Justice, Michigan Supreme Court
Stephen Markman was appointed Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court on October 1, 1999. He served as the Chief Justice from 2017-2019. Before his appointment, he served as Judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals from 1995-1999. Prior to this, he practiced law with the firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock & Stone in Detroit.
From 1989-1993, Justice Markman served as United States Attorney, or federal prosecutor, in Michigan, after having been nominated by President George H. W. Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate. From 1985-1989, he served as Assistant Attorney General of the United States, after having been nominated by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the United States Senate. In that position, he headed the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy, which served as the principal policy development office within the Department, and which coordinated the federal judicial selection process. Prior to this, he served for seven years as Chief Counsel of the United States Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, and as Deputy Chief Counsel of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.
Justice Markman has authored articles for such publications as the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, the Detroit College of Law Review, the Stanford Law Review, the University of Chicago Law Review, the American Criminal Justice Law Review, the Barrister’s Law Journal, the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and the American University Law Review. He has also served as a contributing editor of National Review magazine, and has authored chapters in such books as “In the Name of Justice: The Aims of the Criminal Law,” “Still the Law of the Land,” and “Originalism: A Quarter Century of Debate.”
Justice Markman has taught constitutional law at Hillsdale College since 1993. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School. He traveled to Ukraine on two occasions on behalf of the State Department, to provide assistance in the development of that nation’s post-Soviet constitution. He is a Fellow of the Michigan Bar Foundation, a Master of the Bench of the Inns of Court, and a member of the One Hundred Club. He has spoken before hundreds of youth, civic, charitable, and legal groups throughout Michigan and nationally, and has coached Little League baseball and basketball. He lives with his wife Mary Kathleen in Mason, and has two sons, James and Charles.
Justice Markman was re-elected to the Supreme Court in 2000, 2004, and 2012. His present term expires January 1, 2021.
Chief Justice, North Carolina Supreme Court
Chief Justice Paul Newby was born in Asheboro and grew up in Jamestown, N.C. He received his B.A. degree in Public Policy Studies from Duke University and law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law.
Chief Justice Newby was first elected to the Supreme Court as an Associate Justice in 2004. He was elevated to the highest judicial office in North Carolina in the 2020 election. As Chief Justice, he is head of the Judicial Branch, a co-equal branch of state government with the Legislative and Executive branches. He is entrusted with leading the Judicial Branch and its 7,600 elected officials and employees.
He is an adjunct professor of law at Campbell University and has published a book on the North Carolina Constitution.
Chief Justice Newby’s legal experience includes private practice and corporate inhouse legal counsel. He also served almost 20 years as an Assistant United States Attorney, during which he played an integral role in conducting the undercover sting operation that recovered North Carolina’s original copy of the Bill of Rights, stolen in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Chief Justice Newby is an Eagle Scout and is the recipient of the Heroism Award (for rescuing nine people from a riptide), the God and Service Award, the Silver Beaver Award, and the Scouter of the Year Award. In 2012, he was designated a Distinguished Eagle Scout, a national honor that recognizes both his service to the Boy Scouts and his dedication to public service.
Chief Justice Newby has been married to Macon Tucker Newby since 1983, and they have four children. He is active in his local church, where he serves as a teacher and mentor to young professionals.
William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of Law Emeritus, UNC School of Law
John V. Orth joined the Carolina Law faculty in 1978 and serves as the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor of Law. He teaches first-year Property, Trusts & Estates, and Legal History. Orth is the author of six books, three of them published by Oxford University Press, and ninety articles and book chapters. His writings cover a wide array of topics including labor law, constitutional law (both federal and state), legal history, wills and trusts, and basic property law. His works have been cited by federal and state courts, including the United States Supreme Court and the North Carolina Supreme Court. He has extensive contacts with Australian law professors and has published several articles comparing American and Australian law.
Orth has a law degree from the Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University. After completing his studies, he clerked for Judge John Gibbons of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3d Circuit. While teaching, he has maintained contact with the practice of law by consulting on questions concerning property, constitutional law, and wills and trusts.
Senior Vice President for Legal Affairs & General Counsel, UNC System Office
As the Senior Vice President and General Counsel in the Office of Legal Affairs, Mr. Tripp provides strategic counsel to the University of North Carolina, the Board of Governors, and President Peter Hans. He leads a team of talented professionals serving the diverse legal needs of a nationally acclaimed university system. In addition, he directly supports the operations of the Board of Governors and staffs the Committee on University Governance.
Mr. Tripp brings to the University a decade of experience in public service from his tenure at the North Carolina Senate, where he served as counsel to the Senate Rules Chairman and later as general counsel and then Chief of Staff to the President Pro Tempore. His practice areas include public law, litigation, administrative procedure, and regulatory compliance. Before entering the public sphere, Mr. Tripp worked in private practice in both Raleigh and Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Tripp began his legal career serving under and learning from the Honorable United States District Judge Terrence W. Boyle as his law clerk at Elizabeth City.
Mr. Tripp graduated with honors from the Duke University School of Law and obtained his B.A. in history and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He and his wife are raising their two boys and a girl in Raleigh.
Justice, Michigan Supreme Court
Stephen Markman was appointed Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court on October 1, 1999. He served as the Chief Justice from 2017-2019. Before his appointment, he served as Judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals from 1995-1999. Prior to this, he practiced law with the firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock & Stone in Detroit.
From 1989-1993, Justice Markman served as United States Attorney, or federal prosecutor, in Michigan, after having been nominated by President George H. W. Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate. From 1985-1989, he served as Assistant Attorney General of the United States, after having been nominated by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the United States Senate. In that position, he headed the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy, which served as the principal policy development office within the Department, and which coordinated the federal judicial selection process. Prior to this, he served for seven years as Chief Counsel of the United States Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, and as Deputy Chief Counsel of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.
Justice Markman has authored articles for such publications as the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, the Detroit College of Law Review, the Stanford Law Review, the University of Chicago Law Review, the American Criminal Justice Law Review, the Barrister’s Law Journal, the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and the American University Law Review. He has also served as a contributing editor of National Review magazine, and has authored chapters in such books as “In the Name of Justice: The Aims of the Criminal Law,” “Still the Law of the Land,” and “Originalism: A Quarter Century of Debate.”
