President, Cass & Associates, PC
Ronald A. Cass is Dean Emeritus of Boston University School of Law (where he was Dean from 1990-2004), President of Cass & Associates, PC, former Vice-Chairman and Commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission, former faculty member at Boston University School of Law and the University of Virginia Law School, and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State. Dean Cass also sits as an arbitrator for commercial, international, and intellectual property rights disputes, and is a former United States member of the Panel of Conciliators of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. He is a member of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States and has received seven presidential appointments, spanning Presidents Ronald Reagan to Donald J. Trump.
As a law professor, lecturer, and scholar, Dean Cass has been teaching and writing about a wide array of legal issues on topics such as administrative law and regulation, antitrust, constitutional law, communications, intellectual property, international trade, separation of powers, and legal process. He has published more than 160 scholarly books, chapters, articles, and papers, including a leading casebook on administrative law. Dean Cass has taught judges as well as students in schools of law, economics, business, and public policy and has held academic appointments in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.
In addition to his academic work, Dean Cass has participated in numerous important legal cases as an amicus, consultant, or expert, and has advised businesses, law firms, investment funds, and government agencies on a range of trade, antitrust, intellectual property, and regulatory issues. He has a broad range of affiliations with professional groups, and has received numerous honors, fellowships and awards.
Dean Cass is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Chicago Law School.
Stephen A. Cozen Professor of Law & Professor of Political Science; Director, Center for East Asian Studies, Penn Law
Jacques deLisle’s research and teaching focus on contemporary Chinese law and politics, including: legal reform and its relationship to economic reform and political change in China, the international status of Taiwan and cross-Strait relations, China’s engagement with the international order, legal and political issues in Hong Kong under Chinese rule, and U.S.-China relations. His writings on these subjects appear in a variety of fora, including international relations journals, edited volumes of multidisciplinary scholarship, and Asian studies journals, as well as law reviews. DeLisle is also professor of political science, director of the Center for East Asian Studies at Penn, deputy director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary China and director of the Asia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He has served frequently as an expert witness on issues of P.R.C. law and government policies and is a consultant, lecturer and advisor to legal reform, development and education programs, primarily in China.
Partner, Law Offices of Gary N. Horlick
Mr. Horlick is one of the highest-ranked international trade lawyers in the world in the only two rankings, Euromoney/Institutional Investor and Who’s Who Legal, and is in the top tier of Chambers (which does not list individual rankings).
Mr. Horlick has worked in senior positions in the U.S. Congress (International Trade Counsel, U.S. Senate Finance Committee) and the Executive Branch (Head of Import Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce), where he was responsible for all U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty cases, Foreign Trade Zones, Special Import Programs, and the negotiation of the U.S.-EU Steel Agreement.
He has been Chairman of WTO and Mercosur panels, and has litigated in U.S. courts and administrative agencies; GATT and WTO tribunals; NAFTA Chapters 19 and 20 tribunals; and anti-dumping cases in more than 20 countries. He has worked on issues involving climate change, textile quotas and monitoring, Generalized System of Preferences, non-market economy status, customs and tariff classification and valuation, export controls, CFIUS and investor-state disputes.
Mr. Horlick has served as counsel to businesses in the U.S. (IBM, Cargill, Arch Chemicals and others) and other countries (Pemex, Noranda, Barilla and others); the U.S. Government and other governments (UK, Canada, Mexico, Chile, South Africa, the European Union, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, and others); and trade associations (National Cattlemen’s and Beef Association, Federation of the German Chemical Industry, American Forrest and Paper Association, and others).
He has written numerous articles and delivered speeches on international trade and investment. He has served as first Chairman of the WTO Permanent Group of Experts on Subsidies; Chairman of the International Section of the DC Bar; Vice Chairman of the Trade Committee of the International Bar Association; and is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. He teaches international trade law at Yale, Georgetown, Columbia, and Berne Universities.
