Senior Partner, Jones Walker LLP
Ellis Brazeal is a Senior Partner in Jones Walker LLP’s Litigation Practice Group and co-chair of the firm’s Aerospace and Aviation Team. He has more than 30 years of experience in commercial litigation, arbitration, and mediation including all levels of state, federal, and bankruptcy courts. He represents and advises financial institutions and other entities regarding corporate restructuring, handles government contract litigation, and provides regulatory and contract advice to defense supply chain companies. He is recognized for his work by legal publications, and he regularly lectures on restructuring, contract litigation, and ethics.
For his engineering alma mater, the University of Alabama, Ellis serves as an adjunct professor teaching a course in Space Law in both the College of Engineering and the Law School. Ellis received a BSAE and MSE at the University of Alabama before attending the University of Virginia Law School.
Ellis serves as Chair for the Industrial Advisory Board for the Aerospace and Engineering Mechanics Department at the University of Alabama, which is comprised of business leaders from numerous aerospace companies. Ellis also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board there. He was recently honored as a Distinguished Engineering Fellow by the University of Alabama.
U.S. Court of Federal Claims and Jurist-In-Residence Professor of Law, The University of Akron School of Law
Judge Ryan T. Holte was sworn in as a judge on the United States Court of Federal Claims in July 2019. Prior to confirmation he served as the David L. Brennan Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law and Technology at The University of Akron School of Law (2017-2019) and an assistant professor of law at Southern Illinois University School of Law (2013-2017). Judge Holte has written and presented widely on patent law subjects and empirical legal studies of Federal Circuit and district court patent law cases. His most recent articles were published in the Iowa Law Review (2019), George Mason Law Review (2018), and Washington Law Review (2017).
In practice, Judge Holte served for six years as general counsel and partner of an electrical engineering technology company and is co-inventor of multiple patents related to Systems and Methods for Countering Satellite-Navigated Munitions. Prior to entering academia, Judge Holte practiced as a litigation attorney at the Federal Trade Commission and an associate in the Intellectual Property Practice Group at Jones Day. Prior to practice, he served as a law clerk to Judge Stanley F. Birch, Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and as a law clerk to Judge Loren A. Smith on the United States Court of Federal Claims.
Judge Holte received his JD from the University of California Davis School of Law and his BS, magna cum laude, in engineering from the California Maritime Academy where he was a First Class graduate of the Corps of Cadets Third Engineering Division and sailed as a U.S. Merchant Marine oiler.
Attorney General of Alabama
Steve Marshall was sworn in as the 48th Attorney General of the State of Alabama on February 10, 2017. Since taking office, he has distinguished himself as a strong and effective leader committed to law and order, public safety, and the rule of law. Attorney General Marshall has worked tirelessly through enforcement actions and policy reforms to make Alabama a safer place to live. His steadfast leadership has earned the respect and support of law enforcement agencies across the state.
Attorney General Marshall has emerged as a leader on key legal and policy issues. He has been at the forefront of efforts to protect children from irreversible gender-altering medical procedures, preserve fairness in women’s sports, defend election integrity, combat the opioid epidemic, fight human trafficking, and uphold the rule of law and the rights of states in matters of border security and immigration enforcement. He is also a strong advocate for religious liberty and has consistently championed constitutional principles in courts across the country.
His leadership and influence have extended beyond Alabama. Marshall previously served as Chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), where he played a pivotal role in shaping national legal strategies and advancing conservative principles at the state level.
Marshall earned his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his law degree with academic honors from the University of Alabama School of Law. He served for 16 years as District Attorney for Marshall County, where he gained extensive prosecutorial experience and built a reputation for tough, principled law enforcement.
Attorney General Marshall and his wife, Tammy, reside in Montgomery and are proud parents to three children: Faith Hendrick, John Millan Gaston, and Benen Gaston. He is an active member of Church of the Highlands.
Vice President & General Counsel, Paligen Technologies
Eliot Peace is Vice President and General Counsel at Paligen Technologies, a worldwide leader in the manufacture of energetic materials; the design and production of munitions, aerospace, and naval products; and the production of metal components for defense and commercial operations. In this role, he leads the Legal and Compliance departments and provides full-spectrum legal support to the company.
Previously, he was the Deputy General Counsel for General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems. In this role, he served as legal advisor to a multi-billion-dollar global aerospace/defense business unit, where he was responsible for government and commercial contracts; litigation and disputes; government enforcement and investigations; and regulatory, international, and trade compliance.
Prior to joining GD-OTS in 2020, he worked as an attorney for an AmLaw 100 law firm in Tampa, FL, handling commercial litigation and government enforcement/investigations in the aerospace/defense, manufacturing, and firearms industries. From 2012-2017, he served as a member of the US Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He remains a major in the US Air Force Reserve.
Prior to accepting his commission, he clerked for Justice John W. Kittredge at the South Carolina Supreme Court and Judge Timothy M. Cain on the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina. He is Chair of the Second District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission, a member of the Florida Polytechnic University Board of Trustees, and a previous member of the Executive Committee of the Florida Defense Contractors Association. A graduate of the University of Georgia and the University of South Carolina School of Law, he and his wife have five children and live in Dunedin, FL.
