Judge, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
John W. Holcomb is a U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California, Southern Division, in Santa Ana, California. Judge Holcomb was nominated for that position by President Donald J. Trump in November 2019 and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in September 2020.
Judge Holcomb earned his S.B. in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1984. For the next five years, Judge Holcomb served as a commissioned officer in the United States Navy, including assignments aboard the battleship U.S.S. New Jersey (BB62) and with the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. In 1993, Judge Holcomb received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School. Judge Holcomb then served as a law clerk for Judge Ronald Barliant of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Thereafter, Judge Holcomb joined Irell & Manella LLP as an associate, practicing bankruptcy law and general civil litigation. In 1997, Judge Holcomb joined the intellectual property law firm of Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear, LLP, and he was elevated to partner in 2002. As a partner at Knobbe Martens, Judge Holcomb participated in several speaking engagements regarding the intersection of intellectual property and bankruptcy law. In 2014, Judge Holcomb co-authored the chapter on U.S. Law in Licenses and Insolvency, A Practical Guide to the Effects of Insolvency on IP License Agreements, which was published by the International Bar Association. Judge Holcomb retired from Knobbe Martens in 2018, and he briefly practiced as a bankruptcy and litigation sole-practitioner before joining the firm Greenberg Gross LLP as a partner in 2019.
Executive Director, Committee for Justice
Ashley Baker is Executive Director of the Committee for Justice and founder of the Alliance on Antitrust coalition. Her work focuses on antitrust law, technology regulation, administrative-agency authority, the Supreme Court, and judicial nominations. She closely follows the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, with particular attention to merger review, agency procedure, and the effects of regulation on American innovation and competitiveness. She is also founder of the Alliance on Antitrust Coalition.
Ashley has testified before the United States Senate on antitrust law. Her writing has appeared in Fox News, USA Today, The Boston Globe, The Hill, RealClearPolitics, The American Spectator, and other national publications. She also provides policy analysis through congressional testimony and correspondence, regulatory comments, and public commentary.
Ashley serves on the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project and Antitrust and Consumer Protection Practice Group Executive Committee. She is also active in the Republican National Lawyers Association and has spoken on the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary. An authority on the judicial-confirmation process, she worked closely on the successful confirmation efforts for Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, as well as multiple federal appellate judges.
Associate Attorney, Gibson Dunn
Logan Billman is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn and a member of the firm’s Litigation Department. His practice focuses on antitrust and competition law, including merger investigations and conduct matters before the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, and state attorneys general. Logan represents clients in complex private and government antitrust litigation and has significant experience in FTC merger challenges, including litigating and counseling clients through all phases of agency enforcement proceedings. His practice spans strategic counseling, investigative compliance, and trial advocacy in high-stakes competition matters. Logan received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, magna cum laude and Order of the Coif, where he served as Managing Editor of the Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy. During law school, he interned with the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission. He earned a B.A. in Economics from American University.
Senior Advisor for Competition and International Affairs, Office of Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson, FTC
Partner and Co-Founder, Simonsen Sussman LLP
Shaoul is a Partner and Co-Founder of Simonsen Sussman LLP and a seasoned antitrust practitioner with extensive experience in private and government practice.
Most recently, Shaoul served as the Associate Director for Litigation in the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commission. During his tenure, he oversaw the Bureau’s expansive litigation portfolio, focusing on strategic case development and successful outcomes. During his time in the Bureau’s Front Office, Shaoul worked on several high-profile and complex cases including the Kroger-Albertsons merger challenge, which addressed consolidation in the retail grocery sector, and the FTC’s lawsuit to unwind Illumina's acquisition of Grail in the Fifth Circuit, the first successful challenge to a vertical merger in 40 years. Additionally, Shaoul played an instrumental role in the FTC’s landmark monopolization case against Meta.
Apart from his litigation work at FTC, Shaoul played a pivotal role in shaping the FTC and DOJ 2023 Merger Guidelines, which introduced new measures aimed at addressing market consolidation and modernizing merger enforcement standards to reflect contemporary market realities and economics. Shaoul led the efforts to reform the premerger notification process under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act. These reforms, which came into effect in 2025, included significant updates to streamline filing procedures, improve transparency, and strengthen regulatory oversight to ensure compliance with evolving antitrust laws. Shaoul also led the drafting of several amicus briefs filed by the U.S. government in landmark antitrust cases, including the FTC’s amicus brief during the remedy phase of the Epic v. Google case, which was cited favorably by the court.
