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United States courts of appeals

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  • United States courts of appeals
Jun 21 2024
Friday 11:30 a.m. EDT    

Lunch and Keynote Address

2024 Third Circuit Chapters Conference

Philadelphia, PA
Speakers:
Michael Chagares • Scott Allen Keller • Roman Martinez • Erin E. Murphy
  • In-Person Event
Jun 21 2024
Friday 10:00 a.m. EDT    

Panel 1: Threats to Judicial Independence and How the Legal Community Should Respond

2024 Third Circuit Chapters Conference

Philadelphia, PA
Speakers:
Craig Carpenito • Cheryl Ann Krause • Esther Salas • Richard Sullivan
Sponsors:
Philadelphia Lawyer Chapter • Pittsburgh Lawyer Chapter • New Jersey Lawyer Chapter • Delaware Lawyer Chapter • Harrisburg Lawyer Chapter
  • In-Person Event
Jun 20 2024
Thursday 2:00 p.m. EDT    

Panel 3: Securing the Rights of a Free People

Washington, D.C., DC
Speakers:
Randy E. Barnett • Rohit Chopra • Stuart Kyle Duncan • Joshua Kleinfeld • Maimon Schwarzschild • Jonathan D. Urick
Sponsors:
Freedom of Thought
  • In-Person Event
  • Live Stream
Jun 20 2024
Thursday 12:30 p.m. EDT    

Luncheon Fireside Chat with Hon. Andrew Ferguson and Hon. Paul B. Matey

Washington, D.C., DC
Speakers:
Andrew N. Ferguson • Paul B. Matey
Sponsors:
Freedom of Thought
  • In-Person Event
Jun 20 2024
Thursday 9:00 a.m. EDT    

2024 Freedom of Thought Conference: Corporate Rights and Individual Liberties

Washington, DC
Sponsors:
Freedom of Thought
  • In-Person Event
  • Live Stream
Jun 20 2024
Thursday 9:00 a.m. EDT    

Panel 1: Did James Madison Think Corporations Were People Too?

Washington, DC , DC
Speakers:
Julia D. Mahoney • Doha Mekki • Ryan Dean Newman • Julius N. Richardson • Lael Weinberger
Sponsors:
Freedom of Thought
  • In-Person Event
  • Live Stream
Jun 18 2024
Tuesday 12:00 p.m. MDT    

A Conversation with Judge Chad Readler

Idaho Lawyers Chapter

Boise, ID
Speakers:
Jeff Beelaert • Chad A. Readler
Sponsors:
Idaho Lawyer Chapter
  • In-Person Event
Jun 17 2024
Monday 5:30 p.m. EDT    

NoVA Summer Social

NoVA Lawyers Chapter

Speakers:
Lawrence VanDyke
Sponsors:
NoVA Lawyer Chapter
  • In-Person Event
Jun 13 2024
Thursday 12:00 p.m. CDT    

Judges Panel on Judicial Safety

Minnesota Lawyers Chapter

Minneapolis, MN
Speakers:
Lorie Gildea • David R. Stras
Sponsors:
Minnesota Lawyer Chapter
  • In-Person Event
May 22 2024
Wednesday 6:00 p.m. EDT    

Chalking Up the Original Meaning of the Fourth Amendment

DC Young Lawyers Chapter

Washington, DC
Speakers:
Patrick J. Bumatay
Sponsors:
DC Young Lawyer Chapter
  • In-Person Event
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Speaker Information
Michael Chagares

Michael Chagares

Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit

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Speaker Information
Scott Allen Keller

Scott Allen Keller

Partner, Lehotsky Keller LLP

Biography

The New York Times recognized Scott A. Keller as a “legal heavyweight,” who “is praised by opponents as a formidable advocate.”

Mr. Keller has argued 12 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and 12 cases before the Texas Supreme Court. He is the only practicing lawyer to have argued at least 10 cases in both courts. Mr. Keller frequently represents parties in high stakes appeals, and he has argued many cases in federal courts of appeals throughout the nation. He has earned individual accolades from Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America, Chambers, Legal 500, The American Lawyer, The National Law Journal, Law360, Super Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in America, and other publications.

