Member, Werther & Mills, LLC
Laurin Mills is a lawyer who represents corporations and individuals in complex commercial disputes (including construction), white collar criminal prosecutions and investigations, technology and media-related litigation (including intellectual property disputes); and corporate governance/shareholder actions. He has represented nearly every local television station and newspaper in courtroom access, defamation, or news-gathering tort matters. He has been both lead and local counsel in civil and criminal trials and litigation in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, also known as the “Rocket Docket”, and has represented numerous high-profile corporate clients and individuals, including a major party candidate running for President of the United States in a criminal investigation. He has tried cases in all the local state and federal courts, as well as in federal and state courts across the country and in domestic and international arbitrations.
Mr. Mills graduated from Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville; earned B.S. and B.A. degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park; and received his Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. Based in Oakton, Virginia, Mr. Mills works out of the firm’s Alexandria and Rockville offices. He is admitted to practice in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, as well as numerous federal district and circuit courts across the country, including the United States Supreme Court.
Senior Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
Phil Sechler serves as senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, where he focuses on academic and religious freedom.
Before joining ADF, Sechler had a long career in private practice, with substantial first-chair trial experience in courts around the country on a variety of complex litigation matters. Sechler spent most of his career as a partner in the powerhouse law firm of Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C. He also was a partner in the litigation boutique of Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck & Untereiner LLP.
In August 2013, Sechler took a break from law practice to become a Distinguished Visitor from Practice at Penn State Law School, where he spent four years teaching courses in Evidence, Professional Responsibility, and Advocacy. He also taught at the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University and at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he continues to teach a course on Professional Responsibility.
Sechler received his bachelor’s degree with high distinction from Pennsylvania State University, and he earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, where he graduated summa cum laude and was Editor-in-Chief of The Georgetown Law Journal. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.
Sechler is an active member of the District of Columbia Bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous federal appellate and trial courts.
District Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Judge Brantley Starr was appointed to United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in August 2019. Before his appointment, Judge Starr was the Deputy First Assistant Attorney General of Texas. Prior to that appointment, he served as Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel. From 2011 to 2015, Judge Starr served as career staff attorney to Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman. From 2008 to 2011, he practiced at King & Spalding, LLP. He served in the Office of the Solicitor General from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that, Judge Starr clerked for then-Justice Don Willett on the Texas Supreme Court after serving at the Office of the Attorney General. Judge Starr received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and his bachelor of arts degree from Abilene Christian University in 2001. Judge Starr has taught the Origins of the Constitution Class at the University of Texas law, Texas A&M law, and SMU law.
Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus, UCLA School of Law
Eugene Volokh is the Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution (Stanford), as well as the Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus and Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA School of Law. He recently retired from teaching at UCLA, after 30 years there, and is now focusing on research.
Volokh is the author of the textbooks The First Amendment and Related Statutes (8th ed. 2023), and Academic Legal Writing (5th ed. 2016), as well as over 100 academic law journal articles, mostly on First Amendment law. He is a member of The American Law Institute; the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Free Speech Law; and the creator and coauthor of The Volokh Conspiracy, a leading legal blog founded in 2002 (hosted at the Washington Post from 2014 to 2017 and now at Reason Magazine).
Consultant, American Edge Project and U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
Andrew Kilberg is a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Washington, D.C. office, where he practices in the firm’s litigation department. A member of the firm’s Labor and Employment, Administrative and Regulatory, and Appellate and Constitutional Law practice groups, Andrew has significant experience challenging onerous federal regulations, advising on regulatory proposals, and defending agency enforcement actions and investigations. He has represented clients in federal district and appellate courts and before the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as before various agencies, authoring dozens of briefs, comment letters, and other submissions. His matters have covered wage and hour, ERISA, occupational safety and health, anti-discrimination, whistleblower, and labor relations issues. In addition to his labor and employment expertise, Andrew in 2019 was named a “Rising Star” in Telecom by Law360.
