Director, Kegler Brown Hill + Ritter
Sheila joined Kegler Brown in 2023 and brings extensive experience in the innerworkings of Ohio state government and the political ecosystem, having most recently served as the Deputy Chief of Staff / Executive Counsel to the Speaker at the Ohio House of Representatives under Speaker Robert Cupp.
Sheila focuses her practice on government affairs, advocating for clients before state and local government bodies. Sheila offers legal representation to our clients across numerous areas, including government relations, multi-state lobbyist law, and transportation improvement districts. As a former Deputy Elections Counsel, campaign manager, and ethics adviser, she also stands ready to assist clients with their election law and ethics compliance needs.
Her comprehensive and strategic approach to government affairs is founded in her more than 10 years of government experience. Sheila has worked at all levels of government (federal, state, and local) and has experience in – and with - every Ohio state-level branch of government (legislative, executive, and judicial).
Sheila has advised senior-level members of the legislature and state government employees on ethics law compliance, carefully amended high-profile legislation, negotiated amendments with interested parties, assisted with Joint Legislative Ethics Commission and Ohio Ethics Commission reporting, handled contract negotiations, participated in administrative rule drafting and submission, and has assisted in various human resource legal matters.
Before joining Kegler Brown and in addition to her previous roles with the Ohio House as a Policy Director and Deputy Legal Counsel for the Majority Caucus, Sheila served as Deputy Legal Counsel for Ohio State Treasurer Robert Sprague, and as Deputy Elections Counsel for Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose. She previously staffed the Ohio House Civil Justice and Criminal Justice Committees for the House Majority Caucus; and gained additional insight into the process to create Ohio’s Administrative Code as she staffed the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review for Speaker Cupp.
A Lima, Ohio native - former Of Counsel at the Willamowski Law Office, and former Assistant County Prosecutor (Allen County) - she also remains connected to the legal community in Lima/Allen County, Ohio.
Sheila resides in Grove City, Ohio, with her husband, Kevin, and their young daughter.
General Counsel, Ohio Department of Health
Tyler J. Herrmann is currently general counsel for the Ohio Department of Health. Previous roles include: special counsel to Commissioners Donald Palmer and Christy McCormick of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, legal counsel and policy advisor to the speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, and assistant attorney general in the Ohio Attorney General's office. He also serves the citizens of Powell, Ohio as a member of city council, and is a judge advocate in the Ohio Army National Guard.
Tyler cares deeply about democracy and free and fair elections at home and abroad. He endeavors to support these principles in a variety of ways including serving as a member of the Federalist Society's Free Speech and Election Law Practice Group and as an international election observer with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Partner, Sidley Austin LLP
Will Levi is a partner at Sidley Austin. He draws on his experience serving in senior roles at the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Senate to represent clients in high-stakes government enforcement actions, congressional investigations, litigation, and crisis situations. He focuses his practice on commercial disputes and government-facing litigation, including in matters defending against government enforcement actions and challenging federal regulatory action, and he represents clients before federal administrative agencies as well as in federal and state courts.
Prior to joining Sidley, Will served in senior roles at the U.S. Department of Justice, including as Chief of Staff of the Department of Justice and Senior Counselor to the Attorney General. In those roles, Will had broad responsibilities, including supervision of a wide range of high-profile civil litigation, criminal investigations and prosecutions, and national security matters. In recognition of outstanding service to the Department of Justice, Will was awarded the Department’s highest honor, the Edmund J. Randolph Award.
He also served as Chief Counsel to U.S. Senator Mike Lee and Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, which oversees the federal antitrust enforcement agencies and reviews major proposed mergers affecting the national economy.
Will regularly advises leading company executives and boards of directors on strategic legal issues arising from high-stakes litigation, congressional investigations and hearings, and government investigations and regulation. In recognition of his success, Will has been named a “Future Star” in the District of Columbia by Benchmark Litigation (2025), and he was ranked among an elite group of lawyers as a 2023 “D.C. Rising Star” by The National Law Journal.
Will clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Judge Anthony J. Scirica. By appointment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Will serves as a member of the Court’s Advisory Committee on Procedures. He is also an elected member of the American Law Institute and a member of the nominating committee for the William H. Webster Profiles in Leadership Award for Prosecution.
General Counsel and Senior Advisor, White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud
Jason Manion has high-level legal experience in all three branches of federal government, in Ohio state government, and in private practice.
Since January 20, 2025, Jason has served in senior legal roles in the Trump-Vance Administration. He currently serves as General Counsel and Senior Advisor for the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within federal benefit programs.
Before joining the White House, Jason served as part of the senior leadership team at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he was Counselor to the Attorney General and Counselor and Chief of Staff to the Associate Attorney General. At the Justice Department, he oversaw a broad portfolio that included matters and issues arising out of the Civil, Civil Rights, Criminal, and National Security Divisions.
Previously, Jason was an award-winning federal prosecutor and accomplished appellate attorney. He worked as an appellate Assistant United States Attorney, a deputy Ohio solicitor general, and an appellate associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. In these various roles, he handled dozens of civil and criminal appeals (primarily in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Ohio Supreme Court) and presented eighteen oral arguments (in the Sixth Circuit, the D.C. Circuit, the Ohio Supreme Court, and federal district courts in Ohio and D.C.).
Jason has also worked on the confirmations of several of President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Branch and judicial nominees, including serving on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary as Special Counsel to Senator Ted Cruz for the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Jason graduated from Harvard Law School and clerked for two Ohio-based Sixth Circuit judges, Judges Alice M. Batchelder and Eric E. Murphy. He has been an active member of the Federalist Society since law school and has served in multiple leadership roles in the Society.
Of Counsel, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
Amanda H. Neely is of counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and is a member of the Public Policy, Congressional Investigations, White Collar, and National Security practice groups.
Ms. Neely has extensive experience working on Capitol Hill. She leverages that expertise to advise clients regarding their interactions with Congress and the executive branch. Over the course of ten years, Ms. Neely held several senior staff positions in Congress. She served as Director of Governmental Affairs for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and General Counsel to Senator Rob Portman. Under Senator Portman’s chairmanship, she also served as Deputy Chief Counsel for the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In those roles, she managed Senator Portman’s regulatory reform agenda and led oversight of federal government agencies and investigations into private entities. She previously served in several other Capitol Hill offices including as Oversight Counsel for the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means.
Congressional Investigations: At Gibson Dunn, Ms. Neely has represented clients undergoing investigations by numerous congressional committees, including the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations; Senate Finance Committee; Senate Judiciary Committee; Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee; House Committee on Oversight and Accountability; House Judiciary Committee; and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In the course of those representations, Ms. Neely assists clients in all stages of investigations, including responding to letter requests and subpoenas to preparing witnesses for interviews, depositions, and congressional hearings. She also has assisted clients appearing before independent commissions such as the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and the Commission on Wartime Contracting.
Public Policy: Ms. Neely also works with clients to advance their legislative interests on Capitol Hill by gathering intelligence, formulating strategic plans, and executing lobbying campaigns. In those matters, she has represented a wide range of clients from the fields of technology, healthcare, finance, and energy.
Regulatory Counseling: Ms. Neely regularly advises clients regarding their interests before regulatory agencies. Her expertise in the CHIPS and Science Act allows her to help clients comply with the Department of Commerce’s regulations and assist them in commenting on agency rules and applying for funding. She also works with clients to engage in the rulemaking process at agencies ranging from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ms. Neely also has participated in a variety of litigation matters before state and federal trial and appellate courts, including several class action defense and False Claims Act cases.
Ms. Neely clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle, then-Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She earned her law degree cum laude from Duke University School of Law, where she served as the Articles Editor for both the Alaska Law Review and the Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy. She was a member of the Duke Law Moot Court Board and served on the executive board of the Duke Law Federalist Society.
Ms. Neely graduated cum laude from Princeton University, where she majored in English and earned a certificate in Medieval Studies. She served for two years on United States Senator Elizabeth Dole’s staff as a legislative correspondent, focusing on banking, housing, budget, and tax issues. Ms. Neely is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and before the United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio
Judge J. Philip Calabrese was confirmed to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in December 2020. Previously, he served on the State trial court in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. Before taking the bench, he had a complex litigation practice for nearly two decades and was a partner at what is now Squire Patton Boggs and at Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur, LLP, where he co-chaired the firm’s class action practice. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Judge Calabrese began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where he teaches an advanced course on expert evidence and at the University of Akron School of Law where he teaches the First Amendment’s Speech Clause.
Senior Policy Analyst, The George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center
Sofie Miller's regulatory research portfolio includes economic analysis of energy efficiency standards, analysis of regulatory benefits, use of cost benefit analysis by agencies, retrospective review of existing rules, regressive effects of regulations, and the efficacy of public participation within the rulemaking process. Sofie has submitted public comments on regulations establishing energy efficiency standards, airline passenger protections, consumer product safety, and standards to prevent foodborne illnesses. Sofie has published articles in Regulation Magazine and the journal Engage, and is the editor of the GW Regulatory Studies Center's weekly Regulation Digest, which tracks regulatory developments in federal agencies, think tanks, and the media.
Executive Director, Ohio Dental Association
David J. Owsiany is the executive director of the Ohio Dental Association and a past president of the Columbus Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society.
He has served as CEO of a statewide health care association, president of the Buckeye Institute, chief of policy for the Ohio Department of Insurance, judicial law clerk for the Illinois Appellate Court, and staffer on the United State Senate Judiciary Committee.
Mr. Owsiany has written dozens of articles on legal and public policy issues for various publications, including the University of Toledo Law Review, the Federalist Society's State Court Docket Watch, Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Crain’s Cleveland Business, and Akron Beacon Journal.
Owsiany received his J.D. from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis and B.A. from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Young Lawyers Breakfast Panel: Public Service in Columbus and D.C.
2024 Ohio Conference
Columbus, OHAn Evening for Young Lawyers
Cincinnati Lawyers Chapter
Cincinnati, OHTopics
Are IRS Defenses Crumbling?
Congress’s frequent, numerous, and complicated changes to the tax laws make the Internal Revenue Service's...
The Risks of Regulating in the Dark
Sofie E. Miller
Note from the Editor: This article argues that regulations passed in the final weeks of...
Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Civil Liability Reforms
David J. Owsiany
The Ohio Supreme Court has a long and somewhat controversial history of striking down laws...