Associate Professor, Boston College Law School
David Olson is an associate professor and the Faculty Director of the Program on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He teaches patent law, intellectual property law, antitrust law, and various seminars. His research and writing primarily focus on patents, copyrights, antitrust, and incentives for innovation and competition. Since joining BC Law in 2007, he has been recognized for his teaching excellence and contributions. In 2011, he received the Business & Law Society Faculty Award for Achievement in Business & Law. In 2012, he received the Professor Emil Slizewski Award for Faculty Excellence. For one semester in 2015, Olson served as a visiting professor at Pontifical Catholic University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he conducted research and taught a course on intellectual property.
Olson has published scholarly articles on patent law, copyright law, antitrust, music licensing, and first amendment copyright issues. His writing has been cited in Supreme Court and other legal opinions. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on matters of drug patents, FDA regulation, and antitrust.
The media frequently seeks Olson’s insights and opinions. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, and Reuters, among others. He has appeared as a guest panelist on WBUR’s Radio Boston, WAMU's Kojo Namdi Show, and Public Radio Canada. His op-eds have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Washington Times, and The Hill.
Olson came to Boston College from Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society, where he conducted research on patent law and litigated copyright fair use impact cases. Before entering academia, Olson practiced law as a patent litigator. He clerked for Judge Jerry Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Professorial Lecturer in Law, The George Washington University
Paul Rosenzweig is an accomplished writer and speaker with a national reputation in cyber security and homeland security. He is the founder of Red Branch Consulting PLLC, a homeland security consulting company. He is also a Senior Advisor to The Chertoff Group. Mr. Rosenzweig formerly served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy in the Department of Homeland Security.
He is a Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University, and a Senior Fellow in the Tech, Law & Security Program at the American University, Washington College of Law. He serves as an advisor to and former member of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Law and National Security, and a Contributing Editor of the Lawfare blog. He is a member of the ABA Cybersecurity Legal Task Force and of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Advisory Committee on Admissions and Grievances. He serves, as well, as a Hearing Committee Member of the District of Columbia Board of Professional Responsibility. In 2011 he was a Carnegie Fellow in National Security Journalism at the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University.
Mr. Rosenzweig is a cum laude graduate of the University of Chicago Law School. He has an M.S. in Chemical Oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego and a B.A from Haverford College. Following graduation from law school he served as a law clerk to the Honorable R. Lanier Anderson, III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
He is the author of Cyber Warfare: How Conflicts in Cyberspace are Challenging America and Changing the World and of three video lecture series from The Great Courses, Thinking About Cybersecurity: From Cyber Crime to Cyber Warfare; The Surveillance State: Big Data, Freedom, and You; and Investigating American Presidents.
He is the co-author (with James Jay Carafano) of Winning the Long War: Lessons from the Cold War for Defeating Terrorism and Preserving Freedom and co-editor (with Jill D. Rhodes and Robert S. Litt) of the Cybersecurity Handbook (3rd ed.). He is also co-editor (with Timothy McNulty and Ellen Shearer) of two books, Whistleblowers, Leaks and the Media: The First Amendment and National Security, and National Security Law in the News: A Guide for Journalists, Scholars, and Policymakers. Mr. Rosenzweig is a member of the Literary Society of Washington.
Associate, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 
Scott Martin is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He practices in the firm’s Litigation Department and is a member of its Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group. Mr. Martin has represented clients before the Supreme Court of the United States, federal appellate and trial courts, and state courts in cases involving constitutional law, securities regulation, class action proceedings, and the False Claims Act.
Before joining the firm, Mr. Martin served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Alex Kozinski of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Honorable Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States. He graduated from Columbia Law School, where he was a James Kent Scholar and a senior editor of the Columbia Law Review. At Columbia, he received the John Ordronaux Prize for graduating first in his class, the Thomas E. Dewey Prize for written advocacy, the Robert Noxon Toppan Prize for constitutional law, and the full-tuition Hamilton Fellowship. Mr. Martin received his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude in mathematics and political science, from Furman University. He is admitted to practice in New York and the District of Columbia, and before the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits.
