Donald Phillip Rothschild Research Professor, George Washington University Law School
Renée Lettow Lerner is Donald Phillip Rothschild Research Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School.
Professor Lerner works in the fields of U.S. and English legal history, civil and criminal procedure, and comparative law. She advises judges, lawyers, and government officials from the United States and countries in Europe, Latin America, and Asia about the differences between adversarial and nonadversarial legal systems.
She writes extensively about the history of American juries. Her work includes not only scholarly articles, but also online publications intended for a broader audience of legal professionals and the public. In many different settings, she has debated the role of juries with other academics and with lawyers. She has a book forthcoming with Oxford University Press in the Very Short Introduction Series entitled “The Jury.” She is also working on a book about the American civil jury, from the colonial period to the present.
She is the author, with John Langbein and Bruce Smith, of the book History of the Common Law: The Development of Anglo-American Legal Institutions (2009).
Her recent writings include a book review of Amalia D. Kessler’s Inventing American Exceptionalism: The Origins of American Adversarial Legal Culture, 1800-1877, 67 J. Legal Ed. 888 (2018); “How the Creation of Appellate Courts in England and the United States Limited Judicial Comment on Evidence to the Jury,” 40 Journal of the Legal Profession 215 (2016); “The Troublesome Inheritance of Americans in Magna Carta and Trial by Jury,” in Magna Carta and its Modern Legacy 77-98 (Robert Hazell and James Melton eds., Cambridge University Press 2015); and “The Failure of Originalism in Preserving Constitutional Rights to Civil Jury Trial,” 22 William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal 811 (2014).
Professor Lerner received an A.B. summa cum laude in history from Princeton University. She was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, where she studied English legal history. At Yale Law School, she was Articles Editor of the Yale Law Journal. She served as a law clerk to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court and to Judge Stephen F. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. From 2003 to 2005, she served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Vice President, Legal & Chief Counsel, Legal, Brady
Jonathan E. Lowy is the Vice President, Legal and Chief Counsel at Brady. Since 1997 Jon has argued in courts across the country to reduce gun violence, providing pro bono legal representation to victims of gun violence in lawsuits to reform dangerous gun industry practices, and assisting governments and public officials in defense of reasonable gun laws. Jon has litigated in over 40 states, successfully arguing several precedent-setting cases in appellate and trial courts establishing gun industry liability and Second Amendment law, obtaining several multi-million dollar settlements, and reforming gun industry practices. Jon has been named one of the 500 Leading Lawyers in America by Lawdragon magazine for the past 10 years, and has published numerous articles on gun litigation and policy including, The Right Not To Be Shot: Public Safety, Private Guns, and the Constellation of Constitutional Liberties in the Georgetown Journal of Law and Policy. He graduated from Harvard College and the University of Virginia School of Law.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Andrew Oldham is a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before ascending to the bench, Judge Oldham served as General Counsel to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, where he advised the Governor on a range of issues under federal and state law and managed litigation in which the Governor was an interested party. Before that he served as Deputy Solicitor General for the State of Texas, where he represented Texas in federal courts across the country, including twice before the United States Supreme Court. Before moving to Texas, Judge Oldham was an attorney at Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick in Washington, D.C. His practice focused on appellate litigation in federal courts of appeals throughout the country. Before entering private practice, Judge Oldham served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., at the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He also worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2006 to 2008. Judge Oldham earned a B.A. from the University of Virginia with highest honors, a Truman Scholarship for graduate school, an M. Phil., first class (with distinction), from Cambridge University, and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
Senior Fellow, Ave Maria School of Law and Host of the Four Boxes Diner Second Amendment Channel
Mark W. Smith is Visiting Fellow in Pharmaceutical Public Policy and Law in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford; Presidential Scholar and a Senior Fellow in Law and Public Policy at The King’s College; and Distinguished Scholar and Senior Fellow of Law and Public Policy at the Ave Maria School of Law.
