Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
Stephanos Bibas is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Judge Bibas was previously a professor of law and criminology at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. As director of the Penn Law Supreme Court Clinic, he argued six cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and filed briefs in dozens of others. He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University in 1989 with a B.A. in political theory and from Oxford University in 1991 with a B.A. in jurisprudence. He then earned his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1994.
After graduating from Yale Law, Judge Bibas clerked for Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court and was a litigation associate at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, D.C. Thereafter, Judge Bibas served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he successfully prosecuted the world’s leading expert in Tiffany stained glass for hiring a grave robber to steal priceless Tiffany windows from cemeteries. Before his tenure at Penn Law, Judge Bibas taught at the University of Chicago Law School and the University of Iowa College of Law and was a research fellow at Yale Law School. He has published two books and seventy scholarly articles.
Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
JEFFREY S. SUTTON is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has served as Chair of the Federal Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules, and Chair of the Supreme Court Fellows Commission. He currently serves as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Since 1993, Chief Judge Sutton has been an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University College of Law, where he teaches seminars on State Constitutional Law, the United States Supreme Court, and Appellate Advocacy. He also teaches a class on State Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School. Among other publications, he is the author of Who Decides? States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation and 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law. He is the co-author of a casebook, State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience, as well as The Law of Judicial Precedent. He is also the co-editor of The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law. In 2006, Chief Judge Sutton was elected to the American Law Institute, and in 2017 he was elected to its Council.
Distinguished Senior Fellow and Antonin Scalia Chair in Constitutional Studies, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Edward Whelan is a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and holds EPPC’s Antonin Scalia Chair in Constitutional Studies. He is the longest-serving President in EPPC’s history, having held that position from March 2004 through January 2021.
Mr. Whelan directs EPPC’s program on The Constitution, the Courts, and the Culture. His areas of expertise include constitutional law and the judicial confirmation process. As a contributor to National Review Online’s Bench Memos blog, he has been a leading commentator on nominations to the Supreme Court and the lower courts and on issues of constitutional law. He has written essays and op-eds for leading newspapers—including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post—opinion journals, and academic symposia and law reviews. The National Law Journal has named Mr. Whelan among its “Champions and Visionaries” in the practice of law in D.C.
Mr. Whelan is co-editor of three volumes of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s work: Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived (Crown Forum, 2017), a New York Times bestselling collection of speeches by Justice Scalia; On Faith: Lessons from an American Believer (Crown Forum, 2019), a collection of Justice Scalia’s writings on faith and religion; and The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law (Crown Forum, 2020), a collection of Justice Scalia’s views on legal issues.
Mr. Whelan, a lawyer and a former law clerk to Justice Scalia, has served in positions of responsibility in all three branches of the federal government. From just before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, until joining EPPC in 2004, Mr. Whelan was the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice. In that capacity, he advised the White House Counsel’s Office, the Attorney General and other senior DOJ officials, and departments and agencies throughout the executive branch on difficult and sensitive legal questions. Mr. Whelan previously served on Capitol Hill as General Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. In addition to clerking for Justice Scalia, he was a law clerk to Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
In 1981 Mr. Whelan graduated with honors from Harvard College and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He received his J.D. magna cum laude in 1985 from Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Board of Editors of the Harvard Law Review.
For more on Mr. Whelan’s background, see this interview.
South Carolina Supreme Court
John W. Kittredge was born in Greenville, South Carolina in 1956 and is the son of Elwyn Herbert, Jr. (deceased) and Marian Jeffries Kittredge. John married Lila Graham Hewell on June 20, 1981. John and Lila have three children, Lila Marian, Will and Zay. The Kittredges are members of First Presbyterian Church in Greenville.
Justice Kittredge graduated from the University of South Carolina, summa cum laude, in 1979. He graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1982. Academic honors include Phi Beta Kappa, Order of the Coif, and Wig and Robe.
Justice Kittredge began his legal career as a law clerk to The Honorable William W. Wilkins, Jr. He practiced law in the firm of Wilkins, Nelson and Kittredge. Justice Kittredge was actively involved in community and state service: Governor's Committee on Crime and Delinquency; Governor's Juvenile Justice Task Force; Greenville Technical College Foundation (Vice-President); City of Greenville Civil Service Commission (Chairman); Greenville County Crime Stoppers (President); Board of Directors of Child Evangelism Fellowship. In addition to his admission to the South Carolina Bar, Justice Kittredge is also admitted to practice before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, United States Court of Military Appeals, United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.
Justice Kittredge was elected to the South Carolina family court bench in 1991. He was elected to the circuit court bench in 1996, and the Court of Appeals in 2003. Justice Kittredge was elected to the Supreme Court in 2008.
Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
JEFFREY S. SUTTON is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has served as Chair of the Federal Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules, and Chair of the Supreme Court Fellows Commission. He currently serves as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Since 1993, Chief Judge Sutton has been an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University College of Law, where he teaches seminars on State Constitutional Law, the United States Supreme Court, and Appellate Advocacy. He also teaches a class on State Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School. Among other publications, he is the author of Who Decides? States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation and 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law. He is the co-author of a casebook, State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience, as well as The Law of Judicial Precedent. He is also the co-editor of The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law. In 2006, Chief Judge Sutton was elected to the American Law Institute, and in 2017 he was elected to its Council.
Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
JEFFREY S. SUTTON is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has served as Chair of the Federal Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules, and Chair of the Supreme Court Fellows Commission. He currently serves as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Since 1993, Chief Judge Sutton has been an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University College of Law, where he teaches seminars on State Constitutional Law, the United States Supreme Court, and Appellate Advocacy. He also teaches a class on State Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School. Among other publications, he is the author of Who Decides? States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation and 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law. He is the co-author of a casebook, State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience, as well as The Law of Judicial Precedent. He is also the co-editor of The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law. In 2006, Chief Judge Sutton was elected to the American Law Institute, and in 2017 he was elected to its Council.
Milton R. Underwood Chair in Free Enterprise, Vanderbilt University Law School
Brian Fitzpatrick is the Milton R. Underwood Chair in Free Enterprise and Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School, where his research focuses on class action litigation, federal courts, judicial selection, and constitutional law. He is best known for his empirical studies of class action settlements as well as his book The Conservative Case for Class Actions (University of Chicago Press, 2019). Professor Fitzpatrick joined Vanderbilt's law faculty in 2007 after serving as the John M. Olin Fellow at New York University School of Law. He graduated first in his class from Harvard Law School and went on to clerk for Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court. After his clerkships, Professor Fitzpatrick practiced commercial and appellate litigation for several years at Sidley Austin in Washington, D.C., and served as Special Counsel for Supreme Court Nominations to U.S. Senator John Cornyn. Before earning his law degree, Fitzpatrick graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's of science in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame. He has received the Hall-Hartman Outstanding Professor Award, which recognizes excellence in classroom teaching, for his Civil Procedure and Federal Courts courses.
Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
JEFFREY S. SUTTON is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has served as Chair of the Federal Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules, and Chair of the Supreme Court Fellows Commission. He currently serves as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Since 1993, Chief Judge Sutton has been an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University College of Law, where he teaches seminars on State Constitutional Law, the United States Supreme Court, and Appellate Advocacy. He also teaches a class on State Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School. Among other publications, he is the author of Who Decides? States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation and 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law. He is the co-author of a casebook, State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience, as well as The Law of Judicial Precedent. He is also the co-editor of The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law. In 2006, Chief Judge Sutton was elected to the American Law Institute, and in 2017 he was elected to its Council.
Senior Vice President, Public Policy and Government Affairs, DISH Network
Jeffrey H. Blum is the Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs for DISH, overseeing state and federal government affairs in Washington, DC.
Before coming to DISH 2005, Jeff was a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine, where his practice focused on copyright, First Amendment and anti-piracy litigation. At Davis Wright Tremaine, Jeff co-represented a class of songwriters and music publishers in the Grokster P2P file sharing case, which was decided by the United States Supreme Court in favor of Jeff's clients. The Grokster decision established a new basis for secondary copyright liability, called "inducement liability." Jeff was a part-time lecturer at the University of Southern California, Annenberg School of Journalism from 2003-2005, where he taught "Media Law". He currently serves as Chairman of the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA), and was Co-Chairman of the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG) from 2013-2015. Jeff also serves on the boards of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and BUILD Metro DC.
Jeff graduated summa cum laude and first in his class at Boston University School of Law, where he was a Note Editor of the Boston University Law Review. He received his undergraduate degree from McGill University, with a B.A. in History and Classics. After law school, he clerked for Chief Judge Joseph Tauro of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts.
Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
Brendan Carr is the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He previously served as the senior Republican Commissioner and as the FCC’s General Counsel. Nominated by both President Trump and President Biden, Carr has been confirmed unanimously by the Senate three times.
Described by Axios as “the FCC’s 5G crusader,” Carr has led the FCC’s work to modernize its infrastructure rules and accelerate the buildout of high-speed networks. His reforms cut billions of dollars in red tape, enabled the private sector to construct high-speed networks in communities across the country, and extended America’s global leadership in 5G.
Chairman Carr is also focused on expanding America’s skilled workforce—the tower climbers and construction crews needed to build next-gen networks. His jobs initiative promotes community colleges and apprenticeships as a pipeline for good-paying 5G jobs. He is recognizing America’s talented tower crews through a series of “5G Ready” Hard Hat presentations.
Chairman Carr leads a groundbreaking telehealth initiative at the FCC. The Connected Care Pilot Program supports the delivery of high-quality care to low-income Americans and veterans.
Chairman Carr’s time outside of Washington helps inform his approach to the job. He regularly hits the road to hear directly from community members and learn how changes in federal policies could help improve their lives.
