Partner, Cooper & Kirk
William V. Bergstrom joined Cooper & Kirk in 2021. Before joining the firm, he clerked for Judge Jonathan A. Kobes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and was an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Sullivan & Cromwell, LLP. Mr. Bergstrom received his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2017. He earned his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Harvard College in 2013, where he was chairman of the editorial board of The Harvard Crimson. Between college and law school, Mr. Bergstrom was the Annenberg Fellow at Eton College in Windsor, U.K.
Mr. Bergstrom is admitted to the bars of the State of Nebraska and the District of Columbia.
Associate Professor, Widener Law Commonwealth
Partner, Cooper & Kirk
William V. Bergstrom joined Cooper & Kirk in 2021. Before joining the firm, he clerked for Judge Jonathan A. Kobes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and was an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Sullivan & Cromwell, LLP. Mr. Bergstrom received his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2017. He earned his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Harvard College in 2013, where he was chairman of the editorial board of The Harvard Crimson. Between college and law school, Mr. Bergstrom was the Annenberg Fellow at Eton College in Windsor, U.K.
Mr. Bergstrom is admitted to the bars of the State of Nebraska and the District of Columbia.
Associate Professor, Widener Law Commonwealth
Senior Fellow, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies
Dean Cheng currently a Senior Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, specializing in the US relationship with China. Prior to being with the Potomac institute, he recently retired as the Senior Research Fellow for Chinese Political and Military Affairs at the Heritage Foundation. He is fluent in Chinese, and uses Chinese language materials regularly in his work. Previously, he worked with the China Studies Division (previously, Project Asia) at the Center for Naval Analysis, a Federally Funded Research and Development Center, where he specialized in Chinese military issues, with a focus on Chinese military doctrine and Chinese space capabilities. Before that, he worked for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and as an analyst with the US Congress’ Office of Technology Assessment in the International Security and Space Division.
His published work includes the volume Cyber Dragon: Inside China’s Information Warfare and Cyber Operations (Praeger Publishing, 2016). He has testified before Congress, and spoken at the National Space Symposium, the US National Defense University, the USSTRATCOM Deterrence Symposium, Harvard, and MIT. He has appeared frequently in print and broadcast media to discuss Chinese space and military activities.
General Counsel, TechFreedom
James Dunstan serves as the General Counsel to TechFreedom. Jim has served as a Senior Adjunct Fellow to TechFreedom since its inception. Jim has more than 37 years of private practice experience in a technology-focused practice, including telecommunications, media, computer game, and outer space law. Jim spent 17 years at the telecom boutique firm Haley Bader & Potts (10 years in management), and headed the Telecommunications and Information Technology Group at Garvey, Schubert & Barer from 2000-2006. Jim founded his own firm, Mobius Legal Group, in 2010; he continues that private practice (on matters not in conflict with TechFreedom’s work) while serving as TechFreedom’s General Counsel.
Jim’s career includes being on the legal team that won the first cellular radio license for MCI in 1984, writing the constitutional challenge to the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine that took down the Doctrine in Syracuse Peace Council v. FCC, 867 F.2d 654 (1989), and helping shape the FCC’s children’s television rules on behalf of a client which produces the majority of educational programming for the major television networks. He litigated the first “virtual property” case and drafted and negotiated the first lease for a manned space station (Mir) as well as writing the first contract that was actually executed in outer space.
At TechFreedom, Jim’s substantive portfolio includes FCC regulation, the Children’s Online Protection and Privacy Act (COPPA), and all things outer space. As General Counsel, he oversees the entire legal team, and participates in TechFreedom’s robust appellate litigation team.
Jim was the 1978 Harry S. Truman Scholar from Arizona, is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College (1980), and the Georgetown University Law Center (1983). He is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Jim holds multiple patents for innovative computer input devices and has a number of patents pending in the field of computer game devices and methods. Jim is an avid musician, playing French horn in the Fairfax Wind Symphony, and with the Silver 5 Brass Quintet.
Senior Fellow, Asian Military Affairs, International Assessment and Strategy Center
Mr. Richard D. Fisher, Jr. is a Senior Fellow with the International Assessment and Strategy Center. He has previously worked with the Center for Security Policy, Jamestown Foundation China Brief, U.S. House of Representatives Republican Policy Committee, and The Heritage Foundation. Mr. Fisher has previously testified on aspects of China’s strategic challenge before the United States Senate, the House of Representatives and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He is the author of China’s Military Modernization, Building for Regional and Global Reach (Praeger, 2008, Stanford University Press, 2010, Taiwan Ministry of National Defense translation, 2012). His articles have been published in the Jane’s Intelligence Review, Jane’s Defence Weekly, Aviation Week and Space Technology, Armed Forces Journal, Far Eastern Economic Review, Asian Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, The Sankei Shimbun, World Airpower Review and Air Forces Monthly. He received a B.A. (Honors) in 1981 from Eisenhower College.
Senior Litigation Counsel, New Civil Liberties Alliance
Margaret Harker litigates for a public interest law firm. She has significant experience in government investigations and litigation, having served in the three branches of our government. Previously, she led complex Congressional investigations for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform—including the only government-wide investigation into federal agencies’ strategy (or lack thereof) to counter Chinese Communist Party political warfare against America.
Prior to her time on Capitol Hill, Harker served in the U.S. Department of Justice. She was an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Eastern District of Tennessee and the Eastern District of Virginia. She was a Trial Attorney in the National Security Division, Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, with an emphasis on the administration and enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Harker clerked for the Honorable Henry E. Hudson, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Honorable Randolph A. Beales, Court of Appeals of Virginia.
Earlier in her career, she studied in Beijing, China, and worked at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s China Center.
United States Attorney, Eastern District of California
Mr. Grant was appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi to serve as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California beginning on August 11, 2025. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 546(d), he was further appointed by the district court effective December 9, 2025.
Mr. Grant is a veteran of the Department of Justice, having served twice in Washington, D.C.: from 1991 to 1993 as an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel, and from 2017 to 2021 as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). During his tenure at ENRD, he supervised more than a hundred Department litigators advancing the interests of the United States and its agencies in both enforcement and defensive matters, both civil and criminal.
In addition to his service in the Department, Mr. Grant has decades of experience in private practice in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento. That experience includes arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court, and numerous other federal and state courts.
Mr. Grant served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger (retired) and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during the Supreme Court’s October 1994 Term. Earlier he served as a law clerk to Judge Edith H. Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Houston, Texas.
Mr. Grant grew up in Modesto, California and raised his family in Sacramento County. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, from which he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics (1986) and a law degree (1990).
Wendell H. Ford Professor of Law, University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law
Paul E. Salamanca graduated from Dartmouth College in 1983 and Boston College Law School in 1989, where he was a note editor for the Boston College Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif.
Professor Salamanca served as a law clerk to Judge David H. Souter of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and subsequently clerked for Justice Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court. He practiced law with the firm of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York from 1991 to 1994 and was a visiting assistant professor of law at Loyola University School of Law in New Orleans before joining the faculty at the University of Kentucky College of Law in June 1995.
Professor Salamanca writes in the areas of separation of powers, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and privacy. He has published articles on these subjects in the University of Cincinnati Law Review, the Missouri Law Review, the Georgia Law Review and the Kentucky Law Journal, among other places.
From 2019 until 2021, Professor Salamanca served as a Senior Counsel and then as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) of the United States Department of Justice. His duties included supervision of the Natural Resources and Land Acquisition Sections of ENRD.
Charles Yates is an attorney in Pacific Legal Foundation’s environmental practice group, where he litigates to defend private property rights and uphold the structural protections guaranteed by the Constitution’s separation of powers.
His inspiration to focus on environmental law comes from the special case of government overreach it presents, where individual rights too often give way to collectivist notions and where misguided government policies create a cure worse than the disease. Charles has a particularly strong belief in the important role that the productive use of natural resources plays for human flourishing. To these ends, his practice at PLF focuses primarily on the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and related regulatory issues.
Charles credits his strong belief in the principles of individual liberty and limited, constitutional government to his family. His personal philosophy developed further while studying the works of Adam Smith, John Locke, James Madison, and other classical liberals. Born and raised in Australia, Charles has always admired the U.S. Constitution as the purest and most enduring application of the ideals of individual liberty and limited government. It was these influences that impressed upon him the desire to pursue a career in public interest litigation.
After obtaining a B.A. in political science and international relations from the University of Western Australia, Charles moved to the U.S., where he earned his J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Baltimore School of Law. During law school, he served as president of his school’s chapter of The Federalist Society and was an editor of the University of Baltimore Law Review. Other highlights from his law school days include an internship at the Cato Institute and a clerkship at the Institute for Justice.
Charles lives in Sacramento with his wife Maxine. In his spare time, he enjoys reading and playing the bass guitar.
Partner, Cooper & Kirk
William V. Bergstrom joined Cooper & Kirk in 2021. Before joining the firm, he clerked for Judge Jonathan A. Kobes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and was an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Sullivan & Cromwell, LLP. Mr. Bergstrom received his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2017. He earned his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Harvard College in 2013, where he was chairman of the editorial board of The Harvard Crimson. Between college and law school, Mr. Bergstrom was the Annenberg Fellow at Eton College in Windsor, U.K.
Mr. Bergstrom is admitted to the bars of the State of Nebraska and the District of Columbia.
Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice
T. Elliot Gaiser is the Office of Legal Counsel’s 27th Assistant Attorney General. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on April 29, 2025, confirmed by the United States Senate on July 30, 2025, and sworn in as AAG by Attorney General Pam Bondi on August 4, 2025.
Prior to joining the Office of Legal Counsel, Mr. Gaiser served as the 11th Solicitor General of Ohio. In that role, he represented his home state and its agencies before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the Supreme Court of Ohio, and other state and federal courts. He also advised Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on significant legal and constitutional matters important to the people of Ohio.
Mr. Gaiser clerked for Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge Neomi Rao of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Edith H. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In the private sector, Mr. Gaiser worked at the law firms Jones Day, Boyden Gray, and Gibson Dunn. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and Hillsdale College. He is also a husband and father.
Partner, Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC
Abhishek (Abhi) Kambli is a partner at Holtzman Vogel who represents clients in high-stakes appellate and complex litigation, constitutional challenges, and matters involving state attorneys general and federal agencies. He is one of a handful of lawyers nationally who has both led federal litigation from inside the Department of Justice and multi-state coalition work from a State Attorney General’s office—giving clients a 360-degree perspective on government enforcement, regulatory challenges, and constitutional advocacy.
Prior to joining Holtzman Vogel, Abhi served as Deputy Associate Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice, where he acted as lead counsel in high-priority matters for the Trump Administration, oversaw the Department’s civil components on behalf of the Associate Attorney General, advised the White House Counsel’s Office and federal agencies on litigation risk and strategy, and developed the Department’s national affirmative civil litigation strategy.
Earlier, he served as Deputy Attorney General and Division Chief of the Special Litigation and Constitutional Issues Division at the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, where he launched the division and led multi-state coalitions in trial and appellate courts nationwide, including the United States Supreme Court. He began his career as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Indiana, prosecuting more than 100 federal cases from investigation through appeal.
Abhi is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps, having served on active duty and in the reserves since 2013. His military service includes criminal trials as both prosecutor and defense attorney, appellate representation before the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and representation of a high-profile detainee before the Military Commissions at Guantánamo Bay.
Attorney and Legal Commentator
John Shu is an attorney and legal commentator. His focus areas include constitutional law, securities & corporate law, antitrust law, administrative law, politics, and international affairs. Mr. Shu has lectured and published on a wide variety of issues.
Mr. Shu served President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush. He also served Judge Stanley Sporkin, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who was Director of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and General Counsel at the Central Intelligence Agency, and Judge Paul Roney, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, who was Presiding Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.
Mr. Shu is a member of the National Committee on U.S. - China Relations, the Pacific Council on International Policy, and the Foreign Policy Association.
From the Courthouse Steps: United States v. Hemani
William V. Bergstrom, F. Lee Francis
In United States v. Hemani, the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the dismissal of an indictment...
From the Courthouse Steps: United States v. Hemani
William V. Bergstrom, F. Lee Francis
In United States v. Hemani, the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the dismissal of an indictment...
America 250: The Constitutional Dimensions of Environmental Law
Sacramento Lawyer Chapter
From the Courthouse Steps: United States v. Hemani
Separation of Powers in Action
Columbus Lawyer Chapter
Columbus, OHFireside Chat on the BigLaw EOs with Abhishek Kambli and John Shu
Orange County Lawyer Chapter
Irvine, CASalon Dinner with Brett Shumate and Trent McCotter
Washington, DCPlenary Session 2: Unitary Executive & Administrative Agencies– Who’s in Charge?
Featuring: Mr. Samuel Adkisson, Associate Counsel to the President, White House Counsel's Office Hon. Daniel Burrows,...
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Featuring: Hon. Stanley E. Woodward Jr., Associate Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
Race to a Moon Base—And Frontiers Beyond
Dean Cheng, James Dunstan, Richard D. Fisher, Margaret Harker
As Artemis II navigated around the far side of the moon, setting a new human...