Founder and Executive Director, National Security Institute; Assistant Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Jamil N. Jaffer is the Founder and Executive Director of the National Security Institute at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University where he also serves as an Assistant Professor of Law, Director of the National Security Law and Policy Program, and Director of the Cyber, Intelligence, and National Security LLM Program. Jamil also teaches classes on counterterrorism, intelligence, surveillance, cybersecurity, and other national security matters, as well as a summer course held abroad with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch. Jamil is also affiliated with Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and previously served as a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution from 2016 to 2019.
Jamil is also a Venture Partner with Paladin Capital Group, where he assists the firm with investments across the full range of its themes and theses, including a focus on dual-use national security technologies. Jamil also serves on the board of directors of RangeForce, a cybersecurity training and readiness platform startup and Tozny, a digital identity startup, and on the advisory boards of U.S. Strategic Metals, North America’s largest primary producer of cobalt, a critical mineral used in EV batteries, aerospace, and other national security applications; and Constella Intelligence, a deep and dark web intelligence startup. Jamil also serves as an advisor to Beacon Global Strategies, a strategic advisory firm and Duco, a technology platform startup that connects corporations with geopolitical and international business experts. Jamil is also the managing director of Trigraph Caveat Capital, a private investment vehicle.
Among other things, Jamil currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the Board of Advisors for the Global Cyber Alliance, and the Advisory Board of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies’ Center on Cyber and Tech Innovation, the Executive Committee of the Reagan Institute Strategy Group. Jamil is also a Fellow at the Academy for Judaic, Christian, and Islamic Studies, an advisor to the Concordia Summit, and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Center for Intelligence Policy, the Board of Directors of Speech First, and the Executive Committee of the International Law and National Security Practice Group of the Federalist Society.
Immediately prior to his current positions, from 2015-2021, Jamil served as a senior business leader at IronNet Cybersecurity, helping take the company from a bootstrapped first-year technology products startup through two rounds of venture capital fundraising, growing from 40 employees to over 300, and through its listing on New York Stock Exchange. In his role as IronNet's Senior Vice President for Strategy, Partnerships & Corporate Development, Jamil worked directly for the co-CEOs of the company, Gen (ret.) Keith B. Alexander, the former Director of the National Security Agency and Founding Commander of U.S. Cyber Command, and Bill Welch, the former COO of Zscaler and Duo; in that role, Jamil led all of the company’s strategic and technology partnership efforts, including developing go-to-market and technology integration plans with some of the largest cloud platforms and cybersecurity companies in the market, evaluating potential acquisition targets, and developing overall corporate strategy and thought leadership around collective security and collaborative defense in the cyber arena.
Prior to his time at IronNet, Jamil served on the leadership team of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as Chief Counsel and Senior Advisor under Chairman Bob Corker (R-TN), where he worked on key national security and foreign policy issues, including leading the drafting of the proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force against ISIS in 2014 and 2015, the AUMF against Syria in 2013, and revisions to the 9/11 AUMF against al Qaeda. Jamil was also the lead architect of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act and two sanctions laws against Russia for its first intervention in Ukraine.
Prior to joining SFRC, Jamil served as Senior Counsel to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence under Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) where he led the committee’s oversight of NSA surveillance, NRO intelligence issues, and NGA analytic and collection matters, as well as intelligence community-wide counterterrorism issues. Jamil was also the lead architect of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, the nation’s first cyber threat intelligence sharing legislation that was signed into law in 2015.
In the Bush Administration, Jamil served in the White House as an Associate Counsel to the President, handling Defense Department, State Department, and intelligence community matters, and serving as one of the White House Counsel’s primary representatives to the National Security Council Deputies Committee.
Prior to the White House, Jamil served on the leadership team of the Justice Department’s National Security Division as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, where he focused on counterterrorism and intelligence matters. At NSD, Jamil helped lead the division’s work on In re: Directives, the first ever two-party litigated matter in the FISA Court and the second case before the FISA Court of Review in its 30-year history. Jamil also led NSD’s efforts on the President’s Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), including the drafting of NSPD-54/HSPD-23, and related classified matters, and advised the National Security Agency (NSA) and U.S. Cyber Command’s predecessor organization, the Joint Function Component Command for Network Warfare (JFCC-NW), on matters related to cyber intelligence collection and offensive cyber activities. For his work on these matters, Jamil was awarded the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Special Initiative and was among the group of lawyers awarded the Director of National Intelligence’s 2008 Legal Award (Team of the Year – Cyber Legal).