Chairman Carr brings nearly 20 years of private and public sector experience in communications and tech policy to his position. Before joining the FCC as a staffer back in 2012, he worked as an attorney at Wiley Rein LLP in the firm’s appellate, litigation, and telecom practices. Previously, Chairman Carr clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for Judge Dennis Shedd. After attending Georgetown University for his undergrad, Chairman Carr earned his J.D. magna cum laude from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law where he served as an editor of the Catholic University Law Review.
Managing Director and Co-Chair, Communications, Media, and Internet Practice, NERA Economic Consulting
Dr. Eisenach is a Managing Director and Co-Chair of NERA's Communications, Media, and Internet Practice, and also serves on the firm’s Board of Directors. He is also an Adjunct Professor at George Mason University Law School, where he teaches Regulated Industries, and a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Previously, Dr. Eisenach has served in senior policy positions at the US Federal Trade Commission and the White House Office of Management and Budget, and taught at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Dr. Eisenach's consulting practice focuses on economic analysis of competition, regulatory, intellectual property and consumer protection issues. He has submitted expert reports and testified in US federal court as well before the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Copyright Royalty Board, the Federal Communications Commission, the International Trade Commission, US Tax Court, several state public utility commissions, and courts and regulatory bodies in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean, and South America. He has also advised clients in some of the world’s largest information technology sector mergers.
He has written or edited 19 books and monographs, including Broadband Competition in the Internet Ecosystem and Competition, Innovation and the Microsoft Monopoly: Antitrust in the Digital Marketplace. His writings have also appeared in scholarly journals such as The Review of Network Economics, as well as in popular outlets like Forbes, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Prior to joining NERA, Dr. Eisenach was a managing director and principal at Navigant Economics, and before that he served as Chairman of Empiris LLC, Criterion Economics, and CapAnalysis, LLC. Among his other previous affiliations, Dr. Eisenach has served as President and Senior Fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation; as a scholar the Heritage Foundation, and the Hudson Institute; as a member of the 1980-81 Reagan-Bush Transition Team on the Federal Trade Commission, the 2000-2001 Bush-Cheney Transition Team on the Federal Communications Commission, the Virginia Governor's Commission on E-Communities, and the Virginia Attorney General's Task Force on Identity Theft. In 2016-2017 he led the Trump-Pence Transition Team for the Federal Communications Commission.
Dr. Eisenach received his PhD in economics from the University of Virginia and his BA in economics from Claremont McKenna College.
Chief Advocate and General Counsel, INCOMPAS
Angie joined INCOMPAS in 2013 as its chief advocate and general counsel, managing the INCOMPAS policy team and its work before the federal government. FierceTelecom named Angie a "Rising Star in Wireline" in 2014 and one of the Top Women in Wireline in 2015 for her advocacy work on behalf of INCOMPAS members. Angie is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association and has been involved in its leadership as a former Executive Committee and Nominations Committee member.
Before joining INCOMPAS, Angie was legal advisor to FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, where she was primarily responsible for the Commissioner’s wireline and broadband agenda, including the Commissioner’s work as chair of three federal-state joint boards. Prior to that, Angie was a special counsel in the Spectrum and Competition Policy Division of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. She also practiced telecommunications and media law in the Washington, D.C. office of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP for more than a decade. Angie earned a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America, where she also earned a certification from The Institute for Communications Law Studies, and she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Baylor University and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Acting Chief, Office of Economics and Analytics, Federal Communications Commission
Dr. Giulia McHenry has been Acting Chief of the Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA) since it was stood up in December 2018. Dr. McHenry directed the stand up of OEA, which is responsible for expanding and deepening the use of economic analysis into Commission policy making, enhancing the development and use of auctions, and implementing consistent and effective agency-wide data practices and policies. Giulia joined OEA in 2018 after serving for three years as Chief Economist of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). She is an expert in the economics of the Internet, telecommunications, and media. She has advised and written reports on a range of issues including broadband policy, adoption and access; the digital economy; and the economics of spectrum and spectrum management.
Prior to joining NTIA, Giulia was a Senior Associate at The Brattle Group, where she focused on telecommunication matters, prepared expert reports and coauthored papers related to spectrum management and valuation, broadband deployment, regulatory proceedings, Universal Service Fund, and competition policy. Giulia received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland in 2009. She specialized in microeconomics, both applied and empirical methods, focusing on network theory and industrial organization.
Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
JEFFREY S. SUTTON is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has served as Chair of the Federal Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules, and Chair of the Supreme Court Fellows Commission. He currently serves as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Since 1993, Chief Judge Sutton has been an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University College of Law, where he teaches seminars on State Constitutional Law, the United States Supreme Court, and Appellate Advocacy. He also teaches a class on State Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School. Among other publications, he is the author of Who Decides? States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation and 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law. He is the co-author of a casebook, State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience, as well as The Law of Judicial Precedent. He is also the co-editor of The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law. In 2006, Chief Judge Sutton was elected to the American Law Institute, and in 2017 he was elected to its Council.
