James Madison Distinguished Professor of Law and Class of 1941 Research Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
Professor John C. Harrison is the James Madison Distinguished Professor of Law and Class of 1941 Research Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. He joined the faculty at University of Virginia in 1993 as an associate professor of law after a distinguished career with the U.S. Department of Justice. His teaching subjects include constitutional history, federal courts, remedies, corporations, civil procedure, legislation and property. In 2008 he was on leave from the Law School to serve as counselor on international law in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State.
A 1977 graduate of the University of Virginia, Harrison earned his law degree in 1980 at Yale, where he served as editor of the Yale Law Journal and editor and articles editor of the Yale Studies in World Public Order. He was an associate at Patton Boggs & Blow in Washington, D.C., and clerked for Judge Robert Bork on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He worked with the Department of Justice from 1983-93, serving in numerous capacities, including deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel (1990-93).
Partner, Foley & Lardner LLP
Ed Burbach is a Partner at Foley & Lardner LLP.
As a focused litigation lawyer, Ed Burbach represents corporations, individuals and governmental entities in matters involving local, state and federal governments – with emphasis on the state of Texas. He has special experience as a Medicaid fraud attorney, with deceptive trade practices, FTC, FOIA litigation /Public Information Act litigation and attorney general opinions. Ed also has nearly 30 years of experience litigating significant government, energy, maritime, insurance, financial services, pharmaceutical, health care provider, retailer, corporate, multistate and class action claims.
Appointed by now-Texas Governor Greg Abbott as his original Deputy Attorney General for Litigation, Ed served as Texas’ lead litigator and directly supervised all of Attorney General Abbott’s 11 civil litigation divisions, including 250 attorneys, over 600 employees and a $35 million budget. Ed also served as Texas’ main litigation liaison with the National Association of Attorneys General during Attorney General Abbott’s first and second terms. Ed maintained a heavy litigation docket representing the state and its leadership in high-profile litigation, such as Medicaid fraud, energy, financial services, environmental, Public Information Act, the historic Texas Tobacco Settlement, school finance, congressional redistricting and election law challenges brought by major political candidates. Upon announcing Ed’s return to private practice Governor Abbott advised:
“For more than three years, Ed Burbach has been a trusted advisor whose expert legal skills and careful management have yielded real results for the State of Texas,” said Attorney General Abbott.
“Under Ed’s leadership, our Consumer Protection Division obtained tens of millions of dollars in restitution for Texas consumers, and our Civil Medicaid Fraud Division uncovered more than a hundred million dollars in fraudulent Medicaid overpayments. Ed also guided the State through its most difficult legal disputes, including lawsuits challenging the Texas tobacco settlement and the state’s school funding plan. We all appreciate Ed’s distinguished service to this agency and wish him well on his return to the private sector.”
Ed’s clients often face costly, multiyear, high-stakes claims. For example, in State of Texas v. Petroleum Wholesale, et al., Ed defended claims brought by the state of Texas alleging $200 million in civil penalties for allegedly misrepresenting the amount of fuel delivered at retail gasoline and diesel pumps in Texas. He also served as lead counsel in the defense of the state Multidistrict Litigation Panel proceeding and as lead counsel in defense of various state purported class action litigation.
Ed serves as the Austin Office Chair for Corporate, and he remains active with the attorney’s general offices throughout the United States.
Co-CEO, Neora
Deborah Heisz is the Co-CEO of Neora, a Texas-based global relationship marketing company offering proprietary age-fighting skincare and wellness products.
With more than 20 years of leadership experience in a variety of roles within the multibillion dollar direct selling industry, Deborah Heisz has successfully built and led strong teams to achieve strategic goals.
Deborah has successfully chaired Neora’s global steering committee and directed the leadership team to position the company for new growth domestically and internationally. Deborah is driven to ensure that Neora continues to move forward as a unique model of positivity, diversity, innovation and integrity in the worldwide direct selling industry.
In addition to her position as Neora’s Co-CEO, Deborah maintains her role as Chief Executive Officer of Live Happy, LLC. Deborah is the co-founder and editorial director of the positive lifestyle magazine Live Happy and the happiness movement. A graduate of Texas Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in English, Deborah also holds an MBA from The University of Dallas.