Shaoul previously served as Attorney Advisor to former FTC Chair Lina Khan. Prior to his roles at the FTC, Shaoul was in private practice and served as a legal fellow at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Shaoul holds a J.D. from Fordham University and a B.A. from Bard College Berlin.
Shaoul serves on the board of the American Economic Liberties Project and as a Senior Advisor at Columbia Law School, where he focuses on academic antitrust research, exploring innovative approaches to competition policy, and modern market dynamics.
Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
Zachary Bluestone was most recently appellate chief and a violent crimes prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. Mr. Bluestone previously served in the Missouri Attorney General’s Office as Deputy Solicitor General. Upon graduation from law school, Mr. Bluestone served as a law clerk to Judge Raymond Gruender of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Mr. Bluestone earned his B.S., summa cum laude, from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, his MBA from the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he served as Managing Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.
Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri
Josh Divine was most recently the Solicitor General of Missouri, where he oversaw the office's appellate and special litigation divisions. As Solicitor General, Mr. Divine led Missouri's trial and appellate teams to some of its most significant victories. Mr. Divine was lead counsel in blocking $700 billion in student loan bailouts attempted by the federal government. He was lead counsel in obtaining a $25 billion judgment against China for antitrust violations. And he was lead counsel in successfully defending the Missouri law that prohibits gender transition interventions in minors, making Missouri the only state in the nation to prevail at trial against an equal protection challenge to one of these laws. In addition, Mr. Divine's work at the trial court in Missouri v. Biden (restyled Murthy v. Missouri) helped expose systemic violations of the First Amendment by the federal government, which the trial court found was unconstitutionally pressuring social media companies to suppress millions of free speech posts.
Before serving as Solicitor General, Mr. Divine was Chief Counsel to U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, where he oversaw all legal issues, managed matters related to the Judiciary Committee, and developed tech policy. Mr. Divine clerked on the Supreme Court for Justice Thomas and on the Eleventh Circuit for Judge William Pryor. He received a J.D. from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Northern Colorado. His recent legal scholarship has appeared in the Virginia Law Review and the Hastings Law Journal.
Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
Maria Lanahan most recently was the Principal Deputy Solicitor General in the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. Ms. Lanahan previously served as senior manager and litigation counsel for Charter Communications, Inc. in St. Louis, Missouri, and as an associate in the St. Louis office of Thompson Coburn, LLP. Ms. Lanahan also served as a law clerk to Judge Raymond Gruender of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and to Justice Brian K. Zahra of the Michigan Supreme Court. Ms. Lanahan earned her B.A., summa cum laude, from Gonzaga University, where she was a member of the women’s varsity basketball team, and her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where she served as an Articles Editor for the University of Chicago Law Review.
Partner and Co-Chair, Appellate and Supreme Court Group, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner
Barbara is a co-chair of the Appellate and Supreme Court Group at BCLP. She is an experienced trial and appellate litigator who counsels clients through their most sensitive and challenging litigation issues, and she routinely handles politically sensitive matters and aggressively advocates for early and complete victory. Her diverse client base—she has represented politicians, fortune 500 companies, foreign sovereigns, and boards of directors—share one thing in common: They need a strong advocate, and they want to win.
Barbara practices—and wins—at all levels of the federal and state courts. Before the United States Supreme Court, Barbara has represented clients filing petitions for certiorari, opposing certiorari, and she has filed merits briefs. She has also represented amici at the certiorari and merits stages.
At the trial court level, she routinely briefs and argues complex dispositive motions in anticipation of defending those victories on appeal. She also has first chair trial experience. On complex trial teams, she has acted as appellate preservation counsel. An experienced appellate advocate, Barbara has notched victories in state and federal appellate courts, including at the United States Supreme Court.
Because some of her clients prefer confidential ADR to public civil litigation, Barbara also has alternative dispute resolution experience, including winning a major arbitration victory for a petitioner-client and successfully mediating a case that (before her involvement) had previously been pending in the court system for more than a decade.
As an example of Barbara’s value-add, she recently crafted a novel standing argument that she briefed and won on a motion to dismiss a putative class action challenging a $198 million transaction in federal court. By winning on a motion to dismiss, she saved her client the time and cost of discovery. Barbara then successfully defended the victory on appeal—after briefing, the petitioner agreed to voluntarily dismiss the appeal and the case ended.
Among other issues, she has litigated questions of constitutional law, statutory construction, administrative law, securities law, labor and employment, white collar crime, ERISA, bankruptcy, and sovereign debt.
Before joining BCLP, Barbara served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. on the United States Supreme Court and Judge Thomas B. Griffith on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She also previously practiced at a Supreme Court litigation boutique, where she represented clients before the United States Supreme Court and various federal courts of appeal.
In her free time, Barbara teaches a class on the United States Supreme Court as an adjunct law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. She also serves on the Steering Committee for the St. Louis Chapter of the Federalist Society.
Barbara earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School, where she was the Editor-in-Chief of the Stanford Journal of Law, Business, and Finance, the President of the Federalist Society, and a member of the law school’s student government. While in law school, Barbara was a moot court semi-finalist and a teaching assistant at Stanford Law School and Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Prior to attending law school, Barbara spent two years in the White House Counsel’s Office working for President George W. Bush. She graduated magna cum laude and with honors, from Wake Forest University, with a B.A. in economics and political science.
Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
Judge Cristian M. Stevens was appointed by Governor Mike Parson to the Missouri Court of Appeals-Eastern District in October 2021. Before taking the bench, Judge Stevens was the First Assistant Attorney General to Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt. He is a sixth-generation Missourian, raised in St. Charles County, and a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the Missouri Law Review. Upon graduation, he served as law clerk to the Honorable Pasco M. Bowman II, Chief Judge of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, in Kansas City, Missouri. He has practiced law at several large law firms in St. Louis. He was a federal prosecutor for 15 years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, where he led the investigation of the August 9, 2014, officer-involved shooting in Ferguson, Missouri. Judge Stevens is married with three children, a parishioner of the Catholic Church, and a member of the Federalist Society.
Shareholder and Director, GableGotwals
Senior Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Oklahoma
President and Co-Founder, America First Legal Foundation
Gene Hamilton is the President of America First Legal, which he co-founded, and where he was previously the Executive Director, Executive Vice President, and General Counsel. He most recently served as Deputy White House Counsel to President Donald Trump. Earlier in his career, Gene served as Counselor to Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice and as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security. He also served as General Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee and held several roles at the Department of Homeland Security, including with U.S. Immigration Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of the General Counsel. He holds a B.A. from the University of Georgia and a J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law.
Partner, WilmerHale
Tom Saunders' practice focuses on appellate and government and public policy litigation with a particular emphasis on intellectual property. He has extensive experience representing clients in patent and copyright cases and has built a reputation as a leading advocate in high-stakes litigation before the Federal Circuit and Supreme Court. He returned to the firm in 2008 after completing a clerkship for the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Saunders also has significant experience in civil litigation involving the government and quasi-governmental entities. He regularly advises clients on constitutional matters, questions of public policy and strategy, and administrative law.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida
Prior to joining the federal bench, Judge Barber served as a Circuit Judge in the criminal division of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, where he has served since his appointment by the Governor in 2008. As a Circuit Judge he has handled the full range of civil and criminal cases. He previously served for four years as a Hillsborough County Court Judge. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Barber practiced for five years in the trial and business litigation department of Carlton Fields, P.A. He then served as an Assistant Statewide Prosecutor in the Office of Statewide Prosecution and as an Assistant State Attorney for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit. Upon completion of his service as a prosecutor he returned to Carlton Fields, P.A., where his practice focused on business litigation until his appointment to the bench.
Judge Barber earned his B.A. from the University of Florida, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
United States District Judge, Middle District of Florida
Judge Berger was raised in Jacksonville, Florida. She received her undergraduate degree from The Florida State University in 1990 and her law degree from The Florida State University College of Law in 1992, where she was a member of Law Review. Judge Berger served as an Assistant State Attorney in the Seventh Judicial Circuit from 1993 – 2000. In January 2001, Judge Berger left the State Attorney’s Office to serve as an Assistant General Counsel to Governor Jeb Bush. Judge Berger served in Governor Bush’s administration from January 2001 until May 2005, when she was appointed by the governor to serve as a Circuit Judge in the Seventh Judicial Circuit. During her service on the circuit court, Judge Berger presided over the civil and probate divisions (2005-2006) and adult felony division (2006-2012) in St. Augustine. She was also the presiding judge of the St. Johns County Adult Drug Court Program (2005-2012).