Justice Markman has taught constitutional law at Hillsdale College since 1993. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School. He traveled to Ukraine on two occasions on behalf of the State Department, to provide assistance in the development of that nation’s post-Soviet constitution. He is a Fellow of the Michigan Bar Foundation, a Master of the Bench of the Inns of Court, and a member of the One Hundred Club. He has spoken before hundreds of youth, civic, charitable, and legal groups throughout Michigan and nationally, and has coached Little League baseball and basketball. He lives with his wife Mary Kathleen in Mason, and has two sons, James and Charles.
Justice Markman was re-elected to the Supreme Court in 2000, 2004, and 2012. His present term expires January 1, 2021.
Chief Justice, North Carolina Supreme Court
Chief Justice Paul Newby was born in Asheboro and grew up in Jamestown, N.C. He received his B.A. degree in Public Policy Studies from Duke University and law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law.
Chief Justice Newby was first elected to the Supreme Court as an Associate Justice in 2004. He was elevated to the highest judicial office in North Carolina in the 2020 election. As Chief Justice, he is head of the Judicial Branch, a co-equal branch of state government with the Legislative and Executive branches. He is entrusted with leading the Judicial Branch and its 7,600 elected officials and employees.
He is an adjunct professor of law at Campbell University and has published a book on the North Carolina Constitution.
Chief Justice Newby’s legal experience includes private practice and corporate inhouse legal counsel. He also served almost 20 years as an Assistant United States Attorney, during which he played an integral role in conducting the undercover sting operation that recovered North Carolina’s original copy of the Bill of Rights, stolen in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Chief Justice Newby is an Eagle Scout and is the recipient of the Heroism Award (for rescuing nine people from a riptide), the God and Service Award, the Silver Beaver Award, and the Scouter of the Year Award. In 2012, he was designated a Distinguished Eagle Scout, a national honor that recognizes both his service to the Boy Scouts and his dedication to public service.
Chief Justice Newby has been married to Macon Tucker Newby since 1983, and they have four children. He is active in his local church, where he serves as a teacher and mentor to young professionals.
William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of Law Emeritus, UNC School of Law
John V. Orth joined the Carolina Law faculty in 1978 and serves as the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor of Law. He teaches first-year Property, Trusts & Estates, and Legal History. Orth is the author of six books, three of them published by Oxford University Press, and ninety articles and book chapters. His writings cover a wide array of topics including labor law, constitutional law (both federal and state), legal history, wills and trusts, and basic property law. His works have been cited by federal and state courts, including the United States Supreme Court and the North Carolina Supreme Court. He has extensive contacts with Australian law professors and has published several articles comparing American and Australian law.
Orth has a law degree from the Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University. After completing his studies, he clerked for Judge John Gibbons of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3d Circuit. While teaching, he has maintained contact with the practice of law by consulting on questions concerning property, constitutional law, and wills and trusts.
Senior Vice President for Legal Affairs & General Counsel, UNC System Office
As the Senior Vice President and General Counsel in the Office of Legal Affairs, Mr. Tripp provides strategic counsel to the University of North Carolina, the Board of Governors, and President Peter Hans. He leads a team of talented professionals serving the diverse legal needs of a nationally acclaimed university system. In addition, he directly supports the operations of the Board of Governors and staffs the Committee on University Governance.
Mr. Tripp brings to the University a decade of experience in public service from his tenure at the North Carolina Senate, where he served as counsel to the Senate Rules Chairman and later as general counsel and then Chief of Staff to the President Pro Tempore. His practice areas include public law, litigation, administrative procedure, and regulatory compliance. Before entering the public sphere, Mr. Tripp worked in private practice in both Raleigh and Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Tripp began his legal career serving under and learning from the Honorable United States District Judge Terrence W. Boyle as his law clerk at Elizabeth City.
Mr. Tripp graduated with honors from the Duke University School of Law and obtained his B.A. in history and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He and his wife are raising their two boys and a girl in Raleigh.
United States Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of North Carolina
Robert T. Numbers, II serves as a United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Judge Numbers received degrees in Political Science and Economics, with honors, from Wake Forest University. After completing his undergraduate work, Judge Numbers obtained his law degree from the University of Notre Dame where he served on the Notre Dame Law Review.
Upon his graduation from law school, Judge Numbers joined the Winston-Salem office of a large, regional law firm. From 2005 until 2010, Judge Numbers’ practice focused on civil rights claims against local municipalities and government contractors. In 2010, Judge Numbers joined the firm’s Raleigh office and concentrated his practice on complex business litigation in state and federal courts.
U.S. Senator, United States Senate
Thom was born into a working-class family with his father and mother and five siblings. During his childhood, his family was frequently forced to relocate depending on where his parents could find work. After graduating from high school, Thom was unable to afford college, so he took a job as a warehouse records clerk earning minimum wage. He knows firsthand how difficult it is to raise a family while attending school at night, struggling to make ends meet.
Through hard work and dedication, Thom quickly moved up the corporate ladder, earning his degree at 36 and becoming a top-level executive at PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM. Thom’s 29-year private sector career in technology and management consulting provided him with a deep understanding of policy-making and the management of complex organizations.
Fueled by a desire to make a difference in his local community, Thom’s involvement in public service began by serving as the PTA president of his daughter’s high school and as a member of the Town of Cornelius Board of Commissioners. In 2006, he was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives and was selected by his peers to serve as Speaker of the House from 2011 to 2014. As Speaker, Thom played an instrumental role in enacting job-creating policies and reforming North Carolina’s tax and regulatory codes. Thom was elected as U.S. Senator in 2014 and he has focused on pragmatic solutions and delivering results for North Carolina.
Thom lives with his wife Susan in Huntersville, North Carolina, and they are the proud parents of two grown children and two granddaughters.
United States Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of North Carolina
Robert T. Numbers, II serves as a United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Judge Numbers received degrees in Political Science and Economics, with honors, from Wake Forest University. After completing his undergraduate work, Judge Numbers obtained his law degree from the University of Notre Dame where he served on the Notre Dame Law Review.