Before founding Lehotsky Keller Cohn LLP, Mr. Keller headed Baker Botts LLP’s Supreme Court Practice. He also has significant experience at the highest levels in all three branches of government. Mr. Keller served as the Solicitor General of Texas, the State’s chief appellate litigator. He was U.S. Senator Ted Cruz’s chief counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Mr. Keller was a law clerk for Justice Anthony Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States and Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He was also a Bristow Fellow in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Solicitor General.

Mr. Keller represents clients in cases where public communications strategy is crucial, and he has made numerous media appearances in major outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Fox News, NPR, and Politico. As a sought after speaker and writer, Mr. Keller’s articles have appeared in the Stanford Law Review, Virginia Law Review, and Texas Law Review. He has also served as an adjunct professor of constitutional litigation, Supreme Court practice, and federal courts at the University of Texas School of Law.

 

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Speaker Information
Roman Martinez

Roman Martinez

Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP

Biography

Roman Martinez is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Latham & Watkins. As a member of the firm’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice, he focuses primarily on appeals in the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Courts of Appeals, and state appellate courts. Mr. Martinez has handled civil and criminal matters involving a wide range of constitutional, statutory, and administrative law issues, and he has argued cases in the Supreme Court and the D.C., Sixth, Ninth, and Federal Circuits, among other courts.

Mr. Martinez’s appellate practice encompasses civil and criminal matters spanning virtually all areas of law. He recently rejoined Latham after serving as an Assistant to the Solicitor General at the US Department of Justice. In that role, he represented the United States in litigation before the Supreme Court and advised the Solicitor General on the government’s appellate litigation throughout the country.

Mr. Martinez has personally argued seven cases in the Supreme Court, including important cases in the fields of patent law, criminal law, civil rights, and civil procedure. He has filed over 75 briefs in the Supreme Court involving a wide range of legal issues, including administrative, tax, securities, intellectual property, criminal, environmental, education, civil rights, immigration, and First Amendment law.

Over the past year, Mr. Martinez has led Latham appellate teams in cases involving the Administrative Procedure Act, securities, ERISA, products liability, and employment law. Earlier this year, he successfully persuaded the Supreme Court to reject the State of Connecticut’s high-profile effort to reinstate the murder conviction of Michael Skakel. He frequently consults with clients to develop creative approaches to difficult legal questions that arise in and out of litigation.

Mr. Martinez’s extensive pro bono practice focuses chiefly on administrative law challenges to unlawful agency action by the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as on criminal defense appeals. In 2018, he persuaded the Supreme Court to grant certiorari on behalf of a veteran seeking judicial review of an unlawful regulation promulgated by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Before joining Latham, Mr. Martinez served as a law clerk to Chief Justice John G. Roberts of the Supreme Court of the United States and to then Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of the D.C. Circuit.

From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Martinez served as an advisor on the Iraqi political and constitutional process, in various roles at the White House, at the US Embassy and Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, and at the Department of Defense. He received the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Global War on Terrorism and the US Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award for his service in Iraq.

Mr. Martinez is a member of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, and he serves on the US Chamber of Commerce's Administrative Law & Government Litigation Advisory Committee. He previously served as a member of the D.C. Circuit’s Advisory Committee on Procedures, and he now serves on the US District Court for the District of Columbia’s Committee on Grievances. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and other publications. He has appeared as a guest on the PBS NewsHour and other television programs to discuss the Supreme Court.

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Speaker Information
Erin E. Murphy

Erin E. Murphy

Partner, Clement & Murphy PLLC

Biography

Erin Murphy is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading Supreme Court and appellate advocates.  She has argued dozens of cases in appellate and trial courts throughout the country, including the Supreme Court and nearly all of the federal courts of appeals.  Erin is one of only seven women in the top two bands of Chambers & Partners rankings for Appellate Law–Nationwide, and the National Law Journal has named her one of the nation’s “Outstanding Women Lawyers.”  Erin has litigated appeals involving myriad provisions of the Constitution, including several cases involving the Constitution’s structural protections of liberty.  She has litigated a wide range of statutory issues as well, including cases involving the Affordable Care Act, the Bankruptcy Code, the False Claims Act, the Federal Arbitration Act, the Federal Power Act, the Natural Gas Act, the National Labor Relations Act, and more.  The National Law Journal named Erin a “Litigation Trailblazer” for her work representing institutional clients, which includes successfully arguing before the Supreme Court on behalf of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Wisconsin State Legislature.  Erin also has an active pro bono practice, through which she has successfully represented many religious organizations and adherents, criminal defendants, asylum applicants, adoptive parents, and more.

