Judge, Ohio Twelfth District Court of Appeals
Judge Matthew R. Byrne was elected to the Ohio Court of Appeals for the Twelfth District in 2020, and his first term began on January 1, 2021. He is currently serving as the court's elected Administrative Judge. The Twelfth District Court of Appeals hears civil and criminal appeals from the trial courts in eight counties in southwest Ohio. Judge Byrne is active in the Ohio Judicial Conference and the Ohio Court of Appeals Judges Association. He also currently serves as a member and vice chair of the Ohio Supreme Court's Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure (where he previously chaired the Appellate Rules Committee). He previously served as a member of the Ohio Supreme Court's Commission on Character and Fitness.
From January 2010 to December 2020, Judge Byrne practiced law at the national law firm of Jackson Lewis P.C. He was a member of the firm's General Employment Litigation Practice Group and the Wage and Hour Practice Group. From 2007 to 2010 he practiced at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. At both firms, Judge Byrne represented clients ranging from small businesses to international corporations in state and federal trial and appellate litigation, including multiple class and collective actions. He also represented clients in arbitration and before numerous administrative agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.
Judge Byrne earned his law degree, cum laude, from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. During law school he was symposium editor of the Ohio State Law Journal and the winner of the Donald S. Teller Memorial Award for student writing contributing most significantly to the Ohio State Law Journal. During law school he clerked for the Acting General Counsel of the United States Department of the Treasury. Judge Byrne earned his bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Xavier University, where he majored in International Affairs (Business) and Political Science.
Prior to entering law school Judge Byrne served in President George W. Bush's Administration as a member of the White House staff in the Office of Presidential Personnel, the office responsible for selecting candidates to recommend to the President for appointment or nomination to high-level government positions, and for coordinating with the Offices of White House Counsel, Press Secretary, and Executive Clerk regarding candidate background clearances, press announcements, and the status of appointments/nominations.
Judge Byrne has been a member of the Federalist Society since law school and he served for five years as president of the Federalist Society's Cincinnati Lawyers Chapter. He is a member of a number of other community and civic organizations, including the Ohio State Bar Association and the bar associations of Butler, Clermont, and Warren Counties. Judge Byrne previously was a member of the Advisory Board of Pregnancy Center East and a board member and president of the St. Thomas More Lawyers Guild of Greater Cincinnati.
Judge Byrne is an active parishioner at his church, where he is a lector, a former member and president of the Education Commission, and a former member of the Finance and Administration Commission.
Judge Byrne resides in Deerfield Township, Warren County, Ohio with his wife Julie and their three children.
General Counsel, House Republican Caucus , Michigan House of Representatives
State Rep. Andrew Fink was first elected to serve the 35th District in the Michigan House of Representatives in November 2020. The district encompasses all of Branch and Hillsdale counties, and the city of Hudson in Lenawee County. Rep. Fink serves as Republican vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Last term, he served as vice chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military and Veterans Affairs and State Police, and also as a member of the House Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Insurance and Financial Services, and General Government Appropriations subcommittees, as well as the Health Policy Committee.
Before taking office, Rep. Fink went into active duty and worked as a judge advocate for Marines and their families. He left the military as a captain in 2014. In 2017, he moved to Hillsdale from Ypsilanti to open a local office of his family’s law firm, Fink and Fink.
Rep. Fink graduated from Hillsdale College in 2006 with a B.A. in Politics. He then earned his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law school in 2010.
Judge, Wisconsin Second District Court of Appeals
HON. MARIA S. LAZAR, Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District II, August, 2022—present. Waukesha
County Circuit Court Judge, August, 2015-July, 2022, rotations included Presiding Judge Juvenile
Division; Criminal Division, Presiding Judge; Drug Treatment Court Judge; and Civil Division. Formerly
a Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General, in the Special Litigation and Appeals unit and was in private
practice for 20 years. She was President of the Milwaukee Bar Association, was on its Board of Directors
and served two terms on the State of Wisconsin’s Board of Governors. Judge Lazar earned her B.A.
degree, magna cum laude, from Mount Mary College and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law
Center.
