Senior Counsel, Miller Johnson
Brett Swearingen is a Senior Counsel in Miller Johnson’s Employment and Labor practice. A native of Southwest Michigan, Brett’s practice focuses on employment and ERISA litigation, as well as counseling clients on employment matters and dealing with the government.
Mr. Swearingen litigates on behalf of clients in complex matters of employment and ERISA law, including FLSA collective actions, multiemployer pension withdrawal liability disputes, and government investigations. In addition, Brett regularly advises clients—especially state and federal contractors and grantees—on compliance with civil rights laws, as well as religious non-profits on matters regarding employment law and religious liberty. Brett is also experienced in the statistical analysis of workplace issues, such as using “disparate impact analysis” to help employers test for (and root out) potential discriminatory effects of workplace policies and practices.
Brett previously served as Counselor to the Deputy Secretary at the United States Department of Labor. At the DOL, he advised the Deputy Secretary and Secretary on employee benefits and civil rights matters and was a key advisor on several important rulemakings within the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), including regulations concerning ESG investing, proxy voting, and fiduciary investment advice, and reforms to OFCCP’s enforcement procedures and religious exemption.
Prior to his time at DOL, Brett was a litigator in the employee benefits practice of a global law firm, where he defended clients in several multi-million dollar ERISA withdrawal liability cases against multiemployer pension funds concerning alleged evade or avoid liability, successor liability, and employer challenges to pension funds’ discount rates.
Mr. Swearingen is currently licensed in Michigan and Washington, D.C.
Chairman, Center for Equal Opportunity
Linda Chavez is Chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity. She has published opinions and columns in newspapers across the country and appears regularly on cable news. Chavez is the author of the three books: Out of the Barrio: Toward a New Politics of Hispanic Assimilation, An Unlikely Conservative: The Transformation of an Ex-Liberal, and Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics. She has been honored by the Library of Congress as a "Living Legend" and as nominee for Secretary of Labor by President George W. Bush.
Chavez has held many appointed positions and has served on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards. Among her appointed positions has been Chairman, National Commission on Migrant Education (1988-1992); White House Director of Public Liaison (1985); Staff Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1983-1985); and member of the Administrative Conference of the United States (1984-1986). Chavez was also the Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Maryland in 1986 and was elected by the United Nations' Human Rights Commission to serve a four-year term as U.S. Expert to the U.N. Sub-commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.
Chavez earned her BA from the University of Colorado.
Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia and President of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia
Craig E. Leen is an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He also serves as the 139th President of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia and a Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University School of Law.
Prior to being sworn in, Judge Leen was a partner at K&L Gates in the Washington, DC office focused on labor & employment, litigation, government contracts, and administrative & regulatory law. He was also the pro bono coordinator for the DC office.
Judge Leen was formerly a federal agency head, serving as Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) at the U.S. Department of Labor.
Prior to his federal service at OFCCP, Judge Leen was the City Attorney of the City of Coral Gables, and before that was Chief of the Appeals Section and then Chief of the Federal Litigation Section at the Miami-Dade County Attorney's Office. Earlier in his career, Judge Leen served as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert E. Keeton, United States District Judge, District of Massachusetts.
In recognition of his public service, Judge Leen received the Secretary's Exceptional Achievement Award - Professional while at the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Paul S. Buchman Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Area of Legal Public Service while in local government.
Judge Leen received his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School, graduating as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and having served as a teaching fellow in both Contracts and Torts. Judge Leen received his Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from Georgetown University, where he majored in both Government and Economics.
Deputy Legal Director, Governing for Impact
John is Deputy Legal Director at Governing for Impact and contributes to the organization’s legal work, including its development of challenges to harmful regulatory policies, preparation of legal primers, and regulatory comment practice. Previously, John served as an attorney with the Federal Programs Branch of the Department of Justice, where he defended major federal policies against legal challenge and advised federal agencies concerning litigation risk, and also worked at Democracy Forward, where he served as lead counsel in numerous lawsuits challenging unlawful federal action. John clerked for Judge Stanley Marcus on the Eleventh Circuit. A graduate of the University of Texas and Yale Law School, John grew up in Houston, Texas, and is barred in Texas and Washington, D.C.
