Chairman, The Ashcroft Law Firm LLC, and former United States Attorney General
Former U.S. Attorney General, Governor and U.S. Senator John Ashcroft serves as the firm’s founder and chairman. As Attorney General, and the U.S. Justice Department’s CEO, Mr. Ashcroft led the world’s largest and foremost international law firm and law enforcement agency—an organization larger than most Fortune 500 companies, with over 122,000 employees. Mr. Ashcroft integrated strategic planning, budgeting, and performance measures, which resulted in the DOJ earning a clean audit for the first time in its history.
Mr. Ashcroft boldly led the Department of Justice through the transformational period after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He subsequently reorganized the Department to focus on its number one priority: preventing terrorism. The tough antiterrorism campaign he directed helped keep America safe throughout his tenure and resulted in the dismantling of terrorist cells across America and the disruption of over 150 terrorist plots worldwide.
Within two months of the attacks, and with financial markets still reeling, the unprecedented corporate scandals at ENRON, WorldCom and dozens more unfolded, further destabilizing the weakened economy. John Ashcroft was called upon to restore America’s faith in the integrity of our marketplace. He marshaled the resources of the federal government to bring to justice those guilty of massive corporate fraud. At all times, he demanded that cases be brought swiftly, with appropriate serious penalties—always taking into account the best interests of the employees and shareholders whose lives were most directly affected.
From 1985 to 1993, as Governor of Missouri, Ashcroft balanced eight consecutive budgets, built a $120 million budget surplus and established a $190 million operating reserve. His management and fiscal integrity helped generate 338,000 new jobs state-wide, a triple-A bond rating from the three major Wall Street rating agencies, a per capita state and local tax burden ranked 49th in the United States and a 12 percent increase in personal income. His new education performance standards led Fortune magazine to name him as one of the nation’s top ten Education Governors. In 1991, the non-partisan National Governors Association voted him Chairman.
Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994, he brought his management skills to Washington where he authored budget rules protecting Social Security and Medicare and helped balance the federal budget for the first time in decades. As a member of the Senate Judiciary, Foreign Relations and Commerce Committees, he worked to reform laws regulating the banking, telecommunications, aviation, transportation and information technology industries.
In 1973, Mr. Ashcroft served as Missouri Auditor, followed by two terms as Missouri Attorney General. He was raised in Springfield, Missouri, received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago.
Founding Partner, PNT Law Firm
Austin R. Nimocks has litigated in state and federal courts across the country. Mr. Nimocks focuses his practice on civil litigation (plaintiff and defense), commercial litigation, corporate matters, federal compliance, internal investigations, government relations, white-collar criminal defense, and religious freedom.
Litigating for over 25 years, including three as a public defender, Mr. Nimocks has practiced law within the private, government, and non-profit sectors, geographically spanning the United States and beyond.
Prior to starting the PNT Law Firm (www.pntlawfirm.com), Mr. Nimocks worked for former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft in the Ashcroft Law Firm in Austin, Texas. For General Ashcroft, Mr. Nimocks litigated cases against all levels of government (federal, state, and local).
Prior to joining General Ashcroft, Mr. Nimocks served in the Executive Administration of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as both Special Counsel and the Associate Deputy Attorney General for Special Litigation. During his time with General Paxton, Mr. Nimocks coordinated and led myriad multi-state lawsuits and strategic litigation against the federal government, other states, and local government entities. On behalf of Texas (and other states), Mr. Nimocks’ teams achieved many victories against the federal government, including the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and other federal agencies
Before joining the Texas Attorney General’s Office, Mr. Nimocks served as Senior Counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom (“ADF”) in Washington, D.C. While at ADF, Mr. Nimocks handled appeals and litigated constitutional cases in state and federal courts across the country, including matters regarding marriage, parental rights, voters’ rights, and religious freedom. Mr. Nimocks also authored several pieces of legislation and policy memoranda and testified before numerous state legislatures, as well as Congress. While with ADF, Mr. Nimocks made regular public appearances, speaking at numerous events and participating in hundreds of television, radio, and newspaper interviews with all major national media outlets.
Mr. Nimocks began practicing law on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In addition to his time spent as a public defender, Mr. Nimocks’ law practice in Mississippi was extremely diverse, involving personal injury, commercial litigation, appellate, contracts, real estate, administrative law, bankruptcy, libel & defamation, insurance defense, general civil litigation, and other matters.
In addition to his state bar admissions (TX, DC, MI, AZ, AL, MS), Mr. Nimocks is admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the D.C., First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits, as well as numerous federal district courts.
Mr. Nimocks is a native Texan, born and raised in the Fort Worth area. Mr. Nimocks resides and attends church in Dripping Springs, Texas, along with his wife and three daughters.
Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke
Lu is a former senior U.S. government official with a wealth of experience advising U.S. and international clients with complex regulatory and enforcement challenges. He has extensive experience representing clients facing state or federal government investigations and enforcement actions, conducting internal investigations, and advising corporate clients on regulatory compliance practices and in crisis response scenarios. As an accomplished legal strategist, Lu provides counsel to CEOs, CLO’s, and other executives, as well as boards of directors across various industries on a myriad of complex issues.
Lu’s clients benefit from his decades of experience providing strategic advice to top-tier government leaders, including the President of the United States and multiple United States Attorneys General. His career is marked by significant roles in federal and state government.
As Deputy Assistant to President George W. Bush, he was a chief advisor to the President and a member of the White House Senior Staff. In that role he provided strategic and human capital related policy advice directly to the President regarding all legal, national security, and international affairs, and presidential appointments administration-wide.
As Deputy Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, he served as Chief of Staff to the Associate Attorney General and had oversight of litigation emanating from the Tax, Civil Rights, Civil, and Community Relations Service Divisions of the agency. At the Department, he also previously served as Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division, and as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, the division responsible for representing the U.S. in all constitutional challenges to U.S. law and defending the U.S. on all torts, federal programs, and immigration-related litigation.
Prior to joining private practice, Lu also served as the General Counsel for the federal law enforcement agency charged with rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse of the $50+ billion appropriated for the reconstruction of Iraq where he oversaw several federal fraud prosecutions in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Frauds Section.
Earlier in his career, Lu served as an Assistant Attorney General and Trial Attorney for the Office of the Texas Attorney General, where he handled a robust civil litigation practice at the trial and appellate levels in both state and federal court.
Chairman, The Ashcroft Law Firm LLC, and former United States Attorney General
Former U.S. Attorney General, Governor and U.S. Senator John Ashcroft serves as the firm’s founder and chairman. As Attorney General, and the U.S. Justice Department’s CEO, Mr. Ashcroft led the world’s largest and foremost international law firm and law enforcement agency—an organization larger than most Fortune 500 companies, with over 122,000 employees. Mr. Ashcroft integrated strategic planning, budgeting, and performance measures, which resulted in the DOJ earning a clean audit for the first time in its history.
Mr. Ashcroft boldly led the Department of Justice through the transformational period after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He subsequently reorganized the Department to focus on its number one priority: preventing terrorism. The tough antiterrorism campaign he directed helped keep America safe throughout his tenure and resulted in the dismantling of terrorist cells across America and the disruption of over 150 terrorist plots worldwide.
Within two months of the attacks, and with financial markets still reeling, the unprecedented corporate scandals at ENRON, WorldCom and dozens more unfolded, further destabilizing the weakened economy. John Ashcroft was called upon to restore America’s faith in the integrity of our marketplace. He marshaled the resources of the federal government to bring to justice those guilty of massive corporate fraud. At all times, he demanded that cases be brought swiftly, with appropriate serious penalties—always taking into account the best interests of the employees and shareholders whose lives were most directly affected.
From 1985 to 1993, as Governor of Missouri, Ashcroft balanced eight consecutive budgets, built a $120 million budget surplus and established a $190 million operating reserve. His management and fiscal integrity helped generate 338,000 new jobs state-wide, a triple-A bond rating from the three major Wall Street rating agencies, a per capita state and local tax burden ranked 49th in the United States and a 12 percent increase in personal income. His new education performance standards led Fortune magazine to name him as one of the nation’s top ten Education Governors. In 1991, the non-partisan National Governors Association voted him Chairman.
Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994, he brought his management skills to Washington where he authored budget rules protecting Social Security and Medicare and helped balance the federal budget for the first time in decades. As a member of the Senate Judiciary, Foreign Relations and Commerce Committees, he worked to reform laws regulating the banking, telecommunications, aviation, transportation and information technology industries.
In 1973, Mr. Ashcroft served as Missouri Auditor, followed by two terms as Missouri Attorney General. He was raised in Springfield, Missouri, received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago.
Founding Partner, PNT Law Firm
Austin R. Nimocks has litigated in state and federal courts across the country. Mr. Nimocks focuses his practice on civil litigation (plaintiff and defense), commercial litigation, corporate matters, federal compliance, internal investigations, government relations, white-collar criminal defense, and religious freedom.
Litigating for over 25 years, including three as a public defender, Mr. Nimocks has practiced law within the private, government, and non-profit sectors, geographically spanning the United States and beyond.
Prior to starting the PNT Law Firm (www.pntlawfirm.com), Mr. Nimocks worked for former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft in the Ashcroft Law Firm in Austin, Texas. For General Ashcroft, Mr. Nimocks litigated cases against all levels of government (federal, state, and local).
Prior to joining General Ashcroft, Mr. Nimocks served in the Executive Administration of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as both Special Counsel and the Associate Deputy Attorney General for Special Litigation. During his time with General Paxton, Mr. Nimocks coordinated and led myriad multi-state lawsuits and strategic litigation against the federal government, other states, and local government entities. On behalf of Texas (and other states), Mr. Nimocks’ teams achieved many victories against the federal government, including the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and other federal agencies
Before joining the Texas Attorney General’s Office, Mr. Nimocks served as Senior Counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom (“ADF”) in Washington, D.C. While at ADF, Mr. Nimocks handled appeals and litigated constitutional cases in state and federal courts across the country, including matters regarding marriage, parental rights, voters’ rights, and religious freedom. Mr. Nimocks also authored several pieces of legislation and policy memoranda and testified before numerous state legislatures, as well as Congress. While with ADF, Mr. Nimocks made regular public appearances, speaking at numerous events and participating in hundreds of television, radio, and newspaper interviews with all major national media outlets.
Mr. Nimocks began practicing law on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In addition to his time spent as a public defender, Mr. Nimocks’ law practice in Mississippi was extremely diverse, involving personal injury, commercial litigation, appellate, contracts, real estate, administrative law, bankruptcy, libel & defamation, insurance defense, general civil litigation, and other matters.
In addition to his state bar admissions (TX, DC, MI, AZ, AL, MS), Mr. Nimocks is admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the D.C., First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits, as well as numerous federal district courts.
Mr. Nimocks is a native Texan, born and raised in the Fort Worth area. Mr. Nimocks resides and attends church in Dripping Springs, Texas, along with his wife and three daughters.
Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke
Lu is a former senior U.S. government official with a wealth of experience advising U.S. and international clients with complex regulatory and enforcement challenges. He has extensive experience representing clients facing state or federal government investigations and enforcement actions, conducting internal investigations, and advising corporate clients on regulatory compliance practices and in crisis response scenarios. As an accomplished legal strategist, Lu provides counsel to CEOs, CLO’s, and other executives, as well as boards of directors across various industries on a myriad of complex issues.
Lu’s clients benefit from his decades of experience providing strategic advice to top-tier government leaders, including the President of the United States and multiple United States Attorneys General. His career is marked by significant roles in federal and state government.
As Deputy Assistant to President George W. Bush, he was a chief advisor to the President and a member of the White House Senior Staff. In that role he provided strategic and human capital related policy advice directly to the President regarding all legal, national security, and international affairs, and presidential appointments administration-wide.
As Deputy Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, he served as Chief of Staff to the Associate Attorney General and had oversight of litigation emanating from the Tax, Civil Rights, Civil, and Community Relations Service Divisions of the agency. At the Department, he also previously served as Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division, and as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, the division responsible for representing the U.S. in all constitutional challenges to U.S. law and defending the U.S. on all torts, federal programs, and immigration-related litigation.
Prior to joining private practice, Lu also served as the General Counsel for the federal law enforcement agency charged with rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse of the $50+ billion appropriated for the reconstruction of Iraq where he oversaw several federal fraud prosecutions in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Frauds Section.
Earlier in his career, Lu served as an Assistant Attorney General and Trial Attorney for the Office of the Texas Attorney General, where he handled a robust civil litigation practice at the trial and appellate levels in both state and federal court.
Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania
Makan Delrahim is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania.
Previously he served as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, Deputy Assistant to the President, and Deputy White House Counsel. Mr. Delrahim’s rich antitrust background covers the full range of industries, issues, and institutions touched upon by the work of the Antitrust Division. He is a former partner in the Los Angeles office of a national law firm. He served in the Antitrust Division from 2003 to 2005 as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General, overseeing the Appellate, Foreign Commerce, and Legal Policy sections. During that time, he played an integral role in building the Antitrust Division’s engagement with its international counterparts and was involved in civil and criminal matters. He has served on the Attorney General’s Task Force on Intellectual Property and as Chairman of the Merger Working Group of the International Competition Network. Mr. Delrahim was also a Commissioner on the Antitrust Modernization Commission from 2004 to 2007. Earlier in his career, Mr. Delrahim served as antitrust counsel, and later as the Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Elyse Dorsey is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Elyse's practice encompasses a wide array of antitrust and competition matters across the globe. She is uniquely situated to advise clients in domestic and international competition matters, given her combination of government and private practice experience.
Elyse has a focus in cutting edge competition issues, as well as privacy, data security, and consumer protection matters. She has represented clients across levels of government, from state agencies to the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to joining Kirkland, Elyse served as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. Her work at the Antitrust Division covered a spectrum of legal and policy matters, including IP and technology issues, the Division's appellate and amicus brief programs, and its international and competition policy efforts. Elyse joined the Division from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, where she served as Attorney Advisor to Commission Noah Joshua Phillips. While at the Commission, she advised on key cases, matters, and policies affecting industries across the economy--from digital and tech to pharmaceuticals and hospitals and more.
Elyse is a recognized thought leader in the antitrust and competition communities. She has been a frequent nominee and recipient of antitrust writing awards for her scholarship in this space. She has also served as an adjunct professor at George Mason University's Scalia Law School for several years, helping to launch their Antitrust LL.M. program; and she previously served as a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia.
Sarin Chair Emeritus in Strategy and Leadership,, Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley
Michael L. Katz is a Senior Consultant with Compass Lexecon. He holds the Sarin Chair in Strategy and Leadership at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. He is a four-time finalist for the Earl F. Cheit award for outstanding teaching and has won it twice. Dr. Katz served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economic Analysis in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from September 2001 through January 2003. He directed a staff of approximately fifty-five economists and oversaw the analysis of economic issues arising in both merger and non-merger enforcement.
Dr. Katz also served as former Chief Economist of the Federal Communications Commission from January 1994 through January 1996. He participated in the formulation and analysis of policies toward all industries under Commission jurisdiction, including broadcasting, cable, telephone, and wireless communications.
Dr. Katz has published numerous articles on the economics of networks industries, intellectual property, telecommunications policy, and antitrust enforcement. He is a member of the editorial boards of Information Economics and Policy, The Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, and The Journal of Industrial Economics.
Dr. Katz holds an A.B. summa cum laude from Harvard University and D.Phil. from Oxford University. Both degrees are in Economics.
Counsel, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP; Senior Competition Counsel, TechFreedom
Bilal Sayyed represents clients before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) in significant merger, civil and criminal antitrust matters. A significant portion of his practice involves representing investment funds on antitrust and Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act compliance matters; he has also provided expert witness services related to HSR compliance. Bilal also counsels clients before the FTC in consumer protection and privacy investigations. He maintains an active amicus and appellate brief writing practice in antitrust litigation and antitrust merger matters.
Prior to joining Cadwalader, Bilal was the Director of the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning (OPP) (2018-2021). In that role, he provided legal and policy advice to the Chairman and Commissioners on antitrust and consumer protection matters and worked closely with the senior and career leadership of the FTC’s Bureaus of Competition, Consumer Protection, and Economics. Bilal previously served as an Attorney Advisor to FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris from 2001 to 2004. In that role, Bilal advised the Chairman on matters involving a wide spectrum of industries, including chemical and mining, petroleum and natural gas, health care and pharmaceutical, defense and transportation, gaming, various consumer products and retail operations, and professional associations and standard-setting organizations.