Judge, Michigan First District Court of Appeals
Hon. Michael J. Riordan was appointed to the Michigan Court of Appeals by Governor Rick Snyder on March 16, 2012. In November 2012, he was elected to a full six-year term, and he was reelected in 2018 and 2024. Previously, Judge Riordan served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, as assistant general counsel for the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network in Milwaukee, and as a senior attorney in the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He also was an inspector with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (now known as Customs and Border Protection). On graduation from law school, he served as a federal judicial law clerk for the Honorable Robert E. DeMascio of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Judge Riordan has also been an adjunct professor of securities regulation, business organizations, and administrative law at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law for 25 years. He is a past president of the Federal Bar Association of the Eastern District of Michigan and of the Incorporated Society of Irish American Lawyers, the Michigan Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society, and the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law Alumni Association. Judge Riordan is also on the board of directors of the Catholic Lawyers Society and the Marywood Nursing Care Center, and is a past member of the board of directors for Detroit’s Loyola High School and PBJ Outreach. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, having served on its Board of Commissioners and in its Representative Assembly, and has represented the state bar on ICLE's Executive Committee since 2017.
Judge, Illinois 18th Judicial Circuit
Judge Kenton Skarin serves on the Illinois 18th Judicial Circuit, a trial court of general jurisdiction that serves almost one million people in the western suburbs of Chicago.
Judge Skarin graduated first in his class from Northwestern University School of Law and summa cum laude from North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.
Earlier in his career, Judge Skarin clerked for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas at the United States Supreme Court and for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Judge Skarin also practiced appellate law in the Chicago office of Jones Day and served as Deputy General Counsel to the Governor of Illinois.
Judge Skarin is a lifelong native of Wheaton, Illinois, where he lives with his wife and children.
Justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
Justice Rebecca Grassl Bradley, a Milwaukee native, was elected to the Supreme Court in 2016 after being appointed by Gov. Scott Walker in 2015. She is the first Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice to have served as an intermediate appellate court judge as well as a circuit court judge. Before joining the Supreme Court, Justice Bradley served as a District I Court of Appeals judge (appointed 2015), a Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge (appointed 2012, elected 2013) and worked as an attorney in private practice (1996-2012), including serving as vice president of legal operations for a global software company.
Justice Bradley graduated from Marquette University in 1993 with an honors B.S. in Business Administration and Business Economics and received her juris doctor from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1996.
Justice Bradley is a member of the Supreme Court Finance Committee and chairs the Supreme Court Legislative Committee as the Chief Justice's designee. She is a member of the Board of Advisors and past president of the Milwaukee Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society; serves on the Wisconsin State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; and is a member of the Bench and Bar Committee of the Wisconsin State Bar. She previously served on the Board of Governors of the St. Thomas More Lawyers Society; the Wisconsin Juvenile Jury Instructions Committee; the Wisconsin Juvenile Benchbook Committee; and as a member of the Milwaukee Trial Judges Association and the Wisconsin Trial Judges Association. While in private practice, Justice Bradley served as an American Arbitration Association Arbitrator and Chairman of the State Bar Business Law Section.
Justice Bradley's current term expires July 31, 2026.
Judge, Wisconsin Second District Court of Appeals
HON. MARIA S. LAZAR, Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District II, August, 2022—present. Waukesha
County Circuit Court Judge, August, 2015-July, 2022, rotations included Presiding Judge Juvenile
Division; Criminal Division, Presiding Judge; Drug Treatment Court Judge; and Civil Division. Formerly
a Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General, in the Special Litigation and Appeals unit and was in private
practice for 20 years. She was President of the Milwaukee Bar Association, was on its Board of Directors
and served two terms on the State of Wisconsin’s Board of Governors. Judge Lazar earned her B.A.
degree, magna cum laude, from Mount Mary College and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law
Center.
Justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
Justice Rebecca Grassl Bradley, a Milwaukee native, was elected to the Supreme Court in 2016 after being appointed by Gov. Scott Walker in 2015. She is the first Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice to have served as an intermediate appellate court judge as well as a circuit court judge. Before joining the Supreme Court, Justice Bradley served as a District I Court of Appeals judge (appointed 2015), a Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge (appointed 2012, elected 2013) and worked as an attorney in private practice (1996-2012), including serving as vice president of legal operations for a global software company.