Chief Legal Officer and Policy Director, Cicero Institute
Jonathan Wolfson is the Chief Legal Officer and Policy Director at the Cicero Institute. Before joining Cicero, he led the Policy Office at the U.S. Department of Labor where he managed DOL's deregulatory efforts and oversaw DOL's internal policy development think tank. He previously was a litigator and regulatory attorney at an international law firm representing clients before state and federal courts across the country. Following law school he served as a law clerk to The Honorable Edith Brown Clement of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before law school, Jonathan was a policy analyst at the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Jonathan received an A.B. in Economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was an Olin Law and Economic Fellow and won the John M. Olin Prize for best original law and economics research.
Professor of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law (on leave); Senior Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice
Professor Dolin’s scholarship centers on patent law with a specific focus on how the patent regime affects innovation, especially in bio-pharmaceutical areas. His work in these areas includes a number of scholarly articles, presentations, amicus briefs, and congressional testimony.
Dr. Dolin is currently on leave from his academic duties while he serves as Senior Counsel in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice.
From January 2020 to January 2022, Professor Dolin served as a resident Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Palau. In this role, he (together with other members of the Court) heard appeals in civil, criminal, administrative, and constitutional law matters.
Prior to joining the University of Baltimore School of Law, Professor Dolin held visiting appointments in other law schools. He also served as a law clerk to the Hon. Pauline Newman, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the late Hon. H. Emory Widener Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Rumors that he has a real Russian bear in his office are entirely true.
Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia and President of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia
Craig E. Leen is an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He also serves as the 139th President of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia and a Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University School of Law.
Prior to being sworn in, Judge Leen was a partner at K&L Gates in the Washington, DC office focused on labor & employment, litigation, government contracts, and administrative & regulatory law. He was also the pro bono coordinator for the DC office.
Judge Leen was formerly a federal agency head, serving as Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) at the U.S. Department of Labor.
Prior to his federal service at OFCCP, Judge Leen was the City Attorney of the City of Coral Gables, and before that was Chief of the Appeals Section and then Chief of the Federal Litigation Section at the Miami-Dade County Attorney's Office. Earlier in his career, Judge Leen served as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert E. Keeton, United States District Judge, District of Massachusetts.
In recognition of his public service, Judge Leen received the Secretary's Exceptional Achievement Award - Professional while at the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Paul S. Buchman Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Area of Legal Public Service while in local government.
Judge Leen received his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School, graduating as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and having served as a teaching fellow in both Contracts and Torts. Judge Leen received his Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from Georgetown University, where he majored in both Government and Economics.
Director, Center for Education Policy and Mark A. Kolokotrones Fellow in Education, The Heritage Foundation
As director of the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, Lindsey Burke oversees Heritage’s research and policy on issues pertaining to preschool, K-12, and higher education reform. Burke’s research has been presented at academic conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals including Social Science Quarterly, Educational Research and Evaluation, and the Journal of School Choice, and her commentary and op-eds have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers. She is a frequent guest on radio and television shows and speaks on education reform issues across the country and internationally. She has published evaluations of education choice options for public policy foundations across the country and has done extensive work shaping and evaluating education savings accounts (ESAs).
In 2021, Burke was tapped to join Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin’s transition steering committee and was also appointed to serve on the Youngkin landing team for education. Burke was also appointed by Governor Youngkin to serve on the Board of Visitors for George Mason University. Her term runs from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2026.
Burke also serves as a fellow at EdChoice, the namesake foundation of Milton and Rose Friedman, on the national advisory board of Learn4Life, a network of public charter schools serving “opportunity youth,” on the board of the Educational Freedom Institute, on the advisory board of the Independent Women’s Forum’s Education Freedom Center, and as a Trustee of Choice Media.