Bilal has taught antitrust and competition law at the George Mason University School of Law since 2011.
Bilal received his B.A. from Case Western Reserve University, and a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and the State of New York, as well as before the U.S. District Courts for the District of Colorado and the District of Columbia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the Fifth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bilal is the host of Rethinking Antitrust, a podcast published by TechFreedom that examines the economics, institutions, law, legislation, and policy goals of antitrust enforcement.
Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania
Makan Delrahim is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania.
Previously he served as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, Deputy Assistant to the President, and Deputy White House Counsel. Mr. Delrahim’s rich antitrust background covers the full range of industries, issues, and institutions touched upon by the work of the Antitrust Division. He is a former partner in the Los Angeles office of a national law firm. He served in the Antitrust Division from 2003 to 2005 as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General, overseeing the Appellate, Foreign Commerce, and Legal Policy sections. During that time, he played an integral role in building the Antitrust Division’s engagement with its international counterparts and was involved in civil and criminal matters. He has served on the Attorney General’s Task Force on Intellectual Property and as Chairman of the Merger Working Group of the International Competition Network. Mr. Delrahim was also a Commissioner on the Antitrust Modernization Commission from 2004 to 2007. Earlier in his career, Mr. Delrahim served as antitrust counsel, and later as the Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Elyse Dorsey is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Elyse's practice encompasses a wide array of antitrust and competition matters across the globe. She is uniquely situated to advise clients in domestic and international competition matters, given her combination of government and private practice experience.
Elyse has a focus in cutting edge competition issues, as well as privacy, data security, and consumer protection matters. She has represented clients across levels of government, from state agencies to the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to joining Kirkland, Elyse served as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. Her work at the Antitrust Division covered a spectrum of legal and policy matters, including IP and technology issues, the Division's appellate and amicus brief programs, and its international and competition policy efforts. Elyse joined the Division from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, where she served as Attorney Advisor to Commission Noah Joshua Phillips. While at the Commission, she advised on key cases, matters, and policies affecting industries across the economy--from digital and tech to pharmaceuticals and hospitals and more.
Elyse is a recognized thought leader in the antitrust and competition communities. She has been a frequent nominee and recipient of antitrust writing awards for her scholarship in this space. She has also served as an adjunct professor at George Mason University's Scalia Law School for several years, helping to launch their Antitrust LL.M. program; and she previously served as a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia.
Sarin Chair Emeritus in Strategy and Leadership,, Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley
Michael L. Katz is a Senior Consultant with Compass Lexecon. He holds the Sarin Chair in Strategy and Leadership at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. He is a four-time finalist for the Earl F. Cheit award for outstanding teaching and has won it twice. Dr. Katz served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economic Analysis in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from September 2001 through January 2003. He directed a staff of approximately fifty-five economists and oversaw the analysis of economic issues arising in both merger and non-merger enforcement.
Dr. Katz also served as former Chief Economist of the Federal Communications Commission from January 1994 through January 1996. He participated in the formulation and analysis of policies toward all industries under Commission jurisdiction, including broadcasting, cable, telephone, and wireless communications.
Dr. Katz has published numerous articles on the economics of networks industries, intellectual property, telecommunications policy, and antitrust enforcement. He is a member of the editorial boards of Information Economics and Policy, The Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, and The Journal of Industrial Economics.
Dr. Katz holds an A.B. summa cum laude from Harvard University and D.Phil. from Oxford University. Both degrees are in Economics.
Counsel, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP; Senior Competition Counsel, TechFreedom
Bilal Sayyed represents clients before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) in significant merger, civil and criminal antitrust matters. A significant portion of his practice involves representing investment funds on antitrust and Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act compliance matters; he has also provided expert witness services related to HSR compliance. Bilal also counsels clients before the FTC in consumer protection and privacy investigations. He maintains an active amicus and appellate brief writing practice in antitrust litigation and antitrust merger matters.
Prior to joining Cadwalader, Bilal was the Director of the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning (OPP) (2018-2021). In that role, he provided legal and policy advice to the Chairman and Commissioners on antitrust and consumer protection matters and worked closely with the senior and career leadership of the FTC’s Bureaus of Competition, Consumer Protection, and Economics. Bilal previously served as an Attorney Advisor to FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris from 2001 to 2004. In that role, Bilal advised the Chairman on matters involving a wide spectrum of industries, including chemical and mining, petroleum and natural gas, health care and pharmaceutical, defense and transportation, gaming, various consumer products and retail operations, and professional associations and standard-setting organizations.
Bilal has taught antitrust and competition law at the George Mason University School of Law since 2011.
Bilal received his B.A. from Case Western Reserve University, and a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and the State of New York, as well as before the U.S. District Courts for the District of Colorado and the District of Columbia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the Fifth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bilal is the host of Rethinking Antitrust, a podcast published by TechFreedom that examines the economics, institutions, law, legislation, and policy goals of antitrust enforcement.
President, Antitrust Education Project
Senior Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Circuit Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1986. After receiving his B.S. from Cornell University in 1970, and his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1973, he clerked on the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Thurgood Marshall on the United States Supreme Court. Thereafter, Judge Ginsburg was a professor at the Harvard Law School, the Deputy Assistant and then Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, as well as the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget. Concurrent with his service as a federal judge, Judge Ginsburg has taught at the University of Chicago Law School and the New York University School of Law. Judge Ginsburg is currently a Professor of Law at the George Mason University and a visiting professor at University College London, Faculty of Laws.
Judge Ginsburg is the Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Global Antitrust Institute at the Law and Economics Center of the George Mason University School of Law. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of: Competition Policy International; the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy; the Journal of Competition Law and Economics; the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy; the Supreme Court Economic Review; the University of Chicago Law Review; the New York University Journal of Law and Liberty; and, at University College London, both the Centre for Law, Economics and Society and the Jevons Institute for Competition Law and Economics.
In 2020, Judge Ginsburg was the 11th recipient of the John Sherman Award, presented by the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice in recognition of the awardee’s Lifetime Contributions to Antitrust Law and Policy.
In 2014, Judge Ginsburg received the Lifetime Achievement Award given annually by the Global Competition Review.
He is the author or co-author of several books and more than 100 articles on competition and regulation, including, most recently, Growing Convergence: The Limited Role of Antitrust in Standard Essential Patent Disputes, in CPI Antitrust Chronicle, Summer 2021, Vol. 1, No. 2.
President, Antitrust Education Project
Senior Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Circuit Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1986. After receiving his B.S. from Cornell University in 1970, and his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1973, he clerked on the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Thurgood Marshall on the United States Supreme Court. Thereafter, Judge Ginsburg was a professor at the Harvard Law School, the Deputy Assistant and then Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, as well as the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget. Concurrent with his service as a federal judge, Judge Ginsburg has taught at the University of Chicago Law School and the New York University School of Law. Judge Ginsburg is currently a Professor of Law at the George Mason University and a visiting professor at University College London, Faculty of Laws.
Judge Ginsburg is the Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Global Antitrust Institute at the Law and Economics Center of the George Mason University School of Law. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of: Competition Policy International; the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy; the Journal of Competition Law and Economics; the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy; the Supreme Court Economic Review; the University of Chicago Law Review; the New York University Journal of Law and Liberty; and, at University College London, both the Centre for Law, Economics and Society and the Jevons Institute for Competition Law and Economics.
In 2020, Judge Ginsburg was the 11th recipient of the John Sherman Award, presented by the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice in recognition of the awardee’s Lifetime Contributions to Antitrust Law and Policy.
In 2014, Judge Ginsburg received the Lifetime Achievement Award given annually by the Global Competition Review.
He is the author or co-author of several books and more than 100 articles on competition and regulation, including, most recently, Growing Convergence: The Limited Role of Antitrust in Standard Essential Patent Disputes, in CPI Antitrust Chronicle, Summer 2021, Vol. 1, No. 2.
40th President of the United States
Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American actor and politician. He was the 40th President of the United States (1981–89). Prior to his presidency, he served as the 33rd Governor of California (1967–75).
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.
Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow Emeritus, The Heritage Foundation
Edwin Meese III, the prominent conservative leader, thinker and elder statesman, continues a quarter-century formal association with The Heritage Foundation as the leading think tank’s Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow Emeritus.
In that capacity, Meese oversees special projects and acts as an ambassador for Heritage within the conservative movement.