Erin is an adjunct professor at her alma mater the Georgetown University Law Center, a member and former officer of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, and a frequent speaker on topics relating to the Supreme Court and appellate advocacy.  In her spare time, Erin serves on the boards of directors of Street Law and the Mother of Light Center.

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Craig Carpenito

Craig Carpenito

Partner, King & Spalding

Biography

Former U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito is a partner in King & Spalding’s Special Matters & Government Investigations practice. Craig’s experience heading one of the nation’s largest U.S. Attorney’s Offices, co-chairing the litigation department of an AmLaw 50 law firm and as an SEC enforcement attorney helps him solve his clients’ most complex and sensitive problems. Bringing over two decades of experience as a litigator in private and public practice, Craig has a proven track record of success in counseling financial services and healthcare clients through government investigations and high-stakes litigation.

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Cheryl Ann Krause

Cheryl Ann Krause

Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Biography

Cheryl Ann Krause was unanimously confirmed as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in July of 2014. She previously worked as a partner at a multinational law firm where she specialized in white collar criminal defense and securities litigation. She also has served as outside counsel for the Board of Ethics of the City of Philadelphia, as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and as a lecturer at Stanford and Columbia Law Schools. Judge Krause is a former law clerk for the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy of the United States Supreme Court and a graduate with highest honors of Stanford Law School.
Since assuming the bench, Judge Krause has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where she also participates as a Master in the American Inn of Court. She is a member of the American Law Institute and the recipient of numerous awards for public service and professional responsibility. Her forthcoming article, “Lawyer Wellbeing as a Crisis of the Profession,” was the winner of the 2019 American Inns of Court Warren E. Burger Prize and will be published in the South Carolina Law Review.

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Esther Salas

Esther Salas

Judge, United States District Court for the District of New Jersey

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Richard Sullivan

Richard Sullivan

U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit

Biography

Richard J. Sullivan was sworn in as a United States Circuit Court Judge for the Second Circuit in October 2018. Before that, Judge Sullivan served for eleven years as a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. Prior to becoming a judge, he served as the General Counsel and Managing Director of Marsh Inc., the world's leading risk management and insurance brokerage firm. From 1994 to 2005, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he was Chief of the International Narcotics Trafficking Unit and Director of the New York/New Jersey Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. In 2003, he was awarded the Henry L. Stimson Medal from the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. In 1998, he was named the Federal Law Enforcement Association's Prosecutor of the Year. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney's Office, he was a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York and a law clerk to the Honorable David M. Ebel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. He is a graduate of Yale Law School, the College of William & Mary, and Chaminade High School on Long Island. From 1986 to 1987, he served as a New York City Urban Fellow under New York City Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward. Judge Sullivan is on the executive board of the New York American Inn of Court and the Center for Law and Religion at St. John’s University School of Law. He is an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School, where he teaches courses on sentencing and jurisprudence, and he previously served as an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School, where he taught courses on white collar crime and trial advocacy and was named Adjunct Professor of the Year.

 

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Randy E. Barnett

Randy E. Barnett

Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Biography

Randy Barnett is the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University Law Center. He has argued before the United States Supreme Court, tried murder cases to juries as a prosecutor in Chicago, and appeared as a prosecutor in the feature film Inalienable. He is the author of numerous books, including Restoring the Lost Constitution, The Structure of Liberty, Our Republican Constitution, and The Original Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. He has published two memoirs, A Life for Liberty: The Making of an American Originalist, and Felony Review: Tales of True Crime and Corruption in Chicago. He is currently working on a new book, Freedom and Flourishing: Libertarianism for the Real World.

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Rohit Chopra

Rohit Chopra

Director, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Biography

Rohit Chopra is Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB is a unit of the Federal Reserve System charged with protecting families and honest businesses from illegal practices by financial institutions, and ensuring that markets for consumer financial products and services are fair, transparent, and competitive. As Director, Chopra is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Financial Stability Oversight Council.

