Newton D. Baker-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University
Professor Douglas A. Berman is Newton D. Baker-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law and Executive Director of the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center, housed in the Moritz College of Law. Berman’s principal teaching and research focus is in the area of criminal law and criminal sentencing, though he also has teaching and practice experience in the fields of legislation and intellectual property. He has taught Criminal Law, Criminal Punishment and Sentencing, Criminal Procedure – Investigation, Marijuana Law, Policy & Reform Seminar, Federal and State Clemency Decision-making, The Death Penalty, Legislation, Introduction to Intellectual Property, Second Amendment Seminar, and the Legislation Clinic.
Professor Berman attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School. In law school, he was an editor and developments office chair of the Harvard Law Review and also served as a teaching assistant for a Harvard University philosophy course. After graduation from law school in 1993, Professor Berman served as a law clerk for Judge Jon O. Newman and then for Judge Guido Calabresi, both on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. After clerking, Professor Berman was a litigation associate at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison in New York City.
Professor Berman is the co-author of two casebooks. Sentencing Law and Policy: Cases, Statutes and Guidelines, published by Aspen Publishers, is now in its fifth edition. Marijuana Law and Policy was released by Carolina Academic Press in 2020. In addition to authoring numerous articles on topics ranging from capital punishment to the federal sentencing guidelines, Professor Berman has served as a managing editor of the Federal Sentencing Reporter for more than twenty five years, and also serves as an editor of the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law.
Professor Berman is the sole creator and author of the widely-read and widely-cited blog, Sentencing Law and Policy. The blog often receives nearly 50,000 page views per month (and had over 20,000 hits the day of the Supreme Court’s major sentencing decision in United States v. Booker). Professor Berman’s work on the Sentencing Law and Policy blog, which he describes as a form of “scholarship in action,” has been profiled or discussed at length in articles appearing in the Wall Street Journal, Legal Affairs magazine, Lawyers Weekly USA, Legal Times, Columbus Monthly, and in numerous other print and online publications.
In addition, Sentencing Law and Policy has the distinction of being the first blog cited by the U.S. Supreme Court (for a document appearing exclusively on the site), and substantive analysis in particular blog posts has been cited in numerous appellate and district court rulings, in many briefs submitted to federal and state courts around the country, and in hundreds of law review articles.
Professor Berman is a member of the Council on Criminal Justice and frequently is consulted by national and state policymakers, sentencing commissioners, and public policy groups concerning sentencing law and policy reforms. He has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives and before numerous sentencing commissions. He also is frequently contacted by national and local media concerning sentencing and marijuana reform developments.
Professor Berman has appeared on national television, radio and podcast news programs and has been extensively quoted in newspaper articles appearing in nearly every major national paper and many local papers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Legal Times, and in pieces from the Associated Press, Reuters, and Knight-Ridder news services.
Professor Berman sometimes serves as a consultant to lawyers working on important or interesting sentencing cases. In most instances, Professor Berman’s consulting has been on an ad hoc and pro bono basis, and it usually involves a quick review of draft briefs and other court filings and then providing general advice on litigation strategies. On some occasions, however, Professor Berman has been formally retained to play a more sustained role in certain cases, including being retained by law firms to provide consulting service on various cutting-edge federal sentencing issues.
Judge, Franklin County Court
Hon. Daniel R. Hawkins is a judge for the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas (General Division) in Ohio. He was elected to the seat on November 6, 2018.
Prior to his election, Hawkins presided as a judge in the Environmental Division of the Franklin County Municipal Court, a position he had held since 2013.
He received a B.S. in criminal justice from Bowling Green State University in 1998. Hawkins went on to complete a J.D. at Ohio State University, Michael E. Moritz College of Law in 2001.
After graduating from law school, he began his legal career as an assistant prosecuting attorney with the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office. During his tenure there, Hawkins was promoted to director of the Special Victims Unit in 2003. In that role, he prosecuted violent crimes involving women and children as victims, including homicides, sexual assaults, child abuse, human trafficking, and internet child exploitation. In addition, Hawkins was tasked with managing fellow prosecutors in the SVU and was credited with conducting several jury trials including six death penalty cases. He remained in that capacity until joining the Municipal Court bench in 2013.
His memberships have included the American Judges Association, the Ohio Judicial Conference, the Association of Municipal County Judges of Ohio, the Ohio State Bar Association, and the Columbus Bar Association.
Hawkins is a married father of three.
Partner, Jones Day
Justin Herdman, a former United States Attorney, is a trial lawyer who represents businesses and individuals involved in high-stakes government investigations, criminal litigation, and civil actions. Justin's practice is focused on obtaining favorable results in matters arising from alleged violations of state and federal laws, including fraud, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and the False Claims Act (FCA). He has successfully tried numerous cases in state and federal courts throughout his two decades in public service and private practice.
