Executive Director, Consumers’ Research
Will Hild is the Executive Director of Consumers’ Research. Will has a decade of non-profit, legal and public policy experience. Prior to joining CR, Will served as the Deputy Director of the Regulatory Transparency Project. Before that, he worked at the Philanthropy Roundtable as the Director of External Affairs for the Culture of Freedom Initiative, and as the Chief Operating Officer of that Initiative when it grew to become a separate organization. He helped co-found the public interest law firm, Cause of Action, and served as the firm’s acting communications director for nearly a year.
Will received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Florida. He is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Will resides in Bethesda, MD, with his wife Cheryl, a practicing OB/GYN, and their son Liam.
Partner, Fusion Law, PLLC
Paul is the founding partner of Fusion Law, PLLC. He has extensive experience with state, federal, and global regulators building coalitions and implementing policies to promote innovation in financial services. He is responsible for designing and implementing the first state (Arizona) and federal (CFPB) FinTech sandboxes in the United States. He also designed the CFPB no-action letter and trial disclosure policies. He helped found the first global regulatory innovation coalition (Global Financial Innovation Network) and led the founding of the first U.S. regulatory innovation coalition (American Consumer Financial Innovation Network). He served on the Financial Stability Oversight Council subcommittee on digital assets. He also has drafted state-level laws on blockchain and utility tokens.
Paul also has significant enforcement and litigation experience. He led many multi-state consumer protection enforcement matters as Civil Litigation Division Chief at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
Prior to his government service, Paul practiced law in the areas of securities litigation and transactional work for approximately six years at two well-known law firms. He also clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
First Assistant Attorney General, Texas
Brent Webster was appointed by Ken Paxton to be First Assistant Attorney General in 2020. As second in command to Ken Paxton, Brent’s job is to implement Paxton’s policy and litigation initiatives and manage the day-to-day operation of the Office of the Attorney General, which employs approximately 4200 Texans.
Since his appointment in October 2020, Brent has led a multi-pronged initiative at Ken Paxton’s request to (1) serve as the primary check on the federal governments overreach, (2) ensure that Texas is deterring wrongful conduct in the state through civil enforcement mechanisms, and (3) instill a trial-focused, litigation-first mentality across the agency to foster better results for Texas when involved in litigation. Brent has led Ken Paxton’s litigation against the federal government in 106 lawsuits, with a staggering win rate above 75%, he has doubled the average annual recovery through civil enforcement, amounting to over $426 million dollars in his first fiscal year and $548 million in his second fiscal year, and he has led an agency-wide initiative to empower OAG lawyers to aggressively pursue the State’s interests in court, whether against liberal municipalities, rogue school districts, or anyone else who violates the law in Texas. Most recently, Brent was the lead negotiator at mediation for the historic 1.4-billion-dollar settlement against Meta for the State of Texas.
Prior to joining the Attorney General's Office, Webster served in a variety of leadership roles including First Assistant District Attorney in Williamson County, Texas, Chief Operations Officer and General Counsel at an Austin start-up, and Senior Counsel at a litigation law firm. While serving as a Criminal Prosecutor for 10 years in Williamson he was awarded the “Crime Victim Advocate Hall of Fame Award” for outstanding service to crime victims.
Webster received his undergraduate education at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas graduating in 2003, and received his legal education at University of Houston Law Center in 2005. He is licensed to practice law by the state of Texas and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, and the federal district courts in the Western, Southern, and Northern districts of Texas.
AI Innovation and Law Fellow, University of Texas School of Law
Kevin Frazier is an AI Innovation and Law Fellow with University of Texas School of Law.
Head of Government Affairs, Andreessen Horowitz
Collin is the Head of Government Affairs at Andreessen Horowitz where he oversees the firm’s political and policy strategy.