Justice Bradley graduated from Marquette University in 1993 with an honors B.S. in Business Administration and Business Economics and received her juris doctor from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1996.
Justice Bradley is a member of the Supreme Court Finance Committee and chairs the Supreme Court Legislative Committee as the Chief Justice's designee. She is a member of the Board of Advisors and past president of the Milwaukee Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society; serves on the Wisconsin State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; and is a member of the Bench and Bar Committee of the Wisconsin State Bar. She previously served on the Board of Governors of the St. Thomas More Lawyers Society; the Wisconsin Juvenile Jury Instructions Committee; the Wisconsin Juvenile Benchbook Committee; and as a member of the Milwaukee Trial Judges Association and the Wisconsin Trial Judges Association. While in private practice, Justice Bradley served as an American Arbitration Association Arbitrator and Chairman of the State Bar Business Law Section.
Justice Bradley's current term expires July 31, 2026.
Judge, District II, Wisconsin Court of Appeals
Judge, Wisconsin Second District Court of Appeals
HON. MARIA S. LAZAR, Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District II, August, 2022—present. Waukesha
County Circuit Court Judge, August, 2015-July, 2022, rotations included Presiding Judge Juvenile
Division; Criminal Division, Presiding Judge; Drug Treatment Court Judge; and Civil Division. Formerly
a Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General, in the Special Litigation and Appeals unit and was in private
practice for 20 years. She was President of the Milwaukee Bar Association, was on its Board of Directors
and served two terms on the State of Wisconsin’s Board of Governors. Judge Lazar earned her B.A.
degree, magna cum laude, from Mount Mary College and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law
Center.
Judge, Wisconsin Second District Court of Appeals
HON. MARIA S. LAZAR, Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District II, August, 2022—present. Waukesha
County Circuit Court Judge, August, 2015-July, 2022, rotations included Presiding Judge Juvenile
Division; Criminal Division, Presiding Judge; Drug Treatment Court Judge; and Civil Division. Formerly
a Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General, in the Special Litigation and Appeals unit and was in private
practice for 20 years. She was President of the Milwaukee Bar Association, was on its Board of Directors
and served two terms on the State of Wisconsin’s Board of Governors. Judge Lazar earned her B.A.
degree, magna cum laude, from Mount Mary College and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law
Center.
Professor of Law & Co-Director of the Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States, Chicago-Kent College of Law
A member of the Chicago-Kent faculty since 2008, Professor Schmidt teaches in the areas of constitutional law, legal history, comparative constitutional law, and sports law. He has written on a variety of topics, including the historical development of the Fourteenth Amendment, the history of Brown v. Board of Education, the Tea Party as a constitutional movement, how Supreme Court Justices communicate with the American people, and the rise of free agency in Major League Baseball. He has published in leading law reviews and peer-review journals, among them Constitutional Commentary, Cornell Law Review, Law and History Review, Northwestern University Law Review, and UCLA Law Review. His article Divided by Law: The Sit-Ins and the Role of the Courts in the Civil Rights Movement won the 2014 Association of American Law Schools' Scholarly Papers Competition and the 2016 American Society for Legal History Surrency Prize.
Professor Schmidt is the author of two books: The Sit-Ins: Protest and Legal Change in the Civil Rights Era (University of Chicago Press, 2018); and Civil Rights in America: A History (Cambridge University Press, 2021). He is currently working on a new book project, a history of the U.S. Supreme Court and its relationship with the American people over the last century.
Professor Schmidt earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School, a Ph.D. in American studies and an M.A. in history from Harvard University, and a B.A. from Dartmouth College. Professor Schmidt is also a research professor at the American Bar Foundation, where he serves as the editor of Law & Social Inquiry, one of the leading peer-reviewed journals in sociolegal studies.
President, Center for American Rights
Daniel Suhr serves as president of the Center for American Rights, where he spends every day on the front lines of the fight to preserve our rights and liberties. The Center's mission is to advance free speech, free enterprise, and parental freedom in education through strategic, precedent-setting litigation.