Benjamin Mazur Summer Research Professor of Law Affiliated Faculty, Ford Motor Company Center for Global Citizenship, Northwestern University School of Law
Jide Nzelibe joined Northwestern's faculty as an assistant professor in 2004 became a full Professor in 2008. He served as the Bigelow Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago before joining Northwestern Law. In addition to his JD from Yale Law School, he also holds an MPA in international relations from Princeton University, where he was awarded a fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and a pre-doctoral fellowship from the Ford Foundation. His research and teaching interests include international trade, foreign relations law, public and private international law and contracts.
Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Judge Stephen Alexander Vaden was appointed as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture on July 7, 2025. Alongside Secretary Brooke L. Rollins, Deputy Secretary Vaden leads the Department’s operations and implements policies that support America’s food and farm systems. A native of Union City, Tennessee, Deputy Secretary Vaden brings expertise in agricultural policy, law, and rural development. Previously, he served as a judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade and as General Counsel of USDA. Throughout Deputy Secretary Vaden’s time as General Counsel, he led successful Supreme Court litigation, advanced regulatory reform, and supported the implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and Vanderbilt University. A public servant with strong agricultural roots, Deputy Secretary Vaden is committed to revitalizing rural America and ensuring an abundant, affordable, and safe U.S. food supply.
Managing Partner, Cramer Multhauf LLP
Attorney Matthew Fernholz focuses his practice on commercial litigation, trust and fiduciary disputes, business torts, trade secrets, non-compete agreements, defamation, and appellate work. In addition, he has developed one of the preeminent political and election law practices in the State of Wisconsin, and has handled several high-profile matters, from representing candidates for statewide office, successfully challenging the Governor’s emergency powers, arguing before the Wisconsin Elections Commission, and representing the Speaker of the Assembly.
Matthew frequently and successfully tries cases to verdict, and believes a lawyer unwilling to try a case should not take on a client in a litigation matter. In addition to this trial work, he has handled dozens of appeals, and countless dispositive motions.
His work has also been published in law review journals and newspapers alike.
Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Ryan Owens is a Professor of Political Science and Affiliate Faculty in the Law School. He also is an Honorary Fellow in the Institute for Legal Studies. Owens studies law and courts and American political institutions. His work analyzes the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals, legal institutions, and judicial behavior. Professor Owens's work has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, the Georgetown Law Journal, the William & Mary Law Review, the University of Illinois Law Review, Law & Society Review, and the Journal of Law and Courts.
Owens received grants from the National Science Foundation, the Harvard Provost, the University of Wisconsin Graduate School, the Center for Empirical Research in the Law, and the George H.W. Bush Library Foundation. He also received the first undergraduate mentoring award given by the Office of the Provost.
Between 2008 and 2011, Owens was Assistant Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he taught undergraduates and graduate students and seminars in the law school. From 2003-2008, Owens earned his Ph.D. at Washington University in Saint Louis. Prior to graduate school, Owens practiced law.
Professor Owens grew up in Kronenwetter, Wisconsin. He is co-owner of the Green Bay Packers, along with roughly 360,760 others.
McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence; Director, James Madison Program, Princeton University
Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He has several times been a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. He has served as Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the President’s Council on Bioethics. He has also served as the U.S. member of UNESCO’s World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology. He was a Judicial Fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States, where he received the Justice Tom C. Clark Award. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Swarthmore, he holds the degrees of J.D. and M.T.S. from Harvard University and the degrees of D.Phil., B.C.L., D.C.L., and D.Litt. from Oxford University, in addition to twenty-one honorary doctorates. He is a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Citizens Medal, the Honorific Medal for the Defense of Human Rights of the Republic of Poland, the Canterbury Medal of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the Bradley Prize, the Irving Kristol Award of the American Enterprise Institute, and Princeton University’s President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching. His books include Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality and In Defense of Natural Law (both published by Oxford University Press), as well as The Clash of Orthodoxies and Conscience and Its Enemies (both published by ISI Books).
District Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of Texas
Matthew J. Kacsmaryk serves as United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas.
He previously served in the (1) private, (2) government, and (3) nonprofit sectors:
Judge Kacsmaryk is an Honors graduate of the University of Texas Law School, where he joined the Federalist Society and served as an Executive Editor of the Texas Review of Law & Politics. Judge Kacsmaryk co-founded the Fort Worth Lawyers Chapter in 2012, coordinated the 2018 Texas Chapters Conference hosted by the Fort Worth Lawyers Chapter, and presently serves on its Advisory Board.
John Paul Stevens Professor of Law, Northwestern University School of Law
Andrew Koppelman is John Paul Stevens Professor of Law, Professor (by courtesy) of Political Science, and Philosophy Department Affiliated Faculty at Northwestern University. He received the Walder Award for Research Excellence from Northwestern, the Hart-Dworkin award in legal philosophy from the Association of American Law Schools, and the Edward S. Corwin Prize from the American Political Science Association. His scholarship focuses on issues at the intersection of law and political philosophy. He has written more than 100 scholarly articles and eight books, most recently Burning Down the House: How Libertarian Philosophy Was Corrupted by Delusion and Greed, (St. Martin’s Press). His column appears regularly at The Hill. You can find his recent work at andrewkoppelman.com.
Vice President and Senior Counsel, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Lori Windham is vice president and senior counsel at Becket, where she has represented clients on cutting-edge religious freedom issues since 2005. She has represented parties before the Supreme Court, arguing Becket’s unanimous victory on behalf of foster families in Fulton v. Philadelphia, as well as working with the Becket team on its Supreme Court victories in Hosanna-Tabor, Hobby Lobby, and Little Sisters of the Poor. She won a victory for the world’s largest religious media network in EWTN v. Azar, staving off millions of dollars in government fines under unlawful the HHS mandate. She has won more than a dozen victories in federal appellate courts, including successful defense of cities and school districts sued for accommodating religion, victories for houses of worship facing discrimination in the land use process, and overturning a multimillion-dollar judgment against a major evangelical ministry. She recently won a first-in-the-nation injunction for an adoption agency threatened with shutdown for its religious beliefs.
Recognized in Washington as an expert on religious freedom issues, Lori has testified in Congressional oversight hearings before the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Outside Washington, Lori is sought-after speaker on First Amendment law, including appearances at Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Central European University, and many others.
In addition to these venues, Lori also defends her clients in the media, including television appearances on CBS This Morning, Hardball, CNN Tonight, On the Record, America’s Newsroom, Opinion Journal, and many others. Her work has been covered by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and dozens of other papers. She is also a regular guest on radio, with appearances on shows ranging from Sean Hannity to NPR.
Lori has successfully represented a wide array of clients, including a Santeria priest prohibited from making animal sacrifices, synagogues prohibited from building on their own land, and religious student organizations penalized for their religious speech. One of her most challenging cases involved travel to a remote farming community to ensure that members of the local Amish community were not jailed for using their traditional building methods.
Lori is a graduate of Harvard Law School and earned her B.A. summa cum laude at Abilene Christian University. She has served on the Board of Visitors of Abilene Christian University and received the ACU Young Alumnus of the Year award for her work at Becket. She sits on the board of Dominion Christian School and the visiting committee of the Fund for American Studies’ Summer Law Fellowship.
The City College of New York, Professor and Chair of Political Science
Daniel DiSalvo is professor and chair of political science in the Colin Powell School at the City College of New York–CUNY and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. His scholarship focuses on American political parties, elections, labor unions, state government, and public policy. He is the author of Engines of Change: Party Factions in American Politics, 1868–2010 (Oxford, 2012) and Government Against Itself: Public Union Power and Its Consequences (Oxford, 2015). His articles have appeared in Political Science Quarterly, Policy Studies Journal, and American Political Thought among others. DiSalvo also writes frequently for popular publications, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Atlantic Monthly, National Affairs, City Journal, American Interest, The Weekly Standard, Los Angeles Times, and the New York Daily News. He is co-editor of The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics. He has held visiting appointments at the James Madison Program at Princeton University and the CUNY Graduate Center.
