Senior Litigation Counsel, The Heritage Foundation
Lea Patterson is co-founder of Butterfield & Patterson. Prior to co-founding Butterfield & Patterson, Lea served as Senior Counsel and Practice Group Chair at First Liberty Institute. There, she focused on religious liberty litigation, including landmark school choice case Carson v. Makin. Lea also clerked for the Honorable Raymond W. Gruender of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in St. Louis, Missouri.
Lea received the full tuition Dillard Scholarship at the University of Virginia School of Law, where she served as an executive editor for the Virginia Law Review and as president of the UVA chapter of Advocates for Life, a national association of pro-life law students. During law school, Lea interned at the Texas Attorney General’s Office and Senator Ted Cruz’s office, focusing on the Judiciary Committee.
Lea graduated summa cum laude from Texas Christian University in 2013 with a Bachelors of Science in Political Science.
Freelance Writer and Author
Charles Slack is a freelance writer and the author of Liberty's First Crisis: Adams, Jefferson, and the Misfits Who Saved Free Speech, Hetty, Noble Obsession: Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the Nineteenth Century, and Blue Fairways: Three Months, Sixty Courses, No Mulligans. He was previously a reporter with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Mr. Slack lives in Connecticut with his wife, two daughters, and a mischievous beagle.
Partner, Barr & Klein PLLC
Steve Klein, a partner at Barr & Klein PLLC, is an experienced free speech attorney who has successfully fought for the First Amendment rights of his clients against local, state and federal regulators. As a lobbyist, Steve’s advocacy has led to the successful amendment of state laws to respect political engagement and prevented the enactment of laws that burden it. Steve has published articles in several legal journals, and his commentary has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, The Detroit News, and other outlets. Steve earned a bachelors degree in politics at Hillsdale College and a law degree from Ave Maria School of Law, where he served as Managing Editor of the Ave Maria Law Review. He is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia, Illinois and Michigan.
Prayer and Jury Service: United States v. Brown
Lea Patterson
This teleforum will address the upcoming Eleventh Circuit en banc argument in United States v. Brown, which concerns...
Liberty's First Crisis: Adams, Jefferson, and the Misfits Who Saved Free Speech - Podcast
Charles Slack, Stephen R. Klein
When the United States government passed the Bill of Rights in 1791, its uncompromising protection...