Chief Judge (ret.), U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and Honorary Professor, Tsinghua University
Randall R. Rader was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit by President George H. W. Bush in 1990 and served as Chief Judge from June 2010 to June 2014. He was appointed to the United States Claims Court (now the U. S. Court of Federal Claims) by President Ronald W. Reagan in 1988. Judge Rader's most prized title may well be "Professor Rader."
As Professor, Judge Rader has taught courses on patent law and other advanced intellectual property courses at The George Washington University Law School,University of Virginia School of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center, and other university programs in Tokyo, Taipei, New Delhi, and Beijing. Due to the size and diversity of his classes, Judge Rader may have taught patent law to more students than anyone else. Judge Rader has also co-authored several texts including the most widely used textbook on U. S. patent law, "Cases and Materials on Patent Law," (St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson/West 3d ed. 2009) and "Patent Law in a Nutshell," (St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson/West 2007) (translated into Chinese and Japanese). Judge Rader has won acclaim for leading dozens of government and educational delegations to every continent (except Antarctica), teaching rule of law and intellectual property law principles.
Judge Rader has received many awards, including the Sedona Lifetime Achievement Award for Intellectual Property Law, 2009; Distinguished Teaching Awards from George Washington University Law School, 2003 and 2008 (by election of the students); the Jefferson Medal from the New Jersey Intellectual Property Law Association, 2003; the Distinguished Service Award from the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, 2003; the J. William Fulbright Award for Distinguished Public Service from George Washington University Law School, 2000; and the Younger Federal Lawyer Award from the Federal Bar Association, 1983. Before appointment to the Court of Federal Claims, Judge Rader served as Minority and Majority Chief Counsel to Subcommittees of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. From 1975 to 1980, he served as Counsel in the House of Representatives for representatives serving on the Interior, Appropriations, and Ways and Means Committees. He received a B.A. in English from Brigham Young University in 1974 and a J.D. from George Washington University Law School in 1978.
Founding Partner, Cooper & Kirk PLLC
Charles J. Cooper is a founding member and the chairman of Cooper & Kirk, PLLC, “one of the Nation’s leading litigation boutiques” (Above The Law 2017). The National Law Journal recently wrote that Mr. Cooper’s “brilliant legal career has so far spanned five decades and thrust Cooper into the spotlight in some of the most historic moments of the country’s modern history.” He has argued nine cases before the United States Supreme Court and scores of appeals before each of the 13 federal courts of appeals and several state supreme courts. He has been lead trial counsel in numerous complex, weeks-long trials in federal courts throughout the country. Named by the National Law Journal as one of the 10 best litigators in Washington D.C., Mr. Cooper’s work has been reported in numerous press accounts, and he has been called a “powerhouse attorney” (Fortune 2015), “a hard-nosed litigator” (Washington Post 2017), and “one of the country’s most in-demand civil litigators and a Washington legal institution unto himself” (The American Spectator 2014).
After graduating from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1977, where he ranked first in his class and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Alabama Law Review, Mr. Cooper began his career as a law clerk to Judge Paul Roney on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and to Justice William H. Rehnquist in 1978–79. He then practiced law in Atlanta for two years before joining the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he served as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in charge of, among other things, appellate matters. In 1985 President Reagan appointed him to the position of Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, which is the office responsible for providing legal opinions and advice to the White House, the Attorney General, and Executive Branch departments and agencies on issues covering the full spectrum of federal constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law.
In 1988 he returned to private practice as a litigation partner in the Washington, D.C. office of McGuireWoods. From 1990 until the founding of Cooper & Kirk in 1996, he was a partner at Shaw Pittman (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman), where he headed the firm’s Constitutional and Government Litigation Group.
Mr. Cooper has represented a wide range of public and private clients in highly complex constitutional, civil rights, antitrust, healthcare, banking, intellectual property, elections, campaign finance, administrative, commercial, and government contract cases. He has led trial teams in cases that have won judgments and settlements valued in the billions of dollars and that have established ground-breaking constitutional precedents.