Prior to joining a16z, Collin spent more than a decade working on Capitol Hill. Most recently, Collin was the Deputy Staff Director of the House Financial Services Committee, where he served as a senior advisor to Chairman Patrick McHenry, members of the Committee, and House Leadership. While at the Financial Services Committee, Collin led a variety of policy initiatives, including efforts to pass the historic Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020, a $2.2 trillion relief package in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; craft legislation on digital assets and financial technology, including legislation on stablecoins and digital asset market structure; reform rules around capital formation and investment; and build coalitions between policymakers and industry stakeholders on a broad range of policy proposals.
Prior to his role at the Financial Services Committee, Collin served as Policy Director of the House Rules Committee, overseeing the procedure for all major legislation that was brought before the House of Representatives. Before that, he served in multiple roles at the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, negotiating several major bipartisan pieces of legislation, including the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act and the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018.
Collin holds a B.A. in public policy from Franklin & Marshall College.
Vice President, Special Advisor for Proxy & Corporate Actions, Broadridge
As a key proxy and corporate actions expert, Larry focuses on creating new ways to create value for clients within the Broadridge network globally and bring a valuable client perspective to Broadridge’s product and service evolution. He also drives and supports key industry initiatives such as end-to-end confirmation for proxy contests.
With more than 25 years in financial services, Larry brings extensive expertise from Fidelity Investments, where he was formerly the Vice President for the Operations and Services Group. In this role, Larry had product and business management responsibilities for the Asset Services Division, which included domestic and global Corporate Actions and Proxy. Larry has also led and participated in several industry working and advisory groups focused on evaluating legislative and regulatory changes as well as driving industry best practices.
Mr. Conover earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance from Rutgers University, and an MBA/MIS degree from St Peter’s University. Mr. Conover holds Series 7 and 24 licenses and completed the Securities Industry Institute program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Former Managing Director, BlackRock Inc.
Joanne Medero was until July 2020 a Managing Director at BlackRock where she was member of their Global Public Policy Group and a Senior Advisor to the Vice Chairman on the intersection of public policy and corporate governance. In June 2021, Ms. Medero was appointed a director/trustee of the Nuveen Funds.
Ms. Medero's service with BlackRock dates back to 1996, including her years with Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. She joined BGI as its Global General Counsel in 1996 and after more than ten years in that role, became the global head of Government Relations and Public Policy for Barclays’ investment banking and investment management businesses. Prior to joining BGI, Ms. Medero was a partner with Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe specializing in derivatives and market regulation issues. Ms. Medero also served as general counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (1989-1993) and as an associate director for legal and financial affairs at the Office of Presidential Personnel, The White House (1986-1989).
Ms. Medero is a graduate of St. Lawrence University and received her JD from George Washington University.
Founder, Paredes Strategies LLC
Troy A. Paredes is the founder of Paredes Strategies LLC. From 2008-2013, Mr. Paredes was a Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, having been appointed by President George W. Bush. At the SEC, Mr. Paredes was a strong advocate for small business and the JOBS Act, for solving the information overload problem of securities law disclosure, and for rigorous cost-benefit analysis. He also consistently expressed concerns about the overregulation and overreach of the Dodd-Frank Act. Since leaving government, Mr. Paredes has had an active consulting practice. Mr. Paredes advises on financial regulation, corporate governance, compliance, and governmental and regulatory affairs. He also serves as an expert and adviser in regulatory enforcement investigations and actions and in private litigation involving securities law and corporate law, and he has been an independent compliance consultant/monitor. Before becoming an SEC Commissioner, Mr. Paredes was a professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis and a professor of business (by courtesy) at Washington University’s Olin Business School. Currently, he is the Distinguished Policy Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. Next year he will be a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at NYU School of Law. Mr. Paredes is the author of numerous academic articles on financial regulation, corporate governance, innovation, and behavioral economics. He also is a co-author (beginning with the 4th edition) of a multi-volume securities regulation treatise with Louis Loss and Joel Seligman entitled Securities Regulation. Mr. Paredes serves on the board of directors of Electronifie Inc. and is a member of the board of advisors of StreetShares, Inc. Mr. Paredes holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from UC Berkeley and earned his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Deputy General Counsel, Investment Company Institute
Matthew Thornton is Deputy General Counsel for the Investment Company Institute, with responsibility for a wide range of legal issues affecting registered investment companies and investment advisers. Mr. Thornton’s primary areas of responsibility include liquidity, valuation, corporate governance and proxy voting, advertising/social media, issues related to fixed income, disclosure, and investment advisory matters. Before joining ICI in 2014, he was an associate in Dechert LLP’s financial services group from 2005 to 2014. Before practicing law, Mr. Thornton held positions in the financial services industry at SunTrust Banks (now Truist) from 1998 to 2005 and Merrill Lynch from 1997 to 1998. Mr. Thornton is a member of the Washington, D.C. and Maryland bars and a Certified Financial Planner™. He received his BA in economics from the University of Notre Dame and his JD from Georgetown University Law Center.
