Acting Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, Office of Professional Responsibility, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Brian M. Fish is currently the Senior Advisor to the General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security where he works on immigration and law enforcement issues. Previously, he was a trial attorney with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he represented the Department of Homeland Security in removal hearings before the U.S. Immigration Court. Additionally, he was a Special Assistant United States Attorney and a Baltimore City homicide prosecutor. He is a member of the Federalist Society's Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group Executive Committee and the President of its Baltimore Lawyers Chapter. He earned his B.A. from LaSalle University in 1992 and his J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law in 1998.
Acting Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, Office of Professional Responsibility, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Brian M. Fish is currently the Senior Advisor to the General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security where he works on immigration and law enforcement issues. Previously, he was a trial attorney with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he represented the Department of Homeland Security in removal hearings before the U.S. Immigration Court. Additionally, he was a Special Assistant United States Attorney and a Baltimore City homicide prosecutor. He is a member of the Federalist Society's Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group Executive Committee and the President of its Baltimore Lawyers Chapter. He earned his B.A. from LaSalle University in 1992 and his J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law in 1998.
Acting Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, Office of Professional Responsibility, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Brian M. Fish is currently the Senior Advisor to the General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security where he works on immigration and law enforcement issues. Previously, he was a trial attorney with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he represented the Department of Homeland Security in removal hearings before the U.S. Immigration Court. Additionally, he was a Special Assistant United States Attorney and a Baltimore City homicide prosecutor. He is a member of the Federalist Society's Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group Executive Committee and the President of its Baltimore Lawyers Chapter. He earned his B.A. from LaSalle University in 1992 and his J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law in 1998.
Acting Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, Office of Professional Responsibility, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Brian M. Fish is currently the Senior Advisor to the General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security where he works on immigration and law enforcement issues. Previously, he was a trial attorney with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he represented the Department of Homeland Security in removal hearings before the U.S. Immigration Court. Additionally, he was a Special Assistant United States Attorney and a Baltimore City homicide prosecutor. He is a member of the Federalist Society's Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group Executive Committee and the President of its Baltimore Lawyers Chapter. He earned his B.A. from LaSalle University in 1992 and his J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law in 1998.
Acting Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, Office of Professional Responsibility, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Brian M. Fish is currently the Senior Advisor to the General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security where he works on immigration and law enforcement issues. Previously, he was a trial attorney with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he represented the Department of Homeland Security in removal hearings before the U.S. Immigration Court. Additionally, he was a Special Assistant United States Attorney and a Baltimore City homicide prosecutor. He is a member of the Federalist Society's Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group Executive Committee and the President of its Baltimore Lawyers Chapter. He earned his B.A. from LaSalle University in 1992 and his J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law in 1998.
Partner, King & Spalding LLP
Rod J. Rosenstein is a partner in King & Spalding’s Special Matters & Government Investigations practice. Drawing upon three decades of experience as a federal prosecutor and a senior government official, Rod helps clients resolve complex regulatory and litigation challenges, including government investigations, crisis management, internal investigations, national security, compliance and monitoring.
Rod served in senior leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Justice during the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, including as Deputy Attorney General (2017 to 2019) and United States Attorney for Maryland (2005 to 2017).
As the second-highest ranking official at the Department of Justice, Rod was responsible for overseeing 115,000 employees in the Department’s litigating divisions, law enforcement agencies and United States Attorney’s Offices, and for formulating and implementing federal enforcement policies. He led the revision of policies concerning corporate criminal prosecutions and parallel domestic and foreign investigations, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters, and health care fraud cases. He also reviewed significant proposed criminal and civil enforcement actions, proposed False Claims Act settlements and related matters, and proposals to appoint corporate monitors. Rod also acted on national security matters subject to review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Additionally, Rod led the interagency Task Force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud and developed a strategy to combat cybercrime as head of the Department’s Cyber-Digital Task Force.
Partner, Vinson & Elkins, and former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia
Zachary (“Zach”) Terwilliger, the former Senate confirmed United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, has extensive experience in all manner of federal investigations and trials. Those frontline skills combine with his mastery of involved management roles overseeing operational programs, setting policy parameters, and managing teams to accomplish strategic objectives. He gained this experience over a decades-long career in public service where he advanced from an office intern to serve as the presidentially appointed and Senate confirmed United States Attorney. He rounds out his Washington experience by having served as Associate Deputy Attorney General and Chief of staff to the Deputy Attorney General, whose office manages the entire Department of Justice and its various agencies, and as counsel to the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In a testament to his professionalism, he was the sole and unanimous recommendation of Virginia’s two Democratic Senators to serve as U.S. Attorney. Following this recommendation, the President’s nomination, and confirmation by the entire U.S. Senate, Zach was sworn in as the then youngest U.S. Attorney in the country.
Zach’s knowledge of how the Justice Department and federal enforcement agencies function in both civil and criminal matters, particularly in regards to discretionary decision making, provides him with unique insights necessary to effectively assist companies and individuals facing federal enforcement matters, including allegations of domestic and international criminal and civil violations. Zach is skilled in navigating internal and government investigations, allegations of bribery under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, complex criminal grand jury investigations, criminal antitrust matters, and Congressional inquiries and select committee investigations, among other complex white collar issues.