Jamil also served in other positions in the Justice Department, including in the Office of Legal Policy, where he worked on the confirmations of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to the United States Supreme Court.
Jamil also served as a lawyer in private practice at Kellogg Huber, a Washington, DC-based litigation boutique, as a policy advisor to Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), and as a staff member or senior advisor on a number of political campaigns, including two presidential campaigns and a presidential transition team. While in law school, Jamil was a member of the University of Chicago Law Review, managing editor of the Chicago Journal of International Law, and National Symposium Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Following law school, Jamil served as a law clerk to Judge Edith H. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and, later in his career, as a law clerk to then-Judge Neil M. Gorsuch when he first joined the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit as well as a law clerk to Justice Neil Gorsuch when he joined the U.S. Supreme Court.
Jamil has published multiple op-eds and academic articles on national security, foreign policy, cybersecurity, counterterrorism, encryption, and intelligence matters, and is the co-author of a book chapter with former NSA Director Gen. (Ret.) Keith B. Alexander on national security and the press in National Security, Leaks, and the Freedom of the Press: The Pentagon Papers Fifty Years On (2021) and a book chapter with former CIA Director Gen. (ret.) Mike Hayden on ISIS, al Qaeda, and other international terrorist groups in Choosing to Lead: American Foreign Policy for a Disordered World (2015). Jamil has also written book chapters on cybersecurity and surveillance, as well as op-eds and policy papers with former Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, former National Counterterrorism Center Director Matt Olsen, and Congressman Mike Waltz (R-FL), among others.
Jamil has previously taught graduate-level courses in intelligence law and policy at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs and the National Intelligence University, served an outside advisor to the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, and has recently testified before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on China, cybersecurity, counterterrorism, and other national security matters. Jamil has also recently appeared on a range of national television and radio outlets including CNN, Fox News, Fox Business, MSNBC, Bloomberg, PBS, Voice of America, and National Public Radio, and in various print and online publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the Washington Post on a range of national security matters including cybersecurity, counterterrorism, surveillance, encryption, privacy, and foreign policy issues.
Jamil holds degrees from UCLA (BA, cum laude), the University of Chicago Law School (JD, with honors), and the United States Naval War College (MA, with distinction).
Managing Director, Beacon Global Strategies
Klon Kitchen, Managing Director at Beacon Global Strategies, leads the firm’s Global Technology Policy Practice. With over two decades of hands-on experience, Klon is adept at helping technology leaders anticipate and manage geopolitical risks, ensuring they stay ahead in an ever-evolving landscape.
Klon is a distinguished national security expert, bringing unparalleled insights and strategic foresight to the table. As a non-resident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, he regularly shapes policy discussions through his congressional testimonies, high-impact publications in the The Wall Street Journal and other top-tier outlets, and features on CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”
Before joining Beacon, Klon was national security advisor to former Senator Ben Sasse and played a pivotal role in the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission, crafting the strategic blueprint for America’s cyber defense. His leadership extended to directing the National Security and International Trade and Finance Subcommittee for the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where he navigated complex security and trade issues.
Klon’s foundational experience includes over 15 years as an intelligence officer, focusing on counterterrorism, cyber operations, and covert actions. His distinguished service, which includes deployments to multiple combat zones, earned him several prestigious honors, such as the civilian combat support medal and a commendation from the Commander of Joint Special Operations Command.
Holding an MA in strategy and security studies from the College of International Security Affairs and a War College Diploma from the National War College at National Defense University, Klon combines academic excellence with practical expertise. His unique perspective and proven track record make him an invaluable ally for technology executives facing the intricate challenges of geopolitical risk.
Wall Chair in Corporate Law and Governance and Professor of Law, University of Missouri School of Law
Thom Lambert holds the Wall Family Chair in Corporate Law and Governance at the University of Missouri Law School. He is co-author of a leading antitrust casebook and has published more than two dozen law review articles on antitrust, corporate, and regulatory matters. His most recent book, How to Regulate: A Guide for Policymakers was published by Cambridge University Press in 2017. He is a regular contributor to the law and economics blog, Truth on the Market (www.truthonthemarket.com) and is currently a visiting professor at Washington University Law School.
