Partner, Shutts & Bowen
Alyssa L. Cory is a Partner in the Tampa office of Shutts & Bowen LLP, where she is a member of the Appellate Practice Group.
Board certified in Appellate Practice, she regularly briefs and argues high-profile appeals in all six of Florida’s appellate courts, as well as in the Florida Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Her practice covers appellate advocacy in the areas of complex commercial and business disputes, constitutional issues, election-related litigation, and administrative law. She also assists clients through civil litigation support in a variety of federal and state cases with trial preservation, and developing and framing key legal arguments.
She currently serves as the Chair of the General Practice Subcommittee of The Florida Bar Appellate Court Rules Committee, and as Chair of the Programs Committee of the Appellate Practice Section of The Florida Bar.
Alyssa brings a wealth of knowledge to her appellate practice from her previous experience as a staff attorney for the Honorable Ricky Polston of the Florida Supreme Court, and the Honorable Thomas D. Winokur of Florida’s First District Court of Appeal.
Alyssa is also a leader in her local community, serving as President of the Tampa Bay Attorney Chapter of the Christian Legal Society, and as a Vice President of the Tampa Bay Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society.
Deputy Attorney General for Civil Enforcement, Florida Office of the Attorney General
Jason Hilborn is the Deputy Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Florida Office of the Attorney General, overseeing civil investigations, enforcement, and litigation for the State. Before his current role, Jason was a partner in the Fort Lauderdale office of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, focusing on complex civil litigation. Earlier in his career, he practiced at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Washington, D.C., before serving as a Deputy Solicitor General in the Florida Solicitor General’s Office, where he handled civil and criminal appeals and challenges to federal agency action. Jason clerked for Judge John K. Bush of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and for Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III of the Delaware Court of Chancery. Before earning his J.D., Jason served as a missionary across Europe, Africa, and Asia. He received his B.S. and B.A. from the University of Florida and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Associate, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Elizabeth A. Kiernan is a senior associate in the Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, representing clients in their most consequential, high-stakes, and time-sensitive matters. Elizabeth specializes in appellate advocacy and sophisticated briefing. She has successfully argued before the Fifth Circuit and Texas Supreme Court and has supported arguments in various courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court and courts across the country.
Elizabeth’s most significant victories include obtaining and preserving at the Texas Supreme Court writs of mandamus directing dismissal of billions of dollars in personal injury and property damage claims across a 200-case, 20,000-plaintiff MDL; securing a landmark U.S. Supreme Court victory allowing an insurer responsible for millions of dollars in bankruptcy claims to be heard on objections to its insureds’ plan of reorganization; and persuading a unanimous Fifth Circuit panel to uphold dismissal of over $12 million in contractual and tort claims.
Chambers and Partners recently named Elizabeth an “Associate to Watch” for Litigation: Appellate (Texas), and she has been recognized as an Appellate “Rising Star” by Thomson Reuters’s Texas Super Lawyers magazine.
Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Elizabeth earned her B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Alabama and her J.D. with Honors from the University of Chicago Law School. She served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Honorable William H. Pryor Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She also served as Special Counsel to U.S. Senator Josh Hawley for the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Judge, United States District Court, Southern District of Florida
Rodolfo “Rudy” Armando Ruiz II is a District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Prior to his judicial commission on May 3, 2019, Ruiz was a Circuit Court Judge for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida from 2014 through 2019, and a Miami-Dade County Court Judge from 2012 through 2014. Ruiz also served as an Assistant County Attorney with the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office and an associate with White & Case LLP.
Ruiz received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Duke University and earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University. After graduating from law school, he was a law clerk to the Honorable Federico A. Moreno of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Of Counsel, DLA Piper LLP (US)
Harout J. Samra – a Board Certified Specialist in International Law – focuses his practice on international dispute resolution and arbitration matters, including international civil litigation in US courts.
Harout has represented clients from both the public and private sectors, including foreign governments, public officials and clients from a variety of industries. He has experience in international arbitrations administered under the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), Bogota Chamber of Commerce, Madrid Court of Arbitration and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitration rules.
Harout currently serves as a member of the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission, by appointment of Governor Ron DeSantis. He previously served, by appointment of Governor Rick Scott, as a member of the Florida Third District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission, and was elected as Chair of the Commission from 2018-2019.
Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice
Paul Avelar is the Managing Attorney of the Institute for Justice Arizona Office. He joined the Institute in March 2010 and litigates free speech, property rights, economic liberty, school choice and other constitutional cases in federal and state courts.
As the head of IJ’s national Braiding Freedom Initiative, Paul represents natural hair braiders across the country to protect their right to earn an honest living. The Initiative uses lawsuits, activism and research to remove laws that require potential braiders to undergo hundreds of costly training hours just to braid hair. Since IJ launched the Braiding Freedom Initiative in 2014, 12 additional states have freed braiders from unnecessary licensing burdens. Paul drafted the model Natural Hair Braiding Protection Act, which has been adopted in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Texas and South Dakota. He is currently representing braiders in Missouri, where state laws infringe upon their right to earn an honest living.
In his free speech work, Paul has challenged numerous laws that trample First Amendment rights. In Arizona Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett, he represented candidates and independent groups in a successful U.S. Supreme Court challenge to the “matching funds” provision of Arizona’s publicly financed elections system. He represented grassroots groups and individuals in Arizona, Mississippi and Washington, where state laws burdened their political speech by requiring them to register with the government, to navigate complex regulations and to face fines and possible criminal penalties merely because they talked about political issues. In Washington, Paul protected a lawyer’s right to defend, pro-bono, the First Amendment rights of political speakers. Through litigation and legislation, Paul leads the fight against abusive civil forfeiture laws in Arizona and elsewhere.
Paul also co-authored the most comprehensive published study of economic liberty protections in the Arizona Constitution. The Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court appointed Paul to the Task Force on the Review of the Role and Governance Structure of the State Bar of Arizona, where he dissented from the majority report and called on leaders to substantially reform the Bar and state regulation of the practice of law. He often speaks at law schools across the country about constitutional issues and his work at IJ.
Prior to joining IJ-AZ, Paul worked as an attorney in Philadelphia. He clerked for Judge Roger Miner on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Justice Andrew Hurwitz on the Arizona Supreme Court, and Judge Daniel Barker on the Arizona Court of Appeals.
Paul graduated manga cum laude from the Arizona State University College of Law in 2004 and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 2000.
Mr. Pekron’s practice is primarily devoted to complex business, tort, and class action litigation. Mr. Pekron is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Commercial Litigation, recognized as a Rising Star in the area of Business Litigation by Mid-South Super Lawyers, and a Future Star in Litigation by Benchmark Litigation. He has represented companies and individuals in cases throughout the nation involving breach of contract, professional liability, consumer fraud, products liability, and ERISA issues. He has significant experience in representing accounting firms, publicly-traded companies, and corporate officers and directors in securities litigation, regulatory matters, professional malpractice actions, and internal investigations.
Mr. Pekron also has an active appellate practice and has appeared in numerous state and federal appellate courts, including the Supreme Court of Illinois, the New York Court of Appeals, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Circuits. He has argued cases before the Arkansas Supreme Court, the Arkansas Court of Appeals, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He has also been responsible for petitions for certiorari and amicus briefs in the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Pekron received his law degree from Yale Law School, where he served as Book Reviews Editor of the Yale Law Journal. His work has been published in the Hamline Law Review.
After graduating from law school, Mr. Pekron clerked for Judge Morris Sheppard Arnold of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. During his clerkship, he served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law. He then worked as an associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin LLP.
Founder and Co-Director, James Wilson Institute
Hadley Arkes joined the faculty of Amherst College in 1966. He became the Edward Ney Professor of Jurisprudence in 1987, and held that chair until he retired officially in July 2015. But he has not retired from writing and speaking. He has carried that teaching into a new phase; he has become the Founder and Director of the James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights and the American Founding in Washington, D.C. He has written eight books, mostly with Princeton and Cambridge University Presss. Among the books at Princeton have been: The Philosopher in the City (1981), First Things (1986), Beyond the Constitution (1990), and The Return of George Sutherland (1994). With Cambridge Press he has done Natural Rights and the Right to Choose (2002), and Constitutional Illusions & Anchoring Truths: The Touchstone of the Natural Law (2010). His most recent book, with Regnery Press is Mere Natural Law (2023) His articles have appeared in professional journals, but apart from his writing in more scholarly formats, he has become known to a wider audience through his writings in the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Civitas and First Things, a journal that took its name from his book of that title.