Upon his graduation from law school, Judge Numbers joined the Winston-Salem office of a large, regional law firm. From 2005 until 2010, Judge Numbers’ practice focused on civil rights claims against local municipalities and government contractors. In 2010, Judge Numbers joined the firm’s Raleigh office and concentrated his practice on complex business litigation in state and federal courts.
U.S. Senator, United States Senate
Thom was born into a working-class family with his father and mother and five siblings. During his childhood, his family was frequently forced to relocate depending on where his parents could find work. After graduating from high school, Thom was unable to afford college, so he took a job as a warehouse records clerk earning minimum wage. He knows firsthand how difficult it is to raise a family while attending school at night, struggling to make ends meet.
Through hard work and dedication, Thom quickly moved up the corporate ladder, earning his degree at 36 and becoming a top-level executive at PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM. Thom’s 29-year private sector career in technology and management consulting provided him with a deep understanding of policy-making and the management of complex organizations.
Fueled by a desire to make a difference in his local community, Thom’s involvement in public service began by serving as the PTA president of his daughter’s high school and as a member of the Town of Cornelius Board of Commissioners. In 2006, he was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives and was selected by his peers to serve as Speaker of the House from 2011 to 2014. As Speaker, Thom played an instrumental role in enacting job-creating policies and reforming North Carolina’s tax and regulatory codes. Thom was elected as U.S. Senator in 2014 and he has focused on pragmatic solutions and delivering results for North Carolina.
Thom lives with his wife Susan in Huntersville, North Carolina, and they are the proud parents of two grown children and two granddaughters.
Partner, Jackson Walker
A former federal prosecutor, Jennifer Freel advises businesses and individuals under investigation by the government and conducts internal investigations for companies. Drawing on her extensive courtroom experience, Jennifer also represents clients in civil disputes at the pre-trial, trial, and appellate levels in state and federal court.
In her previous role as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Texas, Jennifer prosecuted cases involving child exploitation, narcotics conspiracies, gun smuggling, and white collar crimes. Her practice focused on appellate matters, defending convictions from across the district. She has argued more than 20 times before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Before becoming a prosecutor, Jennifer clerked for Judge Fortunato Benavides, who served on the Fifth Circuit. She has been appointed to the Western District of Texas Attorney Discipline Committee and the Criminal Justice Act appellate panel for the Austin Division of the Western District of Texas. Jennifer is an elected Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, the Mentorship Chair of the Robert W. Calvert American Inn of Court, a past chair of the Criminal Law Section of the Federal Bar Association, and a past president of the Austin Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.
Prior to attending law school, Jennifer worked as a broadcast news reporter at the NBC affiliate in Columbia, Missouri and the ABC affiliate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Executive Director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution
Alexa Gervasi is Executive Director at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. Alexa is a graduate of Texas A&M University and Georgetown University Law Center. She completed law school through Georgetown Law’s evening program, spending her days working as the Program Manager for the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, directed by Professor Randy E. Barnett. After law school, Alexa spent some time in private practice before jumping ship to clerk for the Honorable D. Michael Fisher of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She then had the distinct privilege of clerking on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for the liberty-loving Honorable Don R. Willett before joining the Institute for Justice.
Alexa is licensed to practice law in New York and the District of Columbia. She is also admitted to practice before the Third Circuit.
Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Wes Hendrix is a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He was nominated by President Donald Trump in January 2019 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July 2019. He presides over federal civil and criminal cases in the Northern District’s Lubbock, Abilene, and San Angelo Divisions. He is a member of the Fifth Circuit’s Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee and the Northern District of Texas’s Local Rules Committee. He is an adjunct professor at Texas Tech University School of Law.
Prior to his confirmation, Judge Hendrix served as the Appellate Chief for the Northern District of Texas’s United States Attorney’s Office. He served as Chair of the Department of Justice’s Appellate Chiefs Working Group and as an ex officio member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee. He regularly coordinated with the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division Appellate Section and the Office of the Solicitor General regarding cases appealed to and argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he represented the United States at trial and on appeal. He helped prosecute Hosam Smadi, who was convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in a downtown Dallas skyscraper. He also argued over 25 appeals at the Fifth and Seventh Circuits—including two en banc arguments—and served as sole counsel in over 350 appeals. He regularly taught courses at the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center.
Prior to his work as a prosecutor, Judge Hendrix was an associate at the Dallas office of Baker Botts L.L.P., where he focused on complex commercial, oil-and-gas, and intellectual-property litigation. He began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Judge Hendrix received his law degree from the University of Texas, where he served on the Texas Law Review and graduated with high honors and as a Chancellor-at-Large. He received his undergraduate degree with honors from the University of Chicago.
Of Counsel, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Prerak Shah is Of Counsel at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He was most recently the Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, leading a team of approximately 120 Assistant U.S. Attorneys handling a wide range of cases, including securities fraud, health care fraud, the False Claims Act, computer crime, national security, tax fraud, money laundering, public corruption, and terrorism. Mr. Shah previously held several leadership positions at the Department of Justice, including Deputy Associate Attorney General in the office overseeing the work of the Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment & Natural Resources, and Tax Divisions. Before joining the Justice Department, Mr. Shah served as Chief of Staff to Senator Ted Cruz and as a Chief Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and clerked for the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Partner, Ashcroft Law Firm
With more than 20 years government experience, Johnny Sutton has acquired expertise as a front-line trial prosecutor and a top policy advisor to a Governor and a President. Mr. Sutton runs the Austin office of the Ashcroft Law Firm which specializes in internal investigations, white-collar criminal defense and helping companies comply with federal law.
From November 2001 to April 2009, Sutton led one of the largest and busiest United States Attorney’s Offices in the nation. The Western District of Texas covers 93,000 square miles, 68 counties and 660 miles of U.S.-Mexico border. As U.S. Attorney, Mr. Sutton managed more than 300 employees, a $28 million annual budget and directed 43,000 federal prosecutions and thousands of civil cases. Under Mr. Sutton’s leadership, the office led the nation in drug convictions, was second in illegal alien prosecutions, won more than 105 public corruption convictions and sent nearly 400 violent criminal gang members to prison.