In 2015, Burke won Heritage’s prestigious W. Glenn and Rita Ricardo Campbell Award in recognition of her work fighting for expanded education choice options. The award is given annually to a policy expert who has made “an outstanding contribution to the analysis and promotion of a free society.”
Burke holds a bachelor's degree in politics from Hollins University in Roanoke, VA, and a master of teaching degree in foreign language education from the University of Virginia. She earned her Ph.D. in education policy from George Mason University, where she examined the intersection of education choice and institutional theory.
Senior Scholar, Manhattan Institute; Professor of Law Emerita, University of San Diego
Gail Heriot is a Senior Scholar at the Manhattan Institute, a Professor of Law Emerita at the University of San Diego and the Chairman of the Board of the American Civil Rights Project. She served on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights for 18 years. Her new book is entitled “Why We Walk on Eggshells: How Our Civil Rights Laws Stifle Our Public Discourse.”
Former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education; Former Chair, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
Catherine E. Lhamon served as Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights from November 17, 2021 to January 20, 2025. Before that, she served as the Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. President Obama appointed Lhamon to a six-year term on the Commission on December 15, 2016, and the Commission unanimously confirmed the President’s designation of Lhamon to chair the Commission on December 28, 2016. Lhamon also serves in the cabinet of California Governor Gavin Newsom, where she has been Legal Affairs Secretary since January 2019. Lhamon previously litigated civil rights cases at the National Center for Youth Law.
Before coming to the Commission, Lhamon served as the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education until January 2017. President Obama nominated her to the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights position on June 10, 2013, and she was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 1, 2013. Immediately prior to joining the Department of Education, Lhamon was director of impact litigation at Public Counsel, the nation’s largest pro bono law firm. Before that, she practiced for a decade at the ACLU of Southern California, ultimately as assistant legal director.
Earlier in her career, Lhamon was a teaching fellow and supervising attorney in the Appellate Litigation Program at Georgetown University Law Center, after clerking for The Honorable William A. Norris on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In 2016, Politico Magazine named Lhamon one of Politico 50 Thinkers Transforming Politics and the National Action Network honored Lhamon with their Action & Authority Award. In 2015, Yale Law School named Lhamon their Gruber Distinguished Lecturer and the Association of University Centers on Disabilities awarded Lhamon their Special Recognition Award. Chronicle of Higher Education named Lhamon to their 2014 Influence List as the Enforcer. The Daily Journal listed her as one of California’s Top Women Litigators in 2010 and 2007, and as one of the Top 20 California Lawyers Under 40 in 2007. In 2004, California Lawyer magazine named Lhamon Attorney of the Year for Civil Rights.
Lhamon received her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was the Outstanding Woman Law Graduate, and she graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College.
Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr. Professor of American Politics, Boston College; Co-Chair, Harvard Program on Constitutional Government
R. Shep Melnick is the Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr. Professor of American Politics at Boston College and co-chair of the Harvard Program on Constitutional Government. He is the author of The Crucible of Desegregation: The Uncertain Search for Educational Equality (Univeristy of Chicago Press, 2023); The Transformation of Title IX: Regulating Gender Equality in Education, (Brookings, 2018), Between the Lines: Interpreting Welfare Rights (Brookings,1994), and Regulation and the Courts: The Case of the Clean Air Act (Brookings, 1983), as well as many articles on courts, agencies, and public policy. He is currently completing a book on education and the civil rights state. In 2012 he received the American Political Science Association Law and Courts Section’s “Lasting Contribution” award. He received his BA and PhD from Harvard, and taught at Harvard and Brandeis before moving to Boston College. He has also been a Research Associate at Brookings, President of the New England Political Science Association, and an elected member of the NH House of Representatives.
General Counsel, Mountain States Legal Foundation
William E. Trachman is General Counsel for Mountain States Legal Foundation, where he protects the rights of individuals to live freely and securely under the U.S. Constitution. Previously, he was appointed to serve in the Department of Education as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office for Civil Rights. Prior to his appointment, he served as General Counsel to the Douglas County School District, where he helped litigate the fight for school choice in the school district. Presently, Mr. Trachman serves as Chair of the Colorado Federalist Society and the Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ Colorado Advisory Board. He previously taught as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. He attended U.C. Berkeley for both undergraduate and law school, and then clerked for the Honorable Harris Hartz on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Trachman is licensed in Colorado, California, and Washington, D.C.