Managing Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Bryan Tramont, the firm’s managing partner, offers strategic counsel to Fortune 100 companies and trade associations, as well as small and mid-sized telecommunications and media companies, on all aspects of communications law and regulation. He is regularly called on to advise companies as they develop and evaluate new business opportunities in the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Tramont also designs and leads the execution of the firm’s strategic plan and directs client management and development. Mr. Tramont has been recognized by leading publications like Legal 500, Chambers USA, and Washingtonian as one of the nation’s top communications lawyers. In 2017, he was named to the inaugural Legal 500 Hall of Fame List, which highlights individuals who have received constant praise by their clients and who have been recognized by the Legal 500 as an elite leading lawyer for six consecutive years. He has been awarded The Best Lawyers in America © 2017 “Lawyer of the Year” for Media Law and “Lawyer of the Year" in Communications Law in 2016. In 2016, he was also named one of the Top 10 Washington, DC Super Lawyers.
Mr. Tramont serves on the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC), advising the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information at NTIA. Appointed under the Bush and Obama Administrations, he also served as the committee’s Co-Chairman from 2008-2010. In addition, Mr. Tramont is active in the Federal Communications Bar Association, where he served in a variety of leadership roles, including as President from 2010-11 and has been awarded the organization’s Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Tramont chairs the Federalist Society’s Telecommunications Practice Group Executive Committee, serves on the International Institute of Communications Canada Board of Directors, and previously served on the Governing Committee of the ABA Forum on Communications Law. Mr. Tramont currently is an adjunct law professor at The Catholic University of America as part of the Communications Law Institute, is a senior adjunct fellow at the University of Colorado, Boulder, has served as the Syracuse University Law School’s Practitioner in Residence, and is on the Board of Trustees at William Woods University. Mr. Tramont is the author of numerous articles on communications policy and is a frequent speaker and lecturer at academic and industry events. Prior to joining Wilkinson Barker Knauer, Mr. Tramont served as Chief of Staff of the Federal Communications Commission under Chairman Michael Powell. As Chief of Staff, Mr. Tramont managed all aspects of the agency’s operations and directed FCC staff in implementing all components of the agency’s policy portfolio including media, broadband, mobility, and traditional telephone services. Before being elevated to Chief of Staff, Mr. Tramont was Chairman Powell’s Senior Legal Advisor, advising him on strategic policy matters and on wireless, international, technology, satellite, and consumer issues. Mr. Tramont also served as Senior Legal Advisor to Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy and, before that, to Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth. He also served as a law clerk for the Honorable Duane Benton on the Supreme Court for his home state of Missouri. In addition, Mr. Tramont has served as an expert witness in a number of communications-related litigation matters.
Bryan Tramont graduated summa cum laude from The George Washington University with a degree in political science. He earned his law degree from Yale Law School, where he served as editor of the Yale Law & Policy Review.
Director, Faculty Relations, The Federalist Society
Katie McClendon is the Director of Faculty Relations at the Federalist Society, where she has worked since 2015.
Katie holds a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. in Political Science from Biola University, where she was a member of the Torrey Honors Institute. She is a fellow of the John Jay Institute and the Blackstone Legal Fellowship. Katie is originally from Los Angeles, and she now lives with her husband and four children in Atlanta.
Senior Vice President, Public Policy and Government Affairs, DISH Network
Jeffrey H. Blum is the Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs for DISH, overseeing state and federal government affairs in Washington, DC.
Before coming to DISH 2005, Jeff was a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine, where his practice focused on copyright, First Amendment and anti-piracy litigation. At Davis Wright Tremaine, Jeff co-represented a class of songwriters and music publishers in the Grokster P2P file sharing case, which was decided by the United States Supreme Court in favor of Jeff's clients. The Grokster decision established a new basis for secondary copyright liability, called "inducement liability." Jeff was a part-time lecturer at the University of Southern California, Annenberg School of Journalism from 2003-2005, where he taught "Media Law". He currently serves as Chairman of the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA), and was Co-Chairman of the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG) from 2013-2015. Jeff also serves on the boards of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and BUILD Metro DC.
Jeff graduated summa cum laude and first in his class at Boston University School of Law, where he was a Note Editor of the Boston University Law Review. He received his undergraduate degree from McGill University, with a B.A. in History and Classics. After law school, he clerked for Chief Judge Joseph Tauro of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts.
Managing Director and Co-Chair, Communications, Media, and Internet Practice, NERA Economic Consulting
Dr. Eisenach is a Managing Director and Co-Chair of NERA's Communications, Media, and Internet Practice, and also serves on the firm’s Board of Directors. He is also an Adjunct Professor at George Mason University Law School, where he teaches Regulated Industries, and a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Previously, Dr. Eisenach has served in senior policy positions at the US Federal Trade Commission and the White House Office of Management and Budget, and taught at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Dr. Eisenach's consulting practice focuses on economic analysis of competition, regulatory, intellectual property and consumer protection issues. He has submitted expert reports and testified in US federal court as well before the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Copyright Royalty Board, the Federal Communications Commission, the International Trade Commission, US Tax Court, several state public utility commissions, and courts and regulatory bodies in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean, and South America. He has also advised clients in some of the world’s largest information technology sector mergers.