Between 2019 and 2021, Andrew served as Counselor to Secretary Eugene Scalia at the United States Department of Labor. In that role, he advised the Secretary and Deputy Secretary on a wide range of matters and led teams on important regulatory and other projects for the Office of the Secretary, including matters concerning environmental, social, and governance investing, proxy voting, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, independent contractor status, apprenticeships, religious accommodation, evidentiary standards and procedures for non-discrimination enforcement actions, and the coronavirus pandemic. He also was responsible for coordination with several other executive branch agencies.
In addition to his work in court, Andrew regularly authors comment letters submitted to federal agencies, including the Department of Labor, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission. He also has written position statements submitted to the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, provided extensive advice on federal and state vaccine-related rules and litigation, labor relations, anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation matters, and ERISA issues, and represented clients in agency investigations and audits.
Before joining Gibson Dunn, Andrew clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
He received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and served as Articles Development Editor of the Virginia Law Review. He received an M. Phil. in Historical Studies from the University of Cambridge and was graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. in History from Princeton University.
Andrew is a member of the Virginia bar, and he is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh, and D.C. Circuits, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Supreme Court of Virginia, and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Judd Littleton is a versatile, creative appellate lawyer with considerable experience representing clients in their most consequential cases at every level of the judiciary, from developing and implementing legal strategy in the district court through appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court and federal and state appellate courts nationwide. He has built a remarkable record of successful challenges to federal agency action under the Administrative Procedure Act, and excels at handling complex, bet-the-company matters in the areas of appellate litigation, administrative law, and regulatory enforcement. Judd also regularly advises clients on strategic legal issues that precede litigation, including issues related to new laws and regulations and government investigations.
Judd obtained substantial government experience before going into private practice. After serving as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General, where he worked on numerous cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeals, Judd litigated cases involving a range of high-profile constitutional and statutory challenges to federal government actions in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. For his work in that role, he received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award, the Department’s second-highest award for employee performance. Judd clerked for Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court and for Judge A. Raymond Randolph of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Judd is a member of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court and the Supreme Court Historical Society. He has been recognized multiple times by Lawdragon as a “Leading Litigator in America” in Appellate and Supreme Court practice and was named a National Law Journal “D.C. Rising Star” in 2019. A frequent speaker on Supreme Court and appellate advocacy, he has also served on Law360’s Appellate Editorial Advisory Board since 2023.
Member, Werther & Mills, LLC
Laurin Mills is a lawyer who represents corporations and individuals in complex commercial disputes (including construction), white collar criminal prosecutions and investigations, technology and media-related litigation (including intellectual property disputes); and corporate governance/shareholder actions. He has represented nearly every local television station and newspaper in courtroom access, defamation, or news-gathering tort matters. He has been both lead and local counsel in civil and criminal trials and litigation in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, also known as the “Rocket Docket”, and has represented numerous high-profile corporate clients and individuals, including a major party candidate running for President of the United States in a criminal investigation. He has tried cases in all the local state and federal courts, as well as in federal and state courts across the country and in domestic and international arbitrations.
Mr. Mills graduated from Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville; earned B.S. and B.A. degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park; and received his Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. Based in Oakton, Virginia, Mr. Mills works out of the firm’s Alexandria and Rockville offices. He is admitted to practice in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, as well as numerous federal district and circuit courts across the country, including the United States Supreme Court.
Senior Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
Phil Sechler serves as senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, where he focuses on academic and religious freedom.
Before joining ADF, Sechler had a long career in private practice, with substantial first-chair trial experience in courts around the country on a variety of complex litigation matters. Sechler spent most of his career as a partner in the powerhouse law firm of Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C. He also was a partner in the litigation boutique of Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck & Untereiner LLP.