Managing Partner, Crabbe Brown & James LLP
Larry James has been at the heart of the Columbus business, legal, civic, and political scene for the last thirty years. He is a respected litigator, as well as an advisor to local and national leaders. In recognition of his many achievements, the law firm changed its name from Crabbe, Brown, Jones, Potts & Schmidt to Crabbe, Brown & James in January 2001.
In 2011, The Ohio State University selected Mr. James as lead counsel to represent its student athletes in NCAA investigations. In 2013, Armen Keteyian published his book The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football, a chapter of which is dedicated to Larry’s work in representing the OSU football players.
In 2012, Mr. James and his wife, Donna, were awarded the American Red Cross of Greater Columbus’ Humanitarians of the Year Award. In 2015, noted journalist Wil Haygood published his award-winning book Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America, which he dedicated to Mr. James.
Mr. James is a life member of the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference, and he has served as General Counsel of the National Fraternal Order of Police since 2001.
Professor, University of Miami
June Teufel Dreyer is Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, where she teaches courses on China, U.S. defense policy, and international relations. Professor Dreyer has lectured to, and taught a course for, National Security Agency analysts, consults for organizations including the National Geographic and Centra Technology. She is a senior fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute and a member of International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Formerly senior Far East specialist at the Library of Congress, Dr. Dreyer has also served as Asia policy advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations and as commissioner of the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission established by the U.S. Congress. Dr Dreyer’s most recent book, Middle Kingdom and Empire of the Rising Sun: Sino-Japanese Relations Past and Present, was published by Oxford University Press in 2016. The tenth edition of her China’s Political System: Modernization and Tradition, is scheduled for publication in 2018. Professor Dreyer received her BA from Wellesley College and her MA and PhD from Harvard, and has lived in China and Japan and paid numerous visits to Taiwan. She has served as a United States Information Agency lecturer, speaking in fourteen Asia-Pacific states. Professor Dreyer has published widely on the Chinese military, Asian-Pacific security issues, China-Taiwan relations, Sino-Japanese relations, ethnic minorities in China, and Chinese foreign policy. In 2017, she received the University of Miami’s faculty senate award as Distinguished Research Professor.
Maurice A. Deane Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law and Faculty Director of International Programs, Hofstra University School of Law
Professor Ku’s primary research interest is the relationship of international law to constitutional law. He has also conducted academic research on a wide range of topics including international dispute resolution, international criminal law, and China’s relationship with international law. He teaches courses such as U.S. constitutional law, U.S. foreign affairs law, transnational law, and international trade and business law. Since 2014, he has served as the faculty director of international programs, overseeing Hofstra Law’s study abroad, exchange and LL.M. programs. Professor Ku also teaches Constitutional Law in our online degree programs: Master of Laws in American Law and Master of Arts in American Legal Studies. He has also been selected as the John DeWitt Gregory Research Scholar and as a Hofstra Law Research Fellow. He is a member of the American Law Institute.
He is the co-author, with John Yoo, of Taming Globalization: International Law, the U.S. Constitution, and the New World Order (Oxford University Press 2012). He also has published more than 40 law review articles, book chapters and symposia essays. He has given dozens of academic lectures and workshops at major universities and conferences in the United States, Europe and Asia.
He co-founded the leading international law weblog Opinio Juris, which is read daily by thousands worldwide. His essays and op-eds have been published in major news publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the NYTimes.com. He has been frequently interviewed for television news programs and quoted in print and electronic media. He has also signed or submitted amicus briefs to national and international courts and served as an expert witness in both domestic and international proceedings.