Executive Director, Wyoming Stable Token Commission
Anthony Apollo is the Exeuctive Director of the Wyoming Stable Token Commission, which is responsible for developing and issuing the first publicly-issued, fully-reserved stablecoin in the United States, the Wyoming Stable Token (WYST). The WYST is backed by U.S. Treasury securities and cash, and is designed to be redeemable for U.S. dollars.
Beth and Marc Goldberg Professor of Law, Cornell Law School
Dan Awrey is the Beth and Marc Goldberg Professor of Law at Cornell Law School. Dan’s teaching and research interests reside in the field of financial regulation, including the regulation of banks, investment funds, derivatives markets, payment systems, and financial market infrastructure. Dan has undertaken research and provided advice at the request of organizations including the Bank for International Settlements, U.S. Treasury Department, Federal Reserve Board, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, Her Majesty’s Treasury, UK Financial Conduct Authority, Commonwealth Secretariat, Canadian Department of Finance, and European Securities and Markets Authority. His research has been featured in publications including the Yale Law Journal, New York University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Duke Law Journal, Cornell Law Review, Yale Journal on Regulation, Harvard Business Law Review, and the Journal of Comparative Economics. Dan is a co-author of one of the leading textbooks on financial regulation, Principles of Financial Regulation, published by Oxford University Press. He is also a founding co-managing editor of the Journal of Financial Regulation. His latest book, Beyond Banks: Technology, Regulation, and the Future of Money was published by Princeton University Press in October 2024.
Partner, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP; Special Professor of Law, Maurice A. Dean School of Law, Hofstra University
Gary E. Kalbaugh is a nationally recognized leader in commodities, futures, and derivatives law.
Gary is a partner in the New York office of Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP as well as a Special Professor of Law at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, where he teaches derivatives law and banking law.
A preeminent authority in the derivatives field, Gary is the author of the principal treatise Derivatives Law and Regulation (3rd ed. 2021) and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Futures and Derivatives Law Report, the foremost industry publication. He is a past chair of the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on the Regulation of Futures and Derivatives and has over 15 years of experience as a professor teaching derivatives and banking law.
Gary is the leading derivatives lawyer in the digital assets space, and one of few to truly understand the technical side of emerging financial technology. He serves on the CFTC’s Future of Finance Subcommittee, reflecting his recognized leadership at the intersection of financial regulation and emerging technologies. A frequent speaker, writer, and commentator on derivatives, banking law, artificial intelligence, and digital assets regulation, he has served as conference co-chair for the American Bar Association’s “Artificial Intelligence and Derivatives Market” conference and regularly speaks at major industry conferences on cutting-edge issues in financial regulation and technology. Gary is sought after as a thought leader on the evolving landscape of digital asset regulation and the regulatory implications of AI in financial markets.
At ING, Gary served as Deputy General Counsel and Director, where he chaired swap dealer and security-based swap dealer regulatory committees and provided strategic leadership on U.S., European, and other regulations impacting the organization. He had global responsibility for U.S. derivatives regulatory issues and maintained strong relationships with regulators. Gary also co-developed ING legal’s global artificial intelligence training program and was responsible for U.S. regulatory issues relating to ING’s blockchain-based pilot programs and crypto initiatives.