As U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Zach supervised a team of over 300 lawyers and support staff. He also managed multiple key corporate resolutions, and significantly enhanced the District’s white-collar footprint through collaboration with DOJ’s Fraud Section, as well as with other enforcement entities like the newly created Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery and the Procurement Collusion Strike Force. He is also a veteran litigator with years of investigative and in-court experience in trials, pre-trial proceedings, and appeals.
Partner, Jones Day
Scott Brady, a former United States Attorney, is an experienced litigator who represents companies and individuals in significant government investigations, complex civil litigation, and at trial. Scott's practice is focused on representing clients facing grand jury and regulatory investigations and government enforcement actions, conducting internal investigations, advising on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and defending False Claims Act claims. He is the only former U.S. Attorney practicing actively in western Pennsylvania.
Prior to rejoining Jones Day, Scott served as the chief federal law enforcement officer for western Pennsylvania, responsible for enforcement of federal law in 25 counties with 4 million residents. During his tenure, Scott led coordinated actions with agencies across the United States and Europe to combat cybercrime, fight hate crime and terrorism, and prosecute fraud. Under his direction, the U.S. Attorney's Office led an international coalition in the prosecution of officers of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) for a series of cyberattacks around the world, brought charges following the tragic shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, and created a first-in-the-nation joint federal and state task force with the Pennsylvania Attorney General to investigate coronavirus-related fraud. Scott served on the Attorney General's Advisory Committee, advising on national policy for the Department of Justice.
Scott previously served as head of litigation for a publicly traded Pittsburgh-based financial management company, where he helped lead its expansion into new markets in Asia and Europe. He previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, prosecuting white collar crime. Scott also worked in international relief and development in Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
Partner, Williams & Connolly
Sarah Harris is a partner in Williams & Connolly’s Supreme Court and Appellate practice, where she represents clients in high-stakes appeals in the U.S. Supreme Court and federal and state appellate courts across the country. She has argued five cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and she has presented many arguments in federal courts of appeals and state appellate courts. Her cases have run the gamut of substantive areas, including constitutional law—especially First Amendment and separation-of-powers issues—as well as administrative law, arbitration, class actions, antitrust, False Claims Act litigation, commercial litigation, and federal civil procedure.
Sarah is widely recognized for her appellate advocacy. Chambers USA has recognized her as “Up and Coming” in Appellate Law. She has been named to Bloomberg Law’s 40 Under 40 list of top lawyers nationwide and to Benchmark Litigation’s “40 & Under Hot List,” as well as a an appellate “Rising Star” by The National Law Journal and Law360, a “Next Generation Lawyer” by The Legal 500, and as one of Bloomberg Law’s “Five Fresh Faces to Know in Appellate.”
Sarah clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge Laurence Silberman on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Sandra Lynch on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Before joining Williams & Connolly, she served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel.
Sarah received her undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Princeton University, and her J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. She also holds a Ph.D. and M. Phil. from the University of Cambridge.
Solicitor General, Attorney General's Office, Alabama
Edmund LaCour is the current Solicitor General of Alabama, and as such, he serves as the chief appellate lawyer for the State, representing the State before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Alabama Supreme Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Before he joined the Attorney General’s Office, Edmund was a partner at the DC office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he represented numerous clients before the Supreme Court, as well as courts of appeals and trial courts. Before joining Kirkland, Edmund practiced at Bancroft PLLC in Washington, DC, and Baker Botts LLP in Houston, Texas. Edmund clerked for the Hon. William H. Pryor Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Edmund holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, an M. Phil. from Trinity College Dublin, and a B.A. from Birmingham-Southern College.
Partner, Duane Morris LLP
William M. (Bill) McSwain practices in the area of litigation with a focus on white-collar criminal matters, internal investigations and complex business litigation. Bill is the immediate past U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (EDPA), which is one of the nation’s most populous districts, with nearly six million people residing within Philadelphia and its eight surrounding counties. As U.S. Attorney, he served as the chief federal law enforcement officer in the EDPA, responsible for all federal criminal prosecutions, investigations and civil litigation involving the United States. He supervised a staff of approximately 300, including more than 140 Assistant U.S. Attorneys, at offices in Philadelphia and Allentown, PA.
Most importantly, Bill is a fighter who knows how to win. For example, as U.S. Attorney, he personally served as lead counsel in United States v Safehouse, in which he challenged Philadelphia’s plan to be the first city in the country to open supervised heroin injection sites. He argued and won the case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which ruled that such sites would violate the federal Controlled Substances Act.
A former U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer and scout/sniper platoon commander, Bill brings an aggressive and creative approach to private practice, representing clients involved in government investigations and high stakes litigation. In particular, he enjoys taking on the challenge of winning seemingly “impossible” cases. He has lived that mindset from the very outset of his legal career.
