Managing Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC
Michael Buschbacher is the managing partner of Boyden Gray PLLC. He represents public and private companies, trade associations, non-profits, and individuals in high-stakes litigation and administrative proceedings, with a particular focus on environmental and energy matters.
In addition to trial-level work, Mr. Buschbacher maintains an active appellate practice, both as merits counsel and as counsel for amici curiae. He has written amicus briefs quoted by the Seventh and Ninth Circuits. And his Supreme Court advocacy has been cited by The New Yorker, The New York Times, and E&E News. Mr. Buschbacher’s commentary on legal issues has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and The American Conservative.
Before joining the firm, Mr. Buschbacher served at the U.S. Department of Justice as counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. There, he advised senior Department leadership, served as the lead attorney on several lawsuits, and helped draft policy memoranda for the Department on the proper scope and procedure for environmental enforcement. Prior to serving in the government, Mr. Buschbacher was an associate in the D.C. office of Sidley Austin.
Mr. Buschbacher is a former clerk to Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and to Magistrate Judge Paul R. Cherry of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
Mr. Buschbacher holds a B.A. in Music and Germanic Studies from Indiana University and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Notre Dame Law School.
Counsel, Sen. Schmitt and the Senate Judiciary Committee
Senior Counsel, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives
Daniel Flores is a Senior Counsel on the Republican staff of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to his current position, he served in the House as Chief Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law. Before coming to the House, he served as an Acting Associate Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and in other roles in EPA's Office of General Counsel, as a Senior Trial Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and as an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C. He serves as a House liaison to the Administrative Conference of the United States and has served on the Council of the American Bar Association’s Section on Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice.
Founder and Managing Attorney, Baughman Law PC
Krista is a trial lawyer specializing in First Amendment, defamation, and civil liberties work. She is the founder and managing attorney of Baughman Law PC. Krista’s cases have extended fair procedure rights to students wrongly expelled for their lawful speech, eradicated unconstitutional policies that stifled citizens at city council meetings, obtained multi-million-dollar verdicts for victims of online defamation, and achieved a landmark settlement to ensure the First Amendment rights of students at UC Berkeley.
Outside the courtroom, Krista is a frequent speaker, writer, and advisor in free speech and civil liberties matters. She is honored to serve on the Executive Committees of The Federalist Society’s Free Speech section and the San Francisco Bar Association’s Litigation section, and as the Membership Chairperson of the First Amendment Lawyers Association.
Krista is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States; the California, New York, and District of Columbia bars; the United States Courts of Appeal for the Ninth, Sixth, and Eleventh Circuits; as well as numerous federal trial courts.
Legal Counsel, Appellate Advocacy Team, Alliance Defending Freedom
Mathew Hoffmann serves as legal counsel on the Appellate Advocacy Team at Alliance Defending Freedom, where he represents ADF clients before state and federal appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Previously, he served in ADF’s Center for Free Speech and Center for Academic Freedom. He has represented clients in free expression cases across the country and has argued before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Seventh and Ninth Circuits and the Alabama Supreme Court.
Before joining ADF, Hoffmann clerked for the Honorable Robert J. Luck of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and served as an associate at a large law firm.
Hoffmann earned his J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 2018. He graduated summa cum laude and served as an editor for the Notre Dame Law Review. He is a 2016 Blackstone Fellow. Before law school, Hoffmann graduated from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Science with honors in chemistry and a double major in government.
Hoffmann is admitted to practice before the District of Columbia and Virginia bars, as well as numerous federal appellate and trial courts.
Founder and Managing Attorney, Baughman Law PC
Krista is a trial lawyer specializing in First Amendment, defamation, and civil liberties work. She is the founder and managing attorney of Baughman Law PC. Krista’s cases have extended fair procedure rights to students wrongly expelled for their lawful speech, eradicated unconstitutional policies that stifled citizens at city council meetings, obtained multi-million-dollar verdicts for victims of online defamation, and achieved a landmark settlement to ensure the First Amendment rights of students at UC Berkeley.
Outside the courtroom, Krista is a frequent speaker, writer, and advisor in free speech and civil liberties matters. She is honored to serve on the Executive Committees of The Federalist Society’s Free Speech section and the San Francisco Bar Association’s Litigation section, and as the Membership Chairperson of the First Amendment Lawyers Association.
Krista is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States; the California, New York, and District of Columbia bars; the United States Courts of Appeal for the Ninth, Sixth, and Eleventh Circuits; as well as numerous federal trial courts.
Legal Counsel, Appellate Advocacy Team, Alliance Defending Freedom
Mathew Hoffmann serves as legal counsel on the Appellate Advocacy Team at Alliance Defending Freedom, where he represents ADF clients before state and federal appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Previously, he served in ADF’s Center for Free Speech and Center for Academic Freedom. He has represented clients in free expression cases across the country and has argued before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Seventh and Ninth Circuits and the Alabama Supreme Court.