VP and Senior Counsel, Becket Fund
Eric Baxter joined The Becket Fund as Senior Counsel in 2011. Since then he has represented religious organizations and individuals in a wide array of religious liberty disputes at both the trial and appellate level. Recent victories including a Ninth Circuit ruling upholding the “Big Mountain Jesus” statue that has stood on Forest Service land near Kalispell, Montana, for more than sixty years, and a rare Pentagon decision allowing a Sikh soldier to maintain his full beard and turban while serving in the Army. Mr. Baxter has extensive experience fighting efforts under state Blaine amendments to exclude religious organizations and individuals from participating on equal terms in the public square. He also regularly advises religious institutions of higher education in defending their religious missions against government encroachment.
Mr. Baxter has frequently appeared in the national media to discuss religious liberty issues, including appearances on Fox News (Kelly File, Fox & Friends), WSJ Live, CBS New York, Christian Broadcasting Network, Newsmax TV, and Al Jazeera. He has also written op-eds and been quoted in many major newspapers and other print media, including the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Fox News, New York Post, Washington Times, and New Boston Post.
Before joining the Becket Fund, Mr. Baxter was a partner at Arent Fox LLP in Washington, DC, where he maintained a commercial complex litigation practice representing clients primarily in employment, intellectual property, and biotechnology disputes. He also served for many years as outside counsel to a DC church and its affiliated school. In 2007, he was awarded the Albert E. Arent Pro Bono Award for his work representing several parents adopting a total of seven children from foster care.
From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Baxter clerked for the Honorable Robert H. Cleland in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit). Mr. Baxter received a B.A. in Russian Literature and Linguistics from Brigham Young University and graduated magna cum laude from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU, where he served as Executive Editor of the Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Eric speaks Russian and some Spanish. He and his wife have seven children and an amateur family bluegrass band.
Mr. Baxter has been featured on the Kelly File, Al Jazeera, WSJ Video, and NewsmaxTV.
Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP
Svetlana S. Gans is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP where she helps clients navigate complex consumer protection, privacy, and competition related regulatory proceedings before the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), , U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, State Attorneys General and other enforcement bodies. Ms. Gans also assists on litigation matters and provides strategic counseling and advice related to public policy issues.
Before joining Gibson Dunn, she served as the Vice President & Associate General Counsel at NCTA, the Internet & Television Association, where she helped lead the association’s consumer protection and competition policy work. Prior to joining NCTA, Ms. Gans served with distinction as Chief of Staff to Acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen at the FTC. As the agency chief of staff, Ms. Gans managed and oversaw agency operations, including bureau and office heads reporting to the Chairman, a seven-member office staff, and an agency budget of over $300 million. She also served as the Acting Chairman’s key advisor on consumer protection and competition investigations and litigation, working with a diverse team of attorneys and economists to preserve competition and protect U.S. consumers. She created, executed, and oversaw several strategic initiatives for the agency, including the agency process reform, regulatory reform, and data security transparency initiatives. Previously, Ms. Gans had the unique experience of serving in both litigating bureaus of the FTC: the Bureau of Competition and the Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Prior to her time in government, Ms. Gans worked as an antitrust associate at major law firms. Her practice focused on defending consumer product, financial services, and trade association clients in regulatory and private investigations alleging conspiracy and violations of antitrust and consumer protection laws.
Ms. Gans has been an active leader in the ABA Antitrust Law Section (“Section”) for two decades, and currently serves as the Section’s Marketing Officer. Ms. Gans helped create the Section’s Young Lawyer Representative Program, now in its 10th year, and the Section’s Law Ambassador Program, each aimed at developing and promoting the next generation of consumer protection and competition attorneys. Ms. Gans is also active in the Federal Communications Bar Association, currently serving as Co-Chair of the Diversity Pipeline Initiative and the Women’s Leadership Committee.
Ms. Gans received her law degree with high honors from the University of Denver College of Law. During law school, Ms. Gans served as a Judicial Intern to the Honorable John L. Kane, Jr. and as an Honors Program Paralegal for the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Merger Taskforce. Ms. Gans earned her undergraduate degree cum laude from Boston University.
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.