In 2003, then-United States Attorney General John Ashcroft appointed Mr. Sutton to the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee—a panel of 17 U.S. Attorneys that advise the General and help carry out the President’s national goals. Sutton served from 2003 until 2009 and was chairman for nearly two years.
After leading the Bush-Cheney Department of Justice Transition Team in 2000, Mr. Sutton was named Associate Deputy Attorney General. He held the position until becoming U.S. Attorney.
From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Sutton served as the Criminal Justice Policy Director for then-Governor George W. Bush. Mr. Sutton was the chief policy advisor to the Governor on all criminal justice issues.
From 1988 to 1995, Mr. Sutton was a prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office (Houston, TX) where he tried more than 60 first chair felony jury trials and had only three acquittals. He also successfully tried 17 murder jury trials, including seven for capital murder.
Mr. Sutton attended the University of Texas at Austin on a baseball scholarship where he was a two year lettermen and the starting left fielder for the 1983 University of Texas National Championship baseball team. Mr. Sutton was voted the Most Valuable Player of the NCAA Central Regional Baseball Tournament in 1983. Mr. Sutton is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Portuguese.
Mr. Sutton has dedicated his career to defending the innocent and standing up for the rule of law.
Partner, Jackson Walker
A former federal prosecutor, Jennifer Freel advises businesses and individuals under investigation by the government and conducts internal investigations for companies. Drawing on her extensive courtroom experience, Jennifer also represents clients in civil disputes at the pre-trial, trial, and appellate levels in state and federal court.
In her previous role as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Texas, Jennifer prosecuted cases involving child exploitation, narcotics conspiracies, gun smuggling, and white collar crimes. Her practice focused on appellate matters, defending convictions from across the district. She has argued more than 20 times before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Before becoming a prosecutor, Jennifer clerked for Judge Fortunato Benavides, who served on the Fifth Circuit. She has been appointed to the Western District of Texas Attorney Discipline Committee and the Criminal Justice Act appellate panel for the Austin Division of the Western District of Texas. Jennifer is an elected Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, the Mentorship Chair of the Robert W. Calvert American Inn of Court, a past chair of the Criminal Law Section of the Federal Bar Association, and a past president of the Austin Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.
Prior to attending law school, Jennifer worked as a broadcast news reporter at the NBC affiliate in Columbia, Missouri and the ABC affiliate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Executive Director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution
Alexa Gervasi is Executive Director at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. Alexa is a graduate of Texas A&M University and Georgetown University Law Center. She completed law school through Georgetown Law’s evening program, spending her days working as the Program Manager for the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, directed by Professor Randy E. Barnett. After law school, Alexa spent some time in private practice before jumping ship to clerk for the Honorable D. Michael Fisher of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She then had the distinct privilege of clerking on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for the liberty-loving Honorable Don R. Willett before joining the Institute for Justice.
Alexa is licensed to practice law in New York and the District of Columbia. She is also admitted to practice before the Third Circuit.
Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Wes Hendrix is a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He was nominated by President Donald Trump in January 2019 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July 2019. He presides over federal civil and criminal cases in the Northern District’s Lubbock, Abilene, and San Angelo Divisions. He is a member of the Fifth Circuit’s Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee and the Northern District of Texas’s Local Rules Committee. He is an adjunct professor at Texas Tech University School of Law.
Prior to his confirmation, Judge Hendrix served as the Appellate Chief for the Northern District of Texas’s United States Attorney’s Office. He served as Chair of the Department of Justice’s Appellate Chiefs Working Group and as an ex officio member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee. He regularly coordinated with the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division Appellate Section and the Office of the Solicitor General regarding cases appealed to and argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he represented the United States at trial and on appeal. He helped prosecute Hosam Smadi, who was convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in a downtown Dallas skyscraper. He also argued over 25 appeals at the Fifth and Seventh Circuits—including two en banc arguments—and served as sole counsel in over 350 appeals. He regularly taught courses at the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center.
Prior to his work as a prosecutor, Judge Hendrix was an associate at the Dallas office of Baker Botts L.L.P., where he focused on complex commercial, oil-and-gas, and intellectual-property litigation. He began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Judge Hendrix received his law degree from the University of Texas, where he served on the Texas Law Review and graduated with high honors and as a Chancellor-at-Large. He received his undergraduate degree with honors from the University of Chicago.
Of Counsel, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Prerak Shah is Of Counsel at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He was most recently the Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, leading a team of approximately 120 Assistant U.S. Attorneys handling a wide range of cases, including securities fraud, health care fraud, the False Claims Act, computer crime, national security, tax fraud, money laundering, public corruption, and terrorism. Mr. Shah previously held several leadership positions at the Department of Justice, including Deputy Associate Attorney General in the office overseeing the work of the Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment & Natural Resources, and Tax Divisions. Before joining the Justice Department, Mr. Shah served as Chief of Staff to Senator Ted Cruz and as a Chief Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and clerked for the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Partner, Ashcroft Law Firm
With more than 20 years government experience, Johnny Sutton has acquired expertise as a front-line trial prosecutor and a top policy advisor to a Governor and a President. Mr. Sutton runs the Austin office of the Ashcroft Law Firm which specializes in internal investigations, white-collar criminal defense and helping companies comply with federal law.
From November 2001 to April 2009, Sutton led one of the largest and busiest United States Attorney’s Offices in the nation. The Western District of Texas covers 93,000 square miles, 68 counties and 660 miles of U.S.-Mexico border. As U.S. Attorney, Mr. Sutton managed more than 300 employees, a $28 million annual budget and directed 43,000 federal prosecutions and thousands of civil cases. Under Mr. Sutton’s leadership, the office led the nation in drug convictions, was second in illegal alien prosecutions, won more than 105 public corruption convictions and sent nearly 400 violent criminal gang members to prison.
In 2003, then-United States Attorney General John Ashcroft appointed Mr. Sutton to the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee—a panel of 17 U.S. Attorneys that advise the General and help carry out the President’s national goals. Sutton served from 2003 until 2009 and was chairman for nearly two years.
After leading the Bush-Cheney Department of Justice Transition Team in 2000, Mr. Sutton was named Associate Deputy Attorney General. He held the position until becoming U.S. Attorney.