Daniel formerly worked as policy director for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, as chief of staff for Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, and as a law clerk for Judge Diane Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He holds a B.A. and J.D. from Marquette University, and master’s degrees from Georgetown and the University of Missouri.
Partner, Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP
Misha leads Troutman Peppers' national appellate and Supreme Court practice. Most recently, he successfully obtained orders from the Supreme Court blocking an unconstitutional restriction on places of worship, as well as overturning a lower court order that had blocked several state election laws. He has also argued and prevailed before the Supreme Court in Gill v. Whitford, one of the most significant redistricting cases in decades, as well as Murr v. Wisconsin, a high-stakes regulatory taking case.
Before joining Troutman, Misha served as Solicitor General of the State of Wisconsin. Misha previously served as a law clerk for the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court, Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit, and Alex Kozinski of the 9th Circuit. He graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was President of the Federalist Society Chapter.
Judge, Wisconsin Second District Court of Appeals
HON. MARIA S. LAZAR, Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District II, August, 2022—present. Waukesha
County Circuit Court Judge, August, 2015-July, 2022, rotations included Presiding Judge Juvenile
Division; Criminal Division, Presiding Judge; Drug Treatment Court Judge; and Civil Division. Formerly
a Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General, in the Special Litigation and Appeals unit and was in private
practice for 20 years. She was President of the Milwaukee Bar Association, was on its Board of Directors
and served two terms on the State of Wisconsin’s Board of Governors. Judge Lazar earned her B.A.
degree, magna cum laude, from Mount Mary College and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law
Center.
Professor of Law & Co-Director of the Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States, Chicago-Kent College of Law
A member of the Chicago-Kent faculty since 2008, Professor Schmidt teaches in the areas of constitutional law, legal history, comparative constitutional law, and sports law. He has written on a variety of topics, including the historical development of the Fourteenth Amendment, the history of Brown v. Board of Education, the Tea Party as a constitutional movement, how Supreme Court Justices communicate with the American people, and the rise of free agency in Major League Baseball. He has published in leading law reviews and peer-review journals, among them Constitutional Commentary, Cornell Law Review, Law and History Review, Northwestern University Law Review, and UCLA Law Review. His article Divided by Law: The Sit-Ins and the Role of the Courts in the Civil Rights Movement won the 2014 Association of American Law Schools' Scholarly Papers Competition and the 2016 American Society for Legal History Surrency Prize.
Professor Schmidt is the author of two books: The Sit-Ins: Protest and Legal Change in the Civil Rights Era (University of Chicago Press, 2018); and Civil Rights in America: A History (Cambridge University Press, 2021). He is currently working on a new book project, a history of the U.S. Supreme Court and its relationship with the American people over the last century.
Professor Schmidt earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School, a Ph.D. in American studies and an M.A. in history from Harvard University, and a B.A. from Dartmouth College. Professor Schmidt is also a research professor at the American Bar Foundation, where he serves as the editor of Law & Social Inquiry, one of the leading peer-reviewed journals in sociolegal studies.
President, Center for American Rights
Daniel Suhr serves as president of the Center for American Rights, where he spends every day on the front lines of the fight to preserve our rights and liberties. The Center's mission is to advance free speech, free enterprise, and parental freedom in education through strategic, precedent-setting litigation.
Daniel formerly worked as policy director for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, as chief of staff for Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, and as a law clerk for Judge Diane Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He holds a B.A. and J.D. from Marquette University, and master’s degrees from Georgetown and the University of Missouri.
Partner, Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP
Misha leads Troutman Peppers' national appellate and Supreme Court practice. Most recently, he successfully obtained orders from the Supreme Court blocking an unconstitutional restriction on places of worship, as well as overturning a lower court order that had blocked several state election laws. He has also argued and prevailed before the Supreme Court in Gill v. Whitford, one of the most significant redistricting cases in decades, as well as Murr v. Wisconsin, a high-stakes regulatory taking case.
Before joining Troutman, Misha served as Solicitor General of the State of Wisconsin. Misha previously served as a law clerk for the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court, Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit, and Alex Kozinski of the 9th Circuit. He graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was President of the Federalist Society Chapter.