Previously, Gary served as a lecturer-in-law at Columbia Law School and held senior roles at WestLB, where he was executive director, counsel, and chief U.S. data protection officer and chaired the global Dodd-Frank and underwriting committees. He began his career as an associate at a notable international firm.
Head of Legal for Blockchain, Crypto and Digital Currencies, Paypal Inc.
Jerome Roche is an experienced legal professional specializing in blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital currencies, currently serving as the Head of Legal at PayPal. Previously, Jerome held partner positions at Linklaters and Mayer Brown, and served as Associate General Counsel at TIAA-CREF, along with an associate role at WilmerHale. Jerome earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School (1994-1997) and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Purdue University (1988-1992)
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Circle
Sarah is responsible for leading Circle’s legal function to progress the company’s vision and priorities across commercial and M&A transactions, regulatory and product initiatives, corporate governance, and litigation. Sarah honed her corporate legal practice at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP before transitioning in-house, most recently serving as the Chief Legal Officer of a PE-backed company.
PhD, Professor of Finance, University of Colorado
Sanjai Bhagat, PhD, is professor of finance at University of Colorado. Previously, he has taught finance at Princeton University, and University of Chicago. He has deep expertise in finance and investments, cybersecurity governance, IPO valuation, energy and ESG, and M&A. He has advised the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, and U.S. Department of Treasury on finance and corporate governance. He has served as a board member of a venture capital company focused on cutting-edge technologies in life sciences. Currently, he is serving as an Independent Board Member of an enterprise-level application software company.
General Counsel, xAI and X
Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission
Andrew N. Ferguson was sworn in April 2, 2024 as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. President Joe Biden named Ferguson to a term that expires on September 25, 2030.
Ferguson most recently served as solicitor general of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Prior to that position, he served as chief counsel to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and as a Republican counsel on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He also practiced law at several Washington, D.C. law firms. He earned his undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of Virginia. After law school, Ferguson clerked for Judge Karen L. Henderson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Partner, O’Melveny & Myers
Brian P. Brooks is the Managing Partner of Valor Capital Group. He has served as CEO of the Bitfury Group and CEO of digital asset exchange and marketplace Binance.US.
Mr. Brooks became Acting Comptroller of the Currency upon the resignation of the 31st Comptroller of the Currency Joseph M. Otting as a result of his designation as First Deputy Comptroller by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin pursuant to his authority under 12 USC § 4.
As Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Mr. Brooks was the administrator of the federal banking system and chief officer of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC supervises nearly 1,200 national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks that conduct approximately 70% of all banking business in the United States. The mission of the OCC is to ensure that national banks and federal savings associations operate in a safe and sound manner, provide fair access to financial services, treat customers fairly, and comply with applicable laws and regulations.
The Comptroller also serves as a director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and a member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.
Prior to becoming Acting Comptroller, Mr. Brooks served as Senior Deputy Comptroller and Chief Operating Officer. In this role, he oversaw OCC bank supervision, bank supervision policy, economics, supervisory system and analytical support, systemic risk identification support and specialty supervision, and innovation. He also served as a member of the OCC's Executive Committee and was the Chair of the Technology and Systems Subcommittee, since joining the agency in April 2020.
Prior to joining the OCC, Mr. Brooks served as Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase Global, Inc., where he headed the legal, compliance, audit, investigations, and government relations functions for the company, which served 20 million customers. He held this position since September 2018.
From 2014-2018, Mr. Brooks served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of the $3.2 trillion Fannie Mae. Prior to joining Fannie Mae, he served as a Vice Chairman of OneWest Bank, N.A., from 2011 to 2014. Prior to joining OneWest, he served managing partner of the Washington, D.C. office of the global law firm O'Melveny & Myers LLP, where he also served as chair of the firm's financial services practice group. Prior to joining the OCC, Mr. Brooks also served on the Boards of Directors of Avant, Inc. and Fannie Mae, and also served as an advisor to a number of technology startups.
Mr. Brooks holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in government and a law degree from the University of Chicago.
Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Financial Technology, Georgetown Law
Chris Brummer is the Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Financial Technology at Georgetown University Law Center and the Faculty Director of Georgetown’s Institute of International Economic Law. As a professor, advisor, board member and advocate, Chris has lent his expertise to policymakers, founders, startups, and nonprofits around the world grappling with some of the most challenging puzzles facing innovation, regulation, and inclusion. His work has been featured in The New York Times, CNN, Marketwatch, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Yahoo Money, Roll Call, Cointelegraph, and Coin Desk, among others.
Chris’s public service and volunteer work extend across government. In addition to serving as a member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Subcommittee on Virtual Currencies and the Consultative Working Group for the European Securities and Markets Authority’s Financial Innovation Standing Committee, Chris has served as a member of the National Adjudicatory Council of FINRA. Most recently, he served as a member of the Biden-Harris Transition team, assisting in leading work streams relating to financial technology, racial equity and systemic risk for the Treasury ART. He is currently the Co-Chair of CNAS Task Force on FinTech, Crypto, and National Security.
A frequent speaker and lecturer, Chris was asked to deliver the keynote speech for the SEC’s Black History celebration in 2021, FinCEN’s Black History celebration in 2022, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s celebration in 2023.
Chris graduated summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis, holds a J.D. with honors from Columbia Law School and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He is the author or editor of several books, including Cryptoassets: Legal, Regulatory and Monetary Perspectives and Fintech Law in a Nutshell.
Chris is the host of CQ Roll Call’s Fintech Beat podcast, and founder of Washington DC’s Fintech Week, an annual free event for the public.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Patrick J. Bumatay was confirmed as a U.S. Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in December 2019. He is based in San Diego, California.
Prior to his appointment, Judge Bumatay served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, where he was a member of the Appellate and Narcotics Sections. He also served as a Counselor to the Attorney General on criminal law issues, including on national opioid strategy and combating transnational organized crime.
Judge Bumatay has also worked in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the Office of the Associate Attorney General, and the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice. Judge Bumatay has twice received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award.
Judge Bumatay previously worked as an associate at Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, and Bohrer in New York, New York. Judge Bumatay clerked for the Honorable Timothy M. Tymkovich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the Honorable Sandra L. Townes of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Bumatay earned his B.A., cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
John J. Flynn Endowed Professor of Law, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law
Christopher Peterson is the John J. Flynn Endowed Professor of Law at the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law. He previously served as a Special Advisor in the Office of the Director at the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as a Special Advisor in the Office of Legal Policy for Personnel and Readiness in the United States Department of Defense, and as Senior Counsel for Enforcement Policy and Strategy in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Office of Enforcement. Professor Peterson has written dozens of scholarly articles and published three books on consumer finance. He has frequently testified in Congressional hearings and has presented his research to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and at the White House in both Democratic and Republican administrations. He is a fellow of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers, the American Bar Association's Consumer Financial Services Committee, and serves on the community advisory board of the American Fintech Council. Professor Peterson is a recipient of the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators’ Consumer Advocate of the Year award and the Pentagon’s Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence.
Partner and Co-Chair, Public Policy Group, Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP
Mark Behrens co-chairs Shook's Washington, DC-based Public Policy Practice Group and is a leading national expert on civil justice issues with over thirty years of experience. A substantial part of his practice is working to improve the civil litigation environment through state and federal legislation; in the courts through amicus curiae briefs; through legal scholarship and judicial education; and in the court of public opinion.
Mark is actively involved in civil justice reform efforts at the federal and state levels. He has testified before the U.S. Congress and most state legislatures on behalf of business and civil justice organizations. Mark also has an active amicus brief practice specializing in tort liability and civil justice issues. He has authored or co-authored over 150 amicus briefs in cases before the United States Supreme Court and federal and state appellate courts on behalf of business, civil justice, and defense lawyer organizations. In addition, Mark routinely files comments on behalf of business, civil justice, and defense lawyer organizations regarding potential changes to federal and state court rules. He chairs the International Association of Defense Counsel’s (IADC) Civil Justice Response Committee and serves on the Board of Directors of Lawyers for Civil Justice (LCJ).
