Dean & CEO, Ave Maria School of Law
Dean Czarnetzky is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B.S., 1982, Chemistry) and the University of Virginia (J.D., 1989).
Before law school, Dean Czarnetzky was an officer in the United States Army, where he served as an intelligence analyst, specializing in foreign chemical, biological and nuclear capabilities. After law school, he practiced bankruptcy and commercial law with Sidley & Austin in Chicago, and McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe in Richmond, Virginia.
Dean Czarnetzky joined the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1994, teaching courses in bankruptcy, corporate reorganizations, secured transactions, civil procedure, business associations, and international trade. In 2016, he was the recipient of the Elsie M. Hood Award for the “outstanding professor at the University of Mississippi,” the highest honor awarded to faculty members at the University of Mississippi.
Dean Czarnetzky also serves as a legal adviser to the Holy See’s Mission to the United Nations, representing the Holy See in negotiations, including establishing the International Criminal Court and several international treaties, including one on the rights of persons with disabilities.
Dean Czarnetzky is a lay member of the Dominican Order and a third-degree Knight of Columbus.
Co-Founder and President, Defense of Freedom Institute
Bob is a co-founder and President of DFI. He previously served as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Education from 2017 through 2020 and Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Education from 2005 until 2009.
During his most recent tenure at the Department, Bob served on the Secretary’s Leadership Team as a strategic and legal adviser on higher education, civil rights, and congressional oversight matters. As the Department’s Regulatory Reform Officer, he also supervised the implementation of the Secretary’s regulatory agenda and was an architect of the Secretary’s reforms concerning Title IX and the Higher Education Act. As Deputy General Counsel, Bob advised on a wide variety of regulatory, legislative, and oversight matters.
Prior to joining the Department in 2017, Bob was vice president for regulatory compliance matters for several postsecondary institutions and practiced education and employment law in Washington, D.C. Before coming to the Department in 2005, he practiced law in New Orleans, litigating commercial, employment, and bankruptcy cases in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi.
Bob earned his A.B. in History from Georgetown University, studied British government and international politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and received his law degree from Tulane University Law School. His articles have been published by National Review, Real Clear Education, Washington Examiner, and other media outlets. Fox News has featured his work.
Bob is a member of the District of Columbia and Louisiana Bars and the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.
Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law (Retired)
Gail Heriot is a recently retired law professor from the University of San Diego. She also served as a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 2007 to 2025. She is also the chairman of the board of the American Civil Rights Project and the chair emerita of the Civil Rights practice group at the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy.
Professor Heriot is a prolific writer in the area of civil rights. She is the author of many law review articles. She is also the editor (along with Maimon Schwarzschild) of the 2021 anthology, A Dubious Expediency: How Race Preferences Damage Higher Education. Her upcoming book is entitled, Why We Walk on Eggshell: How Our Civil Rights Laws Helped Bring About the Woke Era—And the Trump Era, Too.
Her writings for a general audience have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the National Review and many other newspapers and magazines.
In 1996, she co-chaired the successful “Yes on Proposition 209” campaign, which amended the California Constitution to prohibit state-sponsored discrimination or preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin. In 2020, she co-chaired the “No on Proposition 16” campaign, which successfully prevented Proposition 209’s repeal.
Former principal deputy under secretary, U.S. Department of Education
Diane Auer Jones recently retired from a thirty-year career as an educator, scientist, administrator, and public policy official. Although she began her career as a nursing assistant, upon completion of undergraduate and graduate degrees in biology and applied molecular biology, she worked as a molecular biology research and later as the founding director of an EPA-certified analytical chemistry laboratory. Through an adjunct faculty position at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), she realized that working with students was her true passion and she joined the full-time faculty at CCBC. Over the course of her career, her work in higher education also included leadership positions at Princeton University, The Washington Campus and Career Education Corporation. Despite her passion for teaching, after serving as a program director at the National Science Foundation, Diane’s career focus shifted to science and education policy. She subsequently served as a professional staffer and acting staff director for the Research Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Technology and as the deputy to the associate director for science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She was nominated by President George W. Bush, and confirmed by the Senate, to serve as the assistant secretary for post-secondary education at the U.S. Department of Education. She returned to the U.S. Department of Education to conclude her career, serving as the principal deputy undersecretary delegated the duties of undersecretary during the Donald J. Trump administration.
Founder & President, Postsecondary Commission
Stig Leschly is the founder and President of the Postsecondary Commission, a new accreditor of outcomes-focused and innovative colleges. Stig has been a Senior Lecturer teaching entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School on and off for more than 20 years. Formerly, Stig was the CEO of Match Education, an education-related nonprofit that runs charter schools and trains teachers. Early in his career, Stig was a high tech entrepreneur and an executive at Amazon.com. He is also the co-founder and board chair of Duet.org, a hybrid college that operates in partnership with Southern New Hampshire University. Stig has a JD-MBA from Harvard and BA from Princeton.
Stig holds a Bachelor of Arts in comparative literature (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Princeton University (1992) and a combined JD-MBA degree from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School (1998). Stig lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife, Sherry Riva. They have three daughters.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Judge Duncan received his B.A. from Louisiana State University in 1994, his J.D. from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University in 1997, and his LL.M. from Columbia Law School in 2004.
After graduating from law school, he clerked for Louisiana-based Circuit Judge John Malcolm Duhé Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
From 2008–2012, Duncan served as Appellate Chief for Louisiana's Attorney General's office. From 2012–2014, he served as general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. From 2004-2008, he was an assistant professor of law at the University of Mississippi School of Law.
Before becoming a judge, Duncan practiced at the Washington, D.C. firm of Schaerr Duncan LLP, where he was a founding partner. He was appointed by President Trump to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on May 1, 2018.
Erin Smith serves as Associate Counsel at First Liberty Institute. Before joining First Liberty, Erin served as Assistant General Counsel for the Oklahoma State Department of Education. She also served as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General in the Criminal Appeals Unit.
Erin graduated summa cum laude from the Oklahoma City University School of Law. During law school, she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Oklahoma City University Law Review, president of the OKC Student Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society and vice president of the OCU Christian Legal Society. She externed for the Solicitor General of Oklahoma, and published her note, Almost Only Counts in Horseshoes, Hand Grenades … and Hardison? The 45-year Reign Continues, in the Oklahoma City University Law Review. Erin spent her summers interning at First Liberty Institute and the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General.
Erin received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Oklahoma State University in 2019, graduating summa cum laude.
Erin is licensed to practice law in Oklahoma.
Partner, Lewis Brisbois
Sarah E. Lang is a partner in the New York office of Lewis Brisbois and a member of the Appellate Practice. Ms. Lang has represented clients at all levels of state and federal courts, including the New York State Appellate Division, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. The primary focus of her practice is drafting and arguing substantive motions and appeals before the federal courts and New York’s trial and appellate courts in substantive areas including general liability, New York Labor Law, medical malpractice, premises liability, and rideshare and transportation matters, among others. She also has extensive experience representing clients, including religious institutions, in matters arising under Title VII, the First Amendment, RLUIPA, New York’s City and State Human Rights Laws, New York’s Religious Corporations Law, and New York’s Real Property Tax Law. This includes federal jury trial experience and providing preventive advice and counseling. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Lang clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, as well as the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. She also previously served as an Attorney Advisor for the United States Department of Education.
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