Partner, O'Melveny & Myers LLP
Gregory Jacob is a partner in O’Melveny’s Washington, D.C. office. Greg Jacob represents financial services companies including banks, investment managers, health care payors, and insurers, as well as other employers, in class action and other litigation concerning ERISA and other labor and employment matters. A former Solicitor of Labor, Greg has extensive knowledge on a wide variety of labor and employment issues including ERISA, FLSA, OFCCP, and whistleblower law. He regularly litigates in federal courts throughout the country, defends clients against Department of Labor investigations, and provides counseling to plans and plan sponsors.
Prior to rejoining O’Melveny in 2021, Greg served as Counsel to Vice President Pence and Deputy Assistant to the President. He directly advised the Vice President on all legal issues relating to the Office of the Vice President, and advised the White House Coronavirus Task Force concerning the Defense Production Act and other legal issues related to bolstering the domestic supply chain.
Litigation Counsel, New Civil Liberties Alliance
Sheng Li is Litigation Counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance. Prior to joining NCLA, Sheng served as Counselor to the Administrator of Wage and Hour at the U.S. Department of Labor. In that role, he led numerous efforts to remove or simplify unduly burdensome regulations. He has also worked in the private sector as a litigation associate at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler and at Kirkland & Ellis.
Sheng is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Yale Law School, where he was managing editor of the Yale Journal of International Law. After graduating law school, Sheng served as law clerk to the Hon. Danny J. Boggs on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Philip A. Miscimarra is the former Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Phil leads the firm’s NLRB special appeals practice and is co-leader of Morgan Lewis Workforce Change, which manages all employment, labor, benefits, and related issues arising from mergers, acquisitions, startups, workforce reductions, and other types of business restructuring. He represents clients on a wide range of labor and employment issues, with a focus on labor-management relations, business acquisitions and restructuring, and employment litigation. Phil is also a Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and the Wharton Center for Human Resources. He is admitted in Illinois only, and his practice is supervised by DC Bar members.
Phil was named Chairman of the NLRB by President Donald J. Trump on April 24, 2017, after previously serving as Acting Chairman and a Board Member. He was appointed to the NLRB by President Barack Obama on April 9, 2013, and was approved unanimously by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on May 22, 2013. He was confirmed by voice vote in the US Senate on July 30, 2013, and served from August 7, 2013, to December 16, 2017. Upon the completion of his term, Phil served on the NLRB longer than 26 other board members over the past 30 years.
Phil is the author or co-author of several books involving labor law issues, including The NLRB and Managerial Discretion: Subcontracting, Relocations, Closings, Sales, Layoffs, and Technological Change (2d ed. 2010) (by Miscimarra, Turner, Friedman, Callahan, Conrad, Lignowski and Scroggins); The NLRB and Secondary Boycotts (3d ed. 2002) (by Miscimarra, Berkowitz, Wiener and Ditelberg); and Government Protection of Employees Involved in Mergers and Acquisitions (1989 and 1997 supp.) (by Northrup and Miscimarra); and other publications. He has also testified on labor and employment law issues in the United States Congress.
Chambers USA named Phil one of the leading lawyers for employment law in the United States from 2004 to 2012, based on the views of clients, peers, and other industry professionals. He has been described as a "fantastic lawyer" and "prolific writer," with clients admiring his "multilayered abilities and business savvy" and his "high level of integrity."
Former Solicitor of Labor, 2021-2025
Seema Nanda served as the U.S. Solicitor of Labor, from 2021 to 2025.