Deputy Attorney General, California Department of Justice
Brian Means is a nationally recognized expert in the area of postconviction review. He graduated with Great Distinction, Order of the Coif, and Order of the Barristers from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. He was the recipient of seven American Jurisprudence Awards. Following graduation, he clerked for the Honorable Garland E. Burrell, Jr., federal judge. There, he worked on several high-profile cases, including the criminal action against the Unabomber, Theodore Kackynski. For the past fourteen years he has worked as a Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice, and has held the position of supervisor of the federal habeas corpus team. He works almost exclusively on federal habeas corpus litigation, practicing in the Eastern District of California, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He has appeared as a legal analyst on CNN, MSNBC, and the California Channel. He writes the Federal Habeas Manual: A Guide to Habeas Corpus Litigation, published by Westlaw, and the Federal Habeas Practitioner Note, a quarterly publication distributed nationally to habeas practitioners and members of the judiciary.
Professor of Law and Director, Center for the Middle East and International Law, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School
Professor of Law Eugene Kontorovich is one of the world’s preeminent experts on universal jurisdiction and maritime piracy, as well as international law and the Israel-Arab conflict. He is also the Director of Scalia Law School's Center for the Middle East and International Law. Professor Kontorovich joined the Scalia Law School from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law where he was a Professor of Law from 2011 to 2018 and an Associate Professor from 2007 to 2011. Previously, he was a Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago from 2005 to 2007 and an Assistant Professor at George Mason School of Law from 2003 to 2007.
Professor Kontorovich has published over thirty major scholarly articles and book chapters in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed journals in the United States and Europe, including the American Journal of International Law, International Review of Law & Economics, Stanford Law Review, California Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and Virginia Law Review. His scholarship has been cited in leading foreign relations and international law
His expertise is often sought out and quoted by major news organizations such the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR News, The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, and numerous television and radio programs. Prof. Kontorovich’s popular writings have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, POLITICO, Commentary, Haaretz, and numerous other leading publications. He is also a regular contributor to the Washington Post’s Volokh Conspiracy legal blog.
He attended the University of Chicago for college and law school. After law school, he clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He has been honored with a fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, in 2011-12, and with the Federalist Society’s prestigious Bator Award, given annually to a young scholar (under 40), for outstanding scholarship and teaching.
Supervising Deputy Attorney General, California Department of Justice.
Ward Campbell is the Supervising Deputy Attorney General and Sacramento Capital Case Coordinator, as well as the Supervising Deputy Attorney General, at the California Department of Justice.
Mr. Campbell is the recipient of the Attorney General’s Awards for Excellence (1999 and 2006), the William James Award for Distinguished Service from the California District Attorneys Association (2003), the Appellate Award for Outstanding Advocacy in Capital Cases (2005) and the William Schafer Award for Distinguished Service (2011).
Mr. Campbell received his law degree from the University of California at Davis.
Assistant District Attorney, Philadelphia District Attorney
Sarah Hart has worked for over three decades in the criminal justice field at the federal, state and local levels.
From 1979-95, she served as a prosecutor in Philadelphia where (for 9 years) she represented the District Attorney in federal prison litigation involving mass releases of pretrial detainees. During this time, she provided substantial assistance to the U.S. Congress in drafting the Federal Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA).
From 1995-2001, Mrs. Hart served as the Chief Counsel for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections where she successfully defended the constitutionality of the PLRA in the federal courts.
From 2001-2005, following unanimous Senate confirmation, she served as the Director of the National Institute of Justice (the research and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Justice) where, among other things, she developed the national $1 billion DNA initiative.
After an appointment as a Visiting Professor teaching graduate school courses at Rutgers University, she returned to Philadelphia to represent Philadelphia District Attorney in class action litigation concerning the Philadelphia Prison System. During this time she represented the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association in crafting comprehensive, bipartisan prison reform legislation in Pennsylvania that enacted sweeping changes in sentencing and parole practices. (Acts 81-84 of 2008).
Mrs. Hart previously served as Vice Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee of the American Corrections Association, a member of the Executive Committee of the Criminal Law Practice Group of the Federalist Society, a member of the Board of Directors of the Crime Victims Law Institute, and as a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Appellate Procedural Rules Committee. She has also provided extensive training on the PLRA and corrections issues to the National Institute of Corrections, the National Association of Attorneys General, and the Association of State Correctional Administrators.
Mrs. Hart has published articles relating to corrections, forensics, and domestic violence. A recent publication focuses on the benefits and costs of prisoner class actions.