Mark is a member of the American Law Institute (ALI). He received his J.D. in 1990 from Vanderbilt University Law School, where he was a member of the Vanderbilt Law Review. He received his B.A. in economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1987.
General Counsel, xAI and X
Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission
Andrew N. Ferguson was sworn in April 2, 2024 as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. President Joe Biden named Ferguson to a term that expires on September 25, 2030.
Ferguson most recently served as solicitor general of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Prior to that position, he served as chief counsel to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and as a Republican counsel on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He also practiced law at several Washington, D.C. law firms. He earned his undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of Virginia. After law school, Ferguson clerked for Judge Karen L. Henderson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Partner, Keller Postman
Ashley Keller is one of the founding Partners of Keller Postman LLC. An experienced trial and appellate lawyer, Ashley helps set strategic direction across virtually all of the firm’s cases. He represents clients in a wide variety of practice areas and types of claims, including product-liability, antitrust, class action, and arbitration matters.
Ashley is one of the leaders of Keller Postman’s national product-liability practice. He leverages his ability to detangle complex concepts and develop novel legal theories to support individual client matters and as counsel on numerous product-liability multidistrict litigation matters. He chairs the plaintiffs’ Law & Briefing Committee in the Zantac (Ranitidine) Product Liability MDL in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Ashley also litigates complex antitrust and class action matters. Among his notable cases, Ashley represents numerous States in antitrust litigation against Google for monopolizing products and services used by advertisers and publishers in online-display advertising.
Ashley also has played a central role in developing the firm’s pioneering arbitration practice, which includes pursuing individual arbitrations for clients whose claims are subject to arbitration clauses with class-action waivers. In part through managing the complexity of pursuing these individual claims simultaneously, the firm has secured millions in settlements for more than 500,000 employees and consumers.
Before launching Keller Postman, Ashley co-founded the litigation finance firm Gerchen Keller Capital, which grew to more than $1.3 billion in assets under management and was the world’s largest private investment manager focused on legal and regulatory risk prior to being acquired by Burford Capital in 2016.
Previously, Ashley was a partner at Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP, The American Lawyer’s litigation boutique of the year. While there, he handled various trial and appellate matters involving multi-billion-dollar securities and patent cases, contract disputes, mass torts, and class actions.
Ashley also worked as an analyst at Alyeska Investment Group, a Chicago-based market-neutral hedge fund, where he focused on investments in companies facing litigation and other complicated regulatory matters.
Ashley was named a 2021 Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazer by the National Law Journal. He is also listed on Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Lawyers in America, Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers, Lawdragon’s Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers, National Trial Lawyers’ Top 100, and Illinois Super Lawyers.
Ashley was a law clerk for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy at the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge Richard Posner at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, received his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where he graduated first in his class.
Partner, Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC
Brandon Smith is a partner at Holtzman Vogel, based in Tennessee, where he focuses on government investigations, white collar matters, and specialty litigation. A seasoned government leader and legal strategist, Brandon has played a central role in shaping conservative policy and litigation at the highest levels of state government.
Before joining the firm, Brandon served as Chief of Staff and Assistant Solicitor General in the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office. In that role, he led multi-state litigation, high-profile constitutional challenges, and efforts to counter federal overreach and ESG-related corporate activism. He worked closely with nearly every Republican Attorney General’s Office in the country, coordinating litigation, strategy, and multi-state policy efforts.
Earlier in his career, Brandon served as Executive Director of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs for Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin and as Policy Director to Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, where he helped drive key legislative and budget initiatives. He also held roles as Deputy Director of the Federalist Society and as an adjunct professor at American University.
Brandon’s career has been defined by a commitment to defending federalism, advancing conservative governance, and shaping legal and policy fights that matter.
Deputy Attorney General, Civil Litigation, Texas Attorney General
James Lloyd is the Deputy Attorney General for Civil Litigation for the Texas Attorney General. He serves alongside over 600 lawyers and staff across eleven practice groups handling more than 35,000 cases involving the State of Texas. James also serves as Chief of the Antitrust Division, leading the enforcement of state and federal antitrust laws and representing the interests of Texas in national antitrust matters alongside federal enforcers.