From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Sutton served as the Criminal Justice Policy Director for then-Governor George W. Bush. Mr. Sutton was the chief policy advisor to the Governor on all criminal justice issues.
From 1988 to 1995, Mr. Sutton was a prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office (Houston, TX) where he tried more than 60 first chair felony jury trials and had only three acquittals. He also successfully tried 17 murder jury trials, including seven for capital murder.
Mr. Sutton attended the University of Texas at Austin on a baseball scholarship where he was a two year lettermen and the starting left fielder for the 1983 University of Texas National Championship baseball team. Mr. Sutton was voted the Most Valuable Player of the NCAA Central Regional Baseball Tournament in 1983. Mr. Sutton is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Portuguese.
Mr. Sutton has dedicated his career to defending the innocent and standing up for the rule of law.
Senior Vice President, Strategic Initiatives & Special Counsel to the President, Alliance Defending Freedom
Ryan Bangert serves as senior vice president for strategic initiatives and special counsel to the president at Alliance Defending Freedom. He oversees ADF’s regulatory practice, government relations, and corporate engagement teams. He also advises executive leadership with strategic initiatives and appears as counsel for ADF clients.
Before joining ADF, Bangert served as deputy first assistant attorney general and deputy for legal counsel in the office of the Texas attorney general. In those roles, he oversaw the state’s Special Litigation Unit, which handled critical litigation against the federal government, and oversaw multiple divisions within the office. Prior to that, he served as deputy for civil litigation for Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, overseeing the state’s civil litigation divisions, including the consumer protection and antitrust divisions, with over 200 attorneys and staff. During his time in government service, Bangert handled a diverse array of matters involving Big Tech, election law, civil rights, multistate antitrust and consumer protection investigations, and many other issues.
Prior to his government service, Bangert was a litigation partner at Baker Botts L.L.P., where he was a member of the firm’s commercial litigation and appellate practice sections. A seasoned trial attorney, The Texas Lawyer ranked the verdict Bangert achieved in the Janvey v. Maldonado case as the #1 verdict in the securities category for 2015-2019, and The National Law Journal ranked it in its “Top 100 Verdicts of 2015.” He was named a “Texas Rising Star” for multiple years by Texas Lawyer and Law and Politics magazines. While at Baker Botts, he was a volunteer attorney for ADF and served as amicus counsel in numerous cases, including Trinity Lutheran v. Comer and Salazar v. Buono, receiving the firm’s Opus Justitae Award in recognition of his outstanding commitment to pro bono service.
Bangert earned his J.D. from Southern Methodist University, where he was a Hatton Sumner’s scholar and graduated first in his class. He also participated in ADF’s Blackstone program and is a Blackstone Fellow. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Patrick E. Higginbotham on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bangert is a member of the Philadelphia Society and Federalist Society. He is admitted to practice law in Texas, California (inactive), Missouri (inactive), the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous federal district and appellate courts. A frequent op-ed contributor, his work has appeared in National Review, Daily Wire, The Hill, Washington Examiner, The Federalist, Fox News, and RealClear Religion. He speaks nationally on constitutional, cultural, and religious liberty issues.
Managing Attorney, Institute for Justice
Arif Panju serves as a managing attorney with the Institute for Justice. He leads IJ’s Texas office and litigates cases involving free speech, property rights, economic liberty, and educational choice.
Arif is co-counsel in the case of Carson v. Makin in the U.S. Supreme Court. Carson is a challenge to Maine’s exclusion of religious educational options from the state’s school choice program.
Arif’s work has resulted in court victories in both federal and state court. He vindicated the free speech rights of tour guides in Billups v. City of Charleston. He secured a victory for economic liberty in Brantley v. Kuntz, freeing hairbraiding schools in Texas from onerous restrictions and paving the way for the abolishment of the state’s braiding license at the Texas Legislature. In Patel v. Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, Arif helped secure a landmark victory in the Texas Supreme Court, establishing a new test for reviewing the constitutionality of economic regulations.
Arif’s work at IJ has been featured by outlets including The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Texas Tribune, and dozens more nationwide. His opinions and views on legal issues have been published in several outlets, including the Dallas Morning News, Austin American-Statesman, and USA Today. Arif sits on the board for the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.
Arif graduated law school with honors from Southern Methodist University. During law school he clerked on the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Arif lives in Austin, Texas.
Counsel, Becket Law
Rebekah Ricketts joined Becket as counsel in 2022. Her practice focuses on First Amendment and appellate litigation.
Before joining Becket, Becky served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, where she prosecuted a wide range of violent crimes and cyber offenses, including sex trafficking, cyberstalking, carjacking, kidnapping, firearms offenses, and drug trafficking. As Human Trafficking Coordinator, she led the District’s efforts to reconstitute the North Texas Trafficking Task Force, a cross-agency task force led by Homeland Security Investigations. She also obtained the first criminal indictment and guilty plea under the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), in a case against the owner of a commercial sex website.
Before that, Becky was an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Dallas, where she practiced appellate and constitutional law, complex commercial litigation, and administrative law. While at the firm, Becky argued cases in federal and state court and worked on numerous high-profile appeals, including a landmark Fifth Circuit reversal of a $663 million False Claims Act judgment. She also maintained an active pro bono docket of religious liberty cases.
Becky served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge José A. Cabranes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Judge Richard J. Sullivan, then of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She earned her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was a Book Reviews & Features Editor of the Yale Law Journal, and her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, where she graduated with High Honors and was awarded the Harry S. Truman Scholarship.
Becky lives in the great state of Texas with her husband and two young daughters.
Counsel, First Liberty
Keisha Russell is Counsel with First Liberty Institute, concentrating on religious liberty matters and First Amendment rights.
Keisha attended Emory University School of Law, where she was heavily involved in Emory’s prestigious Center for the Study of Law and Religion. She served on the Emory Journal of Law & Religion and two moot court teams. She was a law clerk for the Center’s Restoring Religious Freedom Project where she worked on religious liberty litigation. In her final year of law school, Keisha worked as a law clerk for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) on national and international matters affecting Israel. Keisha was a 2017 Emory University Graduating Woman of Excellence.