Prior to rejoining Jones Day in 2021, Justin served as the chief federal law enforcement officer for the Northern District of Ohio. Justin was nationally recognized for his effort in developing strategic responses to controlled substances, terrorism, and violent crime. While U.S. Attorney, Justin served as vice chair of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee (AGAC), where he provided national-level guidance on the management and operations of the Justice Department. Justin was also named co-chair of the Attorney General's Prescription Interdiction and Litigation Task Force and was chair of AGAC's Terrorism and National Security Subcommittee.
Justin also maintains an active pro bono practice. In 2022, his trial work with the Ohio Innocence Project led to the acquittal of a wrongfully convicted man who had spent 15 years in state prison.
Justin previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting national security offenses, including terrorism, money laundering, and export control violations. He is a former assistant district attorney in New York City and currently serves as a judge advocate in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
Deputy Attorney General for Law Enforcement, Ohio Attorney General's Office
Carol O’Brien oversees seven “sections” focused on law enforcement/criminal justice: the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy, Special Prosecutions, the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission, Health Care Fraud, Crime Victims and Criminal Justice.
Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, O’Brien spent 12 years in the Delaware County Prosecutor’s Office, the last eight as the prosecutor and the previous four as assistant prosecutor. During that time, she also served as a special prosecutor in numerous criminal cases in counties throughout the state.
Earlier in her career, O’Brien served as an assistant attorney general in the Attorney General’s Office and as an assistant prosecutor in the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office. Prior to those roles, she worked as a staff attorney for the clinical programs within the Ohio State University College of Law, for the Neighborhood Legal Assistance Program and for Advocates for Basic Legal Equality.
In 2016, O’Brien was recognized as Ohio’s Outstanding Prosecuting Attorney for her dedication to justice. She has been an active member of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association for nearly a decade, serving as president in 2019, and has given presentations on a wide range of prosecutorial matters and other legal topics.
O’Brien has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Northwestern University and a law degree from the University of Toledo. She is licensed to practice in Ohio, South Carolina, the Northern and Southern District Courts of Ohio, the District Court of South Carolina, and the 4th and 6th circuits of the U.S. Court of Appeals.
O’Brien and her husband, Bill, live in Delaware County.
Legal Fellow and Manager, Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program, The Heritage Foundation
Zack is a Legal Fellow and Manager of the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
He previously served for several years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Florida. Prior to that, he spent two years as an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which he joined after clerking for the Hon. Emmett R. Cox on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Smith received his undergraduate, master’s, and law degrees from the University of Florida. During law school, Smith served as the Editor in Chief of the Florida Law Review and served on the executive boards of several student organizations, including the UF Chapter of the Federalist Society.
Partner, Jones Day
Justin Herdman, a former United States Attorney, is a trial lawyer who represents businesses and individuals involved in high-stakes government investigations, criminal litigation, and civil actions. Justin's practice is focused on obtaining favorable results in matters arising from alleged violations of state and federal laws, including fraud, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and the False Claims Act (FCA). He has successfully tried numerous cases in state and federal courts throughout his two decades in public service and private practice.
Prior to rejoining Jones Day in 2021, Justin served as the chief federal law enforcement officer for the Northern District of Ohio. Justin was nationally recognized for his effort in developing strategic responses to controlled substances, terrorism, and violent crime. While U.S. Attorney, Justin served as vice chair of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee (AGAC), where he provided national-level guidance on the management and operations of the Justice Department. Justin was also named co-chair of the Attorney General's Prescription Interdiction and Litigation Task Force and was chair of AGAC's Terrorism and National Security Subcommittee.
Justin also maintains an active pro bono practice. In 2022, his trial work with the Ohio Innocence Project led to the acquittal of a wrongfully convicted man who had spent 15 years in state prison.
Justin previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting national security offenses, including terrorism, money laundering, and export control violations. He is a former assistant district attorney in New York City and currently serves as a judge advocate in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Judge Readler earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Michigan. After graduating, he served as a law clerk to Judge Alan Norris of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Judge Readler then began practicing law in the Columbus office of the international law firm Jones Day, eventually spending ten years as a partner in the firm’s Issues and Appeals Practice Group. While at Jones Day, Judge Readler appeared in state and federal trial and appellate courts around the country, most frequently the Supreme Court of Ohio and the Sixth Circuit. Judge Readler also successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court in McQuiggin v. Perkins on behalf of an inmate claiming actual innocence. His other pro bono representations include representing capital defendants before the Tenth Circuit and the Supreme Court of Ohio, as well as representing defendants sentenced to life in prison before the Sixth Circuit. While at Jones Day, Judge Readler traveled to Nairobi with Lawyers Without Borders to train Kenyan lawyers in prosecuting domestic violence cases, and he was also a recipient of the American Marshall Memorial Fellowship awarded by the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Following his career in private practice, Judge Readler served as Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice from 2017 to 2019. In that role, Judge Readler led and supervised over 1,000 lawyers in the Department’s largest litigating division, briefing and arguing several cases on behalf of the United States in federal courts across the country, including high-profile cases significant to the Administration and the Department. In March 2019, Judge Readler was confirmed to serve as a Circuit Judge on the Sixth Circuit. He resides in Columbus.
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