Meese was chairman of Heritage’s Center for Legal and Judicial Studies from its founding in 2001 until what he calls his “semi-retirement” on Feb. 1, 2013.
He joined Heritage in 1988 as the think tank's first Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow -- the only policy chair in the country to be officially named for the 40th president. His work focused on keeping President Reagan’s legacy of conservative principles alive in public debate and discourse.
The legal center now bears his name, in recognition of Meese’s contributions to the rule of law and the nation’s understanding of constitutional law. Its mission is to educate government officials, the media and the public about the Constitution and legal principles -- and how they affect public policy.
Perhaps best known as U.S. attorney general during Reagan’s second term, Meese’s service to the conservative icon stretched from the California governor’s mansion in 1966 to the White House in 1981 before he went to the Department of Justice four years later.
His Heritage “hats” kept Meese among the major conservative voices in national policy debates at an age when most men and women enjoyed quiet retirements.
In 2006, for example, Meese was named to the Iraq Study Group, a special presidential commission dedicated to examining the best resolutions for America's involvement in Iraq. In the past few years he wrote and spoke about constitutional topics ranging from religious liberty to the responsibility of Supreme Court justices.
Immediately after Reagan's death in 2004, and in the years since, Meese often agreed to major media appearances to discuss the lasting impact of his old friend, mentor and boss. He has summarized the Reagan legacy in three accomplishments: Reagan cut taxes and kept them low. He worked to defeat and end the Soviet Union and its worldwide push for communism. And he restored America's faith in itself after years of failure and "malaise."
"I admired him as a leader and cherish his friendship," Meese wrote in a 2004 essay for Heritage members and supporters. "Ronald Reagan had strong convictions. He was committed to the principles that had led to the founding of our nation. And he had the courage to follow his convictions against all odds." <[>Edwin Meese III was born Dec. 2, 1931, to Edwin Jr. and Leone Meese in Oakland, Calif. He graduated from Yale University in 1953 and holds a law degree from the University of California-Berkeley.
Meese spent much of his adult life working for Reagan, first after the former actor, sports announcer and athlete was elected as California’s governor in 1966 and then when he sought and won the presidency in 1980.
Reagan never forgot Meese's loyalty and hard work. During a press conference at which reporters questioned Meese's actions at the Justice Department, Reagan replied: "If Ed Meese is not a good man, there are no good men."
During the Reagan governorship, Meese served as executive assistant and chief of staff from 1969 through 1974 and as legal affairs secretary from 1967 through 1968. He previously was deputy district attorney in Alameda County, Calif.
From January 1981 to February 1985, Meese held the position of counsellor to the president -- the senior job on the White House staff -- and functioned as Reagan's chief policy adviser. In 1985, he received Government Executive magazine's annual award for excellence in management.
Meese served as the 75th attorney general of the United States from February 1985 to August 1988. As the nation's chief law enforcement officer, he directed the Justice Department and led international efforts to combat terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime.
Meese’s relationship with Heritage began when he met with senior management to discuss the think tank's landmark policy guide, Mandate for Leadership, prepared for the incoming administration. Meese later recalled that Reagan personally handed out copies of the 1,093-page book to members of his Cabinet and asked them to read it. Nearly two-thirds of Mandate's 2,000 recommendations would be adopted or attempted by the Reagan administration.
More than a decade after joining Heritage, Meese assumed the chairmanship of its Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. Under his guidance, the center counseled White House staffers, Justice Department officials and Senate Judiciary Committee members on the importance of filling judicial vacancies with qualified men and women who are committed to interpreting the Constitution according to the founding document's original meaning.
The center became known for hosting "moot court" practice sessions to sharpen the arguments of attorneys slated to bring important cases before the Supreme Court. Those cases addressed constitutional issues ranging from property rights to racial preferences in primary and secondary schools to restrictions on free speech in campaign finance law.
Meese headed the legal center's Advisory Board for the writing and editing of the best-selling book, The Heritage Guide to the Constitution (Regnery, 2005). In it, 109 experts walked readers through a clause-by-clause analysis of the Constitution. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) was among those keeping the reference work handy during Judiciary Committee hearings on Supreme Court nominees.
Meese's other books include “Leadership, Ethics and Policing” (Prentice Hall, 2004); “Making America Safer” (Heritage, 1997); and “With Reagan: The Inside Story” (Regnery Gateway, 1992).He wrote the Introduction to a well-received 2010 book on the “overcriminalization” trend, “One Nation Under Arrest,” by Heritage veterans Paul Rosenzweig and Brian W. Walsh.
He also is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California and lectures, writes and consults throughout the United States on a variety of subjects.
As both attorney general and counsellor to Reagan, Meese was a member of the Cabinet and the National Security Council. He served as chairman of the Domestic Policy Council and the National Drug Policy Board. After Reagan won the White House in the 1980 election, Meese headed the transition team. During the campaign, he was the Reagan-Bush Committee's senior official.
Meese had a career outside government and politics. From 1977 to 1981, he was a law professor at the University of San Diego, where he also directed the Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Management.
He was an executive in the aerospace and transportation industry as vice president for administration of Rohr Industries Inc. in Chula Vista, Calif. He left Rohr to return to the practice of law, doing corporate and general work in San Diego County.
A retired colonel in the Army Reserve, Meese remains active in numerous civic and educational organizations.
He and his wife, Ursula, have two grown children and reside in McLean, Va.
Former Commissioner, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Justice, Michigan Supreme Court
Stephen Markman was appointed Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court on October 1, 1999. He served as the Chief Justice from 2017-2019. Before his appointment, he served as Judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals from 1995-1999. Prior to this, he practiced law with the firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock & Stone in Detroit.
From 1989-1993, Justice Markman served as United States Attorney, or federal prosecutor, in Michigan, after having been nominated by President George H. W. Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate. From 1985-1989, he served as Assistant Attorney General of the United States, after having been nominated by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the United States Senate. In that position, he headed the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy, which served as the principal policy development office within the Department, and which coordinated the federal judicial selection process. Prior to this, he served for seven years as Chief Counsel of the United States Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, and as Deputy Chief Counsel of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.
Justice Markman has authored articles for such publications as the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, the Detroit College of Law Review, the Stanford Law Review, the University of Chicago Law Review, the American Criminal Justice Law Review, the Barrister’s Law Journal, the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and the American University Law Review. He has also served as a contributing editor of National Review magazine, and has authored chapters in such books as “In the Name of Justice: The Aims of the Criminal Law,” “Still the Law of the Land,” and “Originalism: A Quarter Century of Debate.”
Justice Markman has taught constitutional law at Hillsdale College since 1993. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School. He traveled to Ukraine on two occasions on behalf of the State Department, to provide assistance in the development of that nation’s post-Soviet constitution. He is a Fellow of the Michigan Bar Foundation, a Master of the Bench of the Inns of Court, and a member of the One Hundred Club. He has spoken before hundreds of youth, civic, charitable, and legal groups throughout Michigan and nationally, and has coached Little League baseball and basketball. He lives with his wife Mary Kathleen in Mason, and has two sons, James and Charles.
Justice Markman was re-elected to the Supreme Court in 2000, 2004, and 2012. His present term expires January 1, 2021.
Partner, Sidley Austin LLP
PETER D. KEISLER is a former Acting Attorney General of the United States, a co-leader of Sidley’s Supreme Court and Appellate practice and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Peter has successfully represented some of the country’s largest companies in the telecommunications, transportation, energy and healthcare industries, as well as a host of national trade associations, providing extensive insight and experience gained from his more than 30 years of private and public sector experience.
Including him in its top tier of the nation’s appellate lawyers, Chambers USA 2019 remarks that Peter is “regarded among fellow appellate practitioners as a ‘very talented and incredibly polished oral advocate’ who is ‘careful, brilliant and all-around amazing.’”
Peter has argued a wide range of federal constitutional, statutory and administrative law cases. His practice representing clients before the U.S. Supreme Court, federal courts of appeals and federal district courts has included the leading role in the nation’s most important and successful commercial and regulatory cases of the past several years, including United States of America v. AT&T & Time Warner, UARG v. EPA, and AEP v. Connecticut. United States of America v. AT&T & Time Warner was one of the most prominent antitrust cases in recent memory. Peter successfully represented AT&T in the Justice Department’s appeal of the District Court decision rejecting the government’s attempt to enjoin AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner. This was the first time in more than four decades that the government litigated to judgment a challenge to a vertical merger.
Peter’s arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court include:
Peter is widely recognized as a leader in his field. He is consistently named as a leading appellate lawyer by Chambers USA, Legal 500, the National Law Journal, Benchmark Litigation and Best Lawyers. Washingtonian magazine included Peter on its 2019 list of Washington’s Best Lawyers as one of the region’s “best legal minds” for his Supreme Court practice. Legal 500 also recognizes Peter for his work in the area of media, technology and telecommunications. Peter was recognized in the 2020 edition of Benchmark Litigation for his appellate practice, and has been since 2011. Peter is also included in the 2019 “Best Lawyers in America” directory, and has been recognized since 2011 for his appellate, commercial litigation and media law work. Peter was named Best Lawyers’ “2016 Washington DC Appellate Practice ‘Lawyer of the Year.’” In 2012, the National Law Journal/Legal Times named Peter to its list of “Champions & Visionaries,” a select group of “attorneys whose business foresight or legal acumen has expanded their firms, advanced the law or improved government.” The NLJ noted that Peter “has been front and center in almost every major energy lawsuit in the past two years.” Law360 named Peter one of its “MVPs” for Appellate Law (2014) and Energy Law (2011).
Peter started his career at Sidley as an associate in 1989 after completing a clerkship for Justice Anthony Kennedy. In 2002 he joined the Department of Justice (DOJ) as the Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General. Peter spent most of his more than five-year tenure at DOJ as the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, and ultimately served as Acting Attorney General of the United States. He returned to Sidley in 2008.
Partner, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Theodore B. Olson is a Partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Washington, D.C. office; a founder of the Firm’s Crisis Management, Sports Law, and Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Groups.
Mr. Olson was Solicitor General of the United States during the period 2001-2004. From 1981-1984, he was Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice. Except for those two intervals, he has been a lawyer with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. since 1965.
Selected by Time magazine in 2010 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, Mr. Olson is one of the nation’s premier appellate and United States Supreme Court advocates. He has argued 65 cases in the Supreme Court and has prevailed in over 75% of those cases. These include the two Bush v Gore cases arising out of the 2000 presidential election; Citizens United v Federal Election Commission; Hollingsworth v Perry, the case affirming the overturning of California’s Proposition 8, banning same-sex marriages; Murphy v NCAA, overturning a federal law prohibiting states from authorizing sports betting; and U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security v Regents of the Univ. of Calif., challenging the Trump Administration’s rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”). Mr. Olson’s practice is concentrated on appellate and constitutional law, federal legislation, media and commercial disputes, and assisting clients with strategies for the containment, management and resolution of major legal crises. He has handled cases at all levels of state and federal court systems throughout the United States. Mr. Olson co-authored “Redeeming the Dream, the Case for Marriage Equality” with David Boies. Both were featured in HBO’s award-winning documentary, “The Case Against 8.”
Mr. Olson's Supreme Court arguments have included cases involving separation of powers; federalism; voting rights; the Tenth Amendment; the First Amendment; the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses; jury trial rights; punitive damages; takings of property; the Commerce Clause; administrative law; taxation; criminal law; sports wagering; copyright, patent and antitrust; securities; campaign finance; foreign sovereign immunities; telecommunications; the environment; the internet; the Supremacy Clause; and other federal constitutional and statutory questions. As Solicitor General, during the presidency of George W. Bush, Mr. Olson was the Government's principal advocate in the United States Supreme Court, responsible for supervising and coordinating all appellate litigation of the United States, and a legal adviser to the President and the Attorney General. As Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel during the Reagan Administration, Mr. Olson was the Executive Branch's principal legal adviser, rendering legal guidance to the President and to the heads of the Executive Branch departments on a wide range of constitutional and federal statutory questions, and assisting in formulating and articulating the Executive Branch's position on constitutional issues.
Mr. Olson has served as private counsel to two Presidents, Ronald W. Reagan and George W. Bush, in addition to serving those two Presidents in high-level positions in the Department of Justice. He has twice been awarded the United States Department of Justice's Edmund J. Randolph Award, its highest award for public service and leadership, and also received the Department of Defense's Distinguished Public Service Award, its highest civilian award, for his advocacy in the courts of the United States, including the Supreme Court. He also received the American Bar Association Medal, its highest award for “exceptionally distinguished service by a lawyer or lawyers to the cause of American jurisprudence.” Mr. Olson is to receive the 2021 Jack Valenti Friend of the White House Fellows Award in the Fall of 2021 to be presented by the White House Fellows Foundation and Association.
Mr. Olson is a member of the Commission on White House Fellowships; a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation; a member of the Board of Visitors of the Federalist Society; the Board of Directors of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University; and the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Foundation. He was a visiting scholar at the National Constitution Center in 2007. He served on the President's Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board from 2006 to 2008; and of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States from 2010 to 2020. He was Co-Chair of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy from 2008-2009, and served two terms on the Board of Directors of the National Center for State Courts.
Mr. Olson is a Fellow of both the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. He has been repeatedly listed in legal publications as one of the nation’s leading appellate lawyers. The late New York Times columnist William Safire described Mr. Olson as his generation's "most persuasive advocate" before the Supreme Court and "the most effective Solicitor General in decades.”
Mr. Olson received his law degree in 1965 from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) where he was a member of the California Law Review and Order of the Coif. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of the Pacific, where he was recognized as the outstanding graduating student in both forensics and journalism. He has written and lectured extensively on appellate advocacy, oral communication in the courtroom, civil justice reform, and constitutional and administrative law.
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.
Editor, The Weekly Standard
William Kristol is the editor of The Weekly Standard. He is also a regular panelist on Fox News Sunday, a contributor for the Fox News Channel, and a monthly columnist for the Washington Post. Before starting the Weekly Standard in 1995, Mr. Kristol led the Project for the Republican Future, where he helped shape the strategy that produced the 1994 Republican congressional victory. Prior to that, Mr. Kristol served as chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle during the first Bush Administration, and to Education Secretary William Bennett under President Reagan. Before coming to Washington in 1985, Mr. Kristol was on the faculty of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the Department of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.
Director, Project for International Religious Liberty, Hudson Institute
Michael J. Horowitz is director of Hudson Institute's Project for Civil Justice Reform and Project for International Religious Liberty. He served as general counsel for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Reagan Administration, and has taught law at the University of Mississippi and Georgetown. He has also practiced private law as a partner at national law firms. Horowitz joined Hudson Institute as a Senior Fellow where he has put together left-right coalitions on a wide variety of foreign and domestic issues. He has written frequently and is regularly called to testify and consult with Congress.
Executive Vice President and Senior Counselor to the President, The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies
B.A., Yale; J.D., University of Chicago. Lee Liberman Otis is the Executive Vice President and Senior Counselor to the President at the Federalist Society. She also serves as a member of the American Law Institute (ALI), a senior fellow of the Administrative Conference (ACUS), and as the co-chair of the National Constitution Center's Coalition of Freedom Advisory Board. She previously was a special assistant and an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, General Counsel of the Department of Energy, an associate in the appellate section of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, an associate counsel to President George H.W. Bush, and a law clerk to Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. She also served as an assistant professor of law at George Mason, where she taught legislation, federal jurisdiction, constitutional law, civil procedure, and appellate advocacy. Ms. Otis has been an important member of the Federalist Society team since the organization’s beginnings. Together with David McIntosh, she led the effort to start what became the Chicago chapter of the Society. She also helped organize the Society’s first conference at Yale, its second conference at Chicago, and its first Lawyers Division chapter in Washington DC, as well as the effort to incorporate the Society, recruit its permanent staff, and obtain its early funding. She was a Founding Director of the Federalist Society.
Former United States Attorney General
Richard Lewis Thornburgh was born on July 16, 1932 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Yale University in 1954 and earned his LL.B degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1957. Mr. Thornburgh also holds honorary degrees from 31 colleges and universities.
Following law school, Mr. Thornburgh worked in private industry until 1959 when he joined the Pittsburgh law firm then known as Kirkpatrick & Lockhart. In 1967, he was elected as a delegate to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention. From 1969 to 1975, Mr. Thornburgh was the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division in 1975, serving two years in Washington, D.C. in that role before returning to private practice as a partner at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart. Pennsylvania elected Mr. Thornburgh governor in 1979 and he served two terms. Mr. Thornburgh also taught courses at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and directed that school’s Institute of Politics from 1987 to 1988.