Before joining the Hofstra Law faculty, Professor Ku served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and as an Olin Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Virginia Law School. Professor Ku also practiced as an associate at the New York City law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, specializing in litigation and arbitration arising out of international disputes. He has been a visiting professor at the College of William & Mary Marshall- Wythe School of Law in Williamsburg, Virginia; a Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer in Law at East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, China; and a Taiwan Fellow at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan. He is a member of the New York Bar and a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School.
Attorney, Newsome International Law, LLC
Saul is passionate about international law. Since his creation of the international law practice group at Breazeale, Sachse, and Wilson, LLP, one of Louisiana’s oldest law firms, Saul has advised businesses on trade and investment incentives both locally and abroad. Saul has advised clients on importing, exporting, sanction regimes, and assisted clients in pursuing offshore manufacturing, license agreements, sales agreements and other business ventures. Saul has advised on foreign investment and trade regulations in the United States, including applications to the Committee on Foreign Investments to the United States (CFIUS), export and anti-boycott regulations (EAR), international traffic in arms regulations (ITAR), anti-bribery (FCPA), asset control regulations (OFAC) and customs regulations. Saul has also successfully released assets and transactions that were incorrectly frozen under foreign assets control regulation, and participated in official bilateral meetings with foreign governments.
Saul takes his profession seriously. He is the Secretary of International Law Section of the Louisiana Bar Association and participates in the Export Control and Sanctions Committee of the American Bar Association. Saul was also appointed by the Department of Commerce to serve as a member of the Louisiana District Export Council and sits on its outreach committee. He has achieved a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent peer review rating. In 2016, Saul was named one of Baton Rouge’s Top Forty under 40.
Saul earned his Juris Doctor of Civil Law from the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA and his Bachelor of Arts in both International Studies and Modern Languages and Cultures (Spanish) from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. Saul is a heritage Spanish speaker. To further immerse himself in the language, Saul spent a semester of college studying at the University of Havana in Cuba and a semester of law school studying international business law in Bogotá, Colombia. He also worked at the law firm Francisco Reyes & Asociados, where he focused on foreign direct investment transactions and international comparative corporate law.
After graduating college, Saul commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and worked as a Human Intelligence Officer. Saul deployed twice to Iraq where the teams he led supported infantry battalions and simultaneously trained the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police in intelligence operations. While attending law school, Saul transitioned to the Marine Corps Reserve and continued to lead and prepare Marines for intelligence and combat operations. During that time, Saul also continued foreign military training by deploying to Latin America and Africa.
President, Cass & Associates, PC
Ronald A. Cass is Dean Emeritus of Boston University School of Law (where he was Dean from 1990-2004), President of Cass & Associates, PC, former Vice-Chairman and Commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission, former faculty member at Boston University School of Law and the University of Virginia Law School, and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State. Dean Cass also sits as an arbitrator for commercial, international, and intellectual property rights disputes, and is a former United States member of the Panel of Conciliators of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. He is a member of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States and has received seven presidential appointments, spanning Presidents Ronald Reagan to Donald J. Trump.
As a law professor, lecturer, and scholar, Dean Cass has been teaching and writing about a wide array of legal issues on topics such as administrative law and regulation, antitrust, constitutional law, communications, intellectual property, international trade, separation of powers, and legal process. He has published more than 160 scholarly books, chapters, articles, and papers, including a leading casebook on administrative law. Dean Cass has taught judges as well as students in schools of law, economics, business, and public policy and has held academic appointments in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.
In addition to his academic work, Dean Cass has participated in numerous important legal cases as an amicus, consultant, or expert, and has advised businesses, law firms, investment funds, and government agencies on a range of trade, antitrust, intellectual property, and regulatory issues. He has a broad range of affiliations with professional groups, and has received numerous honors, fellowships and awards.
Dean Cass is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Chicago Law School.