Chairman, Center for Equal Opportunity
Linda Chavez is Chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity. She has published opinions and columns in newspapers across the country and appears regularly on cable news. Chavez is the author of the three books: Out of the Barrio: Toward a New Politics of Hispanic Assimilation, An Unlikely Conservative: The Transformation of an Ex-Liberal, and Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics. She has been honored by the Library of Congress as a "Living Legend" and as nominee for Secretary of Labor by President George W. Bush.
Chavez has held many appointed positions and has served on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards. Among her appointed positions has been Chairman, National Commission on Migrant Education (1988-1992); White House Director of Public Liaison (1985); Staff Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1983-1985); and member of the Administrative Conference of the United States (1984-1986). Chavez was also the Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Maryland in 1986 and was elected by the United Nations' Human Rights Commission to serve a four-year term as U.S. Expert to the U.N. Sub-commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.
Chavez earned her BA from the University of Colorado.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Policy, United States Department of Justice
GianCarlo Canaparo serves as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy at the Department of Justice. He oversees the Office's regulatory work, assists the White House in the process of selecting nominees for federal judgeships and advises Department leadership on policy and legal matters.
Before joining the Department, Canaparo was a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies where he researched constitutional law, administrative law, and civil rights.
Canaparo’s scholarship has appeared in various law reviews and periodicals. His research has been cited by Justice Neil Gorsuch and featured in the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.
Canaparo co-hosted The Heritage Foundation’s SCOTUS 101 podcast, which followed the Supreme Court’s arguments and opinions and featured interviews with judges, advocates, and scholars.
After graduating Georgetown law, Canaparo spent three years at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and two years as a federal law clerk. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California at Davis.
Canaparo is a classical pianist.
Executive Director & Secretary, American Civil Rights Project
Dan Morenoff is the executive director at the American Civil Rights Project and an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
His work focuses on protecting and, where necessary, restoring the primacy of all Americans' shared civil rights against the identitarian alternative.
Before practicing law, Morenoff served on the legislative staff of Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX). Morenoff holds a B.A. from Columbia College of Columbia University in the City of New York and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. He has also served as an officer or director of several community organizations in Dallas, Texas.
Associate Corporate Counsel and Staff Attorney, National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, Inc.
Since January 2020, Amanda Freeman has been the National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation’s Associate Corporate Counsel, working closely with Corporate Counsel Richard Clair who has been with the Foundation for more than forty-five years.
Amanda has also been, and continues to be, a staff attorney at the Foundation since September 2013. As a staff attorney, Amanda represents both public and private sector employees in disputes in federal and state courts and administrative agencies. She has also handled many settlements with employers and unions resolving disputes before they reached a court or agency.
Amanda was lead attorney in many cases and unfair labor practice charges challenging and seeking implementation of Michigan’s Right to Work law, which was effective March 28, 2013 – February 13, 2024. Clarkston Educ. Ass’n v. Conwell, 319 Mich. App. 422 (2017), appeal denied, 501 Mich. 1027 (2019); Saginaw Educ. Ass’n v. Eady-Miskiewicz, 319 Mich. App. 422 (2017), appeal denied, 501 Mich. 1027 (2018) (lead counsel for Appellees Snyder and Carr).
Prior to joining the Foundation, Amanda clerked for the Honorable Glen A. Huff (August 2011 – August 2013) and for the Honorable Robert J. Humphreys (August 2009 – July 2011) who were both on the Court of Appeals of Virginia.
Before and during law school, Amanda gained experience in the legal field while working as an administrative assistant and then a paralegal at Mauck & Baker, LLC in Chicago, Illinois, and as an intern at Lentz, Stepanovich & Bergethon, PLC in Virginia Beach, VA.
Shareholder, Littler
Bradford J. Kelley has a broad practice representing employers in employment anti-discrimination and wage and hour matters. He focuses on advising clients about emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), and their impact in the workplace.
Brad is an internationally recognized workplace AI authority. He advises clients on how to maximize the benefits of using AI in the workplace while minimizing potential legal and business risks. His deep background in this area provides employers with the tools and insights they need to develop, deploy, and monetize AI and other emerging technologies to bolster business operations and efficiency.