Before joining ADF, Hoffmann clerked for the Honorable Robert J. Luck of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and served as an associate at a large law firm.
Hoffmann earned his J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 2018. He graduated summa cum laude and served as an editor for the Notre Dame Law Review. He is a 2016 Blackstone Fellow. Before law school, Hoffmann graduated from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Science with honors in chemistry and a double major in government.
Hoffmann is admitted to practice before the District of Columbia and Virginia bars, as well as numerous federal appellate and trial courts.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
Judge Menashi was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on November 14, 2019. Previously, he served as special assistant and associate counsel to the President in the White House and as acting general counsel at the U.S. Department of Education. He was assistant professor of law at Scalia Law School, George Mason University, where he taught administrative law and civil procedure, and a research fellow at New York University School of Law and Georgetown University Law Center. He was also a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in New York, where he practiced appellate and commercial litigation, and served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge Douglas Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He graduated from Stanford Law School, where he was elected to Order of the Coif and served as senior articles editor of the Stanford Law Review, and from Dartmouth College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Attorney General of Tennessee
Jonathan Skrmetti was sworn in to an eight-year term as Tennessee’s Attorney General and Reporter on September 1, 2022.
Prior to his current role, General Skrmetti served as Chief Counsel to Governor Bill Lee and as Chief Deputy Attorney General to his predecessor, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery.
Before working for the State of Tennessee, General Skrmetti was a partner at Butler Snow LLP in Memphis. His legal career began with nearly a decade as a federal prosecutor. He worked at the Civil Rights Division at Main Justice and then at the Memphis U.S. Attorney’s Office and prosecuted sex traffickers, corrupt government officials, and violent white supremacists. In addition, General Skrmetti taught cyberlaw as an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis.
General Skrmetti earned honors degrees from George Washington University, the University of Oxford, and Harvard Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Following law school, Jonathan clerked for Judge Steven Colloton on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He lives in Franklin, Tennessee, with his wife and four children.
Attorney General, State of Ohio
Dave Yost was re-elected as Ohio’s 51st attorney general on Nov. 8, 2022, receiving more votes than any other attorney general in the state’s history.
During his first term as the state’s chief legal officer, he quickly gained a national reputation as a fearless advocate for the rule of law — or, as he puts it, “the same rules for everybody.”
Yost’s goal is to “do big good” for the people of Ohio by protecting consumers, rooting out corruption, defending the environment, ensuring an open and competitive marketplace, and fulfilling the many other duties of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
Yost began his public-service career as Delaware County auditor, later winning election as that county’s prosecutor. From 2011 through 2018, he served as Ohio’s auditor of state and, in January 2019, began his first term as attorney general.
Yost earned his bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University and law degree from Capital University. He and his wife, Darlene, live in Franklin County; they have three grown children and five grandchildren.
Managing Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC
Michael Buschbacher is the managing partner of Boyden Gray PLLC. He represents public and private companies, trade associations, non-profits, and individuals in high-stakes litigation and administrative proceedings, with a particular focus on environmental and energy matters.
In addition to trial-level work, Mr. Buschbacher maintains an active appellate practice, both as merits counsel and as counsel for amici curiae. He has written amicus briefs quoted by the Seventh and Ninth Circuits. And his Supreme Court advocacy has been cited by The New Yorker, The New York Times, and E&E News. Mr. Buschbacher’s commentary on legal issues has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and The American Conservative.
Before joining the firm, Mr. Buschbacher served at the U.S. Department of Justice as counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. There, he advised senior Department leadership, served as the lead attorney on several lawsuits, and helped draft policy memoranda for the Department on the proper scope and procedure for environmental enforcement. Prior to serving in the government, Mr. Buschbacher was an associate in the D.C. office of Sidley Austin.
Mr. Buschbacher is a former clerk to Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and to Magistrate Judge Paul R. Cherry of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
Mr. Buschbacher holds a B.A. in Music and Germanic Studies from Indiana University and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Notre Dame Law School.
Counsel, Sen. Schmitt and the Senate Judiciary Committee
Senior Counsel, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives
Daniel Flores is a Senior Counsel on the Republican staff of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to his current position, he served in the House as Chief Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law. Before coming to the House, he served as an Acting Associate Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and in other roles in EPA's Office of General Counsel, as a Senior Trial Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and as an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C. He serves as a House liaison to the Administrative Conference of the United States and has served on the Council of the American Bar Association’s Section on Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice.