Prior to joining First Liberty, Keisha was a 2011 Teach For America corps member in Atlanta Public Schools. As an elementary special education teacher, she taught students with ADD, emotional behavioral disorders, and learning disabilities. Keisha is most passionate about protecting religious freedom for children in America’s schools.
Keisha’s religious liberty commentary has been published in FoxNews.com, Washington Examiner, The Daily Signal, Real Clear Religion, The Richmond Times-Dispatch, Houston Chronicle, and others. She’s been a guest on FOX & Friends, CBN, and other local stations.
Keisha earned a Bachelor’s in Communications from University of Central Florida and a Master’s in Teaching from the University of Southern California.
Keisha is licensed to practice law in New York, Texas, and Florida.
Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
Prior to joining the bench, Drew Tipton was a partner at Baker Hostetler, LLP in Houston, Texas, where his practice focused on complex labor and employment and trade secret litigation. Before joining Baker Hostetler in 1999, Judge Tipton was in private practice with Marek, Griffin, & Knaupp, LLP and Littler Mendelson, PC. Judge Tipton also served 5 years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Tipton served as a law clerk to Judge John D. Rainey of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Judge Tipton earned his B.A. from Texas A&M University and his J.D. from South Texas College of Law Houston.
Director of Litigation, Texas Public Policy Foundation
Chance Weldon is a Senior Attorney and the Director of Litigation for the Center for the American Future at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Chance was one of the first attorneys hired by former litigation director Rob Henneke in 2015. Since joining the Foundation, Chance has worked on some of its most important cases. From protecting the rights of property owners along the Red River in North Texas (Aderholt v. BLM) to striking down the City of Austin’s onerous short-term rental regulations in Zaatari v. City of Austin, to defending peoples’ ability to maintain their property without suffering ruinous penalties in F.P. Development, LLC v. Canton, to reinvigorating the Commerce Clause in TPPF’s litigation against the Federal Government’s Eviction Moratorium and Vaccine Mandate, Chance has been at the forefront of protecting constitutional rights in Texas and across the country.
Before joining the Foundation, Chance served as a fellow at the Pacific Legal Foundation in Sacramento, California and the Institute for Justice in Austin, Texas. As a fellow, he worked on wide breadth of litigation involving economic liberty, free speech, school choice, and private property rights.
A Houston native, Chance earned his J.D. from the University of Houston, where he was awarded the Dean’s Merit Scholarship for all three years. Prior to law school, he received a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science from the University of Houston. He is licensed to practice law in Texas, California (inactive status), the United States Supreme Court, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Circuits.
Senior Vice President, Strategic Initiatives & Special Counsel to the President, Alliance Defending Freedom
Ryan Bangert serves as senior vice president for strategic initiatives and special counsel to the president at Alliance Defending Freedom. He oversees ADF’s regulatory practice, government relations, and corporate engagement teams. He also advises executive leadership with strategic initiatives and appears as counsel for ADF clients.
Before joining ADF, Bangert served as deputy first assistant attorney general and deputy for legal counsel in the office of the Texas attorney general. In those roles, he oversaw the state’s Special Litigation Unit, which handled critical litigation against the federal government, and oversaw multiple divisions within the office. Prior to that, he served as deputy for civil litigation for Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, overseeing the state’s civil litigation divisions, including the consumer protection and antitrust divisions, with over 200 attorneys and staff. During his time in government service, Bangert handled a diverse array of matters involving Big Tech, election law, civil rights, multistate antitrust and consumer protection investigations, and many other issues.
Prior to his government service, Bangert was a litigation partner at Baker Botts L.L.P., where he was a member of the firm’s commercial litigation and appellate practice sections. A seasoned trial attorney, The Texas Lawyer ranked the verdict Bangert achieved in the Janvey v. Maldonado case as the #1 verdict in the securities category for 2015-2019, and The National Law Journal ranked it in its “Top 100 Verdicts of 2015.” He was named a “Texas Rising Star” for multiple years by Texas Lawyer and Law and Politics magazines. While at Baker Botts, he was a volunteer attorney for ADF and served as amicus counsel in numerous cases, including Trinity Lutheran v. Comer and Salazar v. Buono, receiving the firm’s Opus Justitae Award in recognition of his outstanding commitment to pro bono service.
Bangert earned his J.D. from Southern Methodist University, where he was a Hatton Sumner’s scholar and graduated first in his class. He also participated in ADF’s Blackstone program and is a Blackstone Fellow. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Patrick E. Higginbotham on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bangert is a member of the Philadelphia Society and Federalist Society. He is admitted to practice law in Texas, California (inactive), Missouri (inactive), the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous federal district and appellate courts. A frequent op-ed contributor, his work has appeared in National Review, Daily Wire, The Hill, Washington Examiner, The Federalist, Fox News, and RealClear Religion. He speaks nationally on constitutional, cultural, and religious liberty issues.
Managing Attorney, Institute for Justice
Arif Panju serves as a managing attorney with the Institute for Justice. He leads IJ’s Texas office and litigates cases involving free speech, property rights, economic liberty, and educational choice.
Arif is co-counsel in the case of Carson v. Makin in the U.S. Supreme Court. Carson is a challenge to Maine’s exclusion of religious educational options from the state’s school choice program.
Arif’s work has resulted in court victories in both federal and state court. He vindicated the free speech rights of tour guides in Billups v. City of Charleston. He secured a victory for economic liberty in Brantley v. Kuntz, freeing hairbraiding schools in Texas from onerous restrictions and paving the way for the abolishment of the state’s braiding license at the Texas Legislature. In Patel v. Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, Arif helped secure a landmark victory in the Texas Supreme Court, establishing a new test for reviewing the constitutionality of economic regulations.
Arif’s work at IJ has been featured by outlets including The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Texas Tribune, and dozens more nationwide. His opinions and views on legal issues have been published in several outlets, including the Dallas Morning News, Austin American-Statesman, and USA Today. Arif sits on the board for the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.
Arif graduated law school with honors from Southern Methodist University. During law school he clerked on the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Arif lives in Austin, Texas.
Counsel, Becket Law
Rebekah Ricketts joined Becket as counsel in 2022. Her practice focuses on First Amendment and appellate litigation.