In August 2013, Sechler took a break from law practice to become a Distinguished Visitor from Practice at Penn State Law School, where he spent four years teaching courses in Evidence, Professional Responsibility, and Advocacy. He also taught at the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University and at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he continues to teach a course on Professional Responsibility.
Sechler received his bachelor’s degree with high distinction from Pennsylvania State University, and he earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, where he graduated summa cum laude and was Editor-in-Chief of The Georgetown Law Journal. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.
Sechler is an active member of the District of Columbia Bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous federal appellate and trial courts.
District Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Judge Brantley Starr was appointed to United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in August 2019. Before his appointment, Judge Starr was the Deputy First Assistant Attorney General of Texas. Prior to that appointment, he served as Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel. From 2011 to 2015, Judge Starr served as career staff attorney to Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman. From 2008 to 2011, he practiced at King & Spalding, LLP. He served in the Office of the Solicitor General from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that, Judge Starr clerked for then-Justice Don Willett on the Texas Supreme Court after serving at the Office of the Attorney General. Judge Starr received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and his bachelor of arts degree from Abilene Christian University in 2001. Judge Starr has taught the Origins of the Constitution Class at the University of Texas law, Texas A&M law, and SMU law.
Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus, UCLA School of Law
Eugene Volokh is the Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution (Stanford), as well as the Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus and Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA School of Law. He recently retired from teaching at UCLA, after 30 years there, and is now focusing on research.
Volokh is the author of the textbooks The First Amendment and Related Statutes (8th ed. 2023), and Academic Legal Writing (5th ed. 2016), as well as over 100 academic law journal articles, mostly on First Amendment law. He is a member of The American Law Institute; the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Free Speech Law; and the creator and coauthor of The Volokh Conspiracy, a leading legal blog founded in 2002 (hosted at the Washington Post from 2014 to 2017 and now at Reason Magazine).
Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas
Before joining the federal bench, Judge Brown served as a Judge on the Fifth Court of Appeals and on the Dallas County Criminal District Court in Dallas. Before joining the state bench, Judge Brown also served as an Assistant District Attorney for Dallas County, where she was a felony prosecutor for the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit. Judge Brown also practiced at McKool Smith in Dallas and was an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at SMU Dedman School of Law. She earned her BA, magna cum laude, from Spelman College, and her JD from Emory University School of Law.
District Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Judge Brantley Starr was appointed to United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in August 2019. Before his appointment, Judge Starr was the Deputy First Assistant Attorney General of Texas. Prior to that appointment, he served as Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel. From 2011 to 2015, Judge Starr served as career staff attorney to Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman. From 2008 to 2011, he practiced at King & Spalding, LLP. He served in the Office of the Solicitor General from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that, Judge Starr clerked for then-Justice Don Willett on the Texas Supreme Court after serving at the Office of the Attorney General. Judge Starr received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and his bachelor of arts degree from Abilene Christian University in 2001. Judge Starr has taught the Origins of the Constitution Class at the University of Texas law, Texas A&M law, and SMU law.
Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Wes Hendrix is a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He was nominated by President Donald Trump in January 2019 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July 2019. He presides over federal civil and criminal cases in the Northern District’s Lubbock, Abilene, and San Angelo Divisions. He is a member of the Fifth Circuit’s Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee and the Northern District of Texas’s Local Rules Committee. He is an adjunct professor at Texas Tech University School of Law.
Prior to his confirmation, Judge Hendrix served as the Appellate Chief for the Northern District of Texas’s United States Attorney’s Office. He served as Chair of the Department of Justice’s Appellate Chiefs Working Group and as an ex officio member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee. He regularly coordinated with the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division Appellate Section and the Office of the Solicitor General regarding cases appealed to and argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he represented the United States at trial and on appeal. He helped prosecute Hosam Smadi, who was convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in a downtown Dallas skyscraper. He also argued over 25 appeals at the Fifth and Seventh Circuits—including two en banc arguments—and served as sole counsel in over 350 appeals. He regularly taught courses at the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center.