He has written or edited 19 books and monographs, including Broadband Competition in the Internet Ecosystem and Competition, Innovation and the Microsoft Monopoly: Antitrust in the Digital Marketplace. His writings have also appeared in scholarly journals such as The Review of Network Economics, as well as in popular outlets like Forbes, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Prior to joining NERA, Dr. Eisenach was a managing director and principal at Navigant Economics, and before that he served as Chairman of Empiris LLC, Criterion Economics, and CapAnalysis, LLC. Among his other previous affiliations, Dr. Eisenach has served as President and Senior Fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation; as a scholar the Heritage Foundation, and the Hudson Institute; as a member of the 1980-81 Reagan-Bush Transition Team on the Federal Trade Commission, the 2000-2001 Bush-Cheney Transition Team on the Federal Communications Commission, the Virginia Governor's Commission on E-Communities, and the Virginia Attorney General's Task Force on Identity Theft. In 2016-2017 he led the Trump-Pence Transition Team for the Federal Communications Commission.
Dr. Eisenach received his PhD in economics from the University of Virginia and his BA in economics from Claremont McKenna College.
Chief Advocate and General Counsel, INCOMPAS
Angie joined INCOMPAS in 2013 as its chief advocate and general counsel, managing the INCOMPAS policy team and its work before the federal government. FierceTelecom named Angie a "Rising Star in Wireline" in 2014 and one of the Top Women in Wireline in 2015 for her advocacy work on behalf of INCOMPAS members. Angie is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association and has been involved in its leadership as a former Executive Committee and Nominations Committee member.
Before joining INCOMPAS, Angie was legal advisor to FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, where she was primarily responsible for the Commissioner’s wireline and broadband agenda, including the Commissioner’s work as chair of three federal-state joint boards. Prior to that, Angie was a special counsel in the Spectrum and Competition Policy Division of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. She also practiced telecommunications and media law in the Washington, D.C. office of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP for more than a decade. Angie earned a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America, where she also earned a certification from The Institute for Communications Law Studies, and she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Baylor University and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Acting Chief, Office of Economics and Analytics, Federal Communications Commission
Dr. Giulia McHenry has been Acting Chief of the Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA) since it was stood up in December 2018. Dr. McHenry directed the stand up of OEA, which is responsible for expanding and deepening the use of economic analysis into Commission policy making, enhancing the development and use of auctions, and implementing consistent and effective agency-wide data practices and policies. Giulia joined OEA in 2018 after serving for three years as Chief Economist of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). She is an expert in the economics of the Internet, telecommunications, and media. She has advised and written reports on a range of issues including broadband policy, adoption and access; the digital economy; and the economics of spectrum and spectrum management.
Prior to joining NTIA, Giulia was a Senior Associate at The Brattle Group, where she focused on telecommunication matters, prepared expert reports and coauthored papers related to spectrum management and valuation, broadband deployment, regulatory proceedings, Universal Service Fund, and competition policy. Giulia received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland in 2009. She specialized in microeconomics, both applied and empirical methods, focusing on network theory and industrial organization.
Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
JEFFREY S. SUTTON is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has served as Chair of the Federal Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules, and Chair of the Supreme Court Fellows Commission. He currently serves as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Since 1993, Chief Judge Sutton has been an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University College of Law, where he teaches seminars on State Constitutional Law, the United States Supreme Court, and Appellate Advocacy. He also teaches a class on State Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School. Among other publications, he is the author of Who Decides? States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation and 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law. He is the co-author of a casebook, State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience, as well as The Law of Judicial Precedent. He is also the co-editor of The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law. In 2006, Chief Judge Sutton was elected to the American Law Institute, and in 2017 he was elected to its Council.
Managing Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Bryan Tramont, the firm’s managing partner, offers strategic counsel to Fortune 100 companies and trade associations, as well as small and mid-sized telecommunications and media companies, on all aspects of communications law and regulation. He is regularly called on to advise companies as they develop and evaluate new business opportunities in the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Tramont also designs and leads the execution of the firm’s strategic plan and directs client management and development. Mr. Tramont has been recognized by leading publications like Legal 500, Chambers USA, and Washingtonian as one of the nation’s top communications lawyers. In 2017, he was named to the inaugural Legal 500 Hall of Fame List, which highlights individuals who have received constant praise by their clients and who have been recognized by the Legal 500 as an elite leading lawyer for six consecutive years. He has been awarded The Best Lawyers in America © 2017 “Lawyer of the Year” for Media Law and “Lawyer of the Year" in Communications Law in 2016. In 2016, he was also named one of the Top 10 Washington, DC Super Lawyers.