In 2018, Chopra was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a Commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, where he served until assuming office as CFPB Director. During his tenure at the FTC, he successfully worked to strengthen sanctions against repeat offenders, to reverse the agency’s reliance on no-money, no-fault settlements in fraud cases, and to halt abuses of small businesses. He also led efforts to revitalize dormant authorities, such as those to protect the Made in USA label and to promote competition.

The Director previously served at the CFPB from 2010 to 2015. In 2011, the Secretary of the Treasury designated him as the agency’s student loan ombudsman, where he led the Bureau’s efforts on student lending issues. Prior to his government service, Chopra worked at McKinsey & Company, the global management consultancy, where he worked in the financial services, health care, and consumer technology sectors.

Chopra holds a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Stuart Kyle Duncan

Stuart Kyle Duncan

Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

Biography

Judge Duncan received his B.A. from Louisiana State University in 1994, his J.D. from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University in 1997, and his LL.M. from Columbia Law School in 2004.

After graduating from law school, he clerked for Louisiana-based Circuit Judge John Malcolm Duhé Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

From 2008–2012, Duncan served as Appellate Chief for Louisiana's Attorney General's office. From 2012–2014, he served as general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. From 2004-2008, he was an assistant professor of law at the University of Mississippi School of Law.

Before becoming a judge, Duncan practiced at the Washington, D.C. firm of Schaerr Duncan LLP, where he was a founding partner. He was appointed by President Trump to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on May 1, 2018.

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Joshua Kleinfeld

Joshua Kleinfeld

Professor of Law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law

Biography

Joshua Kleinfeld teaches and writes about political, legal, and moral philosophy, criminal law, and criminal procedure. He also practices law in Northwestern's Juvenile Criminal Defense Clinic. He is a full professor with tenure at the Northwestern Pritzker School of the Law and (by courtesy) in Northwestern’s philosophy department. In 2017-18, he was a visiting professor at Harvard and Stanford Law Schools. He is the recipient of the Bator Award, given annually to one American law professor under the age of 40 who has demonstrated "excellence in legal scholarship, a commitment to teaching, a concern for students, and who has made a significant public impact."

In philosophy, Kleinfeld's research focuses on the idea of "embodied ethical life," as developed in the socio-theoretic tradition of Hegel, Weber, and Durkheim. This tradition aims to understand and critique social life by bringing to light the normative ideas implicit in social practices and institutions. In law, this means that the most interesting philosophical concepts are often those reflected or actualized in legal practice – in the law as judges and lawyers think of it and wield it.

In criminal law and procedure, Kleinfeld has developed a theory known as "reconstructivism," which holds that the chief office of criminal law is not to dole out retributive justice, nor to optimize crime and cost control, but to reconstruct a violated normative order in the wake of a crime. This work, which draws on the thought of Hegel, Durkheim, Jean Hampton, and Antony Duff, develops an alternative to retributive and utilitarian theories of criminal law by focusing on the distinctive social function and sense of justice at work in the criminal system.

Kleinfeld is also involved in practical criminal justice reform. In this vein, he defends children accused of homicide in the Northwestern Juvenile Criminal Defense clinic and assists in litigation efforts meant to reform American criminal law through the courts. He has also developed a view of criminal justice reform known as "democratization," which holds that the root of the American criminal justice crisis is a set of bureaucratic attitudes, structures, and incentives divorced from the American public’s concerns and sense of justice, and that the primary solution is to make criminal justice more community-focused and responsive to lay influences. Working with others, he has developed a number of policy proposals meant to reform American criminal justice in a democratic direction.

Kleinfeld holds a JD from Yale Law School, a PhD in philosophy from the Goethe University of Frankfurt (supervised by Axel Honneth, Klaus Günther, and Rainer Forst), and a BA in philosophy from Yale College. He clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; Judge Janice Rogers Brown on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; and President (chief justice) Aharon Barak of the Supreme Court of Israel. He worked as an Associate at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in Frankfurt, Germany, in the area of corporate criminal law. Before law school, he worked as a Senior Research Analyst at the White House’s Council on Bioethics.

