Former United States Ambassador to NATO, Former United States Senator, Texas
Kay Bailey Hutchison is a public servant and businesswoman who has served in roles from bank executive to U.S. Senator to most recently, U.S. Ambassador to NATO. She served as U.S. Senator from Texas from 1993 to 2013. In January 2021, she stepped down from a more than 3-year term as U.S. Ambassador to The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium where she worked to maintain U.S. leadership in the 30 Ally Alliance.
Kay Bailey Hutchison is a public servant and businesswoman who has served in roles from bank executive to U.S. Senator to most recently, U.S. Ambassador to NATO. She served as U.S. Senator from Texas from 1993 to 2013. In January 2021, she stepped down from a more than 3-year term as U.S. Ambassador to The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium where she worked to maintain U.S. leadership in the 30 Ally Alliance.
Kay has authored three books, including the bestselling American Heroines: The Spirited Women Who Shaped Our Country (2004), Leading Ladies: American Trailblazers (2007) and Unflinching Courage: Pioneering Women Who Shaped Texas (2013).
In 2013, the Dallas City Council honored her by naming the city’s convention center the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. Also in 2013, The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law and Business (KBH Energy Center) was created by the University of Texas to provide unique opportunities for business and law school students to learn the energy industry. The Center sponsors an annual symposium for leaders in the energy field to discuss current issues in the industry.
Kay serves on the Dallas Mayor’s International Advisory Council, UT Southwestern Medical Foundation Board of Trustees, and the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Council. She is a Senior Adviser at CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies) and the NASA Advisory Council, in Washington DC. She also serves on the Bank of America Global Advisory Board.
Judicial Law Clerk, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Nitin is a recent graduate of Cornell Law School. Before his time in Ithaca, he majored in International Studies and Political Science at Johns Hopkins University and focused on power competition in South Asia during his graduate studies at the University of Oxford.
Chair, Issues & Appeals, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
The former Solicitor General of West Virginia, Mr. Lin has been on the front lines of many precedent-setting cases in appellate courts across the country, including in a US Supreme Court victory that George Will called “the court’s most severe rebuke of a president” since the Truman administration. Having argued more than 60 appeals, he brings to clients a well-honed ability to identify the most persuasive issues for appeal and a practiced understanding of how best to frame complex legal questions in appellate courts.
With experience in the private sector and multiple branches of government, Mr. Lin’s practice has spanned a wide range of issues, including major questions of constitutional and administrative law at the federal and state levels. On behalf of more than two dozen states, he won a stay from the US Supreme Court of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. Described by the New York Times as an “unprecedented” order, the stay was the first time the Supreme Court had ever put a regulation on hold before review by a federal appeals court. In that same case, Elbert argued before the en banc DC Circuit in an historic proceeding that one commenter quoted in E&E News compared to “the NBA All-Star Game.” At the state level, Elbert led the effort that persuaded the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to overturn an injunction of the state’s right-to-work law.
In 2013, Mr. Lin was appointed the Solicitor General of West Virginia. During his four-and-a-half year tenure, he served as a member of the Attorney General’s senior management team, oversaw all civil and criminal appeals, and argued nearly two dozen cases in federal and state appellate courts. He authored more than twenty-five briefs in the US Supreme Court and more than forty-five formal Opinions of the Attorney General.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Lin served as a trial attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the US Department of Justice’s Civil Division, where he received a Special Service Award. He has also been a law clerk at all three levels of the federal judiciary: for Justice Clarence Thomas on the US Supreme Court; for Judge William H. Pryor Jr. on the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; and for Senior Judge Robert E. Keeton on the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Mr. Lin speaks regularly on a wide variety of topics, including constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, state and federal relations, the US Supreme Court, and appellate practice. He has testified before Congress, and has spoken at the national conventions of the American Bar Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Federalist Society, Americans for Prosperity, and the American Legislative Exchange Council. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
Mr. Lin is admitted to practice in the following federal courts: the Supreme Court of the United States; the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh, D.C., and Federal Circuits; the District of Massachusetts; the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia; and the Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia.
United States Senator, Missouri
Senator Eric Schmitt represents Missouri in the United States Senate, where he serves as the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution. He also serves on the Senate Armed Services and Commerce Committees and is the Vice-Chair of the Joint Economic Committee.
Prior to his election to the Senate in 2022, he served as Missouri’s Attorney General, where he was a tireless advocate for the First Amendment and our Separation of Powers and against the Biden Administration's overreach and COVID craziness.
He details those accounts in his New York Times Bestselling book:The Last Line of Defense: How to Beat the Left in Court.
He is a graduate of Truman State University and Saint Louis University School of Law.
Partner, Earth & Water Law
Susan Bodine is a partner at Earth & Water Law.
Susan Bodine is a former Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA). Prior to this position, Susan served as Chief Counsel for the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and previously worked for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
This is Susan’s second position at EPA, having served as Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (now the Office of Land and Emergency Management) from 2006 to 2009.
Susan has also practiced environmental law at Covington and Burling LLP and at Barnes and Thornburg LLP.
Susan is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.
Managing Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC
Michael Buschbacher is the managing partner of Boyden Gray PLLC. He represents public and private companies, trade associations, non-profits, and individuals in high-stakes litigation and administrative proceedings, with a particular focus on environmental and energy matters.
In addition to trial-level work, Mr. Buschbacher maintains an active appellate practice, both as merits counsel and as counsel for amici curiae. He has written amicus briefs quoted by the Seventh and Ninth Circuits. And his Supreme Court advocacy has been cited by The New Yorker, The New York Times, and E&E News. Mr. Buschbacher’s commentary on legal issues has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and The American Conservative.
Before joining the firm, Mr. Buschbacher served at the U.S. Department of Justice as counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. There, he advised senior Department leadership, served as the lead attorney on several lawsuits, and helped draft policy memoranda for the Department on the proper scope and procedure for environmental enforcement. Prior to serving in the government, Mr. Buschbacher was an associate in the D.C. office of Sidley Austin.
Mr. Buschbacher is a former clerk to Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and to Magistrate Judge Paul R. Cherry of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
Mr. Buschbacher holds a B.A. in Music and Germanic Studies from Indiana University and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Notre Dame Law School.
Executive Director, Environmental Integrity Project
Eric has served as Executive Director since he co-founded the organization in 2002. Previously, Eric served as director of EPA’s Office of Civil Enforcement from 1997 to 2002, where he received a Presidential Rank Award, as well as the John Marshall award from the Justice Department for his leadership in negotiating an industry-wide cleanup of petroleum refineries. Eric’s career at EPA began in 1990, and included an appointment as special assistant to the Deputy Administrator. Prior to his service at EPA, Eric worked as an environmental attorney for two and a half years at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, and spent six years on Capitol Hill working for various members of Congress. Eric received his law degree from Georgetown University, and his B.A. from Vanderbilt University.
United States Senate, Alaska
Dan Sullivan was sworn in as Alaska’s eighth United States Senator on January 6, 2015. Sullivan serves on four Senate committees vital to Alaska: the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; the Armed Services Committee; the Environment and Public Works Committee; and the Veterans' Affairs Committee.
Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, Sullivan served as Alaska’s Attorney General and Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. As Alaska's Attorney General, Sullivan’s number one priority was protecting Alaskans, their physical safety, financial well-being, and individual rights – particularly Alaska’s most vulnerable. During his tenure he spearheaded a comprehensive statewide strategy – the “Choose Respect” campaign – to combat Alaska’s high rates of domestic violence and sexual assault. Under Sullivan’s leadership, the Department of Law also undertook an aggressive strategy of initiating and intervening in litigation aimed at halting federal government overreach into the lives of Alaskans and their economy.
As Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Sullivan managed one of the largest portfolios of oil, gas, minerals, renewable energy, timber, land, and water in the world. Working closely with Alaska’s Governor and state legislature, Sullivan developed numerous strategies that spurred responsible resource development, energy security, and a dramatic increase in good-paying jobs across a number of critical sectors in the Alaska economy. He also developed a comprehensive plan to streamline and reform the state’s regulatory and permitting system.
Sullivan is one of a select number of Alaskan attorneys who has held judicial clerkships on both the highest federal and state courts in Alaska. He served as a judicial law clerk for Judge Andrew Kleinfeld of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Fairbanks, Alaska and for Chief Justice Warren Matthews of the Alaska Supreme Court in Anchorage, Alaska. Sullivan also served as a judicial law clerk/intern for Judge James L. Buckley on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Sullivan has a distinguished record of military and national security service. He is currently an infantry officer and Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. Over the past 21 years, Sullivan has served in a variety of command and staff billets on active duty and in the reserves, including: TRAP Force Commander and 81mm mortar Platoon Commander, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable); Weapons Company Executive Officer, Second Battalion, Fifth Marines; Commanding Officer, Delta Company, Anti-Terrorism Battalion; Executive Officer, Echo Company, Fourth Reconnaissance Battalion; and Commanding Officer, 6thAir Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO). In 2004, Sullivan was recalled to active duty for a year and a half to serve as a staff officer to the Commander of U.S. Central Command, General John Abizaid, spending substantial time deployed in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, and Central Asia. In July 2013, Sullivan was recalled to active duty to serve with a Joint Task Force in Afghanistan focusing on dismantling terrorist networks and criminalizing the Taliban insurgency.
Sullivan served in the Administration of President George W. Bush as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Business under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He focused on fighting terrorist financing, and implementing policies relating to international energy, economic, trade, finance, transportation, telecommunications, and Arctic issues. Sullivan also served as a Director in the International Economics Directorate of the National Security Council staff at the White House.
Sullivan earned a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University in 1987 and a joint law and Masters of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 1993. Dan and his wife Julie Fate Sullivan were married over 20 years ago in Julie’s hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska. They have three teenage daughters: Meghan, Isabella and Laurel.
Assistant Administrator (Nominee), United States Environmental Protection Agency
Professor David M. Uhlmann has been nominated by President Biden to serve as assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance at the U.S. Environmental Protection agency. If confirmed by the United States Senate, Professor Uhlmann will take a leave of absence from Michigan Law so that he can lead federal criminal, civil, and administrative enforcement of the environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, hazardous waste laws, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Toxic Substances Control Act.
Professor Uhlmann is an internationally recognized expert on environmental law, leading authority on criminal enforcement of the environmental laws in the United States, and highly-regarded advocate for environmental stewardship and corporate sustainability programs. At Michigan Law he is the Jeffrey F. Liss Professor from Practice and the director of the Environmental Law and Policy Program. Professor Uhlmann previously served for 17 years as a federal prosecutor, including seven years as chief of the Environmental Crimes Section at the U.S. Department of Justice. In that role, he led prosecution of environmental and wildlife crimes nationwide, coordinated national legislative, policy, and training initiatives regarding criminal enforcement, and chaired the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Policy Committee. He earned a reputation for prosecuting polluters aggressively and fairly, presided over expansion of the environmental crimes program, and strengthened relationships with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Coast Guard, and other law enforcement partners. His work as lead prosecutor in United States v. Elias is chronicled in The Cyanide Canary. He received numerous Justice Department and EPA awards for his precedent-setting prosecutions, including the first environmental justice criminal trial.
Professor Uhlmann served from 2017 to 2020 as the Counselor to the Michigan Law alumnus Larry D. Thompson, the Compliance Monitor and Independent Auditor appointed by the Justice Department and EPA in the wake of the Volkswagen diesel scandal. In addition to advising the monitor, Professor Uhlmann made numerous presentations to the Volkswagen and Audi boards regarding environmental law in the United States, corporate accountability, and promoting environmental stewardship and an ethical culture. Professor Uhlmann has testified before Congress about the use of environmental protections to address shortcomings in worker safety laws and redressing environmental harm in corporate settlements; he has lectured widely about corporate crime and the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in cases involving corporate wrongdoing. Professor Uhlmann’s views on corporate accountability for the Gulf oil spill and the VW diesel scandal, the urgency of climate disruption, and the need to promote a sustainable future for all Americans have been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, the American Constitution Society’s Issue Briefs series, and numerous top law reviews. Professor Uhlmann leads the efforts of nearly 400 Michigan Law students participating in the Environmental Crimes Project, the first comprehensive empirical study of criminal enforcement under U.S. pollution laws. At Michigan Law, Professor Uhlmann has hosted conferences, lecture series, and pro bono projects, led campus-wide sustainability efforts, and mentored a next generation of environmental lawyers committed to public service and public interest work.
Professor Uhlmann is a fellow in the American College of Environmental Lawyers, which invited him to join their Board of Regents earlier this year. He was named a “Conservation Hero” by the Michigan League of Conservation Voters and selected by the University of Michigan to be a Distinguished Faculty Fellow in Sustainability. Uhlmann received his JD from Yale Law School and his BA in history and political science with high honors from Swarthmore College. Following law school, he clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Marvin H. Shoob in Atlanta, Georgia.