Appointed by President Reagan, Richard Thornburgh was sworn in as Attorney General on August 12, 1988. President George H.W. Bush reinstated him as Attorney General in 1989 and he served until 1991. In 1992, the American Legion honored Mr. Thornburgh with its highest award, the “Distinguished Services Medal.” He published his autobiography in 2003 entitled, Where the Evidence Leads: The Autobiography of Dick Thornburgh.
Former Vice President of the United States
Vice President Richard B. Cheney has had a distinguished career as a businessman and public servant, serving four Presidents and as an elected official. Throughout his service, Mr. Cheney served with duty, honor, and unwavering leadership, gaining him the respect of the American people during trying military times.
Mr. Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on January 30, 1941 and grew up in Casper, Wyoming. He earned his bachelor's and master's of arts degrees from the University of Wyoming. His career in public service began in 1969 when he joined the Nixon Administration, serving in a number of positions at the Cost of Living Council, at the Office of Economic Opportunity, and within the White House.
When Gerald Ford assumed the Presidency in August 1974, Mr. Cheney served on the transition team and later as Deputy Assistant to the President. In November 1975, he was named Assistant to the President and White House Chief of Staff, a position he held throughout the remainder of the Ford Administration.
Former Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, DC Circuit
Robert Heron Bork served as Solicitor General, acting Attorney General, and judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Judge Bork passed away in December 2012.
Tribute to Judge Robert Bork by John McGinnis - Event Audio/Video
Celebration of the Life of Robert Heron Bork 1927-2012
Judge Robert H. Bork: His Life and Legacy - Practice Group Podcast
A Conference Discussing the Contributions of Judge Robert H. Bork - June 26, 2007
Founder and Chairman of Board, Declaration Foundation
Alan Keyes has lived a life dedicated to defending, promoting, and fight for liberty. He holds a Ph.D. in government from Harvard and wrote his dissertation on constitutional theory. Keyes has run for elected office and has hosted very successful news shows. He is best known for thrusting the evil of abortion – which he considers our nation's "greatest moral challenge" – into the national spotlight.
During the Reagan years, Keyes was the highest-ranking black appointee in the Reagan Administration, serving as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations and as Ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
He ran for president in 1996, 2000, and 2008, and was a Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate from Maryland in 1988 and 1992, in addition to his 2004 candidacy for the U.S. Senate from Illinois.
His underlying philosophy can best be described as "Declarationism" – since he relies on the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence to define the premises on which our country was founded, and to which it must remain committed if it is to survive. To Dr. Keyes, the Constitution itself cannot be faithfully interpreted, understood, or applied apart from the divinely-premised principles of the Declaration.
When Keyes ran for president in 2000, the media generally considered him the winner of the Republican primary debates, due to the persuasive eloquence of his defense of the unborn, opposition to unfair taxation, advocacy of school choice, promotion of family values, and focus on what he called "America's moral crisis." As a result, he became the host of MSNBC-TV's "Alan Keyes Is Making Sense" in 2002.
Keyes is also a strong supporter of Israel, and in 2002 he was flown by the Israeli government to the Holy Land to receive an award for his staunch defense of Israel in the media. He is the only American ever to receive such an honor from the State of Israel.
When Keyes ran against Obama for the Senate in 2004, he did so because he was incensed the Democrat "community organizer" refused to support the Born Alive Infant Protection Act in Illinois on several occasions – a measure approved not long afterward by the U.S. Senate, 100 to 0.
Dr. Keyes blogs at LoyaltoLiberty.com, and writes commentary for WorldNetDaily, BarbWire.com, and Daily Caller.
Alan is available to address interested venues of students, educators, civic groups, professional organizations, public servants, political advocates, churches, and others who are interested in preserving our nation's institutions of liberty.
Former U.S. Education Secretary
William J. Bennett is one of America’s most important, influential, and respected voices on cultural, political, and education issues. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Bennett studied philosophy at Williams College (B.A.) and the University of Texas (Ph.D.) and earned a law degree (J.D.) from Harvard. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of Udacity, one of the world’s leading online education organizations, as well as the Advisory Board of Viridis Learning, Inc. He is a Senior Advisor to HigherEducation.com, which assists colleges and universities in transitioning in-classroom curriculum to a digital, scalable platform. Dr. Bennett is also a member of the Trump Leadership Council, a private citizen advisory group to the president.
Over the course of his professional life, in education, government and the private sector, Dr. Bennett has succeeded in a trifecta of American institutions. He is an award-winning professor in academia, having taught at Boston University, the University of Texas and Harvard; he is a three-time confirmed executive in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations including holding two cabinet-level positions, Secretary of Education under Ronald Reagan and the Nation’s first Drug Czar under the first President Bush. He was formerly the host of Morning in America, one of the largest national talk shows in the country, and is now host of The Bill Bennett Show podcast. He is an official Fox News contributor appearing weekly on some of the nation’s highest-rated cable TV shows. He is also an experienced technology entrepreneur, having been the founding Chairman of K12.com a multi-billion dollar online education company.
In his various roles, Dr. Bennett is perceived—even by his adversaries—as a man of strong, reasoned convictions who speaks candidly, eloquently, and honestly about some of the most important issues of our time.
Dr. Bennett has written or co-authored more than 25 books including two New York Times number one best-sellers, one of them being the Book of Virtues, which was one of the most successful books of the 1990s. His latest book Tried By Fire: The Story of Christianity’s First Thousand Years has also quickly become a best-seller. His three-volume set of the history of the United States entitled America: The Last Best Hope, has been widely praised and adopted for use in schools around the country. The Sunday New York Times previously named Dr. Bennett the “leading spokesman of the Traditional Values wing of the Republican Party.” Although he is a well-known Republican, Dr. Bennett often has crossed party lines in order to pursue important common purposes.
Thanks to his government positions, his writings and speeches, and thousands of media appearances, William Bennett has had extraordinary influence on America’s political and social landscape. In many surveys and publications he has been named one of the most influential individuals in America. He is the recipient of more than 30 honorary degrees.
Dr. Bennett and his wife, Elayne, reside in North Carolina and Chevy Chase, Maryland and are the parents of two sons.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
LAURENCE HIRSCH SILBERMAN, senior circuit judge; recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, June 19, 2008; born in York, PA, October 12, 1935; son of William Silberman and Anna (Hirsch); married to Rosalie G. Gaull on April 28, 1957 (deceased), married Patricia Winn on January 5, 2008; children: Robert Steven Silberman, Katherine DeBoer Fischer, and Anne Gaull Otis; B.A., Dartmouth College, 1957; LL.B., Harvard Law School, 1961; admitted to Hawaii Bar, 1962; District of Columbia Bar, 1973; associate, Moore, Torkildson and Rice, 1961–64; partner (Moore, Silberman and Schulze), Honolulu, 1964–67; attorney, National Labor Relations Board, Office of General Counsel, Appellate Division, 1967–69; Solicitor, Department of Labor, 1969–70; Under Secretary of Labor, 1970–73; partner, Steptoe and Johnson, 1973–74; Deputy Attorney General of the United States, 1974–75; Ambassador to Yugoslavia, 1975–77; President’s Special Envoy on ILO Affairs, 1976; senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute, 1977–78; visiting fellow, 1978–85; managing partner, Morrison and Foerster, 1978–79 and 1983–85; executive vice president, Crocker National Bank, 1979–83; lecturer, University of Hawaii, 1962–63; board of directors, Commission on Present Danger, 1978–85, Institute for Educational Affairs, New York, NY, 1981–85, member: General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament, 1981–85; Defense Policy Board, 1981–85; vice chairman, State Department’s Commission on Security and Economic Assistance, 1983–84; American Bar Association (Labor Law Committee, 1965–72, Corporations and Banking Committee, 1973, Law and National Security Advisory Committee, 1981–85); Hawaii Bar Association Ethics Committee, 1965–67; Council on Foreign Relations, 1977–present; Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management, 1994; member, U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court of Review, 1996–2003; Adjunct Professor of Law (Administrative Law and Labor Law) Georgetown Law Center, 1987–94; 1997; Adjunct Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, 1994-95, Adjunct Professor of Law, New York University Law School, 1995–96; Distinguished Visitor from the Judiciary, Georgetown Law Center, 2003–2019; co-chairman of the President’s Commission on The Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, 2004–05; appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by President Reagan on October 28, 1985.
