Senior Fellow, Economic Opportunity, Charles Koch Institute
Senior Policy Counsel, Legal & Judicial Policy Team, Americans for Prosperity Foundation
At American for Prosperity Foundation, Lee oversees the tax, labor, foreign affairs, and poverty portfolios of the Legal and Judicial Policy Team. He also works with Cause of Action Institute, where he has particular experience with the Freedom of Information Act and the Federal Records Act. Before that, Lee spent many years in private practice with the international arbitration group of White & Case LLP in Washington, D.C.
Lee is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law (1998) and Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois (1985). In between college and law school, Lee also earned an M.A. in linguistics (University of Texas at Arlington, 1991).
Vice President of Legal Affairs & Director of Legal Defense & Education Center, EdChoice
Leslie Hiner, Esq. is an advocate of educational freedom, a crusader fighting for the unencumbered opportunity of parents to decide how and where their children will be educated. She believes in the power of individuals to change the world, and believes personal liberty will be enhanced when our method of funding K–12 education is changed to empower parents and students before institutions.
As vice president of legal affairs at EdChoice, the nation’s leading educational choice organization, Leslie leads the EdChoice Legal Defense and Education Center for this nonpartisan, charitable nonprofit and engages with other national organizations to support school choice. She is a proven leader, advancing educational freedom and choice for all as a pathway to successful lives and a stronger society.
Hiner is an attorney with extensive state legislative and executive branch experience. In Indiana, she was the first woman chief of staff to the speaker of the house, counsel to the senate president pro tempore, and general counsel/elections deputy to the Secretary of State. She is also a former small business owner, and former litigator in private practice.
A founding board member of one of Indiana’s first charter schools, Leslie served as chairman of the board for the first several years, guiding the school’s growth from about 150 to over 1000 students. She was also directly involved in developing Indiana’s original charter school law, one of the best in the nation, and Indiana’s voucher law, the largest in the country to date.
Leslie is a member of the American Enterprise Institute Leadership Network, serves on the Schools That Can National Advisory Council, and is a Policy Advisor for The Heartland Institute. Leslie is a long-time member of the Federalist Society and a Lugar Series Excellence in Public Service alumna.
Hiner travels the country speaking on educational issues and testifying at public hearings. Recent engagements include the American Enterprise Institute With all deliberate speed: Brown v. Board of Education II 60 years later; Center for Urban Renewal and Education National Policy Summit, “Changing Policy to Change Lives”; National Conference of State Legislatures Summit debate, School Vouchers and Education Savings Accounts: Are They Constitutional; Network of Enlightened Women National Conference, Three Things You Need To Know About Education Policy; International Conference on School Choice and Reform, The Constitutionality of Educational Choice; 100 Black Men of Greater Dallas/Fort Worth, Project Soar’s Mobilizing the Village; Louisville Federalist Society Lawyers’ Chapter, Is School Choice Good Public Policy; American Conservative Union CPAC 2017.
She’s been cited in several publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Times, Forbes, US News & World Report, The Hill, Real Clear Policy, Federalist Society DocketWatch, National Review, The Federalist, Zman Magazine, Watchdog, and has appeared on EWTN News Nightly, Wall Street Journal Video Opinion Journal podcasts, David Webb Show on Sirius/XM, ChoiceMediaTV, The Heartland Institute podcasts and school choice events, The Morning Blaze, Issues in Education and many state level broadcasts.
A native of Ohio, she earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Akron School of Law, her Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of Wooster, and attended Rostad Teachers College as an exchange student in Sweden where she was a student teacher in grades 2 and 3. She and her husband reside in Indianapolis, and have two grown children.
Of Counsel, Stanley Law Group
Stephen Gardner serves of counsel to the Dallas-based Stanley Law Group, a plaintiffs firm. Previously, Mr. Gardner was Director of Litigation for the Washington, DC based advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest 2004-2014); Of Counsel to the National Consumer Law Center (2002-2006); Assistant Dean of Clinical Education at Southern Methodist University School of Law (1994-1995); Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Southern Methodist University School of Law (1992-1995); Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection Division of the State of Texas (1984-1991); Assistant Attorney General in the Bureau of Consumer Frauds of the State of New York (1982-1984); Students Attorney at the University of Texas (1981-1982); and a staff attorney at the legal aid office in Austin, now part of Texas RioGrande Legal Services (1976-1981). He is a frequent author and speaker on consumer advocacy issues.
State Court Docket Watch: Normand v. Walmart.com
Adam A. Millsap, Lee A. Steven
Walmart.com is an e-commerce platform operated by Walmart, Inc. In addition to products offered for...
Louisiana Supreme Court Strikes Down Statewide Voucher Program
Leslie Davis Hiner
On May 7, 2013, the Supreme Court of Louisiana ruled that its state’s statewide voucher...
Nobelpharma: The Federal Circuit Examines Antitrust Claims in the Patent Litigation Context
James L. Ewing, Stephen Gardner
IntroductionIn a case decided March 20, 1998, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal...