Judge, Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida
Judge, Florida Third District Court of Appeal
Judge Norma S. Lindsey was appointed to the Third District Court of Appeal by Governor, now Senator, Rick Scott and took her seat on the Court on June 19, 2017. She was previously appointed to the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in 2011 by then Governor Scott, where she served until she joined the appellate bench. Judge Lindsey began her judicial career in January of 2006 when she was appointed to the Miami-Dade County Court by Governor Jeb Bush.
Judge Lindsey is the Chief Judge Elect and currently serves as Chair of the Education Committee for the Florida Conference of District Court of Appeal Judges, as a member of the Florida Court Education Counsel, and as a member of the District Court of Appeal Budget Commission.
She previously served as a member of the District Court of Appeal Performance and Accountability Commission, and as a member of the Florida Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Civil Cases. She also previously served as the Third DCA Representative to the Appellate Practice Section of the Florida Bar and as a member of the Florida Supreme Court Work Group on Appellate Court Reporting Requirements. And, she is a former member of the Florida Supreme Court Work Group on County Court Jurisdiction, and a former Judicial Liaison to the Real Property and Probate Section of the Florida Bar.
Prior to her appointment to the Third District Court of Appeal, Judge Lindsey served as an Associate Judge on Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal in December of 2014 and in July of 2016. She also served on more than two dozen Circuit Appellate Panels in the Appellate Division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit during her time as a Circuit judge.
Judge Lindsey has been active throughout her career in judicial education having served as a faculty member and co-chair of the Civil Track for the Florida College of Advanced Judicial Studies and as a faculty member of the Florida Judicial College, the Florida Conferences of Circuit Court Judges and the Florida Conference of County Court Judges. In addition, she has lectured and taught numerous CLE courses at events sponsored by national, state and local bar associations, law schools and community groups.
Outside of the courtroom, Judge Lindsey is an active volunteer judge of student competitions. She has served as a volunteer judge for the Orseck Memorial Moot Court Competition at the annual Florida Bar Conference, the University of Miami School of Law Mock Trial and Moot Court Competitions, as well as student competitions at St. Thomas University College of Law and Florida International College of Law, the Legal Services of Greater Miami First Annual Legal Eagle Closing Argument Competition, the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Student Trial Advocacy Program, and the Southeastern United States Regional Black Law Students Association Mock Trial Competition.
Judge Lindsey is the recipient of the University of Miami School of Law Alumni Achievement Award, the Dade County Bar Association Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America National Service to Youth Award. She is a former Big Sister in the Big Brothers Big Sisters School to Work Program and has been recognized for her work on the Women’s Committee of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Miami. Judge Lindsey earned Hon. Mention Recognition as a High School All-American in Track and Field after winning the Virginia State AA High School high jump championship two years in a row.
Prior to taking the bench, Judge Lindsey practiced commercial litigation. She also served as a member and chair of the Judicial Nominating Commission for Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal, the Executive Director of Florida’s Growth Management Study Commission, and as Associate General Counsel for Boys and Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade.
Judge Lindsey earned her law degree at the University of Miami School of Law. She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Economics from Marshall University, where she was the Captain of the Women’s Track and Field Team and the recipient of the Arlene Stooke Award for Leadership Excellence.
She is married to attorney H. Eugene Lindsey, III, and they are the proud parents of a beautiful daughter.
United States District Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
On December 20, 2019, Raag Singhal received his judicial commission to serve on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Judge Singhal is the first Asian American in history to serve as an Article III judge in the jurisdiction of the Eleventh Circuit (Alabama, Georgia and Florida).
Immediately prior to becoming a federal judge, Judge Singhal spent eight years as a State Circuit Court Judge in Broward County, Florida, having been appointed by then-Governor Rick Scott in 2011. During that period of time, Singhal served, at times, in the Criminal, Civil and Mental Health divisions and was fortunate enough to sit as an Associate Judge on Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal on four occasions.
As a lawyer, Singhal gained experience at a civil litigation firm followed by three years as an Assistant State Attorney. After that, Singhal ran a successful criminal defense practice in Fort Lauderdale for eighteen years. During that time, he handled more than two hundred jury trials including thirty first-degree murder cases.
Judge Singhal has had leadership roles in many law-related groups. He is past-President of the Broward Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Stephen H. Booher Chapter of the American Inns of Court. He was on the Board of Directors of the Broward County Bar Association, and is a frequent speaker at events for various local Bar groups such as the Asian Pacific American Bar Association and the Federalist Society. Singhal was also Associate Dean of the Florida College for Advanced Judicial Studies upon his elevation to the federal court system.