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Chief Counsel and Chief of Staff (OCL)
Mr. Rogers is Chief Counsel and Chief of Staff to a Commissioner at the U.S. EEOC, where he works extensively on regulations, guidance, policies, and proposed litigation and amicus briefs. Previously, he served in the Wage and Hour Division at the U.S. DOL after 12 years in private practice, representing and advising clients on wage and hour, discrimination, labor relations, and workplace violence issues.
Arbitrator, American Arbitration Association & Former Deputy Director, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), U.S. Department of Labor
Bob Gaglione is an Arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association based in San Diego, California. He also teaches law and politics courses at several universities in Southern California.
From 2019-2021, Mr. Gaglione was a Presidential appointee serving as Deputy Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) at the U.S. Department of Labor.
Mr. Gaglione has over 30 years of legal experience, including most recently, serving as founder and principal of Gaglione Law Group in San Diego, CA, where he practiced civil litigation including business, employment, insurance, real estate, and tort litigation. He previously served as a partner at the law firm of McInnis, Fitzgerald, Rees & Sharkey – one of San Diego’s largest law firms at the time.
For more than a decade, Mr. Gaglione has been as a member of the American Arbitration Association National Roster of Neutrals and Panel of Arbitrators. He served as an Arbitrator or Mediator in close to 100 cases before he went to work for the Department of Labor. .
Mr. Gaglione was elected by his peers to a three-year term on the San Diego County Bar Association Board of Directors from 2011-2014. He is a founding Director of the San Diego Chapter of the Federalist Society and a Chair of the Board of Advisors of this chapter. Mr. Gaglione is a Past President of the Todd American Inn of Court and a past Chair of the Bar History Committee and Litigation Section of the San Diego County Bar Association. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the San Diego-Imperial Council of Boy Scouts of America.
Mr. Gaglione is AV-rated by Martindale Hubbell and has been featured in Best’s Directory of Recommended Insurance Attorneys, Law & Business Directory of Environmental Attorneys and Who’s Who in American Law. Mr. Gaglione has been included in the San Diego Daily Transcript Top Attorneys, was named a Super Lawyer numerous times, and has made the list of Top Lawyers in San Diego Magazine.
Mr. Gaglione has taught law and political science courses at DeVry University, Keller Graduate School of Management, and JP Catholic University. He is also a frequent lecturer at the University of San Diego School of Law, San Diego State University, and California Western School of Law.
Mr. Gaglione hosted a radio show known as Independent Counsel: the news from a legal perspective for over seven years. He is also a frequent legal commentator on radio and television news programs.
Mr. Gaglione received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law. He is a member of the California, District of Columbia, and New York Bars. He is also admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and all United States District Courts in California.
Founder, Justice Legal Strategies PLLC
Jon Greenbaum, the founder of Justice Legal Strategies, is one of the top civil rights and voting rights lawyers in the country, having worked for over 25 years in key positions at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and in the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice. Jon has litigated some of the most important and complex civil rights cases in this century. Jon also has two decades of experience as a manager of large legal teams and has collaborated closely with a variety of external partners. Jon brings his skills as a litigator, legal thinker, developer and implementer of programs, and manager of people and processes to help progressive legal organizations achieve greater impact through innovative and carefully considered strategies and the ability to create legal teams that thrive.
For nearly fifteen years as Chief Counsel at the Lawyers’ Committee, Jon managed a multi-unit legal department with as many as forty people, served on the Executive Management Team, and co-led teams with law firm partners and nonprofit leaders. Jon worked with staff lawyers and pro bono counsel, public policy teams, communications professionals, organizers, social scientists, clients, external partners, and others to craft multifaceted responses to civil rights issues.
Jon brings his skills as a litigator, legal thinker, developer and implementer of programs, and manager of people and processes to help progressive legal organizations achieve greater impact through innovative and carefully considered strategies and the ability to create legal teams that thrive.
Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Professor Emeritus of Public Policy, Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County
George R. La Noue is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Professor Emeritus of Public Policy at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He has served as a trial expert in twenty cases involving public procurement preferences. For thirty years, he was Director of the Project on Civil Rights and Public Contracts at UMBC which recently contributed 289 public contracting disparity studies to the Library of Congress. He has been a consultant to nine governments and trial expert in thirty cases where the validity of disparity studies was at issue.
Prof. La Noue can be reached by email at glanoue@umbc.edu.
Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia and President of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia
Craig E. Leen is an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He also serves as the 139th President of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia and a Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University School of Law.
Prior to being sworn in, Judge Leen was a partner at K&L Gates in the Washington, DC office focused on labor & employment, litigation, government contracts, and administrative & regulatory law. He was also the pro bono coordinator for the DC office.
Judge Leen was formerly a federal agency head, serving as Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) at the U.S. Department of Labor.
Prior to his federal service at OFCCP, Judge Leen was the City Attorney of the City of Coral Gables, and before that was Chief of the Appeals Section and then Chief of the Federal Litigation Section at the Miami-Dade County Attorney's Office. Earlier in his career, Judge Leen served as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert E. Keeton, United States District Judge, District of Massachusetts.
In recognition of his public service, Judge Leen received the Secretary's Exceptional Achievement Award - Professional while at the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Paul S. Buchman Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Area of Legal Public Service while in local government.
Judge Leen received his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School, graduating as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and having served as a teaching fellow in both Contracts and Torts. Judge Leen received his Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from Georgetown University, where he majored in both Government and Economics.
Adjunct Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
Jenny R. Yang served in the White House, Domestic Policy Council as a Deputy Assistant to the President for Racial Justice and Equity until March 2024. From the first day of the Biden-Harris Administration until March 2023, she served as the Director of the Office of Federal Contracts Compliance Programs at the U.S. Department of Labor. Before that she served on the Biden-Harris Labor Transition Team. Ms. Yang served as Chair, Vice-Chair, and Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 2013 to 2018.
Ms. Yang is currently teaching Employment Law at New York University School of Law. She previously served as a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute and a consultant with Working Ideal from 2019-2020. She spent a decade representing workers in complex nationwide employment discrimination and wage and hour actions as a partner and Chair of the Diversity Committee at Cohen Milstein. Before that, she served as a Senior Trial Attorney with the U.S. Department of
Justice, Civil Rights Division, Employment Litigation Section. She began her career at the National Employment Law Project protecting the rights of garment workers. Prior to that she clerked for Judge Edmund Ludwig of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Ms. Yang served a co-chair of the first national board of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. A graduate of Cornell University, she earned a B.A. in Government. She earned a J.D. from NYU School of Law where she was a Root-Tilden Public Interest scholar and served as Notes Editor of the Law Review.
Associate, Stone Hilton PLLC
Alex has personal experience handling all aspects of litigation, from drafting initial pleadings, managing discovery, taking depositions, writing dispositive motions, and actually trying the case to a jury. He joined Stone Hilton from an elite commercial trial boutique based in Houston, Texas. Within the last year alone, he participated in two jury trials, a bench trial, and two preliminary injunction hearings. His most recent accomplishments included delivering the opening statement in a victorious jury trial defending a breach of contract case that was heavily covered by Law360. He also successfully received a temporary injunction preventing a debtor from fraudulently transferring collateral in a secured credit case after directing witnesses for the plaintiff.
Other experience includes defending a jury trial in the Central District of California in a trade secret and patent case, prosecuting a preliminary injunction hearing in the Southern District of Texas in a trademark case, prosecuting a jury trial in Travis County in a tortious interference with contract case, and spearheading bankruptcy hearings in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Alex’s experience also includes employment disputes, business torts, and disputes in the oil and gas industry.
Alex received his bachelor’s degrees from the University of Buffalo in Mathematics and Economics, while minoring in History. He went on to study law at the Columbia Law School, graduating with Stone Scholar honors each year. There he also served as the Columbia Federalist Society’s Chair of the Madison (Judicial) Lecture Series and as the Vice-President of Devinimus, the law school’s wine society.