Prior to his work as a prosecutor, Judge Hendrix was an associate at the Dallas office of Baker Botts L.L.P., where he focused on complex commercial, oil-and-gas, and intellectual-property litigation. He began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Judge Hendrix received his law degree from the University of Texas, where he served on the Texas Law Review and graduated with high honors and as a Chancellor-at-Large. He received his undergraduate degree with honors from the University of Chicago.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
On March 20, 2018, Judge Elizabeth L. Branch (Lisa) was sworn in as a United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit.
Judge Branch attended and graduated from Davidson College in North Carolina (B.A., cum laude, 1990), and Emory University School of Law (J.D., with distinction, 1994).
After graduating from law school, Judge Branch served as a federal law clerk to The Honorable J. Owen Forrester of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia from 1994 to 1996. Following her clerkship, Judge Branch joined the litigation department of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP in Atlanta as an associate and then a partner.
From 2004 to 2008, Judge Branch was a senior official in the Administration of President George W. Bush in Washington, D.C. She served first as the Associate General Counsel for Rules and Legislation at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and then as the Counselor to the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the U. S. Office of Management and Budget.
She returned to Smith Gambrell in 2008 as a litigation partner. Judge Branch then was appointed to the Court of Appeals of Georgia by Governor Nathan Deal, taking office on September 4, 2012, where she served until March 19, 2018.
Judge Branch is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Atlanta Lawyers Chapter for the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.
Chief Justice, Texas Supreme Court
Nathan L. Hecht is the 27th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. He has been elected to the Court six times, first in 1988 as a Justice, and most recently in 2014 as Chief Justice. He is the longest-serving Member of the Court in Texas history and the senior Texas appellate judge in active service. Throughout his service on the Court, Chief Justice Hecht has overseen revisions to the rules of administration, practice, and procedure in Texas courts, and was appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States to the federal Advisory Committee on Civil Rules. Chief Justice Hecht is also active in the Court's efforts to assure that Texans living below the poverty level, as well as others with limited means, have access to basic civil legal services.
Chief Justice Hecht was appointed to the district court in 1981 and was elected to the court of appeals in 1986. Before taking the bench, he was a partner in the Locke firm in Dallas. Chief Justice Hecht holds a B.A. degree with honors in philosophy from Yale University, and a J.D. degree cum laude from the SMU School of Law, where he was a Hatton W. Sumners Scholar. He clerked for Judge Roger Robb on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and was a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve Judge Advocate General Corps.
Chief Justice Hecht is First Vice President of the national Conference of Chief Justices. He is a Life Member of the American Law Institute and a member of Council. He is also a member of the Texas Philosophical Society.
His current term ends December 31, 2020.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
James C. Ho is a Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before taking the bench on January 4, 2018, he was a partner and co-chair of the national Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
As an appellate litigator for over a decade, including three years as the Solicitor General of Texas, Judge Ho presented 50 oral arguments in federal and state courts nationwide. He won numerous appeals, including three merits cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. He was routinely ranked among the nation’s leading lawyers by Benchmark, Chambers, Law360, The Legal 500, and The National Law Journal, among other publications. His work has been cited favorably by courts at every level of both the federal and state judiciaries. He won a Best Brief Award from the National Association of Attorneys General for every year that he served as solicitor general, and he is the only state solicitor general in history to be invited by the U.S. Supreme Court to express the views of a state.
Judge Ho has served in all three branches of the federal government. On the Senate Judiciary Committee, he served as chief counsel of the Subcommittees on the Constitution and Immigration under Senator John Cornyn. At the Justice Department, he served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and an attorney-advisor at the Office of Legal Counsel. He clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court.
His record of public service also includes appointments as vice chair of the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee in Texas and co-chair of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Judiciary Committee, and as a member of the U.S. Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the Northern District of Texas, the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the Continuity of Government Commission.