James previously practiced at global law firms Sidley Austin LLP and Mayer Brown LLP, managing a range of high-profile matters for public and private companies. He began his legal career as a law clerk to Justice David Medina on the Texas Supreme Court.
James has served in a variety of roles in public service. He is currently an Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, assigned to the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. James served on the Presidential Transition Team for President Donald Trump, where he advised on financial regulatory policy and led the transition of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. James previously served at the White House as Senior Writer to President George W. Bush. He was also a member of the national security staff, coordinating policymaking and oversight with senior officials among the Cabinet departments and agencies.
James received his J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law, where he was Articles Editor for the Texas Law Review and a teaching assistant to Admiral Bobby Inman. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Rice University, where he was student body president and received the Joseph Cooper Prize in Public Policy.
A seventh-generation Texan, James comes from a family of litigators, including his mother, his sister, and his father who has served over 18 years on the Texas judiciary. James is Chair of the State Bar of Texas Antitrust and Business Litigation Section and serves on the Executive Committee of The Federalist Society’s Corporations, Securities, and Antitrust Practice Group.
James has spent over a decade as a volunteer attorney for veterans legal clinics in Houston and Austin. He is also a member of the Legal Affairs Roundtable for the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) and is also a longtime supporter of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, serving on the Mutton Bustin' Committee.
Levin, Mabie & Levin Professor of Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law
Professor Lynn M. LoPucki comes to UF in August 2022 from the UCLA School of Law where he taught Secured Transactions and Business Associations for twenty-two years. His Stakeholder Takeover Project is an effort to provide corporate stakeholders with the information they need to control corporations through markets. For example, the Project website ranks the S&P 500 companies by their greenhouse gas emissions. The UC Davis Law Review published the first Project article, Repurposing the Corporation Through Stakeholder Markets, in February 2022 and will publish the second, Corporate Greenhouse Gas Disclosures, in November.
Professor LoPucki has published more than seventy-five articles in highly regarded law reviews, including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, University of Michigan Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Virginia Law Review, Cornell Law Review, Duke Law Journal, and Northwestern University Law Review. He co-authors three Aspen Casebooks: Business Associations: A Systems Approach (2020) (with Andrew Verstein); Secured Transactions: A Systems Approach (9th edition with Elizabeth Warren and Robert M. Lawless), and Commercial Transactions: A Systems Approach (7th edition with Elizabeth Warren, Daniel L. Keating, Ronald Mann, and Robert M. Lawless).
Since 1994, the Florida-UCLA-LoPucki Bankruptcy Research Database has collected large, public company bankruptcy data and disseminated it to the public and to bankruptcy researchers throughout the world. Those data provided the foundation for Professor LoPucki’s books, Courting Failure: How Competition for Big Cases is Corrupting the Bankruptcy Courts (University of Michigan Press 2005) and Professional Fees in Corporate Bankruptcies: Data, Analysis, and Evaluation (Oxford University Press, 2011) (with Joseph Doherty).
Partner, Fusion Law, PLLC
Paul is the founding partner of Fusion Law, PLLC. He has extensive experience with state, federal, and global regulators building coalitions and implementing policies to promote innovation in financial services. He is responsible for designing and implementing the first state (Arizona) and federal (CFPB) FinTech sandboxes in the United States. He also designed the CFPB no-action letter and trial disclosure policies. He helped found the first global regulatory innovation coalition (Global Financial Innovation Network) and led the founding of the first U.S. regulatory innovation coalition (American Consumer Financial Innovation Network). He served on the Financial Stability Oversight Council subcommittee on digital assets. He also has drafted state-level laws on blockchain and utility tokens.
