Associate Professor of Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration, and International Affairs, George Washington University
Steven Balla is Associate Professor of Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration, and International Affairs, and a Senior Scholar at the George Washington Regulatory Studies Center. He researches government consultation and public participation in policymaking in the United States and China. He has on two occasions served as a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States, drawing on his research on public commenting in the U.S. rulemaking process to make recommendations for how to improve regulatory policymaking. He has twice served as a Fulbright Scholar in China, at Peking University in Beijing and Nankai University in Tianjin. He is currently working on projects on congressional oversight of regulatory policymaking, polarization in public commenting on proposed rules, and the responsiveness of Chinese government officials to public feedback on draft laws and regulations.
Partner, Torridon Law PLLC
Mike Fragoso is an experienced legal and policy strategist who represents clients before all three branches of the federal government. Most recently he served as chief counsel to the Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY). He has negotiated consequential legislation, managed successful congressional oversight, and prepared individuals for the most contentious Senate hearings.
As chief counsel to Leader McConnell, Mike was the Leader’s primary legal advisor and managed the “last mile” of any legislation touching on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He ran the 2024 reauthorization of FISA Section 702 and was involved at the highest levels of the appropriations and budget-reconciliation processes. Mike also repeatedly represented Leader McConnell as counsel of record at the Supreme Court. Leader McConnell said of Mike that he’s “equally at home in the high-minded philosophical discourse of the legal community and the urgent pragmatism of congressional dealmaking,” and that he “maintains a firm grasp on the realm of the possible” but “knows which screws to twist.” He observed that Mike “is so exceptionally competent that he often produces from his desk the work that would normally require, literally, teams of outside counsel.”
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, Mayer Brown
Kimberly Hamm is a partner in Mayer Brown’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution and Public Policy, Regulatory & Government Affairs practices. She also leads the firm’s congressional investigations group. Prior to joining Mayer Brown, Kim served as the General Counsel to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy where she provided strategic guidance to House committees on congressional investigations and oversight, including issuance and enforcement of committee subpoenas to agencies and private parties. Before joining Speaker McCarthy’s senior team, Kim worked in the public policy group of a global asset management firm, where she led advocacy and external engagement in the areas of financial stability, corporate governance, and regulatory frameworks impacting mutual funds. Kim also served as Republican Chief Counsel for Investigations for the Senate Committee on Rules & Administration.
From 2019 to 2021, Kim was chief counsel to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, where she oversaw regulatory initiatives across all divisions of the SEC, including the issuance of more than 45 final rules. She also advised on significant legal and policy matters, including cross-border regulation, financial stability risks, major market events, and congressional inquiries.
She also previously served for over four years at the House of Representatives’ Office of General Counsel, where she advised committees on all aspects of congressional investigations and handled litigation arising from subpoena disputes. Kim also represented the House, its members and committees in numerous grand jury, trial, and appellate proceedings on a wide range of other issues arising from official duties, including criminal investigations and constitutional litigation.
Kim began her legal career in the litigation department of an international law firm in London and New York, where she practiced for over a decade and advised clients on securities, compliance, antitrust, insurance, regulatory, and internal investigation matters.
Of Counsel, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
Amanda H. Neely is of counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and is a member of the Public Policy, Congressional Investigations, White Collar, and National Security practice groups.
Ms. Neely has extensive experience working on Capitol Hill. She leverages that expertise to advise clients regarding their interactions with Congress and the executive branch. Over the course of ten years, Ms. Neely held several senior staff positions in Congress. She served as Director of Governmental Affairs for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and General Counsel to Senator Rob Portman. Under Senator Portman’s chairmanship, she also served as Deputy Chief Counsel for the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In those roles, she managed Senator Portman’s regulatory reform agenda and led oversight of federal government agencies and investigations into private entities. She previously served in several other Capitol Hill offices including as Oversight Counsel for the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means.
Congressional Investigations: At Gibson Dunn, Ms. Neely has represented clients undergoing investigations by numerous congressional committees, including the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations; Senate Finance Committee; Senate Judiciary Committee; Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee; House Committee on Oversight and Accountability; House Judiciary Committee; and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In the course of those representations, Ms. Neely assists clients in all stages of investigations, including responding to letter requests and subpoenas to preparing witnesses for interviews, depositions, and congressional hearings. She also has assisted clients appearing before independent commissions such as the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and the Commission on Wartime Contracting.