Brandon Pugh is the director and a resident senior fellow for the R Street Institute’s Cybersecurity and Emerging Threats team.
Outside of R Street, he serves in the U.S. Army Reserve as a national security law professor at The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, having previously served as a paratrooper and international law officer. Brandon is also a nonresident fellow with the Army Cyber Institute at the United States Military Academy at West Point, a member of the International Association of Privacy Professional’s Research Advisory Board, and a board member for both the Ithaca College Cybersecurity Program and a governor’s advisory council.
Prior to joining R Street, Brandon was legislative counsel for the New Jersey General Assembly Minority Office, where he handled nearly all policy and legislation on cybersecurity, emerging technology, and privacy. He also provided legal and policy advice to the 28-member caucus on almost every committee area from judiciary to commerce.
Brandon has served as a fellow with the Federal Bureau of Investigation; managing editor of the Journal of Law and Cyber Warfare; president and CEO of a homeland security advisory company; member of the Rutgers University Cybersecurity Program Board; and an elected and appointed official at the local, county, and state levels. This includes service as vice president for legislation of the New Jersey School Boards Association, a quasi-governmental entity representing the state’s nearly 600 school boards. His early work was in emergency management and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents.
Brandon has presented and been published dozens of times; delivered congressional testimony; appeared on C-SPAN and other networks; trained congressional staff on cybersecurity; contributed to the U.S. Army’s critical infrastructure resiliency project; prepared cybersecurity guidance sent to thousands of public schools; and led events with senior military and intelligence community officials. He has received awards for his work from members of Congress and a governor of New Jersey, among others.
He holds a JD from Rutgers Law School and a bachelor’s degree from The College of New Jersey. Brandon is a master continuity practitioner through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a certified information privacy professional, a certified information privacy manager, and a fellow of information privacy. He is licensed to practice law in New Jersey and the District of Columbia, along with being admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Brandon lives in New Jersey with his wife, who serves as an Air Force pilot.
Senior Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Circuit Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1986. After receiving his B.S. from Cornell University in 1970, and his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1973, he clerked on the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Thurgood Marshall on the United States Supreme Court. Thereafter, Judge Ginsburg was a professor at the Harvard Law School, the Deputy Assistant and then Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, as well as the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget. Concurrent with his service as a federal judge, Judge Ginsburg has taught at the University of Chicago Law School and the New York University School of Law. Judge Ginsburg is currently a Professor of Law at the George Mason University and a visiting professor at University College London, Faculty of Laws.
Judge Ginsburg is the Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Global Antitrust Institute at the Law and Economics Center of the George Mason University School of Law. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of: Competition Policy International; the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy; the Journal of Competition Law and Economics; the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy; the Supreme Court Economic Review; the University of Chicago Law Review; the New York University Journal of Law and Liberty; and, at University College London, both the Centre for Law, Economics and Society and the Jevons Institute for Competition Law and Economics.
In 2020, Judge Ginsburg was the 11th recipient of the John Sherman Award, presented by the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice in recognition of the awardee’s Lifetime Contributions to Antitrust Law and Policy.
In 2014, Judge Ginsburg received the Lifetime Achievement Award given annually by the Global Competition Review.
He is the author or co-author of several books and more than 100 articles on competition and regulation, including, most recently, Growing Convergence: The Limited Role of Antitrust in Standard Essential Patent Disputes, in CPI Antitrust Chronicle, Summer 2021, Vol. 1, No. 2.
Director of Research, American Economic Liberties Project
Matt Stoller is a public intellectual who writes about the American anti-monopoly
tradition. He is the author of the Simon and Schuster book Goliath: The Hundred Year
War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy. Stoller is the Director of Research at
the American Economic Liberties Project. He publishes an email newsletter called BIG.
Stoller is a former policy advisor to the Senate Budget Committee, and worked in the House of Representatives on the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform Act.
He has lectured on competition policy and media at Columbia University, Harvard Law, Duke Law, Bertelsmann Foundation, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, West Point and the National Communications Commission of Taiwan. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, Fast Company, Foreign Policy, the Guardian, Vice, The American Conservative, and the Baffler.
He has also produced for MSNBC and starred in a short-lived television show on FX called Brand X with Russell Brand.
Partner, Gibson Dunn
Jeff Wall is Co-Chair of the Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group at Gibson Dunn and a former Acting Solicitor General of the United States. He has argued more than 30 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and is widely regarded as one of the nation’s leading appellate advocates. Last year, he was named Appellate Attorney of the Year by The National Law Journal. He has been honored as The American Lawyer’s “Litigator of the Week” three times since 2024, for securing the elimination of a $650 million award against several national pharmacy chains; persuading the Delaware Supreme Court to reinstate Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $60 billion incentive-compensation plan; and delivering what was described as a “knockout blow” to the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules in the Sixth Circuit after more than a decade of regulatory uncertainty.
A Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, Jeff is widely regarded for his ability to distill complex legal issues into clear, persuasive arguments. He is ranked Band 1 by Chambers USA, which has praised his “formidable reputation,” describing him as a “sophisticated” and “brilliant advocate” with an “impressive track record before the Supreme Court.” He is also a three-time Law360 Appellate MVP, most recently earning back-to-back honors in 2024 and 2025.
Jeff is a member of the American Law Institute, President of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, trustee of the Supreme Court Historical Society, and former member of the Advisory Committee on Procedures for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Before his service in the Solicitor General’s Office and time in private practice, Jeff clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Jeff has a robust pro bono practice and role in his community, serving on the board of the St. Albans School and its School of Public Service.
Head of Antitrust and Competition Law, Ericsson
Dina Kallay is the head of Antitrust of Ericsson where she covers the American and Asian continents and also advises on Intellectual Property matters. Prior to joining Ericsson in 2013, Dina served over six years as Counsel for Intellectual Property and International Antitrust at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”). As Counsel for I.P. at the FTC, Dina focused on worldwide antitrust-intellectual property matters, including standard-setting issues, as well as on Asian and multilateral competition matters. She worked closely with the three Chinese antimonopoly agencies and has also spent a year with the FTC Bureau of Competition, working on antitrust conduct and merger enforcement matters in high-tech industries. Prior to joining the FTC, Dina practiced antitrust and intellectual property law at a couple of law firms, most recently with the Washington DC office of Howrey LLP. She also worked as in-house antitrust counsel for Microelectrónica Española, where her work focused around the I.P. policy of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). Before that she clerked at the European Commission Directorate General for Competition (DG COMP) unit for Information Industries and Consumer Electronics, where she worked on antitrust investigations and policy matters involving intellectual property. Ms. Kallay holds a doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School, where her doctoral dissertation focused on antitrust-IP interface issues, and was later published as a book - The Law and Economics of Antitrust and Intellectual Property (Edward Elgar, 2004). Dina has written and spoken extensively on antitrust and intellectual property, and has also taught both subjects as an adjunct professor at the Hebrew University and Bar Ilan University. She is a member of the District of Columbia, New York, England and Wales (Solicitor) and Israel bars.
Former NAAG Antitrust Task Force Chair and Former Assistant Attorney General at Wisconsin Department of Justice
As former Chair of the NAAG Multistate Antitrust Task Force and as Wisconsin's Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust from 2005-2024, Gwendolyn has extensive experience litigating antitrust cases on behalf of the State of Wisconsin- including merger enforcement, cartel prosecutions. She was the lead attorney in State of Wisconsin v. Indivior, where she led 42 Attorneys General in their successful case against the manufacturer of Suboxone, resulting in a $102.5 million settlement. Gwendolyn was also on the trial team for the States' challenge to the T-Mobile/Sprint merger.
Gwendolyn was co-chair of the Pharmaceutical Industry Working Group in the National Association of Attorneys General Antitrust Task Force, and was a delegate to the “Future of Pharma Mergers” international initiative spearheaded by the FTC, and lead the Reimagining Pharma Attorney Generals Advisory Group.
Active in the American Bar Association, she is a member of the Antitrust Section Council. Gwendolyn was also the 2023 recipient of the NAAG (nationwide) Attorney General Career Staff Award, and was named as a “Woman Making History” by Wisconsin Lawyer magazine in 2024.