Judge Singhal received his law degree from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1989 where he was very active in Moot Court activities, and was on the winning team of the J. Braxton Craven National Moot Court Competition (4th Amendment). He received his undergraduate degree in Political Science from Rice University in 1986.
Political Cartoonist
For 45 years, political cartoonist Steve Kelley has devoted his attention to public officials the way the radiator grille of a tractor-trailer might devote its attention to June bugs. He has delighted readers by consistently consigning officeholders to the one fate they fear most -- that of not being taken seriously.
A 1981 honors graduate from Dartmouth College, Kelley spent two decades as staff political cartoonist for The San Diego Union-Tribune. In 2002, he moved to The Times-Picayune in New Orleans.
"I tend to limit my cartoons to two subjects," Kelley confesses. "Politics and stuff people actually care about."
Kelley's cartoons are nationally syndicated and have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and USA Today among many others. They are routinely featured on prominent Internet news sites.
With cartoonist Jeff Parker, Kelley created the popular syndicated comic strip, Dustin, which has appeared in more than 300 newspapers daily since its debut in 2010.
The Virginia native is a popular speaker and humorist. A veteran of seven appearances on The Tonight Show, Kelley has given much of his time and talent to charity. Funny Money, a fundraiser he co-created with another comedian, provided funding for the San Diego Child Abuse Prevention Foundation for seven consecutive years. A Thousand Laughs for a Thousand Smiles helped underwrite reconstructive dental surgery for children in Mexico.
Kelley is the father of a 27-year-old son, Hayden, about whom he brags without regard to the listener's interest.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
John K. Bush is a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
His chambers are in Louisville, Kentucky. Prior to joining the court, Judge Bush was a partner in the
Louisville office of the firm Bingham Greenebaum Doll (now Dentons Bingham Greenebaum),
where he also was co-chair of the firm’s litigation department. He began his legal practice in the
Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher.
Judge Bush served as a law clerk for Judge J. Smith Henley of the United States Court of
Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He was graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University,
and cum laude from Harvard Law School. He is an adjunct lecturer at The George Washington
University Law School and the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
John B. Nalbandian serves as a United States Circuit Judge from Kentucky on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He was nominated and confirmed to that position in 2018. Prior to that, Judge Nalbandian was a partner in the litigation practice group of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP in Cincinnati, where he served as the firm’s lead appellate lawyer and also practiced complex litigation in state and federal courts. Judge Nalbandian was board certified by the Ohio State Bar Association as a specialist in appellate law. Prior to joining Taft, Judge Nalbandian practiced for five years in the appellate section of Jones Day in Washington, DC. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Nalbandian clerked for the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Houston. While in private practice, he also served as a board member of the State Justice Institute, a nonprofit organization established by the federal government to improve the administration of justice in state courts. He served as President of the Cincinnati Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society. He has also been involved in his community as a board member of the Greater Cincinnati Minority Counsel Program, and as a board member of the Asian Pacific Bar Association of Southwest Ohio. Judge Nalbandian earned his B.S., magna cum laude, from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif and served as managing editor of the Virginia Law Review.
Senior Attorney, Institute for Free Speech
Brett Nolan is a Senior Attorney at the Institute for Free Speech, a public interest law firm that defends the First Amendment rights of those engaged in political speech and advocacy around the country.
Before joining the Institute, Brett served as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General of Kentucky, where he represented the Commonwealth in a wide variety of high-stakes litigation at every level of state and federal court. In that role, Brett led a successful challenge against the Department of Treasury over the constitutionality of a federal law limiting the ability of states to modify their tax codes, and he helped secure a U.S. Supreme Court victory that upheld a state’s constitutional right to defend its interests in federal court.
Prior to that, Brett served as the Deputy General Counsel to the former Governor of Kentucky, where he advised the governor and other executive branch officials on legal and policy issues and represented them in litigation. Brett clerked for Judge John Nalbandian of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Judge Karen K. Caldwell of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Between clerkships, he worked in private practice. Brett received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where he graduated with High Honors and was an editor of The University of Chicago Law Review.
Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Judge Walker was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals in September 2020. A graduate of Duke University and Harvard Law School, he clerked for then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Anthony Kennedy. In 2019, he was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. Prior to that, he practiced at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher (D.C.) and Dinsmore & Shohl (Louisville). He has taught law in several states and foreign countries.