In addition, Judge Ho has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law, where he taught seminars on U.S. Supreme Court Litigation and Religious Liberty. He has authored numerous articles in respected law reviews nationwide, including an annual feature on exemplary judicial writing for The Green Bag Almanac & Reader. He previously served as senior editor of The Green Bag and as co-editor of Pub. L. Misc.
Judge Ho graduated from Stanford University with honors and a B.A. in Public Policy in 1995, and the University of Chicago Law School with high honors in 1999. Before law school, he was a legislative aide to California State Senator Quentin Kopp. He and his wife Allyson live in Dallas, Texas, with their twin daughter and son.
Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of Texas
Matthew J. Kacsmaryk serves as United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas.
He previously served as (1) an Associate in the Dallas office of Baker Botts LLP, (2) an Assistant United States Attorney, and (3) Deputy General Counsel to FLI.
He is an Honors graduate of the University of Texas Law School.
In 2013, he earned the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Furthering the Interest of U.S. National Security.
In 2026, he was named Jurist of the Year by the Texas Review of Law & Politics, the conservative law review at the University of Texas.
Justice, Texas Supreme Court
James P. Sullivan was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court by Governor Greg Abbott on January 7, 2025, after serving as his General Counsel. He is the proud husband of Alithea and father of Conan. Growing up in Austin, Judge Sully was an extra in the movie "Dazed & Confused." He was a highly unrecruited walk-on at Rice University, until an injury turned him into a debater. Once in law school, he met his wife, Alithea, on the Harvard Law Review. After graduating, he clerked on the D.C. Circuit for Judge Thomas B. Griffith. He also worked under then-Attorney General Abbott in the Office of the Solicitor General, in addition to stints as an adjunct professor at George Mason University and an appellate litigator in private practice.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Reed Charles O'Connor is a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He joined the court in 2007 after being nominated by President George W. Bush.
A native of Houston, Texas, O'Connor graduated from the University of Houston with his bachelor's degree in 1986 and from South Texas College of Law with his J.D. in 1989.
United States District Judge, Eastern District of Texas
Prior to taking the bench, Judge Barker served as Deputy Solicitor General of Texas, arguing appeals and public-law cases for the State. Before his state-government service, Judge Barker was an appellate and IP partner at Yetter Coleman in Houston. Before that, he spent four years in the Appellate Section of the DOJ’s Criminal Division. While there, he taught appellate advocacy at the National Advocacy Center, completed a Pegasus Scholarship with the English Inns of Court, and served on detail as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. Judge Barker served as a law clerk to Judge William Bryson on the Federal Circuit and Chief Judge John Walker on the Second Circuit. He earned his B.S. in computer engineering summa cum laude from Texas A&M and his J.D. from the University of Texas, where he graduated first in his class.
Justice, Texas Fifteenth District Court of Appeals
April Farris was appointed to the Fifteenth Court of Appeals on September 1 of 2024. April previously served on the First Court of Appeals after being appointed in 2021 and elected in 2022.
Before joining the Court, April was a partner at Yetter Coleman LLP, where she handled complex appellate litigation for energy, technology, and government clients. While in private practice, she was recognized in appellate law by Law360, Best Lawyers in America, and Thompson Reuters' Super Lawyers. In 2020, she was one of five attorneys in the nation to be named a Law360 appellate Rising Star, an honor reserved for lawyers under 40.
April previously served as an Assistant Solicitor General for the State of Texas, handling appeals for various Texas agencies. She is a former councilmember for the Texas State Bar's Appellate Section and a current councilmember for the Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Section. She serves as a trustee for the Texas Supreme Court Historical Association, and she is on the board of the Garland R. Walker Inn of Court in Houston. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas Pattern Jury Charge Oversight Committee, and she is on the editorial board of The Advocate. In 2022 and 2023, she was a guest instructor for Harvard Law School's Introduction to Trial Advocacy Program. She taught Origins of the Federal Constitution with Judge Charles Eskridge at the University of Texas School of Law in 2025, and she previously taught First Amendment at South Texas College of Law.