Public Policy: Ms. Neely also works with clients to advance their legislative interests on Capitol Hill by gathering intelligence, formulating strategic plans, and executing lobbying campaigns. In those matters, she has represented a wide range of clients from the fields of technology, healthcare, finance, and energy.
Regulatory Counseling: Ms. Neely regularly advises clients regarding their interests before regulatory agencies. Her expertise in the CHIPS and Science Act allows her to help clients comply with the Department of Commerce’s regulations and assist them in commenting on agency rules and applying for funding. She also works with clients to engage in the rulemaking process at agencies ranging from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ms. Neely also has participated in a variety of litigation matters before state and federal trial and appellate courts, including several class action defense and False Claims Act cases.
Ms. Neely clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle, then-Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She earned her law degree cum laude from Duke University School of Law, where she served as the Articles Editor for both the Alaska Law Review and the Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy. She was a member of the Duke Law Moot Court Board and served on the executive board of the Duke Law Federalist Society.
Ms. Neely graduated cum laude from Princeton University, where she majored in English and earned a certificate in Medieval Studies. She served for two years on United States Senator Elizabeth Dole’s staff as a legislative correspondent, focusing on banking, housing, budget, and tax issues. Ms. Neely is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and before the United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Vice President and Managing Director of Government Affairs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Tom Wickham, former Parliamentarian of the U.S. House of Representatives, serves as Vice President and Managing Director of Government Affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Wickham helps oversee a team of D.C. and regional U.S. Chamber lobbyists and serves as the Chamber’s policy lead on anti-crime efforts.
A highly requested speaker and lecturer, Wickham’s career on Capitol Hill spanned over 25 years beginning under Speaker Newt Gingrich and concluding under Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Wickham is a winner of the Speaker John W. McCormack Award of Excellence given to House employees, and Punchbowl News has referred to him as “the foremost expert on the rules and procedures of the House of Representatives.”
In leading a Hill office that reviewed every measure that came before the House, Wickham has a command of a broad range of subject matters. He has leveraged this policy expertise to achieve legislative victories at the federal, state, and local level. Wickham’s expertise and scholarship are recognized all over the world and he has recently testified before Congress on House emergency procedures implemented after the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
As a nonpartisan House official for over 25 years, Wickham provided essential guidance to leadership, committees, and members of Congress as part of the development and execution of legislative strategy. During numerous high-profile legislative events, Wickham counseled speakers of the House, vice presidents, and countless members and senators on their constitutional and statutory responsibilities.
As editor of many procedural manuals and practice books, Wickham’s scholarship on the Constitution and the rules of the House is recognized internationally and he has represented the U.S. in dozens of countries and parliaments, including multiple delegation trips to Europe and Africa. His editorial credits include the House Rules and Manual, House Practice, and the Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Wickham’s expertise is recognized by national leaders of both parties. Upon his retirement as parliamentarian in 2020, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “Tom Wickham is a master of House rules and procedure, whose incisive legal acumen and absolute professionalism have strengthened the People’s House and benefited the American people whom we serve. In his 25 years of distinguished service, Tom upheld the great constitutional underpinnings of the historic role of parliamentarian with excellence and integrity.” Then Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy remarked in a tribute on the House floor, “I speak for all Republicans when I commend Tom for his professionalism, sound judgment, and steady demeanor in carrying out his duties.”
Wickham serves on the advisory board of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, a joint partnership between the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and Vanderbilt University, and is a member of the University of Iowa Department of Political Science Alumni Advisory Board. He is active in his community as a volunteer citizenship teacher and coordinator of a local Adopt-a-Highway organization.
Wickham is a native of Epworth, Iowa, and a graduate of the University of Iowa and the University of Iowa College of Law. He enjoys hiking, especially up Old Rag Mountain in the Shenandoah National Park. He and his wife, Heather, have two adult children and reside in Burke, Virginia.
