IP Strategist and second-generation patent attorney that currently serves as Managing Attorney at Rogitz & Associates. He is also a member of the IPWatchdog Advisory Committee and an adjunct professor at Trinity Law School. In addition, John recently served on the Executive Committee of the IP Section of the California Lawyers Association (2023-2025) and co-founded CLA’s AI Interest Group.
As Managing Attorney at Rogitz & Associates, John manages the firm’s day-to-day operations and many of the firm’s clients. He is a registered patent attorney specializing in patent preparation and prosecution in a range of technologies including artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous vehicles, extended reality, video games, Internet of things (IoT), blockchain, fintech, rules-based software, computer hardware, medical devices, and other electrical and mechanical inventions. His clients range from startups and independent inventors to Fortune 500 companies. Before joining Rogitz & Associates, John was engaged in civil litigation at the Watkins Firm, a San Diego-based law firm.
John teaches all types of IP at Trinity Law School and has also taught IP at the undergraduate level. He writes for IPWatchdog, America’s leading patent law publication, and has also been published by IP Today, IP Magazine, and others. John regularly speaks to trade groups like the National Association of Patent Practitioners and Licensing Executives Society. Prior to practicing law, John worked in industry as a web developer.
John received his J.D. in 2009 from California Western School of Law, where he was selected for the Dean’s List and served as President of the Student Intellectual Property Law Association. John studied physics at Loyola Marymount University where, among other activities, he wrote for the school newspaper and participated in various philanthropic endeavors.
Senior Fellow, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies
Dean Cheng currently a Senior Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, specializing in the US relationship with China. Prior to being with the Potomac institute, he recently retired as the Senior Research Fellow for Chinese Political and Military Affairs at the Heritage Foundation. He is fluent in Chinese, and uses Chinese language materials regularly in his work. Previously, he worked with the China Studies Division (previously, Project Asia) at the Center for Naval Analysis, a Federally Funded Research and Development Center, where he specialized in Chinese military issues, with a focus on Chinese military doctrine and Chinese space capabilities. Before that, he worked for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and as an analyst with the US Congress’ Office of Technology Assessment in the International Security and Space Division.
His published work includes the volume Cyber Dragon: Inside China’s Information Warfare and Cyber Operations (Praeger Publishing, 2016). He has testified before Congress, and spoken at the National Space Symposium, the US National Defense University, the USSTRATCOM Deterrence Symposium, Harvard, and MIT. He has appeared frequently in print and broadcast media to discuss Chinese space and military activities.
General Counsel, TechFreedom
James Dunstan serves as the General Counsel to TechFreedom. Jim has served as a Senior Adjunct Fellow to TechFreedom since its inception. Jim has more than 37 years of private practice experience in a technology-focused practice, including telecommunications, media, computer game, and outer space law. Jim spent 17 years at the telecom boutique firm Haley Bader & Potts (10 years in management), and headed the Telecommunications and Information Technology Group at Garvey, Schubert & Barer from 2000-2006. Jim founded his own firm, Mobius Legal Group, in 2010; he continues that private practice (on matters not in conflict with TechFreedom’s work) while serving as TechFreedom’s General Counsel.
Jim’s career includes being on the legal team that won the first cellular radio license for MCI in 1984, writing the constitutional challenge to the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine that took down the Doctrine in Syracuse Peace Council v. FCC, 867 F.2d 654 (1989), and helping shape the FCC’s children’s television rules on behalf of a client which produces the majority of educational programming for the major television networks. He litigated the first “virtual property” case and drafted and negotiated the first lease for a manned space station (Mir) as well as writing the first contract that was actually executed in outer space.
At TechFreedom, Jim’s substantive portfolio includes FCC regulation, the Children’s Online Protection and Privacy Act (COPPA), and all things outer space. As General Counsel, he oversees the entire legal team, and participates in TechFreedom’s robust appellate litigation team.
Jim was the 1978 Harry S. Truman Scholar from Arizona, is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College (1980), and the Georgetown University Law Center (1983). He is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Jim holds multiple patents for innovative computer input devices and has a number of patents pending in the field of computer game devices and methods. Jim is an avid musician, playing French horn in the Fairfax Wind Symphony, and with the Silver 5 Brass Quintet.
Senior Fellow, Asian Military Affairs, International Assessment and Strategy Center
Mr. Richard D. Fisher, Jr. is a Senior Fellow with the International Assessment and Strategy Center. He has previously worked with the Center for Security Policy, Jamestown Foundation China Brief, U.S. House of Representatives Republican Policy Committee, and The Heritage Foundation. Mr. Fisher has previously testified on aspects of China’s strategic challenge before the United States Senate, the House of Representatives and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He is the author of China’s Military Modernization, Building for Regional and Global Reach (Praeger, 2008, Stanford University Press, 2010, Taiwan Ministry of National Defense translation, 2012). His articles have been published in the Jane’s Intelligence Review, Jane’s Defence Weekly, Aviation Week and Space Technology, Armed Forces Journal, Far Eastern Economic Review, Asian Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, The Sankei Shimbun, World Airpower Review and Air Forces Monthly. He received a B.A. (Honors) in 1981 from Eisenhower College.
Senior Litigation Counsel, New Civil Liberties Alliance
Margaret Harker litigates for a public interest law firm. She has significant experience in government investigations and litigation, having served in the three branches of our government. Previously, she led complex Congressional investigations for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform—including the only government-wide investigation into federal agencies’ strategy (or lack thereof) to counter Chinese Communist Party political warfare against America.
