Appellate Chief, U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of North Carolina
James C. Dever III serves as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina. President George W. Bush nominated Judge Dever (then age 39) in May 2002, and the United States Senate unanimously confirmed him. Before serving as a United States District Judge, Judge Dever served as a United States Magistrate Judge for fifteen months. He served as Chief Judge from October 2011 through October 2018.
Judge Dever received his B.B.A., with high honors, from the University of Notre Dame in 1984. He attended Notre Dame on a four-year ROTC scholarship. He was a Distinguished Military Graduate, was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma, and received the Raymond P. Kent Award (which is awarded to the graduating senior with the highest average in finance/economics classes). He received his J.D., with high honors, from Duke University School of Law in 1987. At Duke, he served as editor-in-chief of the Duke Law Journal, was elected to the Order of the Coif, and received numerous academic awards.
After graduating from law school, he served for one year as a law clerk for Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Following his clerkship, Judge Dever was the sole attorney entering active duty in the Air Force selected to serve in the Air Force General Counsel’s Honors Program at the Pentagon. While on active duty, he provided legal advice to and conducted litigation for the Secretary of the Air Force. He served on active duty in the Air Force at the Pentagon from October 1988 until September 1992. At the conclusion of his service, he received the Meritorious Service Medal.
Judge Dever then returned to North Carolina and joined Maupin Taylor & Ellis, P.A. in Raleigh. While in private practice, he engaged in a wide variety of complex civil litigation and served on the law firm’s management committee. He was repeatedly listed in the Best Lawyers in America and in Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite for Employment Law. Since 1997, Judge Dever has taught employment law and criminal procedure as an adjunct law professor at Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law. Since 2008, Judge Dever has co-taught a seminar on sentencing and punishment as a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University School of Law. Since 2009, he has taught criminal procedure as a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University School of Law. In 2014, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Judge Dever to serve on the Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules, where Judge Dever served until 2021. Judge Dever also serves as a member of Duke Law School's Board of Visitors.
Judge Dever’s chambers are in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Judge, U.S. District Court, Middle District of North Carolina
Lindsey Freeman is a United States district judge for the Middle District of North
Carolina. She was nominated in September 2025 and confirmed by the Senate on
December 2, 2025. Prior to her confirmation, Judge Freeman was in private practice in
Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. She previously served at the Department of Justice
as chief of staff in the Office of Legal Policy and chief of staff and deputy associate
attorney general in the Office of the Associate Attorney General. Before her
confirmation, Judge Freeman was the First Assistant United States Attorney in the
United States Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of North Carolina.
Judge Freeman clerked for the Honorable John M. Rogers of the United States Court of
Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She earned her B.A., magna cum laude, from Harvard
University, and her J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law
School.
Judge, U.S. District Court, Western District of North Carolina
Partner, McGuireWoods LLP
The Honorable Susan C. Rodriguez was sworn-in as a U.S. District Judge in the Western District of North Carolina on December 8, 2025. She previously served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge since April 2023. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Rodriguez was a partner at a national law firm, where she was the co-leader of the firm’s financial institutions industry team. Her private practice experience focused on government investigations and white-collar matters. She has represented clients in numerous government investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), among others. She was recognized for her outstanding work for clients through Chambers rankings in both 2022 and 2023 for Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations in North Carolina and nationally for Fintech Legal: Corporate, Securities & Financing. She also was named to “North Carolina Rising Stars,” Government Relations, Super Lawyers, 2017-2019.
Judge Rodriguez also served as a legal policy advisor at the Department of Homeland Security. She was a federal law clerk for the Honorable Frank D. Whitney, U.S. District Court Judge for the Western District of North Carolina, handling both civil and criminal matters. Prior to that, she was a presidential appointee, serving as a staffer in the White House Counsel’s office from 2005-2006, handling management of judicial nominations and assisting with responses to congressional investigations.
Political Cartoonist
For 45 years, political cartoonist Steve Kelley has devoted his attention to public officials the way the radiator grille of a tractor-trailer might devote its attention to June bugs. He has delighted readers by consistently consigning officeholders to the one fate they fear most -- that of not being taken seriously.
A 1981 honors graduate from Dartmouth College, Kelley spent two decades as staff political cartoonist for The San Diego Union-Tribune. In 2002, he moved to The Times-Picayune in New Orleans.
"I tend to limit my cartoons to two subjects," Kelley confesses. "Politics and stuff people actually care about."
Kelley's cartoons are nationally syndicated and have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and USA Today among many others. They are routinely featured on prominent Internet news sites.
With cartoonist Jeff Parker, Kelley created the popular syndicated comic strip, Dustin, which has appeared in more than 300 newspapers daily since its debut in 2010.
