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.
Lincoln Davis Wilson serves as senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom where he represents clients with the Center for Life and in appellate and U.S. Supreme Court matters, including ADF’s successful applications in Idaho v. United States and Labrador v. Poe. Prior to joining ADF, Wilson served as chief of civil litigation and constitutional defense for the Idaho attorney general. In that role, he supervised the state’s civil litigation docket and led a team that defended litigation challenging Idaho laws on issues concerning abortion, gender dysphoria, elections, and other matters.
Before entering government service, Wilson worked in private practice for several New York law firms, including Skadden Arps, Quinn Emanuel, and Dechert LLP, where he served as Counsel. Wilson’s private practice focused on complex class action and products liability litigation in trial and appellate courts around the country. He also maintained an active pro bono practice focusing on religious freedom matters, including a petition for certiorari named a “Petition of the Week” by SCOTUSblog.
Wilson earned his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law, where he earned the Academic Excellence Award and Impact Litigation Award and served as Executive Editor of the Law Review. He also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Idaho College of Law teaching appellate advocacy and complex litigation.
Wilson is president of the Idaho Lawyer’s Chapter of the Federalist Society. He is admitted to practice in Idaho, Washington, New Jersey, and New York, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court and nine federal courts of appeal.
Legal Fellow, Center for the Separation of Powers, Pacific Legal Foundation
Alison Somin joined Pacific Legal Foundation in May 2020 as a legal fellow in the Center for the Separation of Powers and part of the equality before the law practice group.
Before joining the Pacific Legal Foundation team, Alison was a special assistant and counsel for over a decade to Gail Heriot, a member of the bipartisan United States Commission on Civil Rights. She also has deep roots in the liberty movement. Alison was a Koch Associate at the National Federation for Independent Business Legal Foundation and, during law school, completed summer clerkships at the Institute for Justice and the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. She holds a J.D. from Emory University School of Law and an A.B. in history from Dartmouth College.
Her work has been published in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Daily Journal, Texas Journal of Law and Politics, and The Federalist Society’s Engage magazine and blog.
She lives in northern Virginia with her husband Ilya; two children; and golden retriever Willow. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, baking and cooking, children’s art projects, and training and exercising Willow.
Young 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, OKDinner & Reflections from the Front Line with Lincoln Davis Wilson
New Jersey Lawyer Chapter
Newark, NJApril Luncheon with Douglas Carswell
Montgomery Lawyer Chapter
Montgomery, ALAffirmative Action and its Effect on the Legal Field
Missouri-Columbia Student Chapter
Columbia, MO