Stephen A. Cozen Professor of Law & Professor of Political Science; Director, Center for East Asian Studies, Penn Law
Jacques deLisle’s research and teaching focus on contemporary Chinese law and politics, including: legal reform and its relationship to economic reform and political change in China, the international status of Taiwan and cross-Strait relations, China’s engagement with the international order, legal and political issues in Hong Kong under Chinese rule, and U.S.-China relations. His writings on these subjects appear in a variety of fora, including international relations journals, edited volumes of multidisciplinary scholarship, and Asian studies journals, as well as law reviews. DeLisle is also professor of political science, director of the Center for East Asian Studies at Penn, deputy director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary China and director of the Asia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He has served frequently as an expert witness on issues of P.R.C. law and government policies and is a consultant, lecturer and advisor to legal reform, development and education programs, primarily in China.
Partner, Law Offices of Gary N. Horlick
Mr. Horlick is one of the highest-ranked international trade lawyers in the world in the only two rankings, Euromoney/Institutional Investor and Who’s Who Legal, and is in the top tier of Chambers (which does not list individual rankings).
Mr. Horlick has worked in senior positions in the U.S. Congress (International Trade Counsel, U.S. Senate Finance Committee) and the Executive Branch (Head of Import Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce), where he was responsible for all U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty cases, Foreign Trade Zones, Special Import Programs, and the negotiation of the U.S.-EU Steel Agreement.
He has been Chairman of WTO and Mercosur panels, and has litigated in U.S. courts and administrative agencies; GATT and WTO tribunals; NAFTA Chapters 19 and 20 tribunals; and anti-dumping cases in more than 20 countries. He has worked on issues involving climate change, textile quotas and monitoring, Generalized System of Preferences, non-market economy status, customs and tariff classification and valuation, export controls, CFIUS and investor-state disputes.
Mr. Horlick has served as counsel to businesses in the U.S. (IBM, Cargill, Arch Chemicals and others) and other countries (Pemex, Noranda, Barilla and others); the U.S. Government and other governments (UK, Canada, Mexico, Chile, South Africa, the European Union, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, and others); and trade associations (National Cattlemen’s and Beef Association, Federation of the German Chemical Industry, American Forrest and Paper Association, and others).
He has written numerous articles and delivered speeches on international trade and investment. He has served as first Chairman of the WTO Permanent Group of Experts on Subsidies; Chairman of the International Section of the DC Bar; Vice Chairman of the Trade Committee of the International Bar Association; and is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. He teaches international trade law at Yale, Georgetown, Columbia, and Berne Universities.
Benjamin Mazur Summer Research Professor of Law Affiliated Faculty, Ford Motor Company Center for Global Citizenship, Northwestern University School of Law
Jide Nzelibe joined Northwestern's faculty as an assistant professor in 2004 became a full Professor in 2008. He served as the Bigelow Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago before joining Northwestern Law. In addition to his JD from Yale Law School, he also holds an MPA in international relations from Princeton University, where he was awarded a fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and a pre-doctoral fellowship from the Ford Foundation. His research and teaching interests include international trade, foreign relations law, public and private international law and contracts.
Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Judge Stephen Alexander Vaden was appointed as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture on July 7, 2025. Alongside Secretary Brooke L. Rollins, Deputy Secretary Vaden leads the Department’s operations and implements policies that support America’s food and farm systems. A native of Union City, Tennessee, Deputy Secretary Vaden brings expertise in agricultural policy, law, and rural development. Previously, he served as a judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade and as General Counsel of USDA. Throughout Deputy Secretary Vaden’s time as General Counsel, he led successful Supreme Court litigation, advanced regulatory reform, and supported the implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and Vanderbilt University. A public servant with strong agricultural roots, Deputy Secretary Vaden is committed to revitalizing rural America and ensuring an abundant, affordable, and safe U.S. food supply.