Prior to her time on Capitol Hill, Harker served in the U.S. Department of Justice. She was an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Eastern District of Tennessee and the Eastern District of Virginia. She was a Trial Attorney in the National Security Division, Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, with an emphasis on the administration and enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Harker clerked for the Honorable Henry E. Hudson, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Honorable Randolph A. Beales, Court of Appeals of Virginia.
Earlier in her career, she studied in Beijing, China, and worked at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s China Center.
Clinical Professor of Law, University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law
Tessa L. Dysart is the Assistant Director of Legal Writing and Associate Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law. With the Hon. Leslie H. Southwick of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, she co-authored the third edition of Winning on Appeal: Better Briefs and Oral Arguments. She manages the Appellate Advocacy Blog, writes on human trafficking and constitutional law, and lectures nationally on developing effective state anti-trafficking laws.
Professor Dysart is a graduate of Willamette University and Harvard Law School. She clerked for the Hon. Dennis W. Shedd of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Her practice experience includes working for the United States Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy and the Senate Judiciary Committee. Prior to joining the College of Law faculty she taught appellate advocacy and constitutional law courses at Regent University School of Law, where she coached award-winning moot court teams and advised the program to a national ranking.
Vice President for Legal Affairs, Goldwater Institute
Executive Director, Consumers’ Research
Will Hild is the Executive Director of Consumers’ Research. Will has a decade of non-profit, legal and public policy experience. Prior to joining CR, Will served as the Deputy Director of the Regulatory Transparency Project. Before that, he worked at the Philanthropy Roundtable as the Director of External Affairs for the Culture of Freedom Initiative, and as the Chief Operating Officer of that Initiative when it grew to become a separate organization. He helped co-found the public interest law firm, Cause of Action, and served as the firm’s acting communications director for nearly a year.
Will received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Florida. He is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Will resides in Bethesda, MD, with his wife Cheryl, a practicing OB/GYN, and their son Liam.
Partner, Fusion Law, PLLC
Paul is the founding partner of Fusion Law, PLLC. He has extensive experience with state, federal, and global regulators building coalitions and implementing policies to promote innovation in financial services. He is responsible for designing and implementing the first state (Arizona) and federal (CFPB) FinTech sandboxes in the United States. He also designed the CFPB no-action letter and trial disclosure policies. He helped found the first global regulatory innovation coalition (Global Financial Innovation Network) and led the founding of the first U.S. regulatory innovation coalition (American Consumer Financial Innovation Network). He served on the Financial Stability Oversight Council subcommittee on digital assets. He also has drafted state-level laws on blockchain and utility tokens.
Paul also has significant enforcement and litigation experience. He led many multi-state consumer protection enforcement matters as Civil Litigation Division Chief at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
Prior to his government service, Paul practiced law in the areas of securities litigation and transactional work for approximately six years at two well-known law firms. He also clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
First Assistant Attorney General, Texas
Brent Webster was appointed by Ken Paxton to be First Assistant Attorney General in 2020. As second in command to Ken Paxton, Brent’s job is to implement Paxton’s policy and litigation initiatives and manage the day-to-day operation of the Office of the Attorney General, which employs approximately 4200 Texans.
Since his appointment in October 2020, Brent has led a multi-pronged initiative at Ken Paxton’s request to (1) serve as the primary check on the federal governments overreach, (2) ensure that Texas is deterring wrongful conduct in the state through civil enforcement mechanisms, and (3) instill a trial-focused, litigation-first mentality across the agency to foster better results for Texas when involved in litigation. Brent has led Ken Paxton’s litigation against the federal government in 106 lawsuits, with a staggering win rate above 75%, he has doubled the average annual recovery through civil enforcement, amounting to over $426 million dollars in his first fiscal year and $548 million in his second fiscal year, and he has led an agency-wide initiative to empower OAG lawyers to aggressively pursue the State’s interests in court, whether against liberal municipalities, rogue school districts, or anyone else who violates the law in Texas. Most recently, Brent was the lead negotiator at mediation for the historic 1.4-billion-dollar settlement against Meta for the State of Texas.
Prior to joining the Attorney General's Office, Webster served in a variety of leadership roles including First Assistant District Attorney in Williamson County, Texas, Chief Operations Officer and General Counsel at an Austin start-up, and Senior Counsel at a litigation law firm. While serving as a Criminal Prosecutor for 10 years in Williamson he was awarded the “Crime Victim Advocate Hall of Fame Award” for outstanding service to crime victims.
Webster received his undergraduate education at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas graduating in 2003, and received his legal education at University of Houston Law Center in 2005. He is licensed to practice law by the state of Texas and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, and the federal district courts in the Western, Southern, and Northern districts of Texas.
Retired, Winston & Strawn LLP
Jerry Loeser is of counsel in the Chicago office of Winston & Strawn, and his practice focuses on banking regulation. He has extensive experience in counseling financial services clients on, among other things, bank acquisitions, privacy, financial modernization, the USA PATRIOT Act, Basel II and III, lending limits, capital, trust, affiliate transactions, and Federal Reserve, OCC, FDIC, and CFPB regulations.
Prior to working at large corporate law firms, Jerry was chief regulatory and compliance counsel for Comerica Bank, where he also served as senior vice president and deputy general counsel and as general counsel of its retail bank division. Before that, he served as chief regulatory in-house counsel at Wells Fargo & Co. Jerry began his legal career advising the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C.
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