Chief Compliance Officer at Radiance Technologies
Jay E. Town is the Chief Compliance Officer at Radiance
Technologies, a large defense and aerospace contractor headquarted
in Huntsville, Alabama. Town is responsible for government and
procurement compliance for the defense, intelligence, national
security, and law enforcement sectors. This includes a wide range of
federal and state regulations, such as the FAR, DFARS, ITAR,
CMMC, export controls, and the handling or containment of
classified information.
Prior to joining Radiance Technologies, Town was the Vice President and General Counsel at
Gray Analytics, an aerospace and military defense contractor. Town played a large role
in leading executive management efforts around advanced analytics for law enforcement
and intelligence agencies, cyber security, ransomware attack solutions, internal
investigations, and business development. Town also provided legal advice related to
myriad facets of Gray Analytics service platforms.
Town recently served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama
from 2017 to 2020. Nominated by President Donald Trump in 2017, United States
Attorney Town oversaw the largest increase in federal prosecutions in the history of the
Northern District of Alabama. Town created the Prosecutor-to-Prosecutor Program
(“P3”) which creates a communication framework where state and federal prosecutors
charge repeat offenders where the sanction and punishment will be the greatest. In 2020,
the Attorney General of the United States recognized Town for his design of the P3
Program and he was awarded the prestigious “Project Safe Neighborhood Outstanding
Individual Contribution Award”, the lone recipient that year. Town also created the “OD
Leads System” where local, state, and federal investigators use available data, to include
9-1-1 call information, to investigate overdoses and prosecute federally the dealers
causing the overdose. Town also oversaw the Department’s largest civil rights
investigation into abuses related to incarceration and incarcerated persons. Town also
was known by every layer and level of law enforcement for his ability to forge
partnerships between local, state, and federal members of law enforcement.
While U.S. Attorney, Town served as the Chair of the Attorney General’s
Servicemembers and Veterans Rights Subcommittee, and as a member of the
Management, Performance and Personnel Subcommittee, and the Cyber Subcommittee.
Town was one of five U.S. Attorneys selected to serve on the Attorney General’s China
Initiative Steering Committee. He was also the lone U.S. Attorney member of the
Attorney General’s Violent Crime Reduction Coordinating Committee. In 2018, Townjoined the National Crime Gun Intelligence Governing Board. Town was selected by the
Department of Justice to serve as a Working Group Chair on the Presidential
Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, created by President
Donald Trump on October 28, 2019, and the first of its kind since 1964.
Jay Town was an accomplished prosecutor in the Madison County District Attorney’s
Office from 2005 until his confirmation as U.S. Attorney. Town left the District
Attorney’s Office as a senior prosecutor handling a full catalogue of crimes, including
capital murder, murder, robbery, assault, and burglary. Mr. Town also was instrumental
in forming the Madison County Veterans Court, one of the first such diversionary courts
in Alabama dedicated to the physical and mental health needs of veterans in the criminal
justice system. During his time in the D.A.’s Office, Town prosecuted thousands of
cases, led countless violent crime investigations, and tried scores of jury trials.
Town served in the Marine Corps for twelve years as a judge advocate and was
honorably discharged in 2008, attaining the rank of Major. Town served as trial counsel,
staff judge advocate, and operational lawyer after 9/11. Before moving to Alabama, he
was outside counsel at a large firm in New Jersey focused on commercial defense of
major pharmaceutical, commercial, and surety companies.
He has sat on several charitable boards, to include the Congressional Medal of Honor
Foundation, a national organization promoting educational, patriotic, and veterans’
initiatives directed by the living Medal of Honor recipients. He also served the
Foundation as chairman of the Audit Committee, President’s Advisory Group, and was a
member of the Executive Committee. He also serves as an emeritus director for
America’s Warrior Partnership, which is a national veterans services organization. Mr.
Town was an original board member of The Bennie Adkins Foundation, which provides
scholarships to veterans in Alabama. He also was chairman of the Boys & Girls Clubs of
North Alabama for two years and a corporate board member for nearly a decade. In
2022, Town was selected by his peers to serve on the Board of Directors for the National
Association of Former United States Attorneys (NAFUSA).
Town has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama-Huntsville in the
Department of Political Science with the curriculum focused on executive war powers
and the Geneva Conventions. He regularly appears on national television as a legal
analyst. Town was published in the 2021 by the University of Notre Dame Law Review.
He was published again in 2023 by the University of Belmont Law Review.
Jay earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Government & International Relations from the
University of Notre Dame in 1995 and received his Juris Doctor from the Seton Hall
University School of Law in 1998. He is a member of the State Bars of Indiana, New
Jersey and Alabama, and the Supreme Court of the United States. He lives with his wife
and daughter in Huntsville, Alabama.
Fellow, National Security Institute, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Vince Vitkowsky chaired the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society’s International and National Security Law and Policy Practice Group for over a decade. He is also a Fellow at the National Security Institute of George Mason University Law School. Vince spent 45 years in private practice, primarily in AmLaw 100/200 firms and their spin-offs. His practice included domestic and international commercial arbitration and litigation, as well as cyber risks and liabilities. Vince's current focus is on national security policy, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and counterterrorism. He has often written and spoken on national security and other public policy issues. Among other affiliations, Vince has been an Adjunct Fellow at the Center for Law and Counterterrorism of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a member of the Executive Committee of the American Branch of the International Law Association, and Co-Chair of the Committee on Interventions and Trial Observations of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute. He received his B.A. from Northwestern University and his J.D. from Cornell Law School.
Panel II: Space Law 101: Navigating the New Frontier
Huntsville, ALTopics
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