Mr. Tramont serves on the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC), advising the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information at NTIA. Appointed under the Bush and Obama Administrations, he also served as the committee’s Co-Chairman from 2008-2010. In addition, Mr. Tramont is active in the Federal Communications Bar Association, where he served in a variety of leadership roles, including as President from 2010-11 and has been awarded the organization’s Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Tramont chairs the Federalist Society’s Telecommunications Practice Group Executive Committee, serves on the International Institute of Communications Canada Board of Directors, and previously served on the Governing Committee of the ABA Forum on Communications Law. Mr. Tramont currently is an adjunct law professor at The Catholic University of America as part of the Communications Law Institute, is a senior adjunct fellow at the University of Colorado, Boulder, has served as the Syracuse University Law School’s Practitioner in Residence, and is on the Board of Trustees at William Woods University. Mr. Tramont is the author of numerous articles on communications policy and is a frequent speaker and lecturer at academic and industry events. Prior to joining Wilkinson Barker Knauer, Mr. Tramont served as Chief of Staff of the Federal Communications Commission under Chairman Michael Powell. As Chief of Staff, Mr. Tramont managed all aspects of the agency’s operations and directed FCC staff in implementing all components of the agency’s policy portfolio including media, broadband, mobility, and traditional telephone services. Before being elevated to Chief of Staff, Mr. Tramont was Chairman Powell’s Senior Legal Advisor, advising him on strategic policy matters and on wireless, international, technology, satellite, and consumer issues. Mr. Tramont also served as Senior Legal Advisor to Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy and, before that, to Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth. He also served as a law clerk for the Honorable Duane Benton on the Supreme Court for his home state of Missouri. In addition, Mr. Tramont has served as an expert witness in a number of communications-related litigation matters.
Bryan Tramont graduated summa cum laude from The George Washington University with a degree in political science. He earned his law degree from Yale Law School, where he served as editor of the Yale Law & Policy Review.
Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
Brendan Carr is the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He previously served as the senior Republican Commissioner and as the FCC’s General Counsel. Nominated by both President Trump and President Biden, Carr has been confirmed unanimously by the Senate three times.
Described by Axios as “the FCC’s 5G crusader,” Carr has led the FCC’s work to modernize its infrastructure rules and accelerate the buildout of high-speed networks. His reforms cut billions of dollars in red tape, enabled the private sector to construct high-speed networks in communities across the country, and extended America’s global leadership in 5G.
Chairman Carr is also focused on expanding America’s skilled workforce—the tower climbers and construction crews needed to build next-gen networks. His jobs initiative promotes community colleges and apprenticeships as a pipeline for good-paying 5G jobs. He is recognizing America’s talented tower crews through a series of “5G Ready” Hard Hat presentations.
Chairman Carr leads a groundbreaking telehealth initiative at the FCC. The Connected Care Pilot Program supports the delivery of high-quality care to low-income Americans and veterans.
Chairman Carr’s time outside of Washington helps inform his approach to the job. He regularly hits the road to hear directly from community members and learn how changes in federal policies could help improve their lives.
Chairman Carr brings nearly 20 years of private and public sector experience in communications and tech policy to his position. Before joining the FCC as a staffer back in 2012, he worked as an attorney at Wiley Rein LLP in the firm’s appellate, litigation, and telecom practices. Previously, Chairman Carr clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for Judge Dennis Shedd. After attending Georgetown University for his undergrad, Chairman Carr earned his J.D. magna cum laude from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law where he served as an editor of the Catholic University Law Review.
Senior Vice President, Public Policy and Government Affairs, DISH Network
Jeffrey H. Blum is the Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs for DISH, overseeing state and federal government affairs in Washington, DC.
Before coming to DISH 2005, Jeff was a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine, where his practice focused on copyright, First Amendment and anti-piracy litigation. At Davis Wright Tremaine, Jeff co-represented a class of songwriters and music publishers in the Grokster P2P file sharing case, which was decided by the United States Supreme Court in favor of Jeff's clients. The Grokster decision established a new basis for secondary copyright liability, called "inducement liability." Jeff was a part-time lecturer at the University of Southern California, Annenberg School of Journalism from 2003-2005, where he taught "Media Law". He currently serves as Chairman of the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA), and was Co-Chairman of the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG) from 2013-2015. Jeff also serves on the boards of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and BUILD Metro DC.
Jeff graduated summa cum laude and first in his class at Boston University School of Law, where he was a Note Editor of the Boston University Law Review. He received his undergraduate degree from McGill University, with a B.A. in History and Classics. After law school, he clerked for Chief Judge Joseph Tauro of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts.
Managing Director and Co-Chair, Communications, Media, and Internet Practice, NERA Economic Consulting
Dr. Eisenach is a Managing Director and Co-Chair of NERA's Communications, Media, and Internet Practice, and also serves on the firm’s Board of Directors. He is also an Adjunct Professor at George Mason University Law School, where he teaches Regulated Industries, and a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Previously, Dr. Eisenach has served in senior policy positions at the US Federal Trade Commission and the White House Office of Management and Budget, and taught at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Dr. Eisenach's consulting practice focuses on economic analysis of competition, regulatory, intellectual property and consumer protection issues. He has submitted expert reports and testified in US federal court as well before the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Copyright Royalty Board, the Federal Communications Commission, the International Trade Commission, US Tax Court, several state public utility commissions, and courts and regulatory bodies in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean, and South America. He has also advised clients in some of the world’s largest information technology sector mergers.