S. Hart, Evaluating Institutional Prisoners’ Rights Litigation: Costs and Benefits and Federalism Considerations, 11 U. Penn. J. Const. L. 73 (2008).
She is a graduate of Rutgers Law School and the University of Delaware.
Legal Director & General Counsel, Criminal Justice Legal Foundation
Kent S. Scheidegger has been the Legal Director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation since December 1986. He also served as Chairman of the Criminal Law Practice Group of the Federalist Society 2003 to 2005. His articles on criminal and constitutional law have been published in law reviews, national legal publications, and congressional reports. Legal arguments authored by Mr. Scheidegger have been cited and incorporated in several precedent-setting United States Supreme Court decisions.
After receiving a degree in physics with honors from New Mexico State University in 1976, Mr. Scheidegger served for six years in the United States Air Force as a Nuclear Research Officer. He took his law degree with distinction from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 1982 and practiced civil law in Northern California. He was general counsel of California Cooler, Inc. from 1984 until 1986, when he joined the Foundation.
Chancellor Professor, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School of Law
Peltz-Steele received his law degree from Duke University and a bachelor’s in journalism and Spanish from Washington & Lee University. Peltz-Steele has won awards in teaching, research, and public service. He practiced commercial law in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and taught law for more than thirteen years before coming to UMass Law in 2011.
Peltz-Steele is author, co-author, or co-editor of qualitative and quantitative research in law and mass communication in journals and books, of treatises in law and development and access to information, and of textbooks in tort law and freedom of information. He is especially active in international media law and policy, having presented papers on five continents and having published in foreign journals and multinational collaborations. His current research focuses on comparative transparency in the context of development and in the private sector. Peltz-Steele serves in various roles in public service organizations, including the legal education committee of the American Bar Association, International Law Section.
Assistant Professor, Florida Coastal School of Law
Professor Rod Sullivan practiced maritime law for 25 years before joining the faculty at Florida Coastal School of Law and is a Board Certified specialist in Admiralty and Maritime Law. During his years of practice he tried over 100 jury and non-jury cases in both federal and state courts in Florida and Georgia.
Professor Sulivan regularly teaches Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Admiralty and Maritime Law, and the global Climate Change Seminar.
Professor Sullivan successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of Edgar Townsend in the case of Atlantic Sounding, Inc. v. Townsend, 129 S. Ct. 2561 (2009). In a 5-4 decision written by Justice Clarence Thomas the Supreme Court decided that a seaman who was wrongfully denied medical care by his employer could seek punitive damages.
Professor Sullivan appeared as counsel for certain voters in Nassau County, Florida in the 2000 Presidential Election recount case in Tallahassee, Florida which came to be known as Bush v. Gore. He also served in the Merchant Marine Ready Reserve program of the U. S. Naval Reserve, earning the rank of Lieutenant.
Kappos v. Hyatt - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
David S. Olson
On April 18, 2012 the Supreme Court announced its decision in Kappos v. Hyatt. This case...
United States v. Jones - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Paul Rosenzweig
On January 23, 2012, the Supreme Court announced its decision in United States v. Jones. The...
Filarsky v. Delia - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Scott Martin
To listen, please right click on the audio file you wish to hear and then select "Save...
Wood v. Milyard - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Brian Means
On April 24, 2012, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Wood v. Milyard. The question...
Mohamad v. Palestinian Authority - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Eugene Kontorovich
On April 18, 2012 the Supreme Court announced its decision in Mohamad v. Palestinian Authority. The...
Martinez v. Ryan - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Ward Campbell
On March 20, 2012 the Supreme Court announced its decision in Martinez v. Ryan. The question...
Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Sarah V. Hart
On April 2, 2012 the Supreme Court announced its decision in Florence v. Board of Chosen...
Lafler v. Cooper and Missouri v. Frye - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Kent Scheidegger
On March 21, 2012 the Supreme Court announced its decisions in Lafler v. Cooper and Missouri v. Frye....
Federal Aviation Administration v. Cooper - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Richard J. Peltz-Steele
On March 28, 2012 the Supreme Court announced its decision in Federal Aviation Administration v. Cooper....
Roberts v. Sea-Land Services - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Rod Sullivan
On March 20, 2012, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Roberts v. Sea-Land Services. This...