The City College of New York, Professor and Chair of Political Science
Daniel DiSalvo is professor and chair of political science in the Colin Powell School at the City College of New York–CUNY and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. His scholarship focuses on American political parties, elections, labor unions, state government, and public policy. He is the author of Engines of Change: Party Factions in American Politics, 1868–2010 (Oxford, 2012) and Government Against Itself: Public Union Power and Its Consequences (Oxford, 2015). His articles have appeared in Political Science Quarterly, Policy Studies Journal, and American Political Thought among others. DiSalvo also writes frequently for popular publications, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Atlantic Monthly, National Affairs, City Journal, American Interest, The Weekly Standard, Los Angeles Times, and the New York Daily News. He is co-editor of The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics. He has held visiting appointments at the James Madison Program at Princeton University and the CUNY Graduate Center.
Managing Partner, Crabbe Brown & James LLP
Larry James has been at the heart of the Columbus business, legal, civic, and political scene for the last thirty years. He is a respected litigator, as well as an advisor to local and national leaders. In recognition of his many achievements, the law firm changed its name from Crabbe, Brown, Jones, Potts & Schmidt to Crabbe, Brown & James in January 2001.
In 2011, The Ohio State University selected Mr. James as lead counsel to represent its student athletes in NCAA investigations. In 2013, Armen Keteyian published his book The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football, a chapter of which is dedicated to Larry’s work in representing the OSU football players.
In 2012, Mr. James and his wife, Donna, were awarded the American Red Cross of Greater Columbus’ Humanitarians of the Year Award. In 2015, noted journalist Wil Haygood published his award-winning book Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America, which he dedicated to Mr. James.
Mr. James is a life member of the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference, and he has served as General Counsel of the National Fraternal Order of Police since 2001.
Professor, University of Miami
June Teufel Dreyer is Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, where she teaches courses on China, U.S. defense policy, and international relations. Professor Dreyer has lectured to, and taught a course for, National Security Agency analysts, consults for organizations including the National Geographic and Centra Technology. She is a senior fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute and a member of International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Formerly senior Far East specialist at the Library of Congress, Dr. Dreyer has also served as Asia policy advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations and as commissioner of the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission established by the U.S. Congress. Dr Dreyer’s most recent book, Middle Kingdom and Empire of the Rising Sun: Sino-Japanese Relations Past and Present, was published by Oxford University Press in 2016. The tenth edition of her China’s Political System: Modernization and Tradition, is scheduled for publication in 2018. Professor Dreyer received her BA from Wellesley College and her MA and PhD from Harvard, and has lived in China and Japan and paid numerous visits to Taiwan. She has served as a United States Information Agency lecturer, speaking in fourteen Asia-Pacific states. Professor Dreyer has published widely on the Chinese military, Asian-Pacific security issues, China-Taiwan relations, Sino-Japanese relations, ethnic minorities in China, and Chinese foreign policy. In 2017, she received the University of Miami’s faculty senate award as Distinguished Research Professor.
Maurice A. Deane Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law and Faculty Director of International Programs, Hofstra University School of Law
Professor Ku’s primary research interest is the relationship of international law to constitutional law. He has also conducted academic research on a wide range of topics including international dispute resolution, international criminal law, and China’s relationship with international law. He teaches courses such as U.S. constitutional law, U.S. foreign affairs law, transnational law, and international trade and business law. Since 2014, he has served as the faculty director of international programs, overseeing Hofstra Law’s study abroad, exchange and LL.M. programs. Professor Ku also teaches Constitutional Law in our online degree programs: Master of Laws in American Law and Master of Arts in American Legal Studies. He has also been selected as the John DeWitt Gregory Research Scholar and as a Hofstra Law Research Fellow. He is a member of the American Law Institute.
He is the co-author, with John Yoo, of Taming Globalization: International Law, the U.S. Constitution, and the New World Order (Oxford University Press 2012). He also has published more than 40 law review articles, book chapters and symposia essays. He has given dozens of academic lectures and workshops at major universities and conferences in the United States, Europe and Asia.
He co-founded the leading international law weblog Opinio Juris, which is read daily by thousands worldwide. His essays and op-eds have been published in major news publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the NYTimes.com. He has been frequently interviewed for television news programs and quoted in print and electronic media. He has also signed or submitted amicus briefs to national and international courts and served as an expert witness in both domestic and international proceedings.