He has written or edited 19 books and monographs, including Broadband Competition in the Internet Ecosystem and Competition, Innovation and the Microsoft Monopoly: Antitrust in the Digital Marketplace. His writings have also appeared in scholarly journals such as The Review of Network Economics, as well as in popular outlets like Forbes, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Prior to joining NERA, Dr. Eisenach was a managing director and principal at Navigant Economics, and before that he served as Chairman of Empiris LLC, Criterion Economics, and CapAnalysis, LLC. Among his other previous affiliations, Dr. Eisenach has served as President and Senior Fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation; as a scholar the Heritage Foundation, and the Hudson Institute; as a member of the 1980-81 Reagan-Bush Transition Team on the Federal Trade Commission, the 2000-2001 Bush-Cheney Transition Team on the Federal Communications Commission, the Virginia Governor's Commission on E-Communities, and the Virginia Attorney General's Task Force on Identity Theft. In 2016-2017 he led the Trump-Pence Transition Team for the Federal Communications Commission.
Dr. Eisenach received his PhD in economics from the University of Virginia and his BA in economics from Claremont McKenna College.
Chief Advocate and General Counsel, INCOMPAS
Angie joined INCOMPAS in 2013 as its chief advocate and general counsel, managing the INCOMPAS policy team and its work before the federal government. FierceTelecom named Angie a "Rising Star in Wireline" in 2014 and one of the Top Women in Wireline in 2015 for her advocacy work on behalf of INCOMPAS members. Angie is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association and has been involved in its leadership as a former Executive Committee and Nominations Committee member.
Before joining INCOMPAS, Angie was legal advisor to FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, where she was primarily responsible for the Commissioner’s wireline and broadband agenda, including the Commissioner’s work as chair of three federal-state joint boards. Prior to that, Angie was a special counsel in the Spectrum and Competition Policy Division of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. She also practiced telecommunications and media law in the Washington, D.C. office of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP for more than a decade. Angie earned a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America, where she also earned a certification from The Institute for Communications Law Studies, and she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Baylor University and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Acting Chief, Office of Economics and Analytics, Federal Communications Commission
Dr. Giulia McHenry has been Acting Chief of the Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA) since it was stood up in December 2018. Dr. McHenry directed the stand up of OEA, which is responsible for expanding and deepening the use of economic analysis into Commission policy making, enhancing the development and use of auctions, and implementing consistent and effective agency-wide data practices and policies. Giulia joined OEA in 2018 after serving for three years as Chief Economist of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). She is an expert in the economics of the Internet, telecommunications, and media. She has advised and written reports on a range of issues including broadband policy, adoption and access; the digital economy; and the economics of spectrum and spectrum management.
Prior to joining NTIA, Giulia was a Senior Associate at The Brattle Group, where she focused on telecommunication matters, prepared expert reports and coauthored papers related to spectrum management and valuation, broadband deployment, regulatory proceedings, Universal Service Fund, and competition policy. Giulia received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland in 2009. She specialized in microeconomics, both applied and empirical methods, focusing on network theory and industrial organization.
Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
JEFFREY S. SUTTON is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has served as Chair of the Federal Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules, and Chair of the Supreme Court Fellows Commission. He currently serves as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Since 1993, Chief Judge Sutton has been an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University College of Law, where he teaches seminars on State Constitutional Law, the United States Supreme Court, and Appellate Advocacy. He also teaches a class on State Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School. Among other publications, he is the author of Who Decides? States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation and 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law. He is the co-author of a casebook, State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience, as well as The Law of Judicial Precedent. He is also the co-editor of The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law. In 2006, Chief Judge Sutton was elected to the American Law Institute, and in 2017 he was elected to its Council.
Managing Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Bryan Tramont, the firm’s managing partner, offers strategic counsel to Fortune 100 companies and trade associations, as well as small and mid-sized telecommunications and media companies, on all aspects of communications law and regulation. He is regularly called on to advise companies as they develop and evaluate new business opportunities in the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Tramont also designs and leads the execution of the firm’s strategic plan and directs client management and development. Mr. Tramont has been recognized by leading publications like Legal 500, Chambers USA, and Washingtonian as one of the nation’s top communications lawyers. In 2017, he was named to the inaugural Legal 500 Hall of Fame List, which highlights individuals who have received constant praise by their clients and who have been recognized by the Legal 500 as an elite leading lawyer for six consecutive years. He has been awarded The Best Lawyers in America © 2017 “Lawyer of the Year” for Media Law and “Lawyer of the Year" in Communications Law in 2016. In 2016, he was also named one of the Top 10 Washington, DC Super Lawyers.