Before joining Becket, Becky served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, where she prosecuted a wide range of violent crimes and cyber offenses, including sex trafficking, cyberstalking, carjacking, kidnapping, firearms offenses, and drug trafficking. As Human Trafficking Coordinator, she led the District’s efforts to reconstitute the North Texas Trafficking Task Force, a cross-agency task force led by Homeland Security Investigations. She also obtained the first criminal indictment and guilty plea under the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), in a case against the owner of a commercial sex website.
Before that, Becky was an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Dallas, where she practiced appellate and constitutional law, complex commercial litigation, and administrative law. While at the firm, Becky argued cases in federal and state court and worked on numerous high-profile appeals, including a landmark Fifth Circuit reversal of a $663 million False Claims Act judgment. She also maintained an active pro bono docket of religious liberty cases.
Becky served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge José A. Cabranes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Judge Richard J. Sullivan, then of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She earned her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was a Book Reviews & Features Editor of the Yale Law Journal, and her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, where she graduated with High Honors and was awarded the Harry S. Truman Scholarship.
Becky lives in the great state of Texas with her husband and two young daughters.
Counsel, First Liberty
Keisha Russell is Counsel with First Liberty Institute, concentrating on religious liberty matters and First Amendment rights.
Keisha attended Emory University School of Law, where she was heavily involved in Emory’s prestigious Center for the Study of Law and Religion. She served on the Emory Journal of Law & Religion and two moot court teams. She was a law clerk for the Center’s Restoring Religious Freedom Project where she worked on religious liberty litigation. In her final year of law school, Keisha worked as a law clerk for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) on national and international matters affecting Israel. Keisha was a 2017 Emory University Graduating Woman of Excellence.
Prior to joining First Liberty, Keisha was a 2011 Teach For America corps member in Atlanta Public Schools. As an elementary special education teacher, she taught students with ADD, emotional behavioral disorders, and learning disabilities. Keisha is most passionate about protecting religious freedom for children in America’s schools.
Keisha’s religious liberty commentary has been published in FoxNews.com, Washington Examiner, The Daily Signal, Real Clear Religion, The Richmond Times-Dispatch, Houston Chronicle, and others. She’s been a guest on FOX & Friends, CBN, and other local stations.
Keisha earned a Bachelor’s in Communications from University of Central Florida and a Master’s in Teaching from the University of Southern California.
Keisha is licensed to practice law in New York, Texas, and Florida.
Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
Prior to joining the bench, Drew Tipton was a partner at Baker Hostetler, LLP in Houston, Texas, where his practice focused on complex labor and employment and trade secret litigation. Before joining Baker Hostetler in 1999, Judge Tipton was in private practice with Marek, Griffin, & Knaupp, LLP and Littler Mendelson, PC. Judge Tipton also served 5 years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Tipton served as a law clerk to Judge John D. Rainey of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Judge Tipton earned his B.A. from Texas A&M University and his J.D. from South Texas College of Law Houston.
Director of Litigation, Texas Public Policy Foundation
Chance Weldon is a Senior Attorney and the Director of Litigation for the Center for the American Future at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Chance was one of the first attorneys hired by former litigation director Rob Henneke in 2015. Since joining the Foundation, Chance has worked on some of its most important cases. From protecting the rights of property owners along the Red River in North Texas (Aderholt v. BLM) to striking down the City of Austin’s onerous short-term rental regulations in Zaatari v. City of Austin, to defending peoples’ ability to maintain their property without suffering ruinous penalties in F.P. Development, LLC v. Canton, to reinvigorating the Commerce Clause in TPPF’s litigation against the Federal Government’s Eviction Moratorium and Vaccine Mandate, Chance has been at the forefront of protecting constitutional rights in Texas and across the country.
Before joining the Foundation, Chance served as a fellow at the Pacific Legal Foundation in Sacramento, California and the Institute for Justice in Austin, Texas. As a fellow, he worked on wide breadth of litigation involving economic liberty, free speech, school choice, and private property rights.
A Houston native, Chance earned his J.D. from the University of Houston, where he was awarded the Dean’s Merit Scholarship for all three years. Prior to law school, he received a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science from the University of Houston. He is licensed to practice law in Texas, California (inactive status), the United States Supreme Court, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Circuits.
Head of U.S. Policy and Strategic Advocacy, Electric Coin Company
Paul Brigner is the Head of U.S. Policy and Strategic Advocacy at the Electric Coin Company. He has served in senior level technology policy and government relations roles for the last eighteen years with another ten years of hands-on technical experience at the beginning his career after serving in the United States Army.
He holds an MBA from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center. He received a Bachelors degree from Stephen F. Austin State University where he was named the Outstanding Computer Science Graduate.
General Counsel, Espresso Systems
Michael Mosier is General Counsel at Espresso Systems, which is developing configurable privacy for digital assets with decentralized private computation. He served as Acting Director, Deputy Director, and the first Digital Innovation Officer of the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). He also was Counselor (for Cybersecurity & Emerging Technology) to the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.
Previously, Michael was Chief Technical Counsel at Chainalysis; an Associate Director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control; a Deputy Chief at the Department of Justice’s Money Laundering Section; and White House National Security Council Director for Transnational Organized Crime. He began his public service with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center.
Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Kevin Werbach is a professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and formerly Counsel for New Technology Policy at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Werbach has spent the past two decades exploring major trends at the intersection of the Internet, digital media, and communications. He served on the Obama Administration's Presidential Transition Team and founded the Supernova Group, a technology consulting firm, which organized the CEO-level Supernova technology conference. He also created one of the most successful massive open online courses, with nearly half a million enrollments. He was named Wharton's first-ever Iron Prof in 2010.
Werbach has published four books, including The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust, For the Win: The Power of Gamification and Game Thinking in Business, Education, Government, and Social Impact, and After the Digital Tornado: Networks, Algorithms, Humanity.
Earlier in his career, he edited the influential technology newsletter Release 1.0, and helped develop the U.S. Government's Internet and e-commerce policies in the Clinton Administration
Associate Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Associate Professor of Law J.W. Verret joined the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University faculty in 2008. In 2013, he took leave for two years to serve as the Chief Economist and Senior Counsel for the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. He received his JD and MA in Public Policy from Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, respectively, in 2006. While in law school, Professor Verret served an Olin Fellowship in Law and Economics at the Harvard Program on Corporate Governance under the guidance of Prof. Lucian Bebchuk.