Paul also has significant enforcement and litigation experience. He led many multi-state consumer protection enforcement matters as Civil Litigation Division Chief at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
Prior to his government service, Paul practiced law in the areas of securities litigation and transactional work for approximately six years at two well-known law firms. He also clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Head of Corporate Governance, Strive Asset Management
Justin Danhof is the Head of Corporate Governance at Strive Asset Management. Previously, he served as General Counsel for the National Center for Public Policy Research, as well as Director of the Center’s Free Enterprise Project. He also worked in the Miami-Dade State’s Attorney’s Office in the Economic Crimes and Cybercrimes Division, for the Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development and at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Mr. Danhof’s work has been widely published and quoted in major newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Politico, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Washington Post. He has also appeared on the Fox News Channel, One America News Network, and the Fox Business Channel, among others.
Mr. Danhof is a member of the Federalist Society and Christian Legal Society.
Mr. Danhof is a graduate of Bentley University (Waltham, MA), where he received a Bachelor of Science in economics and finance and pitched for three seasons on the school’s NCAA Division II baseball team. Mr. Danhof completed his graduate studies at the University of Miami School of Law where he received his Juris Doctor and Master of Laws in Taxation.
Mr. Danhof is licensed to practice law in New York and Washington, D.C.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Judge Katsas was appointed to the D.C. Circuit in December 2017. He graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School, where he was an executive editor on the Harvard Law Review. Between 1989 and 1992, he served as a law clerk to Judge Edward Becker on the Third Circuit, to then-Judge Clarence Thomas on the D.C. Circuit, and to Justice Thomas on the Supreme Court. Between 1992 and 2001, he was an associate and then partner in the Washington office of Jones Day, where he specialized in appellate and complex civil litigation. Between 2001 and 2009, he served in many senior positions in the Department of Justice, including as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division and as Acting Associate Attorney General. In 2009, he returned to Jones Day. From January to December 2017, he served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel to the President.
Before joining the bench, Judge Katsas argued more than 75 appeals, including three cases in the Supreme Court, 13 cases in the D.C. Circuit, and cases in every other federal court of appeals. By appointment of the Chief Justice, he served on the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules from 2013 to 2017. In 2016, he was elected to membership in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
Partner, Keller Postman
Ashley Keller is one of the founding Partners of Keller Postman LLC. An experienced trial and appellate lawyer, Ashley helps set strategic direction across virtually all of the firm’s cases. He represents clients in a wide variety of practice areas and types of claims, including product-liability, antitrust, class action, and arbitration matters.
Ashley is one of the leaders of Keller Postman’s national product-liability practice. He leverages his ability to detangle complex concepts and develop novel legal theories to support individual client matters and as counsel on numerous product-liability multidistrict litigation matters. He chairs the plaintiffs’ Law & Briefing Committee in the Zantac (Ranitidine) Product Liability MDL in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Ashley also litigates complex antitrust and class action matters. Among his notable cases, Ashley represents numerous States in antitrust litigation against Google for monopolizing products and services used by advertisers and publishers in online-display advertising.
Ashley also has played a central role in developing the firm’s pioneering arbitration practice, which includes pursuing individual arbitrations for clients whose claims are subject to arbitration clauses with class-action waivers. In part through managing the complexity of pursuing these individual claims simultaneously, the firm has secured millions in settlements for more than 500,000 employees and consumers.
Before launching Keller Postman, Ashley co-founded the litigation finance firm Gerchen Keller Capital, which grew to more than $1.3 billion in assets under management and was the world’s largest private investment manager focused on legal and regulatory risk prior to being acquired by Burford Capital in 2016.
Previously, Ashley was a partner at Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP, The American Lawyer’s litigation boutique of the year. While there, he handled various trial and appellate matters involving multi-billion-dollar securities and patent cases, contract disputes, mass torts, and class actions.
Ashley also worked as an analyst at Alyeska Investment Group, a Chicago-based market-neutral hedge fund, where he focused on investments in companies facing litigation and other complicated regulatory matters.
Ashley was named a 2021 Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazer by the National Law Journal. He is also listed on Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Lawyers in America, Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers, Lawdragon’s Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers, National Trial Lawyers’ Top 100, and Illinois Super Lawyers.
Ashley was a law clerk for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy at the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge Richard Posner at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, received his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where he graduated first in his class.
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