April clerked for Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She graduated from Harvard Law School cum laude in 2009, and she earned her bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Abilene Christian University in 2006. She was named ACU's Young Alumnus of the Year for 2025. She enjoys spending time with her husband and children, tennis, and theology.
United States Attorney, Southern District of Texas
District Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Judge Brantley Starr was appointed to United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in August 2019. Before his appointment, Judge Starr was the Deputy First Assistant Attorney General of Texas. Prior to that appointment, he served as Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel. From 2011 to 2015, Judge Starr served as career staff attorney to Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman. From 2008 to 2011, he practiced at King & Spalding, LLP. He served in the Office of the Solicitor General from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that, Judge Starr clerked for then-Justice Don Willett on the Texas Supreme Court after serving at the Office of the Attorney General. Judge Starr received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and his bachelor of arts degree from Abilene Christian University in 2001. Judge Starr has taught the Origins of the Constitution Class at the University of Texas law, Texas A&M law, and SMU law.
Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Wes Hendrix is a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He was nominated by President Donald Trump in January 2019 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July 2019. He presides over federal civil and criminal cases in the Northern District’s Lubbock, Abilene, and San Angelo Divisions. He is a member of the Fifth Circuit’s Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee and the Northern District of Texas’s Local Rules Committee. He is an adjunct professor at Texas Tech University School of Law.
Prior to his confirmation, Judge Hendrix served as the Appellate Chief for the Northern District of Texas’s United States Attorney’s Office. He served as Chair of the Department of Justice’s Appellate Chiefs Working Group and as an ex officio member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee. He regularly coordinated with the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division Appellate Section and the Office of the Solicitor General regarding cases appealed to and argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he represented the United States at trial and on appeal. He helped prosecute Hosam Smadi, who was convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in a downtown Dallas skyscraper. He also argued over 25 appeals at the Fifth and Seventh Circuits—including two en banc arguments—and served as sole counsel in over 350 appeals. He regularly taught courses at the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center.
Prior to his work as a prosecutor, Judge Hendrix was an associate at the Dallas office of Baker Botts L.L.P., where he focused on complex commercial, oil-and-gas, and intellectual-property litigation. He began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Judge Hendrix received his law degree from the University of Texas, where he served on the Texas Law Review and graduated with high honors and as a Chancellor-at-Large. He received his undergraduate degree with honors from the University of Chicago.
Judge, U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas
Judge, U.S. District Court, District of Kansas
On August 1, 2018, the United States Senate confirmed by unanimous voice vote Holly L. Teeter as United States District Court Judge for the District of Kansas. Most recently Judge Teeter served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. Earlier in her career, Judge Teeter practiced patent law at Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP, and was a patent law clerk at Los Alamos National Security, LLC. She served as a law clerk to Judge Brian C. Wimes of the United States District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri and to Judge Carlos Murguia of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. Judge Teeter received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering with highest distinction from the University of Kansas School of Engineering, and her J.D. from the University of Kansas, where she was a member of the Kansas Law Review and graduated first in her class. She also holds a Diploma in Legal Studies from the University of Oxford. Judge Teeter succeeds United States District Judge Kathryn H. Vratil who took senior status in 2014.
Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
Prior to joining the bench, Drew Tipton was a partner at Baker Hostetler, LLP in Houston, Texas, where his practice focused on complex labor and employment and trade secret litigation. Before joining Baker Hostetler in 1999, Judge Tipton was in private practice with Marek, Griffin, & Knaupp, LLP and Littler Mendelson, PC. Judge Tipton also served 5 years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Tipton served as a law clerk to Judge John D. Rainey of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Judge Tipton earned his B.A. from Texas A&M University and his J.D. from South Texas College of Law Houston.
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