Judge Berger is currently a member of the St. Johns County Bar Association, the Orange County Bar Association, The Florida Supreme Court Committee on Civil Jury Instructions, the Florida Bar Criminal Procedure Rules Committee, the Florida Bar Appellate Practice Section’s Executive Council, the Dunn Blount Inn of Court, and the Federalist Society. She has prior service on the Florida Bar’s Judicial Administration and Evaluation Committee (2008 – 2013), the Judicial Administration Selection and Tenure Committee (2001-2004), the Florida Supreme Court Subcommittee on Postconviction Relief (2010-2011), the Statewide Diversity Team (2009-2012), and has been a member of both the National Association of Drug Court Professionals and the Florida Association of Drug Court Professionals.
Judge Berger has lectured on a wide range of topics including practicing with professionalism, judicial diversity, the judicial appointment process, effective oral arguments, fundamentals of extradition, capital cases, gender bias in the media, drug court, and drug and alcohol prevention.
Active in her community, Judge Berger served as a member of the St. Johns County Consortium on Substance Abuse as well as the St. Johns County Public Safety Committee. She is a member of the St. Augustine Rotary Club (Paul Harris Fellow) and is a steering committee member of The Marketplace Christian Professional Resources. She volunteers in the schools, has served as a reading mentor, and participates in the PACT Prevention Coalition’s Safe Prom Event. Judge Berger is also an active member of Trinity Episcopal Parish.
Judge Berger and her husband, Larry, live in St. Augustine with their two children.
County Judge, Fifth Judicial Circuit Of Florida
Executive Director, Committee for Justice
Ashley Baker is Executive Director of the Committee for Justice and founder of the Alliance on Antitrust coalition. Her work focuses on antitrust law, technology regulation, administrative-agency authority, the Supreme Court, and judicial nominations. She closely follows the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, with particular attention to merger review, agency procedure, and the effects of regulation on American innovation and competitiveness. She is also founder of the Alliance on Antitrust Coalition.
Ashley has testified before the United States Senate on antitrust law. Her writing has appeared in Fox News, USA Today, The Boston Globe, The Hill, RealClearPolitics, The American Spectator, and other national publications. She also provides policy analysis through congressional testimony and correspondence, regulatory comments, and public commentary.
Ashley serves on the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project and Antitrust and Consumer Protection Practice Group Executive Committee. She is also active in the Republican National Lawyers Association and has spoken on the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary. An authority on the judicial-confirmation process, she worked closely on the successful confirmation efforts for Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, as well as multiple federal appellate judges.
Associate Attorney, Gibson Dunn
Logan Billman is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn and a member of the firm’s Litigation Department. His practice focuses on antitrust and competition law, including merger investigations and conduct matters before the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, and state attorneys general. Logan represents clients in complex private and government antitrust litigation and has significant experience in FTC merger challenges, including litigating and counseling clients through all phases of agency enforcement proceedings. His practice spans strategic counseling, investigative compliance, and trial advocacy in high-stakes competition matters. Logan received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, magna cum laude and Order of the Coif, where he served as Managing Editor of the Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy. During law school, he interned with the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission. He earned a B.A. in Economics from American University.
Senior Advisor for Competition and International Affairs, Office of Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson, FTC
Partner and Co-Founder, Simonsen Sussman LLP
Shaoul is a Partner and Co-Founder of Simonsen Sussman LLP and a seasoned antitrust practitioner with extensive experience in private and government practice.
Most recently, Shaoul served as the Associate Director for Litigation in the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commission. During his tenure, he oversaw the Bureau’s expansive litigation portfolio, focusing on strategic case development and successful outcomes. During his time in the Bureau’s Front Office, Shaoul worked on several high-profile and complex cases including the Kroger-Albertsons merger challenge, which addressed consolidation in the retail grocery sector, and the FTC’s lawsuit to unwind Illumina's acquisition of Grail in the Fifth Circuit, the first successful challenge to a vertical merger in 40 years. Additionally, Shaoul played an instrumental role in the FTC’s landmark monopolization case against Meta.