For example, prior to his service as U.S. Attorney, Bill took on the case of an Iranian immigrant, Ken Hamidi, who was locked in a battle with Intel over emails that Mr. Hamidi has sent to Intel employees. After Mr. Hamidi had lost his case in the trial and intermediate appellate courts with other counsel, Bill took over and argued the case in front of the Supreme Court of California. In Intel Corp. v. Hamidi, 30 Cal.4th 1342 (2003), he won a 4-3 decision that established the legal rules for trespass liability on the Internet, one of the most significant cyberlaw rulings in the United States. Soon thereafter, Bill represented Chester County, Pennsylvania in its dispute regarding the attempted removal of an historic Ten Commandments plaque hanging on the façade of the County Courthouse. After the County lost at trial with other counsel, Bill stepped in and argued the case in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In Chester County, PA v. Freethought Society, et al., 334 F.3d 247 (3d Cir. 2003), he won a 3-0 decision that preserved the plaque, which is hanging on the Courthouse to this day. In one of his most challenging assignments, Bill began representing the Boy Scouts in 2008 in its dispute with the City of Philadelphia. Facing eviction from its historic headquarters building, the Scouts sued the City, alleging a violation of their First Amendment rights. In Cradle of Liberty Council, Boy Scouts of America v. City of Philadelphia, No. 2:08-cv-02429-RB (E.D. Pa.), Bill won a nationally publicized, three-week jury trial, and even secured a court ruling that the City had to pay the Scouts’ attorney’s fees.
Bill understands that, in a very real sense, anybody or any organization squaring off against the government – especially against the federal government – is an underdog. Bill has a long record of success advocating for clients in those situations. For example, in United States v. Bruno, No. 2:13-cr-00039-LS-6 (E.D. Pa.), he represented a Pennsylvania judge against federal conspiracy, wire fraud and mail fraud charges and won a full acquittal after a two-month jury trial. In United States. v. Brown, No. 2:12-cr-00367-RBS-1 (E.D. Pa.), Bill represented a nationally renowned charter school educator who faced a massive 67-count indictment alleging conspiracy, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering. After a two-month trial, the jury acquitted Bill’s client on several counts and deadlocked on the others. The government eventually withdrew all of the deadlocked charges.
His record in the courtroom notwithstanding, Bill is also a thoughtful, intellectually curious strategist who has resolved numerous contentious matters out of court on terms his clients found favorable. He is a graduate of Yale University (B.A., cum laude, 1991) and the Harvard Law School (J.D., 2000), where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, won the Ames Moot Court Competition and received the George Leisure Award as the Best Oralist in the Ames Competition. He is an adjunct lecturer in law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He began his legal career by clerking for the Hon. Marjorie O. Rendell, U.S. Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Natalie Mihalek is a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. A native of Allegheny County, Natalie Mihalek’s commitment to public service began early. Immediately after high school graduation, she enlisted to serve in the US Navy and qualified to serve in the Navy’s elite nuclear power program. Her years spent in the engine room working on a nuclear power plant instilled in her a readiness for any situation that lay ahead.
Natalie returned to Pennsylvania after her service, earning her BA from the University of Pittsburgh and went on to earn a law degree from Appalachian School of Law. Her legal career began in the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office where she served in the general trial division, prosecuting hundreds of cases in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. She would spend the next 10 years in private practice with a focus on family law and criminal defense.
In 2018, suburban voters of Pittsburgh elected Natalie to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She quickly earned a reputation as a consensus builder focused on bringing good paying jobs to Pennsylvania and standing up for victims of crime.
Today, Natalie chairs the Southwest Delegation, the largest voting bloc in the General Assembly and a leading voice in conservative policy in the legislature.
Natalie and her husband, Jeremy, live in Peters Township, with their three children.
Acting Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, Office of Professional Responsibility, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Brian M. Fish is currently the Senior Advisor to the General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security where he works on immigration and law enforcement issues. Previously, he was a trial attorney with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he represented the Department of Homeland Security in removal hearings before the U.S. Immigration Court. Additionally, he was a Special Assistant United States Attorney and a Baltimore City homicide prosecutor. He is a member of the Federalist Society's Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group Executive Committee and the President of its Baltimore Lawyers Chapter. He earned his B.A. from LaSalle University in 1992 and his J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law in 1998.
Courthouse Steps Decision: United States v. Hansen
Brian M. Fish
On Friday, June 23, 2023, the Supreme Court released its decision in United States v....
Courthouse Steps Decision: United States v. Hansen
TeleforumHarvard University School of Law Alumni Reception
Washington, DCUnited States v. Hansen - Post-Argument SCOTUScast
Brian M. Fish
On March 27, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in United States v. Hansen. At...
Breakout Sessions
Chicago, ILPanel 3: The Advocates: Arguing the Constitution and Achieving Results
2023 Third Circuit Chapters Conference
Philadelphia, PAOriginalism, Precedent, and the Wisconsin Constitution
Milwaukee Lawyers Chapter
Milwaukee, WICourthouse Steps Oral Argument: United States v. Hansen
Brian M. Fish
On Monday, March 27, 2023 the Supreme Court is set to hear oral argument in...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: United States v. Hansen
Brian M. Fish
On Monday, March 27, 2023 the Supreme Court is set to hear oral argument in...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: United States v. Hansen
Teleforum