Partner, Wiley Rein LLP
A leading lawyer in tech regulation, consumer protection, and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforcement, Duane Pozza advises clients on key legal issues, advocacy positions, and regulatory compliance involving consumer uses of developing technology. He advises on matters involving blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), fintech, mobile payments, and other tech-related innovation, and counsels on a range of legal and regulatory issues including privacy and data governance, advertising law, and consumer financial laws and regulations. Prior to joining Wiley Rein, Pozza was an Assistant Director in the Division of Financial Practices at the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, where he led consumer protection efforts in financial technology and other sectors, and supervised investigations and enforcement actions involving consumer protection issues on technology platforms. He also led the FTC’s fintech forum series, focusing on financial regulatory, data privacy and security, and other consumer protection issues in AI, peer-to-peer payments, online lending, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain.
Shareholder, Littler Mendelson P.C.
Bruce J. Sarchet has focused his entire legal career on the representation of management in labor and employment law matters and has particular expertise in issues involving:
He regularly appears in state and federal courts and before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on matters involving:
With energy, enthusiasm, and intense focus, Bruce provides clients with superior quality work and exceptional client service and has earned a reputation as a hands-on problem solver. He provides consultation and representation to large, medium and small businesses across California in a variety of industries, including food and beverage, healthcare, transportation, technology, and construction. He also represents public sector employers. He crafts practical, real world solutions to workplace problems such as dealing with difficult employees and recognizing and balancing business realities and necessities with the need to minimize exposure to litigation.
For unionized employers, Bruce frequently serves as chief spokesperson in collective bargaining negotiations and provides representation in grievances and arbitration hearings. He also represents employers during union organizing drives and unfair labor practice charges under the National Labor Relations Act.
An animated, effective and entertaining public speaker, Bruce regularly makes presentations to local professional organizations on labor and employment law topics and has also presented numerous in-house training sessions and workshops to management teams at private and public employers. Bruce has published numerous articles for local business journals, providing practical, hands-on labor and employment law advice to small business owners.
From 2005 to 2013, Bruce served on the firm's five-attorney Management Committee, which handles the firm's operations. In this capacity, he oversaw thirteen Littler offices in seven states. Prior to his selection to the Management Committee, he served as the office-managing shareholder for the firm's Sacramento office and served several terms as a member of the firm's Board of Directors.
Dean; J. Gilbert Reese Chair in Contract Law, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University
Kent Barnett is the 21st dean of the Michael E. Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University and the J. Gilbert Reese Chair in Contract Law. He is focused on bringing people in—by enriching the College’s inclusive community and increasing financial support for students—and then bringing them up—by focusing on community-building, career development, and rigorous legal training.
As a scholar of separation of powers and administrative law, his scholarship has been published in, among other places, the New York University, Michigan, Duke, Vanderbilt, and Notre Dame Law Reviews. Barnett’s work has been cited by leading administrative law casebooks, federal district and appellate courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He has taught contracts and sales, consumer law, legal ethics, and administrative law.
Prior to joining Ohio State, Barnett served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the J. Alton Hosch Professor at the University of Georgia School of Law. He received the C. Ronald Ellington Award for Excellence in Teaching, the school’s highest teaching honor, and was selected to serve as a faculty marshal by three graduating classes for commencement ceremonies. Barnett also clerked for Judge John Rogers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and practiced law at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in its complex commercial litigation and appellate groups.
After years as an appointed public member, Barnett is a Senior Fellow of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) and was the chair of AALS Administrative Law Section.
Lyle T. Alverson Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School
Professor Pierce is author of over twenty books and 130 articles on administrative law, government regulation, and the effects of various forms of government intervention on the performance of markets. His books and articles have been cited in hundreds of judicial opinions, including over a dozen opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Chief Economist, American Compass
Oren Cass is the chief economist at American Compass and author of The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America (2018). He is a contributing editor for the Financial Times and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times.
From 2005 to 2015, Oren worked as a management consultant in Bain & Company’s Boston and Delhi offices. During this period, he also earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was elected vice president and treasurer of the Harvard Law Review and oversaw the journal’s budget and operations. While still in law school, Oren also became Domestic Policy Director for Governor Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, editing and producing the campaign’s “jobs book” and developing its domestic policy strategy, proposals, and research. He joined the Manhattan Institute as a senior fellow in 2015 and became a prolific scholar, publishing more than 15 reports for MI and editing its popular “Issues 2016” and “Issues 2020” series, testifying before seven congressional committees and speaking on dozens of college campuses. He founded American Compass at the start of 2020.