Before joining the Hofstra Law faculty, Professor Ku served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and as an Olin Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Virginia Law School. Professor Ku also practiced as an associate at the New York City law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, specializing in litigation and arbitration arising out of international disputes. He has been a visiting professor at the College of William & Mary Marshall- Wythe School of Law in Williamsburg, Virginia; a Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer in Law at East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, China; and a Taiwan Fellow at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan. He is a member of the New York Bar and a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School.
Attorney, Newsome International Law, LLC
Saul is passionate about international law. Since his creation of the international law practice group at Breazeale, Sachse, and Wilson, LLP, one of Louisiana’s oldest law firms, Saul has advised businesses on trade and investment incentives both locally and abroad. Saul has advised clients on importing, exporting, sanction regimes, and assisted clients in pursuing offshore manufacturing, license agreements, sales agreements and other business ventures. Saul has advised on foreign investment and trade regulations in the United States, including applications to the Committee on Foreign Investments to the United States (CFIUS), export and anti-boycott regulations (EAR), international traffic in arms regulations (ITAR), anti-bribery (FCPA), asset control regulations (OFAC) and customs regulations. Saul has also successfully released assets and transactions that were incorrectly frozen under foreign assets control regulation, and participated in official bilateral meetings with foreign governments.
Saul takes his profession seriously. He is the Secretary of International Law Section of the Louisiana Bar Association and participates in the Export Control and Sanctions Committee of the American Bar Association. Saul was also appointed by the Department of Commerce to serve as a member of the Louisiana District Export Council and sits on its outreach committee. He has achieved a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent peer review rating. In 2016, Saul was named one of Baton Rouge’s Top Forty under 40.
Saul earned his Juris Doctor of Civil Law from the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA and his Bachelor of Arts in both International Studies and Modern Languages and Cultures (Spanish) from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. Saul is a heritage Spanish speaker. To further immerse himself in the language, Saul spent a semester of college studying at the University of Havana in Cuba and a semester of law school studying international business law in Bogotá, Colombia. He also worked at the law firm Francisco Reyes & Asociados, where he focused on foreign direct investment transactions and international comparative corporate law.
After graduating college, Saul commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and worked as a Human Intelligence Officer. Saul deployed twice to Iraq where the teams he led supported infantry battalions and simultaneously trained the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police in intelligence operations. While attending law school, Saul transitioned to the Marine Corps Reserve and continued to lead and prepare Marines for intelligence and combat operations. During that time, Saul also continued foreign military training by deploying to Latin America and Africa.
Panel II: Trade and Sovereignty
2021 National Student Symposium
Panel II: Trade and Sovereignty
Ronald A. Cass, Jacques deLisle, Gary N. Horlick, Jide Okechuku Nzelibe, Stephen Alexander Vaden
International trade has been a cornerstone of the postwar liberal order. Multilateral trade institutions, like...
2011 Wisconsin Act 21 and What it Means Today
Milwaukee Lawyers Chapter
Topics
Why Did California's Prop 16 Fail? A County-by-County Assessment
By a margin of 57% to 43%, California voters in 2020 rejected Proposition 16, which...
Frederick Douglass: Critical Race Theorist?
Milwaukee Lawyers Chapter
Virtual Panel: Sex and Gender Issues Following Bostock
2021 Texas Chapters Conference
TXPolice Unions, Practically Speaking
Daniel DiSalvo, Larry H. James
In the current scholarship surrounding law enforcement issues, there are two diverging sides in which...
Police Unions, Practically Speaking
TeleforumChina-Taiwan Relations and International Law in a Post-COVID World
June Teufel Dreyer, Julian Ku, Saul R. Newsome
This teleforum will provide a wide-ranging discussion on the recent developments in the China-Taiwan relationship....
China-Taiwan Relations and International Law in a Post-COVID World
Teleforum