Shareholder & Co-Chair of the Workplace Policy Institute, Littler Mendelson P.C.
Alexander T. MacDonald advises employers on all aspects of the employment and labor landscape, focusing on emerging legislation and regulation. He has extensive experience advising businesses on worker classification, arbitration, the administrative and regulatory process, and the future of work. He frequently writes, publishes, and speaks on these subjects. His work has been cited by scholars and appellate courts. He is a recognized voice for the management perspective.
Alexander is a co-chair of the Workplace Policy Institute (WPI) team. With WPI, he advises employers on legislative, administrative, and regulatory developments at the state and federal level. He advocates for employers in the regulatory and administrative process. He also helps employers protect their businesses by understanding and anticipating cutting-edge legal developments.
Alexander also has extensive experience in traditional labor law. He represents management in all aspects of labor-management relations, including unfair labor practice charges, grievance arbitrations, representation elections, contract negotiations, and related litigation, including litigation in the U.S. courts of appeals.
Before joining Littler, Alexander served as the director, future of work, for a major technology company. He also worked in a national labor and employment law firm and a major public-sector general counsel’s office. He was a law clerk to the senior judges in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
He is also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He served in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. In law school, he graduated first in his class
John S. Battle Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
Julia D. Mahoney teaches courses in property, government finance, constitutional law and nonprofit organizations. A graduate of Yale Law School, she joined the University of Virginia faculty as an associate professor in 1999 and is now John S. Battle Professor of Law. She has also taught at the University of Southern California Law School and the University of Chicago Law School, and before entering the legal academy, practiced law at the New York firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Her scholarly articles include works on land preservation, eminent domain, health care reform and property rights in human biological materials.
Professor of Law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
Joshua Kleinfeld teaches and writes about political, legal, and moral philosophy, criminal law, and criminal procedure. He also practices law in Northwestern's Juvenile Criminal Defense Clinic. He is a full professor with tenure at the Northwestern Pritzker School of the Law and (by courtesy) in Northwestern’s philosophy department. In 2017-18, he was a visiting professor at Harvard and Stanford Law Schools. He is the recipient of the Bator Award, given annually to one American law professor under the age of 40 who has demonstrated "excellence in legal scholarship, a commitment to teaching, a concern for students, and who has made a significant public impact."
In philosophy, Kleinfeld's research focuses on the idea of "embodied ethical life," as developed in the socio-theoretic tradition of Hegel, Weber, and Durkheim. This tradition aims to understand and critique social life by bringing to light the normative ideas implicit in social practices and institutions. In law, this means that the most interesting philosophical concepts are often those reflected or actualized in legal practice – in the law as judges and lawyers think of it and wield it.
In criminal law and procedure, Kleinfeld has developed a theory known as "reconstructivism," which holds that the chief office of criminal law is not to dole out retributive justice, nor to optimize crime and cost control, but to reconstruct a violated normative order in the wake of a crime. This work, which draws on the thought of Hegel, Durkheim, Jean Hampton, and Antony Duff, develops an alternative to retributive and utilitarian theories of criminal law by focusing on the distinctive social function and sense of justice at work in the criminal system.
Kleinfeld is also involved in practical criminal justice reform. In this vein, he defends children accused of homicide in the Northwestern Juvenile Criminal Defense clinic and assists in litigation efforts meant to reform American criminal law through the courts. He has also developed a view of criminal justice reform known as "democratization," which holds that the root of the American criminal justice crisis is a set of bureaucratic attitudes, structures, and incentives divorced from the American public’s concerns and sense of justice, and that the primary solution is to make criminal justice more community-focused and responsive to lay influences. Working with others, he has developed a number of policy proposals meant to reform American criminal justice in a democratic direction.
Kleinfeld holds a JD from Yale Law School, a PhD in philosophy from the Goethe University of Frankfurt (supervised by Axel Honneth, Klaus Günther, and Rainer Forst), and a BA in philosophy from Yale College. He clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; Judge Janice Rogers Brown on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; and President (chief justice) Aharon Barak of the Supreme Court of Israel. He worked as an Associate at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in Frankfurt, Germany, in the area of corporate criminal law. Before law school, he worked as a Senior Research Analyst at the White House’s Council on Bioethics.
