Associate, Jones Day
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
John B. Nalbandian serves as a United States Circuit Judge from Kentucky on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He was nominated and confirmed to that position in 2018. Prior to that, Judge Nalbandian was a partner in the litigation practice group of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP in Cincinnati, where he served as the firm’s lead appellate lawyer and also practiced complex litigation in state and federal courts. Judge Nalbandian was board certified by the Ohio State Bar Association as a specialist in appellate law. Prior to joining Taft, Judge Nalbandian practiced for five years in the appellate section of Jones Day in Washington, DC. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Nalbandian clerked for the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Houston. While in private practice, he also served as a board member of the State Justice Institute, a nonprofit organization established by the federal government to improve the administration of justice in state courts. He served as President of the Cincinnati Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society. He has also been involved in his community as a board member of the Greater Cincinnati Minority Counsel Program, and as a board member of the Asian Pacific Bar Association of Southwest Ohio. Judge Nalbandian earned his B.S., magna cum laude, from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif and served as managing editor of the Virginia Law Review.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Amul R. Thapar serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His judicial career began in 2007 when President George W. Bush nominated him to serve on the Eastern District of Kentucky, making him the first South Asian Article III judge in American history. In 2017, he became President Donald J. Trump’s first appellate court nominee.
Before joining the bench, Judge Thapar served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. While United States Attorney, Judge Thapar worked on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (“AGAC”) and chaired the AGAC’s Controlled Substances and Asset Forfeiture subcommittee. He also served on the Terrorism and National Security subcommittee, the Violent Crime subcommittee, and the Child Exploitation working group.
Judge Thapar has worked in private practice, at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia.
Judge Thapar received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating, Judge Thapar worked as a law clerk to the Honorable S. Arthur Spiegel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, and the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Judge Thapar has also published in the Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and Catholic University Law Review. He teaches courses on originalism, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and legal writing at Notre Dame Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, and Vanderbilt Law School.
Associate Attorney General, Department of Justice
Stanley E. Woodward, Jr. was nominated by President Donald J. Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as the Associate Attorney General of the United States in October 2025. As the third highest-ranking official at the Department of Justice, Mr. Woodward assists the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General with overseeing DOJ civil matters and components, including the Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, and Environmental and Natural Resources Divisions, as well as the Department’s grant-making components. Prior to his confirmation as Associate Attorney General, Mr. Woodward served as Counselor to Attorney General Pam Bondi. Before his tenure at the Department of Justice, Mr. Woodward served as Assistant to the President and Senior Counselor to President Donald J. Trump at the White House. Prior to entering federal service, Mr. Woodward was in private practice as a high-profile litigator and co-founder of Brand Woodward Law, LP where he represented numerous prestigious clients in complex, high-stakes litigation, including multiple federal jury trials. Previously, he worked at a top international law firm where his experience included the representation of multiple international corporations in defense of alleged violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as well as serving as coordinating counsel to companies involved in nationwide federal litigation.
Mr. Woodward has served as an adjunct professor with The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, where he taught labor and employment law, trial advocacy, and complex civil litigation. Mr. Woodward began his legal career clerking for multiple judges on the D.C. Court of Appeals and the D.C. Superior Court. Mr. Woodward obtained his Juris Doctor from the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law and earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Science from American University.
United States Attorney, Western District of North Carolina
Russ Ferguson leads the U.S. Attorney’s Office as the presidentially-appointed United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, following his confirmation by the United States Senate on December 18, 2025. Nominated by President Donald Trump, who formally signed his commission on December 23, 2025, U.S. Attorney Ferguson took the oath of office, administered by the Honorable Frank D. Whitney, Senior United States District Judge, on Christmas Eve.
Mr. Ferguson was first appointed as interim United States Attorney by Attorney General Pamela Bondi on March 3, 2025, and sworn in on March 11, 2025. He was subsequently unanimously appointed to the position by all federal judges in this district effective June 30, 2025. He was then nominated by the President on July 30, 2025.
As U.S. Attorney, Mr. Ferguson serves as the chief federal law enforcement officer in the Western District, responsible for representing the United States in all civil and criminal litigations. Mr. Ferguson leads an office of nearly 100 federal prosecutors and support personnel, serving 32 counties across western North Carolina, including the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the largest Native American community in the eastern United States.
U.S. Attorney Ferguson brings 16 years of significant legal experience to his new role. He began his legal career as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, where he tried 28 cases to verdict. Before his appointment as U.S. Attorney, Mr. Ferguson was a partner at the international law firm of Womble Bond Dickinson, where he led the firm’s complex litigation group and handled complex civil and criminal cases. Mr. Ferguson’s work included representing clients in high-profile and complex criminal and civil trials, as well as in international arbitrations before a number of world arbitral bodies.
U.S. Attorney Ferguson has held leadership roles with the Mecklenburg County Bar, which honored him with an award for Best Individual Attorney for his pro bono service. He has been named to Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, North Carolina Business Elite, and received the Charlotte Business Journal’s Forty Under Forty Award. Mr. Ferguson has also served as a speaker and panelist for local and national events and has published numerous articles on topics related to civil and criminal law.
U.S. Attorney Ferguson has served the community by serving on the Board of NourishUp, Charlotte’s food pantry and meals on wheels organization, demonstrating his ongoing commitment to addressing hunger and supporting families in need. He also previously served on Keep Charlotte Beautiful, to which he was appointed by the City Council, and on the Mecklenburg County Bar’s Board of Directors.
U.S. Attorney Ferguson received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and earned his law degree and a masters of law from Georgetown University Law Center. After law school, U.S. Attorney Ferguson clerked for the Honorable Frank D. Whitney in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
Shareholder, Lawson Huck Gonzalez PLLC
Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Technology and the Human Person, The Heritage Foundation
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Lawrence VanDyke serves as a circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to that appointment in January 2020, he served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice. Before that, he served consecutively as the Solicitor General of two western states – Nevada and Montana. At the beginning of his legal career, he worked as an attorney in the Appellate and Constitutional Issues practice group at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, LLP.
Judge VanDyke received his law degree magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor on the Harvard Law Review. He has engineering and theology undergraduate degrees and a masters degree in engineering management. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Janice Rogers Brown of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Judge VanDyke and his wife Cheryl live in Reno, Nevada, and they have three children.
2026 Annual Federalist Society Reception at the Florida Bar's Annual Meeting
Orlando, FLThe Judiciary in the Age of AI
Washington, DCAustin Lawyer & Summer Associate Happy Hour
Austin Lawyer Chapter
Austin, TXYoung Lawyer & Summer Associate Social
Washington, DCNYC Young Lawyer Summer Happy Hour
NYC Young Lawyer Chapter
New York, NYPlenary Session 2: Legislation, Confirmations, and Oversight– Working and Succeeding in a Legislative Legal Role
Featuring: Ms. Ashley Callen, Partner, Jenner & Block LLP Mr. Michael Fragoso, Partner, Torridon Group...
A Conversation with U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson
Charlotte Lawyer Chapter
Charlotte, NCSt. Louis Lawyer Chapter Student-Lawyer Social
St. Louis Lawyer Chapter
Maplewood, MOProperty in Man? Developments in Surrogacy Law
Tallahassee Lawyer Chapter
Tallahassee, FLA Fireside Chat with Judge VanDyke
Tulsa Lawyer Chapter
Tulsa, OK