Partner, Baker Botts LLP
Drawing from two decades of experience in senior government, in-house corporate, and private law firm roles, Jeff Wood helps clients with federal enforcement, compliance, litigation, permitting, and policy challenges primarily in the energy and environmental fields.
Prior to joining Baker Botts, Mr. Wood served for almost two years as the Acting Assistant Attorney General (AAG) for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). In that capacity, Mr. Wood led ENRD and its more than 600 attorneys and staff representing EPA, Departments of the Interior, Energy, and Defense, and other agencies in civil and criminal enforcement and defensive environmental, energy, and natural resources litigation.
As the top official in ENRD, Mr. Wood managed a complex organization with an annual budget exceeding $200 million and a docket of more than 6,000 cases and matters. E&E News noted that “Wood maintains a strong relationship with ENRD's career staff” (Greenwire, Oct. 31, 2018). He previously served on the staff of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
At the Justice Department, Mr. Wood oversaw the Division's civil and criminal enforcement programs and was responsible for developing legal strategies and approving briefs in key cases including filings before the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals in coordination with the Office of Solicitor General. In this role, Mr. Wood held the highest level security clearance and worked closely with top leadership at DOJ, EPA, the Interior Department, USDA, the Energy Department, Transportation Department, FERC, NRC and across the Executive Branch, including the White House.
With many years of both private law firm and in-house legal experience, Mr. Wood has handled complex environmental enforcement, regulatory, policy, and litigation matters for electric utilities, energy companies, maritime companies, mining companies, real estate developers, financial institutions, industrial companies and manufacturers, business coalitions, associations, small businesses, and individual property owners. Drawing from his experiences in-house, Mr. Wood brings a common-sense, cost-effective, client-focused approach to his work every day.
With a strong national reputation, Mr. Wood is a frequent speaker on environmental law and policy matters, with recent speeches and presentations at the Environmental Law Institute, Harvard Law School, Vanderbilt Law School, American University Law School, American Bar Association Environmental Law Conferences, the Texas Environmental SuperConference, Air Force Judge Advocate General School's Advanced Environmental Law Course, Baker Institute's Center for Energy Studies (Rice University), and many other venues. He frequently appears in national news to share insights on significant environmental law and policy issues, including recent quotes in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Law360, and E&E News, among others.
Partner, Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Stewart Baker is a partner in the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C. From 2005 to 2009, he was the first Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security. His law practice covers cybersecurity, data protection, homeland security, and travel and foreign investment regulation; he has been awarded one patent.
Mr. Baker has been General Counsel of the National Security Agency and General Counsel of the commission that investigated WMD intelligence failures prior to the Iraq war. He is the author of Skating on Stilts, a book on terrorism, cybersecurity, and other technology issues; he also hosts the weekly Cyberlaw Podcast.
Director, Cybersecurity and Emerging Threats, R Street Institute
Tatyana Bolton is the Policy Director for R Street’s Cybersecurity & Emerging Threats team. She crafts and oversees the public policy strategy for the department with a focus on secure and competitive markets, data security and data privacy, and diversity in cybersecurity. Other areas of research for the team include cyber metrics, Bureau of Cyber Statistics, content moderation, 5G, building capacity, state and local cybersecurity, and supporting innovation.
Most recently, Tatyana worked as the senior policy director for the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission focusing on U.S. government reorganization and resilience portfolios. From 2017-2020, Tatyana also served at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as the cyber policy lead in the Office of Strategy, Policy and Plans where she developed strategies for strengthening the cybersecurity of our nation’s critical infrastructure. Tatyana’s work included efforts on the Cyber Deterrence Strategy of the United States, the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity Strategy and the National Cyber Strategy.
Tatyana has published pieces in Lawfare and Defense News on cybersecurity clinics and women in cybersecurity. She also received an award for exceptionally meritorious service from the Cyberspace Solarium Commission.
She received a Master of Arts in security studies with a focus on Asian affairs from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service’s Security Studies Program and earned a Bachelor of Arts with honors in political science and theatre from the Ohio State University.
Tatyana lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her family.
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Environmental Enforcement: Policies, Priorities, and the Rule of Law
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