John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law Emerita, New York Law School; Former President, American Civil Liberties Union
Nadine Strossen, New York Law School Professor Emerita and Senior Fellow at FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), was national President of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1991 to 2008. An internationally acclaimed free speech scholar and advocate, who regularly addresses diverse audiences and provides media commentary around the world, Strossen is also the Host and Project Consultant for Free To Speak, a 3-hour documentary film series distributed on public television in 2023. Her books about free speech include: Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know® (Oxford University Press 2023); HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship (Oxford University Press 2018); and Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women’s Rights (Scribner 1995), which was republished with a new Preface in 2024 as part of the NYU Classics Series. Her many honors and awards include the National Coalition Against Censorship’s Judy Blume Lifetime Achievement Award for Free Speech. She serves on the Advisory Boards of several organizations that do free speech work, including: ACLU, Academic Freedom Alliance, Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR), Heterodox Academy, National Coalition Against Censorship, and the University of Austin.
Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, was born in the Pinpoint community near Savannah, Georgia on June 23, 1948. He attended Conception Seminary from 1967-1968 and received an A.B., cum laude, from Holy Cross College in 1971 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1974. He was admitted to law practice in Missouri in 1974, and served as an Assistant Attorney General of Missouri, 1974-1977; an attorney with the Monsanto Company, 1977-1979; and Legislative Assistant to Senator John Danforth, 1979-1981. From 1981–1982 he served as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, and as Chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1982-1990. From 1990–1991, he served as a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. President Bush nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and he took his seat October 23, 1991. He married Virginia Lamp on May 30, 1987 and has one child, Jamal Adeen by a previous marriage.
Chairman, The Ashcroft Law Firm LLC, and former United States Attorney General
Former U.S. Attorney General, Governor and U.S. Senator John Ashcroft serves as the firm’s founder and chairman. As Attorney General, and the U.S. Justice Department’s CEO, Mr. Ashcroft led the world’s largest and foremost international law firm and law enforcement agency—an organization larger than most Fortune 500 companies, with over 122,000 employees. Mr. Ashcroft integrated strategic planning, budgeting, and performance measures, which resulted in the DOJ earning a clean audit for the first time in its history.
Mr. Ashcroft boldly led the Department of Justice through the transformational period after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He subsequently reorganized the Department to focus on its number one priority: preventing terrorism. The tough antiterrorism campaign he directed helped keep America safe throughout his tenure and resulted in the dismantling of terrorist cells across America and the disruption of over 150 terrorist plots worldwide.
Within two months of the attacks, and with financial markets still reeling, the unprecedented corporate scandals at ENRON, WorldCom and dozens more unfolded, further destabilizing the weakened economy. John Ashcroft was called upon to restore America’s faith in the integrity of our marketplace. He marshaled the resources of the federal government to bring to justice those guilty of massive corporate fraud. At all times, he demanded that cases be brought swiftly, with appropriate serious penalties—always taking into account the best interests of the employees and shareholders whose lives were most directly affected.
From 1985 to 1993, as Governor of Missouri, Ashcroft balanced eight consecutive budgets, built a $120 million budget surplus and established a $190 million operating reserve. His management and fiscal integrity helped generate 338,000 new jobs state-wide, a triple-A bond rating from the three major Wall Street rating agencies, a per capita state and local tax burden ranked 49th in the United States and a 12 percent increase in personal income. His new education performance standards led Fortune magazine to name him as one of the nation’s top ten Education Governors. In 1991, the non-partisan National Governors Association voted him Chairman.
Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994, he brought his management skills to Washington where he authored budget rules protecting Social Security and Medicare and helped balance the federal budget for the first time in decades. As a member of the Senate Judiciary, Foreign Relations and Commerce Committees, he worked to reform laws regulating the banking, telecommunications, aviation, transportation and information technology industries.
In 1973, Mr. Ashcroft served as Missouri Auditor, followed by two terms as Missouri Attorney General. He was raised in Springfield, Missouri, received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago.
Founding Partner, PNT Law Firm
Austin R. Nimocks has litigated in state and federal courts across the country. Mr. Nimocks focuses his practice on civil litigation (plaintiff and defense), commercial litigation, corporate matters, federal compliance, internal investigations, government relations, white-collar criminal defense, and religious freedom.
Litigating for over 25 years, including three as a public defender, Mr. Nimocks has practiced law within the private, government, and non-profit sectors, geographically spanning the United States and beyond.
Prior to starting the PNT Law Firm (www.pntlawfirm.com), Mr. Nimocks worked for former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft in the Ashcroft Law Firm in Austin, Texas. For General Ashcroft, Mr. Nimocks litigated cases against all levels of government (federal, state, and local).
Prior to joining General Ashcroft, Mr. Nimocks served in the Executive Administration of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as both Special Counsel and the Associate Deputy Attorney General for Special Litigation. During his time with General Paxton, Mr. Nimocks coordinated and led myriad multi-state lawsuits and strategic litigation against the federal government, other states, and local government entities. On behalf of Texas (and other states), Mr. Nimocks’ teams achieved many victories against the federal government, including the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and other federal agencies
Before joining the Texas Attorney General’s Office, Mr. Nimocks served as Senior Counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom (“ADF”) in Washington, D.C. While at ADF, Mr. Nimocks handled appeals and litigated constitutional cases in state and federal courts across the country, including matters regarding marriage, parental rights, voters’ rights, and religious freedom. Mr. Nimocks also authored several pieces of legislation and policy memoranda and testified before numerous state legislatures, as well as Congress. While with ADF, Mr. Nimocks made regular public appearances, speaking at numerous events and participating in hundreds of television, radio, and newspaper interviews with all major national media outlets.
Mr. Nimocks began practicing law on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In addition to his time spent as a public defender, Mr. Nimocks’ law practice in Mississippi was extremely diverse, involving personal injury, commercial litigation, appellate, contracts, real estate, administrative law, bankruptcy, libel & defamation, insurance defense, general civil litigation, and other matters.
In addition to his state bar admissions (TX, DC, MI, AZ, AL, MS), Mr. Nimocks is admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the D.C., First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits, as well as numerous federal district courts.
Mr. Nimocks is a native Texan, born and raised in the Fort Worth area. Mr. Nimocks resides and attends church in Dripping Springs, Texas, along with his wife and three daughters.
Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke
Lu is a former senior U.S. government official with a wealth of experience advising U.S. and international clients with complex regulatory and enforcement challenges. He has extensive experience representing clients facing state or federal government investigations and enforcement actions, conducting internal investigations, and advising corporate clients on regulatory compliance practices and in crisis response scenarios. As an accomplished legal strategist, Lu provides counsel to CEOs, CLO’s, and other executives, as well as boards of directors across various industries on a myriad of complex issues.
Lu’s clients benefit from his decades of experience providing strategic advice to top-tier government leaders, including the President of the United States and multiple United States Attorneys General. His career is marked by significant roles in federal and state government.
As Deputy Assistant to President George W. Bush, he was a chief advisor to the President and a member of the White House Senior Staff. In that role he provided strategic and human capital related policy advice directly to the President regarding all legal, national security, and international affairs, and presidential appointments administration-wide.
As Deputy Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, he served as Chief of Staff to the Associate Attorney General and had oversight of litigation emanating from the Tax, Civil Rights, Civil, and Community Relations Service Divisions of the agency. At the Department, he also previously served as Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division, and as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, the division responsible for representing the U.S. in all constitutional challenges to U.S. law and defending the U.S. on all torts, federal programs, and immigration-related litigation.
Prior to joining private practice, Lu also served as the General Counsel for the federal law enforcement agency charged with rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse of the $50+ billion appropriated for the reconstruction of Iraq where he oversaw several federal fraud prosecutions in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Frauds Section.
Earlier in his career, Lu served as an Assistant Attorney General and Trial Attorney for the Office of the Texas Attorney General, where he handled a robust civil litigation practice at the trial and appellate levels in both state and federal court.
Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania
Makan Delrahim is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania.