After graduating, Alex worked at a top international law firm in New York, before leaving to clerk for the Honorable Charles Eskridge in the Southern District of Texas. As an inaugural law clerk, Alex had the privilege to help Judge Eskridge set up his chambers all while working through some of the most challenging cases the District saw fit for reassignment.
Director, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, U.S. Department of Labor
Catherine Eschbach most recently worked as an appellate attorney for six years at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, where she honed her knowledge on complex constitutional, statutory and administrative law issues. Eschbach led the firm’s efforts to ensure the federal government’s practices adhered to constitutional limits, including those affecting OFCCP.
Earlier in her career, Eschbach worked as a judicial law clerk for Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She served the same role for Judge David Hittner of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
Eric Hamilton serves as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division. He previously served as the Solicitor General for the State of Nebraska and as an Assistant Solicitor General in the Texas Attorney General’s Office. During the first Trump Administration, Eric worked as an Associate Counsel to the President in the Office of White House Counsel. Earlier in his career, he was in private practice in Washington, D.C. and clerked for Judge Thomas M. Hardiman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Eric is a graduate of Stanford Law School, where he served on the Stanford Law Review. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Director, Independent Women's Law Center; Owner, MPL Strategies
Executive Secretary, U.S. Department of Treasury
Rachel Miller is the Executive Secretary at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. She joins the Treasury Department from her role as Senior Vice President, Counsel, and Corporate Secretary at Chain Bridge Bank, N.A. where she advised the bank on its initial public offering and listing on the New York Stock Exchange. She previously served as an Associate in the Government Regulation practice at Jones Day where she counseled clients on matters relating to corporate governance and political and election law compliance. After law school, Rachel served as a law clerk to Judge Chad A. Readler of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Rachel received her BA from the University of Texas at Austin and her JD from the University of Notre Dame Law School.
Explainer Episode 91 - OFCCP's Proposed Regulatory Changes
Brett Swearingen, Linda L. Chavez
On July 1st, 2025, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) released three proposed...
Panel 1: Opportunities for Public Service
2025 Texas Young Lawyers Summit
Houston, TXChecks and Balances: Deregulation Based on Supreme Court Rulings
Craig E. Leen, John Lewis, Jonathan Wolfson
Among the points emphasized by the second Trump administration has been a major push for...
Courthouse Steps Decision: Feliciano v. Department of Transportation
Gregory Dolin, Craig E. Leen
Feliciano v. Department of Transportation the Court was presented with the question of whether a...
Is Efficiency Desirable in Civil Rights Enforcement?
Lindsey Burke, Gail L. Heriot, Catherine E. Lhamon, R. Shep Melnick, William E. Trachman
The Trump Administration may bring significant changes to civil rights enforcement in the executive branch....
Regulatory Ferment at DOL and the NLRB
Gregory Frederick Jacob, Sheng Li, Philip A. Miscimarra, Seema Nanda
In a time of rapidly shifting administrative law norms, the Department of Labor and NLRB...
Explainer Episode 84 - How Far Do the Executive Orders Go Towards Ending DEI?
Linda L. Chavez, GianCarlo Canaparo, Dan Morenoff
Linda Chavez, Chairman for the Center for Equal Opportunity, moderates a discussion between the Heritage...
Topics
Bye Bye, DEI: President Trump Issues Executive Order Revoking Biden’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Rules and Axing Affirmative Action
January 20, 2025, will certainly go down in history as a major policy pivot-point, and...
Politics in the Workplace: The Legal and Business Challenges
Amanda K. Freeman, Bradford J. Kelley, Andrew Rogers
In the aftermath of the 2024 elections, and as citizens continue to engage in discourse...
The Future of Civil Rights Enforcement at the EEOC, OFCCP, and DOJ
Robert J. Gaglione, Jon Greenbaum, George R. La Noue, Craig E. Leen, Jenny R. Yang
Federal civil rights enforcement in the employment area is handled by the Equal Employment Opportunity...