Policy Director, Ohio Mayors Alliance
Assistant Professor of Law, Capital University Law School
Nathaniel M. Fouch is an Assistant Professor of Law at Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio. He previously clerked at every level of the state judiciary, including for Justice Pat DeWine of the Ohio Supreme Court. Professor Fouch was the founding president of both the Dayton Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society and the Dayton Catholic Lawyers Guild. He earned his B.A. from Berea College and his J.D. cum laude from the University of St. Thomas School of Law. His work on the Ohio Constitution and state constitutionalism has been cited by the Ohio Supreme Court. Professor Fouch lives in Dayton, Ohio, with his wife, Theresa, and their three young children.
State Representative, Ohio House of Representatives, District 56
State Representative Adam Mathews is serving his second term in the Ohio House of Representatives. He represents the 56th Ohio House District, which encompasses southwest and central Warren County including Lebanon, South Lebanon, and Mason.
Rep. Mathews worked as a civilian engineer for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program before returning to Notre Dame to become an intellectual property attorney. He continues to practice and represents inventors, small businesses, and entrepreneurs. He formerly served as the Vice Mayor of Lebanon. The representative is also an intellectual property and corporate attorney, and that he is licensed and has appeared before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States
Mathews is also very involved in his community. He has served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Elizabeth’s New Life Center, a network of pro-life women’s centers throughout Southwest Ohio. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Cincinnati Federalist Society, St. Thomas More Society of Cincinnati, the Warren County Republican Party, and Kiwanis of Lebanon.
Mathews was formerly Chairman of the Intellectual Property Section of the Ohio State Bar Association, President of the Notre Dame Club of Dayton, and a member of the St. Francis de Sales Parish Council and Knights of Columbus. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Lebanon Area Chamber of Commerce.
He married his wife Amanda in 2011, and they live with their five children in Lebanon.
Founder and Managing Attorney, Baughman Law PC
Krista is a trial lawyer specializing in First Amendment, defamation, and civil liberties work. She is the founder and managing attorney of Baughman Law PC. Krista’s cases have extended fair procedure rights to students wrongly expelled for their lawful speech, eradicated unconstitutional policies that stifled citizens at city council meetings, obtained multi-million-dollar verdicts for victims of online defamation, and achieved a landmark settlement to ensure the First Amendment rights of students at UC Berkeley.
Outside the courtroom, Krista is a frequent speaker, writer, and advisor in free speech and civil liberties matters. She is honored to serve on the Executive Committees of The Federalist Society’s Free Speech section and the San Francisco Bar Association’s Litigation section, and as the Membership Chairperson of the First Amendment Lawyers Association.
Krista is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States; the California, New York, and District of Columbia bars; the United States Courts of Appeal for the Ninth, Sixth, and Eleventh Circuits; as well as numerous federal trial courts.
Legal Counsel, Appellate Advocacy Team, Alliance Defending Freedom
Mathew Hoffmann serves as legal counsel on the Appellate Advocacy Team at Alliance Defending Freedom, where he represents ADF clients before state and federal appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Previously, he served in ADF’s Center for Free Speech and Center for Academic Freedom. He has represented clients in free expression cases across the country and has argued before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Seventh and Ninth Circuits and the Alabama Supreme Court.
Before joining ADF, Hoffmann clerked for the Honorable Robert J. Luck of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and served as an associate at a large law firm.
Hoffmann earned his J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 2018. He graduated summa cum laude and served as an editor for the Notre Dame Law Review. He is a 2016 Blackstone Fellow. Before law school, Hoffmann graduated from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Science with honors in chemistry and a double major in government.
Hoffmann is admitted to practice before the District of Columbia and Virginia bars, as well as numerous federal appellate and trial courts.
California v. EPA: Using the Congressional Review Act to Roll Back State Waivers
Michael Buschbacher, Andrew Ceonzo, Daniel M. Flores
In September 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia preliminarily enjoined the...
California v. EPA: Using the Congressional Review Act to Roll Back State Waivers
The Future of Home Rule in Ohio
Columbus Lawyer Chapter
Columbus, OH2026 Ohio Chapters Conference
Columbus, OHTransporting Abortifacients Across State Lines: Prospects for Indictment and Extradition
Paul Linton
On January 31, 2025, a Louisiana grand jury indicted a New York physician—Dr. Margaret Carpenter—for...
Litigation Update: Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District Board of Education
Krista Lee Baughman, Mathew Walter Hoffmann
In Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District Board of Education, Defending Education brought a...
Litigation Update: Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District Board of Education
Krista Lee Baughman, Mathew Walter Hoffmann
In Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District Board of Education, Defending Education brought a...
Litigation Update: Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District Board of Education
The States and the Future of Fair Competition
The next chapter in U.S. antitrust and consumer protection enforcement is already being written. Regulated...
The States and the Future of Fair Competition
Steven J. Menashi, Jonathan Skrmetti, Dave Yost
CLE credit for this event is available at On-Demand CLE. The next chapter in U.S. antitrust...