He is a constitutional attorney and Host of the Four Boxes Diner YouTube channel—which provides scholarly and historical analyses of the Second Amendment. Mark is also a New York Times bestselling author.
Principal, Gupta Wessler PLLC
Jonathan E. Taylor is a principal at Gupta Wessler PLLC in Washington, DC, where he focuses on representing plaintiffs and public-interest clients in Supreme Court, appellate, and constitutional litigation.
Since joining the firm in 2012, Jon has presented argument before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh, and District of Columbia Circuits, as well as the Supreme Court of Alaska. He has also been a principal author of dozens of briefs filed in the U.S. Supreme Court and all levels of the state and federal judiciaries. His work has spanned a wide range of topics, including the First Amendment, Second Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Article III standing, class certification, civil rights, administrative law, and a broad array of issues involving consumers’ and workers’ rights.
Of particular relevance here, Jon presented argument in the First Circuit for the Town of Brookline, Massachusetts, successfully defending against a Second Amendment challenge to its restrictions on the public carry of firearms. He now serves as counsel to both Brookline and Boston in opposing a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court.
Jon has also represented Everytown for Gun Safety, the nation’s largest gun-violence-prevention organization. In that capacity, he has written over a dozen briefs in important Second Amendment cases, including New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. New York (U.S. Supreme Court), Worman v. Healy (First Circuit), Wilson v. Cook County (Seventh Circuit), Malpasso v. Pallozzi (Fourth Circuit), Wrenn v. District of Columbia (D.C. Circuit), Kolbe v. Hogan (en banc Fourth Circuit), Peruta v. San Diego (Ninth Circuit), Silvester v. Harris (Ninth Circuit), and Peña v. Lindley (Ninth Circuit). The briefs in these cases opposed constitutional challenges to state public-carry regulations, state prohibitions on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, and a state waiting period and “microstamping” law.
Donald Phillip Rothschild Research Professor, George Washington University Law School
Renée Lettow Lerner is Donald Phillip Rothschild Research Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School.
Professor Lerner works in the fields of U.S. and English legal history, civil and criminal procedure, and comparative law. She advises judges, lawyers, and government officials from the United States and countries in Europe, Latin America, and Asia about the differences between adversarial and nonadversarial legal systems.
She writes extensively about the history of American juries. Her work includes not only scholarly articles, but also online publications intended for a broader audience of legal professionals and the public. In many different settings, she has debated the role of juries with other academics and with lawyers. She has a book forthcoming with Oxford University Press in the Very Short Introduction Series entitled “The Jury.” She is also working on a book about the American civil jury, from the colonial period to the present.
She is the author, with John Langbein and Bruce Smith, of the book History of the Common Law: The Development of Anglo-American Legal Institutions (2009).
Her recent writings include a book review of Amalia D. Kessler’s Inventing American Exceptionalism: The Origins of American Adversarial Legal Culture, 1800-1877, 67 J. Legal Ed. 888 (2018); “How the Creation of Appellate Courts in England and the United States Limited Judicial Comment on Evidence to the Jury,” 40 Journal of the Legal Profession 215 (2016); “The Troublesome Inheritance of Americans in Magna Carta and Trial by Jury,” in Magna Carta and its Modern Legacy 77-98 (Robert Hazell and James Melton eds., Cambridge University Press 2015); and “The Failure of Originalism in Preserving Constitutional Rights to Civil Jury Trial,” 22 William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal 811 (2014).