Apart from his litigation work at FTC, Shaoul played a pivotal role in shaping the FTC and DOJ 2023 Merger Guidelines, which introduced new measures aimed at addressing market consolidation and modernizing merger enforcement standards to reflect contemporary market realities and economics. Shaoul led the efforts to reform the premerger notification process under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act. These reforms, which came into effect in 2025, included significant updates to streamline filing procedures, improve transparency, and strengthen regulatory oversight to ensure compliance with evolving antitrust laws. Shaoul also led the drafting of several amicus briefs filed by the U.S. government in landmark antitrust cases, including the FTC’s amicus brief during the remedy phase of the Epic v. Google case, which was cited favorably by the court.
Shaoul previously served as Attorney Advisor to former FTC Chair Lina Khan. Prior to his roles at the FTC, Shaoul was in private practice and served as a legal fellow at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Shaoul holds a J.D. from Fordham University and a B.A. from Bard College Berlin.
Shaoul serves on the board of the American Economic Liberties Project and as a Senior Advisor at Columbia Law School, where he focuses on academic antitrust research, exploring innovative approaches to competition policy, and modern market dynamics.
President and Co-Founder, America First Legal Foundation
Gene Hamilton is the President of America First Legal, which he co-founded, and where he was previously the Executive Director, Executive Vice President, and General Counsel. He most recently served as Deputy White House Counsel to President Donald Trump. Earlier in his career, Gene served as Counselor to Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice and as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security. He also served as General Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee and held several roles at the Department of Homeland Security, including with U.S. Immigration Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of the General Counsel. He holds a B.A. from the University of Georgia and a J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law.
Partner, WilmerHale
Tom Saunders' practice focuses on appellate and government and public policy litigation with a particular emphasis on intellectual property. He has extensive experience representing clients in patent and copyright cases and has built a reputation as a leading advocate in high-stakes litigation before the Federal Circuit and Supreme Court. He returned to the firm in 2008 after completing a clerkship for the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Saunders also has significant experience in civil litigation involving the government and quasi-governmental entities. He regularly advises clients on constitutional matters, questions of public policy and strategy, and administrative law.
Vice President & Senior Legal Fellow, Defending Education
Sarah Parshall Perry is vice president and senior legal fellow at Defending Education.
Before coming to Defending Education, Sarah served as a Senior Legal Fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, part of the Institute for Constitutional Government at Heritage, where her work centered on civil rights and the proper role of the courts.
Sarah joined Heritage after serving as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education where she focused on policy reform, technical guidance, and the Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) annual report to Congress. While at OCR, she was appointed by the Acting Assistant Secretary to co-chair the Employment Engagement, Diversity, & Inclusion Council and, in coordination with the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement oversee the hiring of dozens of attorneys for OCR’s 12 regional offices nationwide. Prior to her tenure at the Department of Education, she spent six years at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. where she was Senior Fellow for Education Reform and later, became the regular substitute host for the “Washington Watch” radio show. Her work at the Family Research Council also included the building and oversight of multiple policy coalitions geared toward the fight against antisemitism in academia, curbing tech censorship, and protecting religious liberty.
Before joining FRC, Sarah was in-house counsel and director of development for a Baltimore advertising agency, providing management of all new business transactions from pitch to contract execution for the multi-million-dollar enterprise. She began her practice at the litigation firm of Simms Showers, LLP where her work included Title VII employment discrimination, maritime/admiralty, and False Claims Act (“Qui Tam”) law. Sarah has a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was an editor of the Virginia Journal of International Law, a recipient of the American Jurisprudence award, a Phi Delta Phi honor society member, and a student practitioner in the appellate litigation clinic where she argued before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. She holds a B.S. in Journalism with honors from Liberty University.
Her commentary and analysis have appeared in media outlets across the country, including the AP, BBC, Fox News, NPR, The Hill, Washington Post, Washington Times, and the New York Times. She is the mother of three children, and the author of just as many books on the trials and triumphs of parenting children on the autism spectrum. Sarah is a member of the Kirkpatrick Society at the American Enterprise Institute, and makes her home north of Baltimore, Maryland.