He was the main advocate, and architect, of the bill that became known as the Born-Alive Infants’ Protection Act. The account of his experience, in moving the bill through Congress, is contained as an epilogue or memoir in his book, Natural Rights & the Right to Choose. Arkes first prepared his proposal as part of the debating kit assembled for the first George Bush in 1988. The purpose of that proposal was to offer the “most modest first step” of all in legislating on abortion, and opening a conversation even with people who called themselves “pro-choice.” Professor Arkes proposed to begin simply by preserving the life of a child who survived an abortion–contrary to the holding of one federal judge, that such a child was not protected by the laws. Professor Arkes led the testimony on the bill before the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House in July 2000, then again in July 2001. The legislative calendar was upended in the aftermath of September 11th, but in March 2002, the bill was brought to the floor of the House, where it passed unanimously. To the surprise of Professor Arkes, the bill was brought to the floor of the Senate on July 18 by the Deputy Majority Leader, Harry Reid, and passed in the same way. On August 5, President Bush signed the bill into law with Professor Arkes in attendance.
Professor Arkes was the founder, at Amherst, of the Committee for the American Founding, a group of alumni and students seeking to preserve, at Amherst, the doctrines of “natural rights” taught by the American Founders and Lincoln. That interest has been carried over now to the founding of a new center for the jurisprudence of natural law, in Washington, D.C.: the James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights and the American Founding, named for one of the premier minds among the American Founders. Professor Arkes has drawn to this project a cluster of accomplished federal judges who have wanted to get a firmer hold on the natural law, and brought them together with some gifted teachers of philosophy and law. The new institute will be sponsoring lectures and seminars in Washington and other parts of the country. The purpose of this new James Wilson Institute is to teach anew, to lawyers, judges, and students those principles of law that furnished the guide to the American Founders as they set about framing a Constitution. And the hope is to restore, to a new generation, the furnishings of mind of the men who formed this regime.
Deputy Attorney General and Director of the Civil Rights Enforcement Division, Office of the Tennessee Attorney General
Judge, Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One
The Honorable Jennifer M. Perkins began service on the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, on October 30, 2017. At the time of her appointment by Governor Douglas Ducey, Judge Perkins was Assistant Solicitor General for the State of Arizona.
Judge Perkins was born in Portales, New Mexico, and primarily raised in Albuquerque. She attended the prestigious Albuquerque Academy from 1988-1995, before moving to Washington D.C. to attend the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University as a National Merit Scholar. Therafter, she relocated again to Dallas, Texas, and earned her juris doctor from the SMU Dedman School of Law, graduating cum laude in 2002.
Judge Perkins started her career at the law firm of Browning & Peifer (now Peifer, Hanson, Mullins, and Baker) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. While there, she litigated complex commercial matters including class action plaintiff and defense work, and assisted with employment and contract litigation. In 2003, the judge accompanied the Honorable James O. Browning in transitioning to the federal district court bench, serving as his first law clerk.
After her clerkship, Judge Perkins moved to Arizona to work for the Institute for Justice, Arizona Chapter, a public interest law firm. She spent five years with IJ-AZ litigating civil rights cases in Arizona and across the country. In 2009, the judge became Disciplinary Counsel for the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct, where she reviewed and prosecuted ethics complaints against state court judges throughout Arizona. After five years serving the state in this capacity, Judge Perkins entered private practice by joining an appellate law firm in Phoenix. While there, she worked on state and federal appeals involving a wide range of legal subjects, including complex business disputes, property rights, judicial ethics, and personal injury matters.
In January 2015, Judge Perkins joined the Office of the Arizona Attorney General to serve as the first Assistant Solicitor General; in that capacity, she was responsible for oversight of Attorney General Opinions and served as ethics counsel to the entire office. In addition to these two primary roles, the judge assisted on a variety of matters including trial and appellate litigation of election-related matters; federal appellate litigation with the Federalism Unit; state criminal appeals; and drafting amicus briefs on behalf of Arizona in state and federal courts.
Executive Vice President, Goldwater Institute
Christina Sandefur is the Executive Vice President at the Goldwater Institute. She develops policies and litigates cases advancing healthcare freedom, free enterprise, private property rights, free speech, and taxpayer rights.