Professor Lerner received an A.B. summa cum laude in history from Princeton University. She was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, where she studied English legal history. At Yale Law School, she was Articles Editor of the Yale Law Journal. She served as a law clerk to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court and to Judge Stephen F. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. From 2003 to 2005, she served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Vice President, Legal & Chief Counsel, Legal, Brady
Jonathan E. Lowy is the Vice President, Legal and Chief Counsel at Brady. Since 1997 Jon has argued in courts across the country to reduce gun violence, providing pro bono legal representation to victims of gun violence in lawsuits to reform dangerous gun industry practices, and assisting governments and public officials in defense of reasonable gun laws. Jon has litigated in over 40 states, successfully arguing several precedent-setting cases in appellate and trial courts establishing gun industry liability and Second Amendment law, obtaining several multi-million dollar settlements, and reforming gun industry practices. Jon has been named one of the 500 Leading Lawyers in America by Lawdragon magazine for the past 10 years, and has published numerous articles on gun litigation and policy including, The Right Not To Be Shot: Public Safety, Private Guns, and the Constellation of Constitutional Liberties in the Georgetown Journal of Law and Policy. He graduated from Harvard College and the University of Virginia School of Law.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Andrew Oldham is a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before ascending to the bench, Judge Oldham served as General Counsel to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, where he advised the Governor on a range of issues under federal and state law and managed litigation in which the Governor was an interested party. Before that he served as Deputy Solicitor General for the State of Texas, where he represented Texas in federal courts across the country, including twice before the United States Supreme Court. Before moving to Texas, Judge Oldham was an attorney at Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick in Washington, D.C. His practice focused on appellate litigation in federal courts of appeals throughout the country. Before entering private practice, Judge Oldham served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., at the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He also worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2006 to 2008. Judge Oldham earned a B.A. from the University of Virginia with highest honors, a Truman Scholarship for graduate school, an M. Phil., first class (with distinction), from Cambridge University, and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
Senior Fellow, Ave Maria School of Law and Host of the Four Boxes Diner Second Amendment Channel
Mark W. Smith is Visiting Fellow in Pharmaceutical Public Policy and Law in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford; Presidential Scholar and a Senior Fellow in Law and Public Policy at The King’s College; and Distinguished Scholar and Senior Fellow of Law and Public Policy at the Ave Maria School of Law.
He is a constitutional attorney and Host of the Four Boxes Diner YouTube channel—which provides scholarly and historical analyses of the Second Amendment. Mark is also a New York Times bestselling author.
Principal, Gupta Wessler PLLC
Jonathan E. Taylor is a principal at Gupta Wessler PLLC in Washington, DC, where he focuses on representing plaintiffs and public-interest clients in Supreme Court, appellate, and constitutional litigation.
Since joining the firm in 2012, Jon has presented argument before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh, and District of Columbia Circuits, as well as the Supreme Court of Alaska. He has also been a principal author of dozens of briefs filed in the U.S. Supreme Court and all levels of the state and federal judiciaries. His work has spanned a wide range of topics, including the First Amendment, Second Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Article III standing, class certification, civil rights, administrative law, and a broad array of issues involving consumers’ and workers’ rights.
Of particular relevance here, Jon presented argument in the First Circuit for the Town of Brookline, Massachusetts, successfully defending against a Second Amendment challenge to its restrictions on the public carry of firearms. He now serves as counsel to both Brookline and Boston in opposing a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court.
Jon has also represented Everytown for Gun Safety, the nation’s largest gun-violence-prevention organization. In that capacity, he has written over a dozen briefs in important Second Amendment cases, including New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. New York (U.S. Supreme Court), Worman v. Healy (First Circuit), Wilson v. Cook County (Seventh Circuit), Malpasso v. Pallozzi (Fourth Circuit), Wrenn v. District of Columbia (D.C. Circuit), Kolbe v. Hogan (en banc Fourth Circuit), Peruta v. San Diego (Ninth Circuit), Silvester v. Harris (Ninth Circuit), and Peña v. Lindley (Ninth Circuit). The briefs in these cases opposed constitutional challenges to state public-carry regulations, state prohibitions on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, and a state waiting period and “microstamping” law.
Originalism, Populism, and the Second Amendment Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Renée Lettow Lerner, Jonathan Lowy, Andrew Oldham, Mark W. Smith, Jonathan E. Taylor
On November 15, 2019, the Federalist Society's practice groups hosted a special session for the...
Originalism, Populism, and the Second Amendment Right to Keep and Bear Arms
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....