Much of Mr. Cooper’s practice has involved representing high-profile clients in nationally prominent matters, including: the State of Florida in a First Amendment suit brought by the Disney Company concerning its autonomous regulatory authority over its Disney World property; the Commonwealth of Virginia in a suit seeking to enjoin the removal of noncitizens from its voter rolls; 38 members of the Duke Lacrosse team falsely accused of rape by officials of Duke University and the City of Durham; Harper Lee in a copyright dispute with the heirs of Gregory Peck; high-ranking former government officials such as former Attorneys General John Ashcroft, Jeff Sessions, and William Barr, and Ambassador John Bolton; several Governors and United States Senators; over 100 Members of Congress; and many state, territorial, and local government bodies and officials. He has also represented and advised government officials and public figures in connection with sensitive private issues that needed to be, and were, resolved discreetly without becoming matters of public record.
In 1998 Chief Justice Rehnquist appointed Mr. Cooper to the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Judicial Conference of the United States, where he served for three terms. He also served as a Public Member, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, of the National Commission on Judicial Discipline and Removal. He is a member of numerous professional associations, including the American Law Institute (since 1993) and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers (since 1996). He is also an active member of the Federalist Society and the Republican National Lawyers Association, which in 2010 named him Republican Lawyer of the Year and in 2016 honored him with its Edwin Meese III Award.
Mr. Cooper has published scores of articles and spoken extensively on constitutional and legal policy topics. He has appeared before congressional committees on 26 occasions, testifying as an expert on a wide variety of legal issues, including the Chevron doctrine of judicial deference to administrative agencies, the diversity of citizenship jurisdiction of federal courts, statehood bills for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, and the impeachment of President Clinton.
Former United States Senator, Utah
Over nearly four decades of public service, Senator Orrin Hatch established himself as a leading conservative voice in the United States Senate. As the upper chamber’s most senior Republican, he served as President Pro Tempore and as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. In this capacity, he fought to create jobs and strengthen the economy by repealing and replacing Obamacare, reforming the tax code, and opening up overseas markets to American exports.
As a long-time member and former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Hatch also fought to check judicial activism and protect our liberties. He was instrumental in confirming conservative judges to the federal bench and played an indispensable role in confirming Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito as well as scores of district and circuit court judges.
One of Senator Hatch’s particularly noteworthy achievements on the Judiciary Committee is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993—a bill he co-authored with the late Senator Ted Kennedy. This landmark legislation prohibits substantial government burdens on the free exercise of religion, allowing all Americans to live, work, and worship in accordance with their beliefs.
In addition to protecting our individual liberties, Senator Hatch was on the front lines of legislative battles to protect our free-market economy and system of limited government under the Constitution. His reputation as a statesman and his record of fiscal responsibility earned him the nickname “Mr. Balanced Budget” from President Reagan.
By virtually all measures, Senator Hatch was among the most effective and consequential legislators in history. Since he first came to Congress in 1977, no legislator alive today has authored more bills that have become law than Senator Hatch.
Of all Senator Hatch’s achievements, he is proudest of his family, and he credits the love of his wife and children as the key to his success. He and Elaine have been married for more than fifty years. Together, they are the parents of six children, twenty-three grandchildren, and sixteen great-grandchildren.
Founder and Principal, Rose Communication & Coaching LLC
Kristine Simmons has a passion for public service and has dedicated her professional life to making government more effective for the people it serves.
Kristine is the founder of Rose Communication and Coaching LLC, a consulting firm that helps clients communicate with and about government.
Prior to founding her consulting firm, Kristine was the Vice President for Government Affairs at the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to building a better government and a stronger democracy. During her tenure at the Partnership, Kristine developed and executed strategies that resulted in over 50 pieces of government reform legislation becoming law. She helped launch the Partnership’s Center for Presidential Transition, which provides resources, data and hands-on support to promote a smooth transfer of power between presidential administrations. Kristine has testified before Congress as an expert witness on government effectiveness.
From 2001 to 2002, Kristine served as a Special Assistant for Domestic Policy to President George W. Bush. In this role, she advised the President on issues pertaining to the civil service, government operations, federalism, arts and humanities, the postal service and the District of Columbia, and participated in our government’s response to the 9/11 and anthrax attacks.