Partner, Rule Garza Howley LLP
David Daniels Allen Distinguished Chair of Law, Vanderbilt University Law School
Rebecca Haw Allensworth studies antitrust and professional licensing. Her work on antitrust focuses on how to adapt competition policy to address competition problems posed by tech platforms and her research on professional licensing explores how lawmakers should balance the need for expertise in regulating the professions with the problems that can arise from self-regulation. She is currently writing The Licensing Racket, a book about professional licensing and self-regulation. Her article about medical licensing boards and unethical prescribers, “Licensed to Pill,” appeared in The New York Review of Books in July 2020. Her work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and has received the thirteenth annual Jerry S. Cohen Memorial Fund Writing Award for groundbreaking antitrust scholarship.
Professor Allensworth earned her undergraduate degree from Yale and an M.Phil. from Cambridge University before earning her J.D. at Harvard Law School, where she served as articles editor of the Harvard Law Review. She served as law clerk to Judge Richard A. Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and then as a Climenko Fellow at Harvard Law School before coming to Vanderbilt. She held the Tarkington Chair of Teaching Excellence before her appointment to a David Daniels Allen Chair in Law in 2022.
Partner, Antitrust and Competition, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Maureen Ohlhausen is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she advises industry-leading clients on complex antitrust and litigation matters, with a focus on high-profile cases. Sought after for her depth of experience on antitrust and Federal Trade Commission (FTC)-related issues, Maureen is known for her relationships with officials in the U.S. and abroad.
After finishing law school and clerking at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Maureen joined the FTC in 1997. She held a series of roles at the agency over the next 12 years, rising to the position of Director of the FTC Office of Policy Planning, where she led the agency’s work on e-commerce and headed the FTC’s Internet Access Task Force, which produced an influential report analyzing competition and consumer protection legal issues in the broadband and internet sectors. She then went into private practice at a leading telecommunications law firm, where she headed the FTC practice group.
In 2012, Maureen was confirmed by the Senate as a Commissioner of the FTC and was appointed Acting Chairman in January 2017, a role she held until May 2018. As Acting Chairman, Maureen directed all aspects of the agency’s antitrust work, including merger review, conduct enforcement, and all consumer protection enforcement, with an emphasis on privacy and technology issues. Under her leadership, the FTC won several influential merger challenges in court and reached a number of key digital privacy settlements.
To date, Maureen is the only FTC Commissioner to have received the Robert Pitofsky Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her contributions to the FTC.
Following the end of her term at the FTC, and immediately prior to joining Wilson Sonsini, Maureen was chair of the global antitrust and competition practice at Baker Botts, based in that firm’s Washington, D.C., office.
A recognized thought leader, Maureen is a frequent author and speaker, and is often quoted by leading print and broadcast media on antitrust, FTC, and privacy and data security matters. She has published dozens of articles on antitrust, privacy, intellectual property, regulation, FTC litigation, telecommunications, and international law issues in prestigious publications. During her tenure at the FTC and in private practice, she testified more than two dozen times before Congress, including before the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Antitrust Sub-Committee. She also testified before the Antitrust Modernization Commission.
Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel, North American Meat Institute
Mark Dopp is the chief operating officer and general counsel for the North American Meat Institute (NAMI), previously serving as its senior vice president of regulatory affairs and general counsel. In his role, Dopp oversees policy development and represents industry views on significant regulatory, scientific, legislative, and communications matters. He also provides legal counsel to NAMI and oversees its administration and financial matters.
Dopp became the Meat Institute’s outside general counsel in May 1995 and in 1999 he formally joined the Institute and assumed responsibility for its legal and regulatory affairs. Before joining NAMI, Dopp worked at Hogan and Hartson (now Hogan Lovells), where he was active in areas of food and agricultural law on behalf of many clients, including domestic and foreign corporations. He joined Hogan and Hartson in 1989 as an associate and in January 1993 became a partner. Dopp began his career in USDA's Office of the General Counsel in 1984 and entered private practice in 1985.