Judge, Wisconsin Second District Court of Appeals
HON. MARIA S. LAZAR, Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District II, August, 2022—present. Waukesha
County Circuit Court Judge, August, 2015-July, 2022, rotations included Presiding Judge Juvenile
Division; Criminal Division, Presiding Judge; Drug Treatment Court Judge; and Civil Division. Formerly
a Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General, in the Special Litigation and Appeals unit and was in private
practice for 20 years. She was President of the Milwaukee Bar Association, was on its Board of Directors
and served two terms on the State of Wisconsin’s Board of Governors. Judge Lazar earned her B.A.
degree, magna cum laude, from Mount Mary College and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law
Center.
Professor of Law & Co-Director of the Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States, Chicago-Kent College of Law
A member of the Chicago-Kent faculty since 2008, Professor Schmidt teaches in the areas of constitutional law, legal history, comparative constitutional law, and sports law. He has written on a variety of topics, including the historical development of the Fourteenth Amendment, the history of Brown v. Board of Education, the Tea Party as a constitutional movement, how Supreme Court Justices communicate with the American people, and the rise of free agency in Major League Baseball. He has published in leading law reviews and peer-review journals, among them Constitutional Commentary, Cornell Law Review, Law and History Review, Northwestern University Law Review, and UCLA Law Review. His article Divided by Law: The Sit-Ins and the Role of the Courts in the Civil Rights Movement won the 2014 Association of American Law Schools' Scholarly Papers Competition and the 2016 American Society for Legal History Surrency Prize.
Professor Schmidt is the author of two books: The Sit-Ins: Protest and Legal Change in the Civil Rights Era (University of Chicago Press, 2018); and Civil Rights in America: A History (Cambridge University Press, 2021). He is currently working on a new book project, a history of the U.S. Supreme Court and its relationship with the American people over the last century.
Professor Schmidt earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School, a Ph.D. in American studies and an M.A. in history from Harvard University, and a B.A. from Dartmouth College. Professor Schmidt is also a research professor at the American Bar Foundation, where he serves as the editor of Law & Social Inquiry, one of the leading peer-reviewed journals in sociolegal studies.
President, Center for American Rights
Daniel Suhr serves as president of the Center for American Rights, where he spends every day on the front lines of the fight to preserve our rights and liberties. The Center's mission is to advance free speech, free enterprise, and parental freedom in education through strategic, precedent-setting litigation.
Daniel formerly worked as policy director for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, as chief of staff for Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, and as a law clerk for Judge Diane Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He holds a B.A. and J.D. from Marquette University, and master’s degrees from Georgetown and the University of Missouri.
Partner, Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP
Misha leads Troutman Peppers' national appellate and Supreme Court practice. Most recently, he successfully obtained orders from the Supreme Court blocking an unconstitutional restriction on places of worship, as well as overturning a lower court order that had blocked several state election laws. He has also argued and prevailed before the Supreme Court in Gill v. Whitford, one of the most significant redistricting cases in decades, as well as Murr v. Wisconsin, a high-stakes regulatory taking case.
Before joining Troutman, Misha served as Solicitor General of the State of Wisconsin. Misha previously served as a law clerk for the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court, Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit, and Alex Kozinski of the 9th Circuit. He graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was President of the Federalist Society Chapter.
Panel 2: Midwestern State Court Round Up
2025 Midwestern Chapters Conference
Detroit, MI2024 Judge Rudolph T. Randa Lecture and Award
Milwaukee Lawyers Chapter
Milwaukee, WIMadison Happy Hour Mixer
Madison Lawyers Chapter
Madison, WIPanel Two: U.S. Supreme Court Review
Maria S. Lazar, Christopher Schmidt, Daniel Suhr, Misha Tseytlin
Featuring: Prof. Christopher W. Schmidt, Professor of Law & Co-Director of ISCOTUS, Chicago-Kent College of Law Daniel...
Panel Two: U.S. Supreme Court Review
Maria S. Lazar, Christopher Schmidt, Daniel Suhr, Misha Tseytlin
Featuring: Prof. Christopher W. Schmidt, Professor of Law & Co-Director of ISCOTUS, Chicago-Kent College of Law Daniel...
Panel Two: U.S. Supreme Court Review
Pewaukee, WI