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Maimon Schwarzschild

Maimon Schwarzschild

Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law

Biography

Maimon Schwarzschild is Professor of Law at the University of San Diego, where he has taught
since 1982. He has published extensively on constitutional law, jurisprudence, law and religion,
and civil rights. He is an English barrister and an American lawyer: he was an attorney in the
Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice from 1976 to 1981 and practised as a
barrister in London in the 1980s. He was a visiting professor at the Sorbonne for several years,
and has been a visiting professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is a Director of the
Institute of Law and Religion at the University of San Diego and a member of the editorial board
of Law and Philosophy. With Gail Heriot he recently co-edited a volume entitled “A Dubious
Expediency: How Race Preferences Damage Higher Education”, published by Encounter Books.

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Jonathan D. Urick

Jonathan D. Urick

Senior Associate Chief Counsel, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Litigation Center

Biography

Jonathan Urick is senior associate chief counsel at the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, the litigation arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Urick handles a variety of litigation matters for the Chamber.

Urick rejoined the Chamber after helping launch the national litigation boutique Lehotsky Keller LLP, where he represented large corporations and trade associations as one of the firm’s early partners. He previously served as senior counsel for the Chamber Litigation Center, primarily covering arbitration and class-action issues.

Before his first stint at the Chamber, Urick practiced law at McGuireWoods LLP on the firm’s appeals and issues team. With a diverse commercial-litigation practice focused on appeals and dispositive motions, Urick represented a variety of businesses across federal and state courts.

Urick served as a law clerk at all three levels of the federal judiciary: For Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and Judge Amul Thapar, then a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

Urick graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as Articles Development Editor of the Virginia Law Review. He received his undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Delaware.

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Andrew N. Ferguson

Andrew N. Ferguson

Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission

Biography

Andrew N. Ferguson was sworn in April 2, 2024 as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. President Joe Biden named Ferguson to a term that expires on September 25, 2030.

Ferguson most recently served as solicitor general of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Prior to that position, he served as chief counsel to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and as a Republican counsel on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He also practiced law at several Washington, D.C. law firms. He earned his undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of Virginia. After law school, Ferguson clerked for Judge Karen L. Henderson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

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Paul B. Matey

Paul B. Matey

Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit

Biography

Judge Paul Matey was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 2019 by President Trump.

Before his judicial service, Judge Matey was a partner at Lowenstein Sandler in New Jersey where he practiced complex commercial litigation and criminal defense. Earlier, Judge Matey was the Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for University Hospital Newark, an academic medical center and teaching hospital.

He also served as the Deputy Chief Counsel to Governor Chris Christie, and as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of New Jersey, where he was awarded the Justice Department’s Director’s Award for Superior Performance. He also practiced at the Washington D.C. firm of Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, and served as a law clerk to judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Scranton, a Jesuit University, in 1993, and his juris doctorate, summa cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law in 2001, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Seton Hall Law Review.

In 2019, Judge Matey was elected to membership in the American Law Institute and, since 2020, has lectured on administrative law and the American legal history at Seton Hall.

 

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Julia D. Mahoney

Julia D. Mahoney

John S. Battle Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law

Biography

Julia D. Mahoney teaches courses in property, government finance, constitutional law and nonprofit organizations. A graduate of Yale Law School, she joined the University of Virginia faculty as an associate professor in 1999 and is now John S. Battle Professor of Law. She has also taught at the University of Southern California Law School and the University of Chicago Law School, and before entering the legal academy, practiced law at the New York firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Her scholarly articles include works on land preservation, eminent domain, health care reform and property rights in human biological materials.

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Doha Mekki

Doha Mekki

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Biography

On January 14, 2022, Doha Mekki was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. As Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Ms. Mekki supervises more than 350 attorneys who investigate and prosecute civil and criminal violations of federal antitrust and other competition laws. She is responsible for overseeing the Division’s civil enforcement, criminal enforcement, litigation, domestic and international policy, advocacy, and economic analysis programs, as well as the Division’s operations.