Mr. Tramont serves on the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC), advising the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information at NTIA. Appointed under the Bush and Obama Administrations, he also served as the committee’s Co-Chairman from 2008-2010. In addition, Mr. Tramont is active in the Federal Communications Bar Association, where he served in a variety of leadership roles, including as President from 2010-11 and has been awarded the organization’s Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Tramont chairs the Federalist Society’s Telecommunications Practice Group Executive Committee, serves on the International Institute of Communications Canada Board of Directors, and previously served on the Governing Committee of the ABA Forum on Communications Law. Mr. Tramont currently is an adjunct law professor at The Catholic University of America as part of the Communications Law Institute, is a senior adjunct fellow at the University of Colorado, Boulder, has served as the Syracuse University Law School’s Practitioner in Residence, and is on the Board of Trustees at William Woods University. Mr. Tramont is the author of numerous articles on communications policy and is a frequent speaker and lecturer at academic and industry events. Prior to joining Wilkinson Barker Knauer, Mr. Tramont served as Chief of Staff of the Federal Communications Commission under Chairman Michael Powell. As Chief of Staff, Mr. Tramont managed all aspects of the agency’s operations and directed FCC staff in implementing all components of the agency’s policy portfolio including media, broadband, mobility, and traditional telephone services. Before being elevated to Chief of Staff, Mr. Tramont was Chairman Powell’s Senior Legal Advisor, advising him on strategic policy matters and on wireless, international, technology, satellite, and consumer issues. Mr. Tramont also served as Senior Legal Advisor to Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy and, before that, to Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth. He also served as a law clerk for the Honorable Duane Benton on the Supreme Court for his home state of Missouri. In addition, Mr. Tramont has served as an expert witness in a number of communications-related litigation matters.
Bryan Tramont graduated summa cum laude from The George Washington University with a degree in political science. He earned his law degree from Yale Law School, where he served as editor of the Yale Law & Policy Review.
Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
Brendan Carr is the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He previously served as the senior Republican Commissioner and as the FCC’s General Counsel. Nominated by both President Trump and President Biden, Carr has been confirmed unanimously by the Senate three times.
Described by Axios as “the FCC’s 5G crusader,” Carr has led the FCC’s work to modernize its infrastructure rules and accelerate the buildout of high-speed networks. His reforms cut billions of dollars in red tape, enabled the private sector to construct high-speed networks in communities across the country, and extended America’s global leadership in 5G.
Chairman Carr is also focused on expanding America’s skilled workforce—the tower climbers and construction crews needed to build next-gen networks. His jobs initiative promotes community colleges and apprenticeships as a pipeline for good-paying 5G jobs. He is recognizing America’s talented tower crews through a series of “5G Ready” Hard Hat presentations.
Chairman Carr leads a groundbreaking telehealth initiative at the FCC. The Connected Care Pilot Program supports the delivery of high-quality care to low-income Americans and veterans.
Chairman Carr’s time outside of Washington helps inform his approach to the job. He regularly hits the road to hear directly from community members and learn how changes in federal policies could help improve their lives.
Chairman Carr brings nearly 20 years of private and public sector experience in communications and tech policy to his position. Before joining the FCC as a staffer back in 2012, he worked as an attorney at Wiley Rein LLP in the firm’s appellate, litigation, and telecom practices. Previously, Chairman Carr clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for Judge Dennis Shedd. After attending Georgetown University for his undergrad, Chairman Carr earned his J.D. magna cum laude from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law where he served as an editor of the Catholic University Law Review.
The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law - Philadelphia
Philadelphia Lawyers Chapter - Online Event
A discussion of Judge Sutton’s acclaimed book, 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law
Charleston, SCA Conversation with Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton
Harvard Student Chapter
Cambridge, MAFederalist Society Review, Volume 20
Katie McClendon
The Federalist Society Review is the legal journal produced by the Federalist Society for Law...
The Future of Telecommunications Law and Policy
Jeffrey Blum, Jeffrey Eisenach, Angie Kronenberg, Giulia McHenry, Jeffrey S. Sutton, Bryan N. Tramont, Brendan Carr
On November 15, 2019, the Federalist Society's Telecommunications & Electronic Media Practice Group hosted a...
The Future of Telecommunications Law and Policy
Jeffrey Blum, Jeffrey Eisenach, Angie Kronenberg, Giulia McHenry, Jeffrey S. Sutton, Bryan N. Tramont, Brendan Carr
On November 15, 2019, the Federalist Society's Telecommunications & Electronic Media Practice Group hosted a...
The Conservative Case for Class Actions
Columbus Lawyers Chapter
Columbus, OHThe Future of Telecommunications Law and Policy
2019 National Lawyers Convention
Washington, DCTopics
2019 National Lawyers Convention Digital Survival Guide
This "Survival Guide" is your one-stop-shop for all things digital at the National Lawyers Convention....
Topics
The Future of Telecommunications Law and Policy
In an era of unprecedented technological change and relentless innovation, what is the proper role...