Christina is a co-drafter of the Right to Try initiative, now federal law, which protects terminally ill patients' right to try safe investigational treatments that have been prescribed by their physician but are not yet FDA-approved. She has won important victories for property rights in Arizona and works nationally to promote the Institute's Private Property Rights Protection Act, a state-level reform that requires government to pay owners when regulations destroy property rights and reduce property values.
Christina is the co-author of the book Cornerstone of Liberty: Private Property Rights in 21st Century America (2016). She is a frequent guest on national television and radio programs, has provided expert legal testimony to various legislative committees, and is a frequent speaker at conferences. She is the recipient of the 2018 Buckley Award in recognition of her leadership in the freedom movement, and she is an Advisory Board Member of the Network of enlightened Women. Christina serves on the board of the Phoenix Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society and is a member of the executive committee for the Federalist Society's Regulatory Transparency Project: FDA & Health.
Christina is a graduate of Michigan State University College of Law and Hillsdale College.
Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice
Paul Avelar is the Managing Attorney of the Institute for Justice Arizona Office. He joined the Institute in March 2010 and litigates free speech, property rights, economic liberty, school choice and other constitutional cases in federal and state courts.
As the head of IJ’s national Braiding Freedom Initiative, Paul represents natural hair braiders across the country to protect their right to earn an honest living. The Initiative uses lawsuits, activism and research to remove laws that require potential braiders to undergo hundreds of costly training hours just to braid hair. Since IJ launched the Braiding Freedom Initiative in 2014, 12 additional states have freed braiders from unnecessary licensing burdens. Paul drafted the model Natural Hair Braiding Protection Act, which has been adopted in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Texas and South Dakota. He is currently representing braiders in Missouri, where state laws infringe upon their right to earn an honest living.
In his free speech work, Paul has challenged numerous laws that trample First Amendment rights. In Arizona Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett, he represented candidates and independent groups in a successful U.S. Supreme Court challenge to the “matching funds” provision of Arizona’s publicly financed elections system. He represented grassroots groups and individuals in Arizona, Mississippi and Washington, where state laws burdened their political speech by requiring them to register with the government, to navigate complex regulations and to face fines and possible criminal penalties merely because they talked about political issues. In Washington, Paul protected a lawyer’s right to defend, pro-bono, the First Amendment rights of political speakers. Through litigation and legislation, Paul leads the fight against abusive civil forfeiture laws in Arizona and elsewhere.
Paul also co-authored the most comprehensive published study of economic liberty protections in the Arizona Constitution. The Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court appointed Paul to the Task Force on the Review of the Role and Governance Structure of the State Bar of Arizona, where he dissented from the majority report and called on leaders to substantially reform the Bar and state regulation of the practice of law. He often speaks at law schools across the country about constitutional issues and his work at IJ.
Prior to joining IJ-AZ, Paul worked as an attorney in Philadelphia. He clerked for Judge Roger Miner on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Justice Andrew Hurwitz on the Arizona Supreme Court, and Judge Daniel Barker on the Arizona Court of Appeals.
Paul graduated manga cum laude from the Arizona State University College of Law in 2004 and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 2000.
Mr. Pekron’s practice is primarily devoted to complex business, tort, and class action litigation. Mr. Pekron is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Commercial Litigation, recognized as a Rising Star in the area of Business Litigation by Mid-South Super Lawyers, and a Future Star in Litigation by Benchmark Litigation. He has represented companies and individuals in cases throughout the nation involving breach of contract, professional liability, consumer fraud, products liability, and ERISA issues. He has significant experience in representing accounting firms, publicly-traded companies, and corporate officers and directors in securities litigation, regulatory matters, professional malpractice actions, and internal investigations.
Mr. Pekron also has an active appellate practice and has appeared in numerous state and federal appellate courts, including the Supreme Court of Illinois, the New York Court of Appeals, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Circuits. He has argued cases before the Arkansas Supreme Court, the Arkansas Court of Appeals, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He has also been responsible for petitions for certiorari and amicus briefs in the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Pekron received his law degree from Yale Law School, where he served as Book Reviews Editor of the Yale Law Journal. His work has been published in the Hamline Law Review.
After graduating from law school, Mr. Pekron clerked for Judge Morris Sheppard Arnold of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. During his clerkship, he served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law. He then worked as an associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin LLP.
Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice
Paul Avelar is the Managing Attorney of the Institute for Justice Arizona Office. He joined the Institute in March 2010 and litigates free speech, property rights, economic liberty, school choice and other constitutional cases in federal and state courts.