Ms. Mekki joined the Antitrust Division in 2015 as a Trial Attorney. In that capacity, she led investigations and litigated merger challenges in the rail, commercial vehicle, aviation, and healthcare industries, among others. She later served as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust. In that role, she focused on civil antitrust enforcement in healthcare, sports, and digital markets, as well as criminal enforcement in labor markets. From 2020 until 2021, she served as an Assistant Chief in the Antitrust Division’s Defense, Industrials, and Aerospace Section, where she provided legal and policy guidance to attorneys and paralegals working on the section’s merger and anticompetitive conduct investigations and enforcement. Beginning in 2021, she served concurrently as the Antitrust Division’s Special Counsel for Labor. In that capacity, she helped advance the Division’s civil and criminal enforcement in labor markets. She is a two-time recipient of the Assistant Attorney General’s Award of Distinction and she has testified before Congress about competition in labor markets.

She was previously an associate in the antitrust and financial services groups of an international law firm in New York, NY, where her antitrust practice focused on federal antitrust litigation, government investigations, and counseling.

Ms. Mekki holds a B.A. from Duke University, a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and an M.B.E. in Bioethics from the Department of Medical Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

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Ryan Dean Newman

Ryan Dean Newman

Chief Deputy Attorney General

Biography

Ryan Newman is currently Chief Deputy Attorney General for Florida Office of the Attorney General.

During the first Trump Administration, he served as Counselor to the United States Attorney General for national security and international affairs, Deputy General Counsel (Legal Counsel) for the Department of Defense, and Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy at the Department of Justice. Prior to serving in the Executive Branch, Ryan was Chief Counsel to United States Senator Ted Cruz during the 114th Congress. 

Ryan served as a law clerk to the Honorable Samuel A. Alito, Jr. on the United States Supreme Court, the Honorable Richard J. Leon on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and the Honorable J.L. Edmondson on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Prior to law school, Ryan was an armor officer in the United States Army assigned to the 1st Squadron, 10th U.S. Cavalry Regiment (Buffalo Soldiers). He deployed to Iraq in 2003 for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Ryan graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1998. He earned his law degree with high honors from The University of Texas School of Law in 2007.

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Julius N. Richardson

Julius N. Richardson

Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit

Biography

Judge Julius “Jay” Richardson serves on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.  Jay grew up in Barnwell, South Carolina.  After graduating from Vanderbilt University, Jay moved to Hawaii and worked at a pool-side bar-and-grill.  Jay later earned his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where he served as Articles Editor for the Law Review and right fielder for the law school’s championship softball team.  Following law school, Jay clerked for Judge Richard A. Posner and for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. He then practiced with Kellogg Hansen in Washington, DC before returning to South Carolina as an Assistant United States Attorney.  Along with prosecuting violent crime, gangs, terrorism, public corruption, civil rights, and narcotics trafficking, he led the prosecution of Dylann Roof, who was convicted and sentenced to death for his racist massacre of nine Black worshippers during a Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. He and his wife Macon are blessed with four daughters.

 

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Lael Weinberger

Lael Weinberger

Assistant Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University

Biography

Lael Weinberger is an assistant professor of law at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School. Previously, Lael clerked for Justice Neil Gorsuch on the United States Supreme Court, Judge Frank Easterbrook on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and Chief Justice Daniel Eismann on the Idaho Supreme Court. Lael also practiced law at the Washington, D.C., office of Gibson Dunn and held fellowships at Stanford and Harvard law schools. Lael earned a law degree and a Ph.D. in history, both from the University of Chicago. Lael's academic work has appeared in journals such as the University of Chicago Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, and Constitutional Commentary, among others. He has also written widely for broader public audiences, with his writings and reviews appearing in publications including Newsweek, National Review, Claremont Review, First Things, Christianity Today, LA Review of Books, World, and the New Rambler Review.

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Jeff Beelaert

Jeff Beelaert

Partner, Givens Pursley LLP

Biography

Jeff Beelaert is a partner at Givens Pursley LLP in Boise, Idaho, with a distinguished background of public service and extensive experience with trial and appellate litigation.   As lead counsel, Jeff has achieved success for clients in high-stakes, complex cases at every level of state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court. 

Before joining Givens Pursley, Jeff previously held several posts at the United States Department of Justice.

  • As Deputy Associate Attorney General, Jeff advised senior leaders at the Department regarding high-profile matters in environmental litigation, civil rights, and federal programs.
  • As an appellate attorney in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, Jeff briefed and argued dozens of cases as lead counsel for federal agencies. On behalf of his clients, Jeff successfully argued administrative law challenges and criminal appeals, as well as cases involving natural resources, clean air and water, endangered species, land management, Indian law, and takings.
  • As nominations counsel in the Office of Legal Policy, Jeff assisted scores of nominees with the judicial nomination and confirmation process, including two Supreme Court Justices.
  • On a temporary assignment to the Environmental Protection Agency, Jeff was sent by the Department to assist the agency with notice-and-comment rulemaking for an important national policy.