Prior to her time with the Bush administration, Kristine served as the staff director for the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring and the District of Columbia. In that capacity, she served as the primary advisor to chairman Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) on government operations, intergovernmental relations, and the management of human capital.
Kristine began her career as a professional staff member for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, where she managed issues related to federalism, government reform and inspectors general. She also served as a professional staff member for the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs under committee chairman Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN).
Kristine earned a Bachelor’s degree in Professional and Technical Communication from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.
Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law and Economics, Georgetown University Law Center
David A. Super’s research focuses on Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Legislation (including the federal budget), Local Government Law, and Public Welfare Law. He teaches these subjects as well as Civil Procedure, Contracts, Evidence, Property, and Torts. In addition to Georgetown, he has also taught law at Columbia, Harvard, Howard, Maryland, Penn, Washington & Lee, and Yale. Prior to entering the legal academy, he served for several years as the general counsel for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and worked for the National Health Law Program and Community Legal Services in Philadelphia. He also was a recipient of the Frank F. Flegal Excellence in Teaching Award in 2018.
Senior Managing Associate, Sidley Austin LLP
Manuel Valle represents clients in a broad range of appeals, regulatory disputes, complex commercial litigation, and government enforcement actions. Manuel has experience representing clients at each level of the federal judiciary, as well as before federal administrative agencies and in state courts.
Before joining Sidley, Manuel served as a law clerk for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas of the United States Supreme Court during October Term 2021. Manuel also served as a law clerk for The Honorable Judge Joan L. Larsen of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and The Honorable Judge Edith H. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Manuel earned his law degree with high honors from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was a Rubenstein Scholar and served as the book review and symposium editor for the University of Chicago Law Review. He received his B.A. in Latin and English from Hillsdale College, where he graduated summa cum laude.
Senior Legal Fellow, Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law, Advancing American Freedom
U.S. Court of Federal Claims and Jurist-In-Residence Professor of Law, The University of Akron School of Law
Judge Ryan T. Holte was sworn in as a judge on the United States Court of Federal Claims in July 2019. Prior to confirmation he served as the David L. Brennan Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law and Technology at The University of Akron School of Law (2017-2019) and an assistant professor of law at Southern Illinois University School of Law (2013-2017). Judge Holte has written and presented widely on patent law subjects and empirical legal studies of Federal Circuit and district court patent law cases. His most recent articles were published in the Iowa Law Review (2019), George Mason Law Review (2018), and Washington Law Review (2017).
In practice, Judge Holte served for six years as general counsel and partner of an electrical engineering technology company and is co-inventor of multiple patents related to Systems and Methods for Countering Satellite-Navigated Munitions. Prior to entering academia, Judge Holte practiced as a litigation attorney at the Federal Trade Commission and an associate in the Intellectual Property Practice Group at Jones Day. Prior to practice, he served as a law clerk to Judge Stanley F. Birch, Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and as a law clerk to Judge Loren A. Smith on the United States Court of Federal Claims.
Judge Holte received his JD from the University of California Davis School of Law and his BS, magna cum laude, in engineering from the California Maritime Academy where he was a First Class graduate of the Corps of Cadets Third Engineering Division and sailed as a U.S. Merchant Marine oiler.
IP Protection for Modern Technology
Chris Rogers, John Doll, Randall R. Rader, Charles Dadswell
Following are excerpts from a panel discussion entitled "IP Protection for Modern Technology" which was...
New Chapter Opens in Goodwill Litigation
Charles J. Cooper, Vincent J. Colatriano
Editor's Note: In our last issue, we summarized the Supreme Court's July 1996 split decision...
Legislative Initiatives
Orrin Hatch
Despite the constitutional requirement for the protection of property rights, the America of the late...
United States v. Winstar: The Government Takes a Hit
Joan Bernott Maginnis, Michael Kane
Winstar is an enormously important Supreme Court decision. It threatens to impose huge liabilities on...
Necessary & Proper Episode 95: DOGE and the Future of the Federal Workforce
Kristine I. Simmons, David A. Super, Manuel Valle, Hans A. Von Spakovsky, Ryan T. Holte
On January 20th, 2025, President Trump established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by executive...