The Virginia native is a popular speaker and humorist. A veteran of seven appearances on The Tonight Show, Kelley has given much of his time and talent to charity. Funny Money, a fundraiser he co-created with another comedian, provided funding for the San Diego Child Abuse Prevention Foundation for seven consecutive years. A Thousand Laughs for a Thousand Smiles helped underwrite reconstructive dental surgery for children in Mexico.
Kelley is the father of a 27-year-old son, Hayden, about whom he brags without regard to the listener's interest.
Partner, Torridon Law PLLC
Mike Fragoso is an experienced legal and policy strategist who represents clients before all three branches of the federal government. Most recently he served as chief counsel to the Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY). He has negotiated consequential legislation, managed successful congressional oversight, and prepared individuals for the most contentious Senate hearings.
As chief counsel to Leader McConnell, Mike was the Leader’s primary legal advisor and managed the “last mile” of any legislation touching on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He ran the 2024 reauthorization of FISA Section 702 and was involved at the highest levels of the appropriations and budget-reconciliation processes. Mike also repeatedly represented Leader McConnell as counsel of record at the Supreme Court. Leader McConnell said of Mike that he’s “equally at home in the high-minded philosophical discourse of the legal community and the urgent pragmatism of congressional dealmaking,” and that he “maintains a firm grasp on the realm of the possible” but “knows which screws to twist.” He observed that Mike “is so exceptionally competent that he often produces from his desk the work that would normally require, literally, teams of outside counsel.”
United States District Judge, Eastern District of Kentucky
Chad served as solicitor general from 2019 to 2021, overseeing all civil and criminal appellate litigation involving the commonwealth, and leading a team of nearly 30 appellate lawyers.
Chad has also served as the chief deputy general counsel (2015-2019) to the governor of Kentucky. In that role, he represented the governor in litigation and advised the governor and other executive branch officials on a wide variety of legal and policy issues.
After graduating law school, he clerked for Judge John M. Rogers on the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and also for Judge Amul R. Thapar on the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
United States District Judge, Middle District of Florida
Judge Moe currently serves as a United States District Judge for the Middle District Of Florida.
At the time then-Governor Rick Scott appointed her to the bench in 2017, Judge Moe was an equity shareholder at Bush Ross, P.A. She was AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell and was recognized by Best Lawyers in America, Florida Trend: Legal Elite, and Florida Super Lawyers in the field of commercial litigation. As a lawyer, her trial experience included jury and non-jury cases in state and federal court and in arbitration. Her last trial in private practice involved a dispute between the State of Florida and the Seminole Indian Tribe over the Tribe’s Class III gaming compact. While her clients were most often business people engaged in or trying to avoid business disputes, she also handled pro bono cases on behalf of a nun, a convicted murderer serving three life sentences in federal prison, and a participant in the Middle District of Florida’s Intensive Re-Entry Program. She is a past president of the Tampa Bay Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and a past chair of a Florida Bar Grievance Committee.
Prior to entering private practice, she clerked for United States District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington in the Middle District of Florida. During law school, she was editor-in-chief of the law review and interned for Justice Kenneth B. Bell during his service on the Florida Supreme Court and the Honorable Jeffrey Hotham on the Maricopa County Superior Court. She is an honors graduate of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, Furman University, and Cambridge Christian School (formerly known as Seminole Presbyterian School).
Justice, Florida Supreme Court
On January 14, 2026, Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Justice Adam S. Tanenbaum to be the 94th justice of the Supreme Court of Florida.
Justice Tanenbaum served on the First District Court of Appeal from 2019 to 2026 before joining the Supreme Court.
Before his appointment, Justice Tanenbaum served as general counsel for the Florida House of Representatives (2016–2019). In that position, he provided legal advice and counsel to the Speaker of the House and to House members and staff regarding matters of legislative interest. He also advised House members and senior staff regarding ethics laws, public records requirements, House rules, and issues requiring constitutional or statutory interpretation. He also had primary responsibility for handling litigation affecting the House. Previously, Judge Tanenbaum served as general counsel for the Florida Department of State (2015–2016) and chief deputy solicitor general at the Florida Department of Legal Affairs (2014–2015). He moved with his family to Tallahassee from Tampa in 2014.