Professor Verret then served as a law clerk for Vice-Chancellor John W. Noble of the Delaware Court of Chancery. Prior to joining the faculty at Scalia Law, Professor Verret was an associate in the SEC Enforcement Defense Practice Group at Skadden, Arps in Washington, D.C. He has written extensively on corporate law topics, including Delaware's Guidance, co-written with Chief Justice Myron T. Steele of the Delaware Supreme Court. His academic work has been featured in the Yale Journal on Regulation, The Business Lawyer, the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, the Stanford Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law, and the Virginia Law and Business Review. Professor Verret was selected by the Northwestern Law School Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth for a 2009-2010 Searle-Kaufmann Research Fellowship.
Professor Verret is also a Senior Scholar at the Mercatus Center Working Group on Financial Markets, where he regularly briefs Congressional staff, members of Congress, SEC Commissioners and other financial regulatory agencies on financial regulation topics. He also directs the Corporate Federalism Initiative, where he obtains research grants for a network of students and faculty scholars who study the division between states and the federal government as sources of corporate law. Professor Verret has been invited to testify before various House and Senate Committees four times during the financial crisis of 2009 regarding all of the central provisions of the Obama Administration's 2009 financial regulatory reform proposals. For a full list of Professor Verret's C-Span appearances, including testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, see http://www.c-spanvideo.org/jwverret.
Professor Verret has been an invited panelist for various television appearances, including an interview on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Professor Verret has been quoted in various media on financial regulation and corporate law topics, including the New York Times, CNN Money, the CNN Political Ticker, CNBC, ABC News, Investor's Business Daily, ESPN.com, The American Banker, The American Lawyer, The Huffington Post, CBS.com, and AP News. Professor Verret's op-eds have been featured in Forbes, The Chicago Tribune, The Orange County Register, and The Wall Street Journal. Professor Verret is also a regular guest contributor to three of the most noted corporate law and financial regulation law blogs: the Harvard Law School Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation Forum, Deallawyers.com, and The Conglomerate.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
Michael B. Brennan was confirmed and sworn in as a Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in May 2018.
He previously worked as a partner in the Milwaukee law firm of Gass Weber Mullins LLC, where he tried cases and handled appeals in federal and state courts, as a judge on the Milwaukee County Circuit, where he presided over a variety of criminal and civil calendars, and as an assistant district attorney in the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office.
Brennan’s undergraduate degree is from the University of Notre Dame, and his law degree from Northwestern University School of Law, where he was an editor on the law review and the moot court champion. He served as a law clerk on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
Judge Sykes was nominated to the Seventh Circuit by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 2004. Prior to her appointment to the federal bench, Judge Sykes served as a justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Governor Tommy G. Thompson appointed her in September 1999 to fill a mid-term vacancy on the state supreme court, and she was elected to a full ten-year term in April 2000. From 1992-1999, Judge Sykes served on the state trial bench in Milwaukee County (elected in 1992 and re-elected in 1998). From 1985-1992, Judge Sykes practiced law with the Milwaukee firm of Whyte & Hirschboeck, S.C., and from 1984-1985, was a law clerk to Federal Judge Terence T. Evans.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee area, Judge Sykes earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 1980 and a law degree from Marquette University Law School in 1984. Between college and law school, Judge Sykes worked as a reporter for The Milwaukee Journal.
Judge Sykes has two sons.
Panel 1: State Constitutionalism in North Carolina
Steve J. Markman, Paul Newby, John Orth, Andrew Tripp
CLE credit anticipated. Featuring: Professor John Orth, William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of Law, UNC...
Panel 1: State Constitutionalism in North Carolina
Steve J. Markman, Paul Newby, John Orth, Andrew Tripp
CLE credit anticipated. Featuring: Professor John Orth, William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of Law, UNC...
Fireside Chat
Robert T. Numbers, Thom Tillis
Featuring: Hon. Thom Tillis, United States Senator Moderator: Hon. Robert T. Numbers, United States Magistrate Judge
Fireside Chat
Robert T. Numbers, Thom Tillis
Featuring: Hon. Thom Tillis, United States Senator Moderator: Hon. Robert T. Numbers, United States Magistrate Judge
Panel 1: Rising Crime Rates and Criminal Justice Reform
Jennifer Sheffield Freel, Alexa L. Gervasi, James Wesley Hendrix, Prerak Shah, Johnny Sutton
Alexa Gervasi, Executive Director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution Jennifer Freel, Partner, Jackson Walker Prerak Shah,...
Panel 1: Rising Crime Rates and Criminal Justice Reform
Jennifer Sheffield Freel, Alexa L. Gervasi, James Wesley Hendrix, Prerak Shah, Johnny Sutton
Alexa Gervasi, Executive Director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution Jennifer Freel, Partner, Jackson Walker Prerak Shah,...
Young Lawyers Panel – Career Opportunities in Constitutional Litigation
Ryan L. Bangert, Arif Panju, Rebekah Perry Ricketts, Keisha Toni Russell, Drew B. Tipton, Chance Dean Weldon
Ryan Bangert, Senior Counsel and Vice President for Legal Strategy, Alliance Defending Freedom Arif Panju,...
Young Lawyers Panel – Career Opportunities in Constitutional Litigation
Ryan L. Bangert, Arif Panju, Rebekah Perry Ricketts, Keisha Toni Russell, Drew B. Tipton, Chance Dean Weldon
Ryan Bangert, Senior Counsel and Vice President for Legal Strategy, Alliance Defending Freedom Arif Panju,...
Is the Office of Foreign Assets Control's Sanctioning of Tornado Cash a Threat to the Future of Financial Privacy?
Paul Brigner, Michael Mosier, Kevin Werbach, J.W. Verret
Tornado Cash is an open source, decentralized cryptocurrency tumbler that was introduced in 2019. The...
2022 Judge Rudolph T. Randa Lecture and Award
Milwaukee Lawyers Chapter
Milwaukee, WI