General Counsel, Mountain States Legal Foundation
William E. Trachman is General Counsel for Mountain States Legal Foundation, where he protects the rights of individuals to live freely and securely under the U.S. Constitution. Previously, he was appointed to serve in the Department of Education as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office for Civil Rights. Prior to his appointment, he served as General Counsel to the Douglas County School District, where he helped litigate the fight for school choice in the school district. Presently, Mr. Trachman serves as Chair of the Colorado Federalist Society and the Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ Colorado Advisory Board. He previously taught as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. He attended U.C. Berkeley for both undergraduate and law school, and then clerked for the Honorable Harris Hartz on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Trachman is licensed in Colorado, California, and Washington, D.C.
Vice President & Senior Legal Fellow, Defending Education
Sarah Parshall Perry is vice president and senior legal fellow at Defending Education.
Before coming to Defending Education, Sarah served as a Senior Legal Fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, part of the Institute for Constitutional Government at Heritage, where her work centered on civil rights and the proper role of the courts.
Sarah joined Heritage after serving as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education where she focused on policy reform, technical guidance, and the Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) annual report to Congress. While at OCR, she was appointed by the Acting Assistant Secretary to co-chair the Employment Engagement, Diversity, & Inclusion Council and, in coordination with the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement oversee the hiring of dozens of attorneys for OCR’s 12 regional offices nationwide. Prior to her tenure at the Department of Education, she spent six years at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. where she was Senior Fellow for Education Reform and later, became the regular substitute host for the “Washington Watch” radio show. Her work at the Family Research Council also included the building and oversight of multiple policy coalitions geared toward the fight against antisemitism in academia, curbing tech censorship, and protecting religious liberty.
Before joining FRC, Sarah was in-house counsel and director of development for a Baltimore advertising agency, providing management of all new business transactions from pitch to contract execution for the multi-million-dollar enterprise. She began her practice at the litigation firm of Simms Showers, LLP where her work included Title VII employment discrimination, maritime/admiralty, and False Claims Act (“Qui Tam”) law. Sarah has a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was an editor of the Virginia Journal of International Law, a recipient of the American Jurisprudence award, a Phi Delta Phi honor society member, and a student practitioner in the appellate litigation clinic where she argued before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. She holds a B.S. in Journalism with honors from Liberty University.
Her commentary and analysis have appeared in media outlets across the country, including the AP, BBC, Fox News, NPR, The Hill, Washington Post, Washington Times, and the New York Times. She is the mother of three children, and the author of just as many books on the trials and triumphs of parenting children on the autism spectrum. Sarah is a member of the Kirkpatrick Society at the American Enterprise Institute, and makes her home north of Baltimore, Maryland.
General Counsel, Mountain States Legal Foundation
William E. Trachman is General Counsel for Mountain States Legal Foundation, where he protects the rights of individuals to live freely and securely under the U.S. Constitution. Previously, he was appointed to serve in the Department of Education as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office for Civil Rights. Prior to his appointment, he served as General Counsel to the Douglas County School District, where he helped litigate the fight for school choice in the school district. Presently, Mr. Trachman serves as Chair of the Colorado Federalist Society and the Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ Colorado Advisory Board. He previously taught as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. He attended U.C. Berkeley for both undergraduate and law school, and then clerked for the Honorable Harris Hartz on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Trachman is licensed in Colorado, California, and Washington, D.C.
Opening Remarks
2026 Western Chapters Conference
Simi Valley, CAThe FTC’s Pre-Merger Notification Rule on Appeal
The FTC’s Pre-Merger Notification Rule on Appeal
Ashley Baker, Logan Billman, Maxwell Gottschall, Jana Seidl, Shaoul Sussman
The Federal Trade Commission’s recent overhaul of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR) premerger notification rule represents...
Panel 3: The Bench, Newly Defined: Perspectives from Recently Seated District Judges
2026 Missouri Chapters Conference
A Fireside Chat with U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell
Tulsa Lawyer Chapter
Tulsa, OKCourthouse Steps Oral Argument: Trump v. Cook
Gene P. Hamilton, Thomas G. Saunders
On August 25, 2025, President Trump removed Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from office, citing...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Trump v. Cook
A Panel Discussion on the Judicial Selection and Removal Processes: Differences in Federal vs. State Appellate and Trial Courts
North Central Florida Chapter
Ocala, FLCourthouse Steps Oral Argument: Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J.
Sarah Parshall Perry, William E. Trachman
Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., both involve the question of whether states...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J.
Sarah Parshall Perry, William E. Trachman
Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., both involve the question of whether states...