Associate Professor of Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration, and International Affairs, George Washington University
Steven Balla is Associate Professor of Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration, and International Affairs, and a Senior Scholar at the George Washington Regulatory Studies Center. He researches government consultation and public participation in policymaking in the United States and China. He has on two occasions served as a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States, drawing on his research on public commenting in the U.S. rulemaking process to make recommendations for how to improve regulatory policymaking. He has twice served as a Fulbright Scholar in China, at Peking University in Beijing and Nankai University in Tianjin. He is currently working on projects on congressional oversight of regulatory policymaking, polarization in public commenting on proposed rules, and the responsiveness of Chinese government officials to public feedback on draft laws and regulations.
Director, GW Regulatory Studies Center & Distinguished Professor of Practice, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration, The George Washington University
Susan Dudley is the Founder and Director of the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center, established in 2009 to raise awareness of regulations’ effects and improve regulatory policy through research, education, and outreach. She is also a distinguished professor of practice in the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration. She is past-president of the Society for Benefit Cost Analysis, a senior fellow of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and on the Regulatory Transparency Project Regulatory Practice Working Group. Her book, Regulation: A Primer, with Jerry Brito, is available on Amazon.com.
From April 2007 through January 2009, Professor Dudley served as the Presidentially-appointed Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and was responsible for the review of draft executive branch regulations under Executive Order 12866, the collection of federal-government-wide information under the Paperwork Reduction Act, the development and implementation of government-wide policies in the areas of information policy, privacy, and statistical policy, and international regulatory cooperation efforts.
Prior to OIRA, she directed the Regulatory Studies Program at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and taught courses on regulation at the George Mason University School of Law. Earlier in her career, Professor Dudley served as an economist at OIRA, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. She was also a consultant to government and private clients at Economists Incorporated. She holds a Master of Science degree from the Sloan School of Management at MIT and a Bachelor of Science degree (summa cum laude) in Resource Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
President, Center for Individual Rights
Todd Gaziano is the President of the Center for Individual Rights. Mr. Gaziano received his J.D. in 1988 from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics. He received his B.A. from West Virginia University, summa cum laude in 1985. He was selected as a Truman Scholar from West Virginia while an undergraduate.
Mr. Gaziano’s previous legal work includes service as a law clerk for U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Judge Edith Jones, as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel, as a chief subcommittee counsel in the U.S. House of Representatives, as a Houston trial attorney, and as a chief corporate legal officer. He also served a six-year term as commissioner on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (2008-2013), where he helped conduct oversight and investigations of civil rights agencies.
For most of the last 25 years, Mr. Gaziano was a legal scholar and public interest law leader, promoting individual liberty in the Supreme Court and Congress. From 1997 to 2013, he was the founding director of the Edwin Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. From 2014 until he joined CIR, he was the Chief of Legal Policy and Strategic Research, and Director of the Center for the Separation of Powers, at Pacific Legal Foundation.
Staff Director, US Senate
Staff Director at United States Senate, Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management.
Associate Professor of Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration, and International Affairs, George Washington University
Steven Balla is Associate Professor of Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration, and International Affairs, and a Senior Scholar at the George Washington Regulatory Studies Center. He researches government consultation and public participation in policymaking in the United States and China. He has on two occasions served as a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States, drawing on his research on public commenting in the U.S. rulemaking process to make recommendations for how to improve regulatory policymaking. He has twice served as a Fulbright Scholar in China, at Peking University in Beijing and Nankai University in Tianjin. He is currently working on projects on congressional oversight of regulatory policymaking, polarization in public commenting on proposed rules, and the responsiveness of Chinese government officials to public feedback on draft laws and regulations.
Policy Director, Fulcrum Foundation
Reeve T. Bull is the Policy Director of the Fulcrum Foundation. In this role, he promotes executive and legislative reforms designed to update and streamline the regulatory system. These reforms draw upon the work Mr. Bull undertook in his previous role as the Director of the Virginia Office of Regulatory Management (ORM). During his time at ORM, he led the Commonwealth's efforts related to regulatory streamlining and permitting transparency and the development and implementation of artificial intelligence policy.
