Office of the Florida Attorney General
JEFFREY DESOUSA served as the Acting Solicitor General in the Florida Attorney General’s Office, where he focused on criminal appeals and constitutional litigation, primarily in the United States and Florida Supreme Courts, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal, and the Florida district courts. He is a member of the Florida Bar’s Appellate Court Rules Committee and the First District Appellate American Inn of Court. After graduating with honors from Georgetown Law, Jeffrey served as an appellate attorney for the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office. He has worked on hundreds of appellate cases and presented oral argument in approximately 70, including 18 in the Florida Supreme Court.
Senior Legal Fellow, the Meese Institute for the Rule of Law, Advancing American Freedom
Paul J. Larkin is a Senior Legal Fellow in the Meese Institute for the Rule of Law at Advancing American Freedom. Paul has held various positions in the federal and state governments throughout his career, such as being an attorney in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, an Assistant to the Solicitor General in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice, Special Agent-in-Charge and Acting Director of the Criminal Investigation Division at the Environmental Protection Agency, and a member of the Parole Abolition and Sentencing Reform Commission and of the Juvenile Justice Reform Commission in the Office of Virginia Governor George Allen.
He has also worked at Verizon Communications and two law firms in Washington, D.C. His current research is principally in the fields of drug policy, criminal justice policy, and administrative law and policy. He has published numerous articles in law and public policy journals, both in print and online.
Senior Fellow, National Review
Bestselling author Andrew C. McCarthy is a contributing editor at National Review, a senior fellow at National Review Institute, and a Fox News contributor. He is a former Chief Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and led the terrorism prosecution against the “Blind Sheikh” (Omar Abdel Rahman) and eleven other jihadists for conducting a war of urban terrorism against the United States that included the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a plot to bomb New York City landmarks. During is 20-year career as a prosecutor, he received numerous honors, including the Justice Department’s highest awards. Andy speaks and writes widely on law and national security, radical Islam, politics, and culture. He has testified before Congress as an expert on issues of constitutional law, counterterrorism, and law-enforcement. He is a columnist for The Hill, and his essays and book reviews appear frequently at The New Criterion. His most recent New York Times bestselling book is Ball of Collusion (Encounter Books, 2019), about the Russiagate controversy (an updated version was published in 2020). His other books include Willful Blindness (2008), The Grand Jihad (2010), Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy (2012), and Faithless Execution (2014). He has also written several pamphlets in the Broadside series published by Encounter Books, most recently Islam and Free Speech (2015).
Member, Ifrah Law
After 27 years as a prosecutor, James (“Jim”) Trusty brings to Ifrah Law extensive experience in complex, multi-district white collar litigation, especially in matters involving RICO, The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and The Money Laundering Control Act of 1986.
Jim has represented a wide variety of individuals and corporations in the white-collar space. He regularly represents professional athletes, both criminally and civilly, and during 2022 and 2023 he represented President Trump during pre-indictment litigation relating to the Mar-a-Lago and January 6 cases.
Prior to joining Ifrah Law, Jim had a long career in public service, most recently as Chief of the Organized Crime Section at the United States Department of Justice. For seven years, Jim was ultimately responsible for investigating and prosecuting regional, national, and international cases, supervising significant pleadings, and providing strategic and tactical guidance in investigations and multi-defendant trials. In addition to running the RICO Review Unit, which reviewed and approved all criminal RICO cases brought by federal prosecutors, he also was in charge of establishing and promoting policies focused on immigration reform, firearms trafficking, proposed Congressional testimony for DOJ officials, and internet gambling. Significant and sensitive matters on which he worked include the post-conviction review of the Alaska corruption case related to U.S. v. Theodore Stevens and the investigation into allegations of misconduct by a sitting U.S. Attorney and one of her subordinates.
Prior to his work at DOJ, Jim acted as Assistant U.S. Attorney in Greenbelt, Maryland, where he investigated and prosecuted a wide variety of white-collar and other criminal cases, including The Washington area Sniper investigation. He also prosecuted three death penalty cases and was a member of the Attorney General’s Capital Review Committee, responsible for assessing capital-eligible cases such as the Boston Marathon Bomber and the Charleston Church massacre.
In 2018, Jim was appointed by the Governor of Maryland to serve on The Task Force to Study Maryland’s Criminal Gang Statutes. The Task Force assessed the efficacy of existing state laws as they apply to gang-related criminal activity in the state and presented its findings and recommendations to the Governor.
74th President, The Florida Bar
Gary S. Lesser, the 74th president of The Florida Bar, is the managing partner of Lesser Lesser Landy & Smith in West Palm Beach. Lesser is one of Florida’s leading personal injury attorneys, handling a large number of high profile personal injury cases over the years, including automobile injury, wrongful/accidental death, premises liability, gun liability, negligent security, product injury, and other related injury cases. He has lectured at seminars all over Florida on the topics of personal injury and various ethics issues. He has been interviewed by local and national media regarding personal injury cases, important ethical/legal issues, and his service to the community.
He served for 10 years on the Florida Bar Board of Governors, was appointed chair of the board’s Legislative Committee three years in a row, served as chair of the Professional Ethics Committee, and served on the Strategic Planning, Disciplinary Review, Communications and Board Review on Professional Ethics committees. He has also taken active leadership positions in his community, including with the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, the Economic Council of Palm Beach County, the Homeless Coalition of Palm Beach County, Jewish Federation, and the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County. Lesser also served as the chair of the Palm Beach County Bar Association’s Professionalism Committee and chair of the Medical Legal Committee for many years. He has received many awards and honors for his Bar and community service (see his firm profile).
Lesser graduated with a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from George Washington University, where he served as president pro tempore of the Student Senate, associate editor of the school newspaper, and the editor-in-chief of the GW Journal, a monthly political opinion publication. He earned his J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law, where he was a member of Bar & Gavel Society and he served as associate editor of the Yearbook of International Law and editor-in-chief of Res Ipsa Loquitur, the law school’s newspaper.
Learn more about Gary Lesser on LesserLawFirm.com
2026 Annual Federalist Society Reception at the Florida Bar's Annual Meeting
Orlando, FLWhat Did the Founders Think of the President’s Pardon Power?
Jeffrey DeSousa, Paul James Larkin, Andrew McCarthy, James Trusty
In this Federalist Society America250 series, experts analyze modern legal and policy debates through the...
2025 Annual Federalist Society Reception at the Florida Bar's Annual Meeting
Boca Raton, FLAnnual Federalist Society Reception at the Florida Bar's Annual Meeting
Orlando, FLTopics
Artificial Intelligence in the Courtroom: Two Approaches
Hardly a week goes by when there is not a new story of someone getting caught...
Annual Federalist Society Reception at the Florida Bar's Annual Meeting
Boca Raton, FLRemarks
Ninth Annual Florida Chapters Conference
Lake Buena Vista, FLAnnual Federalist Society Reception at the Florida Bar's Annual Meeting
Orlando, FLTopics
Fla. Supreme Court Rejects Nonlawyer Ownership of Law Firms, Fee Splitting with Nonlawyers
The Florida Supreme Court has rejected proposals to test nonlawyer ownership in law firms, fee...
Topics
Florida Supreme Court Invalidates Business Law Section Policy Regarding Composition of CLE Program Panels
On April 15, 2021, the Florida Supreme Court issued an opinion proposing an amendment to...