Laurence H. Silberman Chair in Constitutional Governance, American Enterprise Institute; Executive Director, Antonin Scalia Law School’s C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State
Adam J. White is the Laurence H. Silberman Chair in Constitutional Governance and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on the Supreme Court and the administrative state. He also directs the Antonin Scalia Law School’s C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State.
He writes on regulation and constitutional government for a variety of publications. He practiced law in Washington, D.C., after clerking for the D.C. Circuit's Judge David Sentelle. He also has been chairman of the ABA's Administrative Law Section.
In 2021, he served on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, where he criticized “Court packing” and other efforts to restructure the Supreme Court.
VP and Senior Counsel, Becket Fund
Eric Baxter joined The Becket Fund as Senior Counsel in 2011. Since then he has represented religious organizations and individuals in a wide array of religious liberty disputes at both the trial and appellate level. Recent victories including a Ninth Circuit ruling upholding the “Big Mountain Jesus” statue that has stood on Forest Service land near Kalispell, Montana, for more than sixty years, and a rare Pentagon decision allowing a Sikh soldier to maintain his full beard and turban while serving in the Army. Mr. Baxter has extensive experience fighting efforts under state Blaine amendments to exclude religious organizations and individuals from participating on equal terms in the public square. He also regularly advises religious institutions of higher education in defending their religious missions against government encroachment.
Mr. Baxter has frequently appeared in the national media to discuss religious liberty issues, including appearances on Fox News (Kelly File, Fox & Friends), WSJ Live, CBS New York, Christian Broadcasting Network, Newsmax TV, and Al Jazeera. He has also written op-eds and been quoted in many major newspapers and other print media, including the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Fox News, New York Post, Washington Times, and New Boston Post.
Before joining the Becket Fund, Mr. Baxter was a partner at Arent Fox LLP in Washington, DC, where he maintained a commercial complex litigation practice representing clients primarily in employment, intellectual property, and biotechnology disputes. He also served for many years as outside counsel to a DC church and its affiliated school. In 2007, he was awarded the Albert E. Arent Pro Bono Award for his work representing several parents adopting a total of seven children from foster care.
From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Baxter clerked for the Honorable Robert H. Cleland in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit). Mr. Baxter received a B.A. in Russian Literature and Linguistics from Brigham Young University and graduated magna cum laude from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU, where he served as Executive Editor of the Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Eric speaks Russian and some Spanish. He and his wife have seven children and an amateur family bluegrass band.
Mr. Baxter has been featured on the Kelly File, Al Jazeera, WSJ Video, and NewsmaxTV.
COVID-19, State Power, and Civil Liberties: An Historical Perspective
John C. Harrison
In 1787, there existed a well-developed body of law on the subject of infectious diseases. Over the...
Deep Dive Episode 101 – Litigation Update: Neora v. FTC
Ed Burbach, Deborah Heisz
On November 1, 2019, Neora, a Texas-based healthcare products multi-level marketing (MLM) business, filed suit...
Will the Supreme Court Revisit Employment Division v. Smith?
Eric Baxter
In 1990, the Supreme Court startled the nation with a decision in Employment Division v....
Will the Supreme Court Revisit Employment Division v. Smith?
TeleforumFTC’s 21st Century Hearings: Paving the Way for Principles and Guidance
Svetlana Gans, Maureen K. Ohlhausen, Duane Pozza
With the conclusion of the Federal Trade Commission’s 21st Century Hearings, the agency is finalizing...
Independent Contractor Or Employee: Sometimes, Things Are Not As Easy As A-B-C
Bruce J. Sarchet
The status of independent contractors in California has been hotly debated over the past year,...
Topics
Top Scholars, Diverse Religious Groups Ask SCOTUS to Reconsider Employment Division v. Smith—Again.
Twenty-nine years ago, a large and diverse group of legal scholars and religious organizations joined...
Litigation Update: Biestek v. Berryhill
Kent Barnett, Richard J. Pierce
In Biestek v. Berryhill, the Supreme Court held that agencies can rely on an expert...
Can a New Establishment Clause Jurisprudence Succeed in Protecting Religious Minorities Where Lemon Has Failed?
Alexandra M. Lightfoot
Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public...
Book Review: The Once and Future Worker
Oren Cass, Adam White
In his new book, The Once and Future Worker, Manhattan Institute scholar Oren Cass challenges our...