Previously he served as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, Deputy Assistant to the President, and Deputy White House Counsel. Mr. Delrahim’s rich antitrust background covers the full range of industries, issues, and institutions touched upon by the work of the Antitrust Division. He is a former partner in the Los Angeles office of a national law firm. He served in the Antitrust Division from 2003 to 2005 as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General, overseeing the Appellate, Foreign Commerce, and Legal Policy sections. During that time, he played an integral role in building the Antitrust Division’s engagement with its international counterparts and was involved in civil and criminal matters. He has served on the Attorney General’s Task Force on Intellectual Property and as Chairman of the Merger Working Group of the International Competition Network. Mr. Delrahim was also a Commissioner on the Antitrust Modernization Commission from 2004 to 2007. Earlier in his career, Mr. Delrahim served as antitrust counsel, and later as the Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Elyse Dorsey is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Elyse's practice encompasses a wide array of antitrust and competition matters across the globe. She is uniquely situated to advise clients in domestic and international competition matters, given her combination of government and private practice experience.
Elyse has a focus in cutting edge competition issues, as well as privacy, data security, and consumer protection matters. She has represented clients across levels of government, from state agencies to the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to joining Kirkland, Elyse served as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. Her work at the Antitrust Division covered a spectrum of legal and policy matters, including IP and technology issues, the Division's appellate and amicus brief programs, and its international and competition policy efforts. Elyse joined the Division from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, where she served as Attorney Advisor to Commission Noah Joshua Phillips. While at the Commission, she advised on key cases, matters, and policies affecting industries across the economy--from digital and tech to pharmaceuticals and hospitals and more.
Elyse is a recognized thought leader in the antitrust and competition communities. She has been a frequent nominee and recipient of antitrust writing awards for her scholarship in this space. She has also served as an adjunct professor at George Mason University's Scalia Law School for several years, helping to launch their Antitrust LL.M. program; and she previously served as a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia.
Sarin Chair Emeritus in Strategy and Leadership,, Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley
Michael L. Katz is a Senior Consultant with Compass Lexecon. He holds the Sarin Chair in Strategy and Leadership at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. He is a four-time finalist for the Earl F. Cheit award for outstanding teaching and has won it twice. Dr. Katz served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economic Analysis in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from September 2001 through January 2003. He directed a staff of approximately fifty-five economists and oversaw the analysis of economic issues arising in both merger and non-merger enforcement.
Dr. Katz also served as former Chief Economist of the Federal Communications Commission from January 1994 through January 1996. He participated in the formulation and analysis of policies toward all industries under Commission jurisdiction, including broadcasting, cable, telephone, and wireless communications.
Dr. Katz has published numerous articles on the economics of networks industries, intellectual property, telecommunications policy, and antitrust enforcement. He is a member of the editorial boards of Information Economics and Policy, The Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, and The Journal of Industrial Economics.
Dr. Katz holds an A.B. summa cum laude from Harvard University and D.Phil. from Oxford University. Both degrees are in Economics.
Counsel, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP; Senior Competition Counsel, TechFreedom
Bilal Sayyed represents clients before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) in significant merger, civil and criminal antitrust matters. A significant portion of his practice involves representing investment funds on antitrust and Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act compliance matters; he has also provided expert witness services related to HSR compliance. Bilal also counsels clients before the FTC in consumer protection and privacy investigations. He maintains an active amicus and appellate brief writing practice in antitrust litigation and antitrust merger matters.
Prior to joining Cadwalader, Bilal was the Director of the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning (OPP) (2018-2021). In that role, he provided legal and policy advice to the Chairman and Commissioners on antitrust and consumer protection matters and worked closely with the senior and career leadership of the FTC’s Bureaus of Competition, Consumer Protection, and Economics. Bilal previously served as an Attorney Advisor to FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris from 2001 to 2004. In that role, Bilal advised the Chairman on matters involving a wide spectrum of industries, including chemical and mining, petroleum and natural gas, health care and pharmaceutical, defense and transportation, gaming, various consumer products and retail operations, and professional associations and standard-setting organizations.
Bilal has taught antitrust and competition law at the George Mason University School of Law since 2011.
Bilal received his B.A. from Case Western Reserve University, and a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and the State of New York, as well as before the U.S. District Courts for the District of Colorado and the District of Columbia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the Fifth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bilal is the host of Rethinking Antitrust, a podcast published by TechFreedom that examines the economics, institutions, law, legislation, and policy goals of antitrust enforcement.
President, Antitrust Education Project
Senior Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Circuit Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1986. After receiving his B.S. from Cornell University in 1970, and his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1973, he clerked on the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Thurgood Marshall on the United States Supreme Court. Thereafter, Judge Ginsburg was a professor at the Harvard Law School, the Deputy Assistant and then Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, as well as the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget. Concurrent with his service as a federal judge, Judge Ginsburg has taught at the University of Chicago Law School and the New York University School of Law. Judge Ginsburg is currently a Professor of Law at the George Mason University and a visiting professor at University College London, Faculty of Laws.
Judge Ginsburg is the Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Global Antitrust Institute at the Law and Economics Center of the George Mason University School of Law. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of: Competition Policy International; the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy; the Journal of Competition Law and Economics; the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy; the Supreme Court Economic Review; the University of Chicago Law Review; the New York University Journal of Law and Liberty; and, at University College London, both the Centre for Law, Economics and Society and the Jevons Institute for Competition Law and Economics.
In 2020, Judge Ginsburg was the 11th recipient of the John Sherman Award, presented by the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice in recognition of the awardee’s Lifetime Contributions to Antitrust Law and Policy.
In 2014, Judge Ginsburg received the Lifetime Achievement Award given annually by the Global Competition Review.
He is the author or co-author of several books and more than 100 articles on competition and regulation, including, most recently, Growing Convergence: The Limited Role of Antitrust in Standard Essential Patent Disputes, in CPI Antitrust Chronicle, Summer 2021, Vol. 1, No. 2.
Fourth Annual Gregory S. Coleman Memorial Lecture & Luncheon
John Ashcroft, Austin R. Nimocks, Lu A. Reyes
On September 17-18, 2021, The Federalist Society's Texas chapters sponsored the seventh annual Texas Chapters...
Fourth Annual Gregory S. Coleman Memorial Lecture & Luncheon
John Ashcroft, Austin R. Nimocks, Lu A. Reyes
On September 17-18, 2021, The Federalist Society's Texas chapters sponsored the seventh annual Texas Chapters...
Panel One: How We Got Here: The Evolution of Antitrust Law and the Consumer Welfare Standard
Makan Delrahim, Elyse Dorsey, Michael L. Katz, Bilal Sayyed
On September 15, 2021, The Federalist Society's Practice Groups hosted a conference titled The Antitrust...
Panel One: How We Got Here: The Evolution of Antitrust Law and the Consumer Welfare Standard
Makan Delrahim, Elyse Dorsey, Michael L. Katz, Bilal Sayyed
On September 15, 2021, The Federalist Society's Practice Groups hosted a conference titled The Antitrust...
Opening Discussion: Republishing The Antitrust Paradox
Robert H. Bork, Douglas H. Ginsburg
On September 15, 2021, The Federalist Society's Practice Groups hosted a conference titled The Antitrust...
Opening Discussion: Republishing The Antitrust Paradox
Robert H. Bork, Douglas H. Ginsburg
On September 15, 2021, The Federalist Society's Practice Groups hosted a conference titled The Antitrust...
The Federalist Society Lawyers Division: The First Ten Years (1986-1996) [Archive Collection]
Ronald Reagan, Orrin Hatch, Edwin Meese, Rosalie G. Silberman, Steve J. Markman, Peter D. Keisler, Theodore B. Olson, Charles J. Cooper, William Kristol, Michael J. Horowitz, Lee Liberman Otis, Richard Thornburgh, Richard B. Cheney, Robert H. Bork, Alan Keyes, William J. Bennett, Laurence H. Silberman, Nadine Strossen, Clarence Thomas
For the 1996 National Lawyers Convention, the Federalist Society released a retrospective on the first...
Fourth Annual Gregory S. Coleman Memorial Lecture & Luncheon
Seventh Annual Texas Chapters Conference
Dallas, TXPanel One: How We Got Here: The Evolution of Antitrust Law and the Consumer Welfare Standard
The Antitrust Paradox: Where We've Been and Where We're Going
Opening Discussion: Republishing The Antitrust Paradox
The Antitrust Paradox: Where We've Been and Where We're Going