Jeff previously worked as an associate at Sidley Austin in DC, where he drafted Supreme Court briefs and handled white collar matters and investigations.  

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Chad A. Readler

Chad A. Readler

Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit

Biography

Judge Readler earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Michigan. After graduating, he served as a law clerk to Judge Alan Norris of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Judge Readler then began practicing law in the Columbus office of the international law firm Jones Day, eventually spending ten years as a partner in the firm’s Issues and Appeals Practice Group. While at Jones Day, Judge Readler appeared in state and federal trial and appellate courts around the country, most frequently the Supreme Court of Ohio and the Sixth Circuit. Judge Readler also successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court in McQuiggin v. Perkins on behalf of an inmate claiming actual innocence. His other pro bono representations include representing capital defendants before the Tenth Circuit and the Supreme Court of Ohio, as well as representing defendants sentenced to life in prison before the Sixth Circuit. While at Jones Day, Judge Readler traveled to Nairobi with Lawyers Without Borders to train Kenyan lawyers in prosecuting domestic violence cases, and he was also a recipient of the American Marshall Memorial Fellowship awarded by the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Following his career in private practice, Judge Readler served as Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice from 2017 to 2019. In that role, Judge Readler led and supervised over 1,000 lawyers in the Department’s largest litigating division, briefing and arguing several cases on behalf of the United States in federal courts across the country, including high-profile cases significant to the Administration and the Department.  In March 2019, Judge Readler was confirmed to serve as a Circuit Judge on the Sixth Circuit.  He resides in Columbus.

 

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Lawrence VanDyke

Lawrence VanDyke

Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Biography

Lawrence VanDyke serves as a circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Prior to  that appointment in January 2020, he served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice.  Before that, he served consecutively as the Solicitor General of two western states – Nevada and Montana.  At the beginning of his legal career, he worked as an attorney in the Appellate and Constitutional Issues practice group at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, LLP.

Judge VanDyke received his law degree magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor on the Harvard Law Review.  He has engineering and theology undergraduate degrees and a masters degree in engineering management.  He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Janice Rogers Brown of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.  Judge VanDyke and his wife Cheryl live in Reno, Nevada, and they have three children.

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Lorie Gildea

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David R. Stras

David R. Stras

Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit

Biography

David Stras became a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on January 31, 2018. Before serving on the Eighth Circuit, Judge Stras was an Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, a position he occupied from July 1, 2010 until his appointment to the Eighth Circuit.

Prior to becoming a judge, Stras was a member of the faculty of the University of Minnesota Law School from 2004 through 2010. He taught and wrote in the areas of federal courts and jurisdiction, constitutional law, criminal law, and law and politics.

Judge Stras received his Bachelor of Arts degree, with highest distinction, in 1995 and his Master of Business Administration in 1999, both from the University of Kansas. He also received his law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1999, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Criminal Procedure Edition of the Kansas Law Review.

Following law school, Stras clerked for The Honorable Melvin Brunetti of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and then for The Honorable J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

From 2001 to 2002, he practiced white-collar criminal and appellate litigation with the Washington, D.C., office of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood. Following his year in practice, he clerked for The Honorable Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States.

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Patrick J. Bumatay

Patrick J. Bumatay

Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Biography

Patrick J. Bumatay was confirmed as a U.S. Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in December 2019. He is based in San Diego, California.

Prior to his appointment, Judge Bumatay served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, where he was a member of the Appellate and Narcotics Sections. He also served as a Counselor to the Attorney General on criminal law issues, including on national opioid strategy and combating transnational organized crime. Judge Bumatay has also worked in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the Office of the Associate Attorney General, and the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice. Judge Bumatay has twice received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award.

Judge Bumatay previously worked as an associate at Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, and Bohrer in New York, New York. Judge Bumatay clerked for the Honorable Timothy M. Tymkovich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the Honorable Sandra L. Townes of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Bumatay earned his B.A., cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.

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