As the head of IJ’s national Braiding Freedom Initiative, Paul represents natural hair braiders across the country to protect their right to earn an honest living. The Initiative uses lawsuits, activism and research to remove laws that require potential braiders to undergo hundreds of costly training hours just to braid hair. Since IJ launched the Braiding Freedom Initiative in 2014, 12 additional states have freed braiders from unnecessary licensing burdens. Paul drafted the model Natural Hair Braiding Protection Act, which has been adopted in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Texas and South Dakota. He is currently representing braiders in Missouri, where state laws infringe upon their right to earn an honest living.
In his free speech work, Paul has challenged numerous laws that trample First Amendment rights. In Arizona Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett, he represented candidates and independent groups in a successful U.S. Supreme Court challenge to the “matching funds” provision of Arizona’s publicly financed elections system. He represented grassroots groups and individuals in Arizona, Mississippi and Washington, where state laws burdened their political speech by requiring them to register with the government, to navigate complex regulations and to face fines and possible criminal penalties merely because they talked about political issues. In Washington, Paul protected a lawyer’s right to defend, pro-bono, the First Amendment rights of political speakers. Through litigation and legislation, Paul leads the fight against abusive civil forfeiture laws in Arizona and elsewhere.
Paul also co-authored the most comprehensive published study of economic liberty protections in the Arizona Constitution. The Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court appointed Paul to the Task Force on the Review of the Role and Governance Structure of the State Bar of Arizona, where he dissented from the majority report and called on leaders to substantially reform the Bar and state regulation of the practice of law. He often speaks at law schools across the country about constitutional issues and his work at IJ.
Prior to joining IJ-AZ, Paul worked as an attorney in Philadelphia. He clerked for Judge Roger Miner on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Justice Andrew Hurwitz on the Arizona Supreme Court, and Judge Daniel Barker on the Arizona Court of Appeals.
Paul graduated manga cum laude from the Arizona State University College of Law in 2004 and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 2000.
Mr. Pekron’s practice is primarily devoted to complex business, tort, and class action litigation. Mr. Pekron is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Commercial Litigation, recognized as a Rising Star in the area of Business Litigation by Mid-South Super Lawyers, and a Future Star in Litigation by Benchmark Litigation. He has represented companies and individuals in cases throughout the nation involving breach of contract, professional liability, consumer fraud, products liability, and ERISA issues. He has significant experience in representing accounting firms, publicly-traded companies, and corporate officers and directors in securities litigation, regulatory matters, professional malpractice actions, and internal investigations.
Mr. Pekron also has an active appellate practice and has appeared in numerous state and federal appellate courts, including the Supreme Court of Illinois, the New York Court of Appeals, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Circuits. He has argued cases before the Arkansas Supreme Court, the Arkansas Court of Appeals, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He has also been responsible for petitions for certiorari and amicus briefs in the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Pekron received his law degree from Yale Law School, where he served as Book Reviews Editor of the Yale Law Journal. His work has been published in the Hamline Law Review.
After graduating from law school, Mr. Pekron clerked for Judge Morris Sheppard Arnold of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. During his clerkship, he served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law. He then worked as an associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin LLP.
Panel 2: Strategic Litigation for the Modern Practitioner
2026 Florida Young Lawyers Summit
Coral Gables, FLPanel IV: Mandates, Medicine, and Liberty: The Legal Battle Over Bodily Autonomy and the Right to Choose
Hadley P. Arkes, Steven J. Griffin, Jennifer Perkins, Christina Sandefur
Featuring: Prof. Hadley P. Arkes, Founder and Director, The James Wilson Institute Mr. Steven Griffin, Deputy Attorney...
The Right to Earn an Honest Living: Occupational Licensing Versus the American Dream
Paul Avelar, Chad W. Pekron
On March 1, 2021, the Federalist Society's Little Rock Lawyers Chapter hosted Paul Avelar to...
The Right to Earn an Honest Living: Occupational Licensing Versus the American Dream
Paul Avelar, Chad W. Pekron
On March 1, 2021, the Federalist Society's Little Rock Lawyers Chapter hosted Paul Avelar to...
The Right to Earn an Honest Living: Occupational Licensing Versus the American Dream
Little Rock Lawyers Chapter - Online Event