Previously, Mr. Bull served as the Research Director of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS). At ACUS, he worked on projects related to international regulatory cooperation, the use of science by administrative agencies, presidential review of agency rulemaking, cost-benefit analysis, government contractor ethics, and e-rulemaking, among other things. Mr. Bull has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School and the George Washington University, teaching courses on Administrative Law. Mr. Bull has published numerous articles in highly regarded law journals, including the Administrative Law Review, George Washington Law Review, and Law and Contemporary Problems. Mr. Bull is an Elected Member of the American Law Institute and a Public Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Bull worked in the private sector as an associate with the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and in government service as a law clerk to the Honorable Alvin A. Schall of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. During his time as an associate with Gibson Dunn, Mr. Bull worked on a variety of litigation and regulatory matters. He participated in cases appearing before the United States Supreme Court, several federal Courts of Appeals, and numerous federal district courts and state trial courts. His experience spanned a variety of practice areas, including administrative, constitutional, intellectual property, antitrust, environmental, securities, and white collar criminal law. During his clerkship for Judge Schall, Mr. Bull assisted with appeals in cases spanning a variety of areas, with particular emphasis on administrative and patent law.
Mr. Bull attended law school at Duke University, where he graduated with highest honors and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. He was one of two recipients of the Willis Smith Award for compiling the most outstanding academic record in the graduating class and the recipient of the James S. Bidlake Memorial Award for achieving the highest grade in his first year legal writing section. Mr. Bull also served as a Note Editor on the Duke Law Journal. Prior to law school, Mr. Bull attended the University of Oklahoma, where he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelors in Chemistry and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.
Director, GW Regulatory Studies Center & Distinguished Professor of Practice, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration, The George Washington University
Susan Dudley is the Founder and Director of the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center, established in 2009 to raise awareness of regulations’ effects and improve regulatory policy through research, education, and outreach. She is also a distinguished professor of practice in the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration. She is past-president of the Society for Benefit Cost Analysis, a senior fellow of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and on the Regulatory Transparency Project Regulatory Practice Working Group. Her book, Regulation: A Primer, with Jerry Brito, is available on Amazon.com.
From April 2007 through January 2009, Professor Dudley served as the Presidentially-appointed Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and was responsible for the review of draft executive branch regulations under Executive Order 12866, the collection of federal-government-wide information under the Paperwork Reduction Act, the development and implementation of government-wide policies in the areas of information policy, privacy, and statistical policy, and international regulatory cooperation efforts.
Prior to OIRA, she directed the Regulatory Studies Program at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and taught courses on regulation at the George Mason University School of Law. Earlier in her career, Professor Dudley served as an economist at OIRA, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. She was also a consultant to government and private clients at Economists Incorporated. She holds a Master of Science degree from the Sloan School of Management at MIT and a Bachelor of Science degree (summa cum laude) in Resource Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Edward F. Howrey Professor of Law, University of Virginia
Michael Livermore joined the faculty in 2013. He teaches environmental law, administrative law, regulatory law and policy, and advanced seminars on these topics. His research focuses on environmental law, regulation, bureaucratic oversight and the computational analysis of law. He frequently collaborates on interdisciplinary projects with researchers in other academic fields, including economics, computer science and neurology. His work has appeared in leading law journals, including the Yale Law Journal, University of Chicago Law Review, New York University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal and Duke Law Journal. Livermore is a leading expert on the use of cost-benefit analysis to evaluate environmental regulation, and he is the co-author of Retaking Rationality: How Cost-Benefit Analysis Can Better Protect the Environment and Our Health (Oxford University Press, 2008) and co-editor of The Globalization of Cost-Benefit Analysis in Environmental Policy (Oxford University Press, 2013).
Prior to joining the faculty, Livermore was the founding executive director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law, a think tank dedicated to improving the quality of government decision-making. In that capacity, he participated in dozens of regulatory proceedings on a diverse set of issues ranging from climate change to prison safety. He remains an active participant in environmental policy discussions. Livermore earned his J.D. magna cum laude from NYU Law, where he was a Furman Scholar, was elected to the Order of the Coif, and served as a managing editor of the Law Review. After law school, he spent a year as a fellow at NYU Law’s Center on Environmental and Land Use Law before clerking for Judge Harry T. Edwards on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
During the 2018-19 academic year, Livermore is leading an Online Workshop on the Computational Analysis of Law.
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Steven Balla, Susan E. Dudley, Todd F. Gaziano, Anthony Papian
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Steven Balla, Reeve T. Bull, Susan E. Dudley, Michael Livermore
When the FCC put forward its proposed repeal of the net neutrality rule, it received...