Judge Tanenbaum grew up in Pinellas County and was student body president and valedictorian at Seminole High School in Seminole, Florida. He spent most of his professional career living in Tampa and Orlando. He has tried jury and non-jury cases and briefed and argued civil and criminal appeals in state and federal courts. He has worked as an assistant federal public defender in Tampa and Orlando (2008–2010; 2012–2014) and as an assistant public defender in Orlando (2005–2006). He practiced as a private complex commercial litigator in Tampa, Orlando, and New York City, including during several stints at Carlton Fields, P.A. (1997–2001; 2001–2002; 2003–2005; 2010–2011). He also taught complex litigation as an adjunct professor at Stetson University College of Law (2001; 2007). He now teaches a spring course on legislative power as an adjunct professor at Florida State University College of Law.
In 1993 Judge Tanenbaum earned a bachelor of arts degree (major in political science and minor in economics), with honors, from the University of Florida, where he was co-valedictorian; recognized with awards for Outstanding Male Leader and Four-Year Scholar; and inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, Florida Blue Key, and the UF Hall of Fame. He graduated cum laude with a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1996 and was selected to be his section’s commencement speaker. He started his legal career as a law clerk to then-U.S. District Judge Stanley Marcus in the Southern District of Florida.
Justice of the Supreme Court, Michigan Supreme Court
Justice Brian K. Zahra was appointed by Governor Rick Snyder to the Michigan Supreme Court on January 14, 2011. The people of Michigan subsequently elected him in November 2012 to a partial term and then re-elected him in November 2014 to a full term.
Justice Zahra received his undergraduate degree in 1984 from Wayne State University. To finance his education, he opened and operated a small health and personal care retail store in downtown Detroit. Justice Zahra later opened a grocery outlet, also in Detroit, with two partners. In 1987, he graduated with honors from the University Of Detroit School Of Law, where he served as a member of the Law Review and as Articles Editor of the State Bar of Michigan’s Corporation and Finance Business Law Journal. Upon graduation he served as law clerk to Judge Lawrence P. Zatkoff of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan before joining and eventually becoming a partner in the law firm of Dickinson, Wright, Moon, Van Dusen & Freeman. In 1994, Governor John Engler appointed him to the Wayne County Circuit Court where in 1996 he was elected to a six-year term. In December of 1998, he was appointed to the Michigan Court of Appeals by Governor Engler. He was elected to six-year terms in 2000 and 2006. From December 2005 to January 2007, he served as the Court of Appeals’ Chief Judge Pro Tem.
Justice Zahra has been active in many civic and charitable organizations, including Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan, Kiwanis Club International, Leadership Detroit, the Knights of Columbus, the Maltese American Community Club, and the Maltese American Benevolent Society, of which he is a past officer. He is a former board member and officer of the Catholic Lawyers Society, and past officer of the Federalist Society, where he currently serves as a member of the Advisory Board to the Michigan chapter. He also serves as the judicial advisor to the Hillsdale College Federalist Society Chapter.
Solicitor General, Tennessee Attorney General's Office
Solicitor General, United States of America
On April 4, 2025, D. John Sauer became the 49th Solicitor General of the United States. He previously served as Solicitor General of Missouri from 2017 to 2023.. Before that, he served as a federal prosecutor for five years and spent time in civil practice at boutique law firms, including the firm he founded, the James Otis Law Group. Mr. Sauer has first-chaired many jury and bench trials, and served as lead counsel in many appeals. He has presented oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the Supreme Court of Missouri, and many other state and federal appellate courts. Mr. Sauer served as a law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He was a Rhodes Scholar and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School.
Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice
Brett A. Shumate was sworn in as the Civil Division’s 36th Assistant Attorney General on June 11, 2025. He previously served in the Civil Division from 2017 to 2019 as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Federal Programs Branch. Prior to rejoining the Department, Mr. Shumate was a partner at Jones Day in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Shumate clerked for Judge Edith H. Jones on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He graduated from Wake Forest University School of Law and Furman University.
Luncheon and Keynote Panel: The Bench, Newly Defined: Perspectives from Recently Seated District Judges
2026 North Carolina Conference
Raleigh, NC250 Years of American Political Satire - A Fall Kickoff Mixer
Richmond Lawyer Chapter
Richmond, VALuncheon & Keynote Discussion
2026 Kentucky Chapters Conference
Lexington, KY2026 Practice Groups Leadership Reception
Washington, DCFederal Judicial Overreach: Can We Put the Genie Back in the Bottle?
Tampa Bay Lawyer Chapter
Tampa, FLAmerica 250: Madison's Long Echo: How The Lessons Of America's Founding Still Endure Today
Tri-Cities Lawyer Chapter
Midland, MIHouston Mentorship Night - 2026
Houston, TX2026 Supreme Court Roundup - Memphis
Memphis Lawyer Chapter
Memphis, TNWinning in Court for America
Washington, DCMichigan Lawyer Chapter Summer Social - 2026
Michigan Lawyer Chapter
Grosse Pointe Farms, MI