Dopp received his Bachelor of Science-Agriculture degree in agricultural economics from the University of Wisconsin and his Master of Science from Michigan State University in 1981, also in agricultural economics. He received his law degree in 1984 from the University of Missouri.
U.S. Congressman, (MN-01)
Congressman Brad Finstad was elected to Congress in a special election on August 9, 2022, and was sworn in three days later with his family by his side as he took the Oath of Office to proudly represent Minnesota’s First District.
Brad is a fourth-generation farmer and resident of the New Ulm area. He and his wife, Jackie, met on the school bus in second grade and they are now the proud parents of seven children. A graduate of the University of Minnesota with a degree in Agriculture Education and an emphasis in Rural Leadership Development, Brad and Jackie now operate an agriculture business in New Ulm while working alongside extended family to run their generational family farm.
Brad is proud to have served as State Director for USDA Rural Development in Minnesota where he worked to support infrastructure improvements, business development, homeownership, community services such as schools, public safety, health care, and high-speed internet access in rural areas. He previously served three terms in the Minnesota Legislature. He also held executive positions with the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association and the Center for Rural Policy and Development.
President, Board of Directors, Farm Action
Joe Maxwell is a co-founder of Farm Action. He focuses his work on a vision of an inclusive U.S. economy that works for all people, providing them an equitable opportunity to share in the prosperity they help build, rather than an economy that works for just a handful of individuals and multi-national corporations.
Joe has held key positions in both political and initiative petition campaigns. During the last election cycle, he assisted Presidential, U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives candidates in developing their antitrust, agriculture, and food policy positions.
Joe holds degrees in agriculture economics and law from the University of Missouri. He served as a Missouri state legislator, as Missouri’s Lieutenant Governor, and is retired from the Army National Guard, where he served as a First Sergeant in the Field Artillery. Joe and his brother, Steve, are Missouri family farmers. Joe’s work has been profiled by The Hill, Huffington Post, Mother Jones, Politico, and The Nation. He has been cited by CNN, The New York Times, NPR, USA Today, Washington Post, and more.
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.
Exploring Tradeoffs: The Nexus Between Antitrust and Security
Jamil N. Jaffer, Klon Kitchen, Thom Lambert, Brandon Pugh
Antitrust efforts have become prevalent in the courts and legislative bodies, both in the United...
Daniel Webster Debate Series: Should the United States Ban Noncompete Agreements?
Douglas H. Ginsburg, Matt Stoller, Jeffrey B. Wall
The Federalist Society's Georgetown Law Chapter'sDaniel Webster Debate Series presents Daniel Webster Debate Series:Should the...
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United States v. Apple: A Triumph of Politics Over Economic Analysis
The Department of Justice’s recent antitrust suit against Apple has garnered significant attention, but a...
Fireside Chat with Gwendolyn Cooley
Dina Kallay, Gwendolyn J. Lindsay Cooley
Please join us for a fireside chat with Gwendolyn Cooley, former Chair of the National...
Predistribution, Labor Standards, and Ideological Drift: Why Some Conservatives Are Embracing Labor Unions (and Why They Shouldn't)
Alexander T. MacDonald
Common ground isn’t always a good thing. For example, consider the growing popularity of “predistribution.”...
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DOJ Can’t Prosecute AI for Price Fixing Unless There’s Price Fixing
Among the Biden administration’s attempts to lower the cost of living, actions addressing housing costs have been...
Open Minds with Prof. Julia Mahoney and Prof. Joshua Kleinfeld - Part I
Julia D. Mahoney, Joshua Kleinfeld
In Part I, Professor Julia Mahoney joins Professor Joshua Kleinfeld to delve into the complexities...
Litigation Update: US v. Apple
Deborah A. Garza, Rebecca Haw Allensworth, Maureen K. Ohlhausen
In March of this year, the U.S. Justice Department and 16 states filed a sweeping...
Topics
The Concern for Human Flourishing at the Core of Antitrust Law
Antitrust law did not start in 1890. Though judges, scholars, and government officials often describe...
Antitrust Law Down on the Farm: Farmers, Food Inflation, and a Fair Deal
Mark Dopp, Brad Finstad, Joe Maxwell, Stephen Alexander Vaden
The marked inflation of food pricing is apparent upon any trip to the grocery store....