Solicitor General, Alabama Office of the Attorney General
Barrett Bowdre serves as solicitor general in the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, where he oversees the state’s appellate docket and helps defend the state’s interests in courts throughout the country. He previously served as principal deputy solicitor general and, before that, deputy solicitor general. He is a former law clerk to Judge Paul J. Kelly, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, then-Chief Judge W. Keith Watkins of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, and then-Chief Judge Ed Carnes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He holds a J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Alabama School of Law and a B.A., cum laude, from Furman University. Before attending law school, he worked as a research assistant at the American Enterprise Institute, where he researched civic education initiatives and helped compile literary anthologies exploring the American character.
Founding Partner, Cooper & Kirk PLLC
Charles J. Cooper is a founding member and the chairman of Cooper & Kirk, PLLC, “one of the Nation’s leading litigation boutiques” (Above The Law 2017). The National Law Journal recently wrote that Mr. Cooper’s “brilliant legal career has so far spanned five decades and thrust Cooper into the spotlight in some of the most historic moments of the country’s modern history.” He has argued nine cases before the United States Supreme Court and scores of appeals before each of the 13 federal courts of appeals and several state supreme courts. He has been lead trial counsel in numerous complex, weeks-long trials in federal courts throughout the country. Named by the National Law Journal as one of the 10 best litigators in Washington D.C., Mr. Cooper’s work has been reported in numerous press accounts, and he has been called a “powerhouse attorney” (Fortune 2015), “a hard-nosed litigator” (Washington Post 2017), and “one of the country’s most in-demand civil litigators and a Washington legal institution unto himself” (The American Spectator 2014).
After graduating from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1977, where he ranked first in his class and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Alabama Law Review, Mr. Cooper began his career as a law clerk to Judge Paul Roney on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and to Justice William H. Rehnquist in 1978–79. He then practiced law in Atlanta for two years before joining the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he served as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in charge of, among other things, appellate matters. In 1985 President Reagan appointed him to the position of Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, which is the office responsible for providing legal opinions and advice to the White House, the Attorney General, and Executive Branch departments and agencies on issues covering the full spectrum of federal constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law.
In 1988 he returned to private practice as a litigation partner in the Washington, D.C. office of McGuireWoods. From 1990 until the founding of Cooper & Kirk in 1996, he was a partner at Shaw Pittman (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman), where he headed the firm’s Constitutional and Government Litigation Group.
Mr. Cooper has represented a wide range of public and private clients in highly complex constitutional, civil rights, antitrust, healthcare, banking, intellectual property, elections, campaign finance, administrative, commercial, and government contract cases. He has led trial teams in cases that have won judgments and settlements valued in the billions of dollars and that have established ground-breaking constitutional precedents.
Much of Mr. Cooper’s practice has involved representing high-profile clients in nationally prominent matters, including: the State of Florida in a First Amendment suit brought by the Disney Company concerning its autonomous regulatory authority over its Disney World property; the Commonwealth of Virginia in a suit seeking to enjoin the removal of noncitizens from its voter rolls; 38 members of the Duke Lacrosse team falsely accused of rape by officials of Duke University and the City of Durham; Harper Lee in a copyright dispute with the heirs of Gregory Peck; high-ranking former government officials such as former Attorneys General John Ashcroft, Jeff Sessions, and William Barr, and Ambassador John Bolton; several Governors and United States Senators; over 100 Members of Congress; and many state, territorial, and local government bodies and officials. He has also represented and advised government officials and public figures in connection with sensitive private issues that needed to be, and were, resolved discreetly without becoming matters of public record.
In 1998 Chief Justice Rehnquist appointed Mr. Cooper to the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Judicial Conference of the United States, where he served for three terms. He also served as a Public Member, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, of the National Commission on Judicial Discipline and Removal. He is a member of numerous professional associations, including the American Law Institute (since 1993) and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers (since 1996). He is also an active member of the Federalist Society and the Republican National Lawyers Association, which in 2010 named him Republican Lawyer of the Year and in 2016 honored him with its Edwin Meese III Award.
Mr. Cooper has published scores of articles and spoken extensively on constitutional and legal policy topics. He has appeared before congressional committees on 26 occasions, testifying as an expert on a wide variety of legal issues, including the Chevron doctrine of judicial deference to administrative agencies, the diversity of citizenship jurisdiction of federal courts, statehood bills for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, and the impeachment of President Clinton.
Partner, Consovoy McCarthy PLLC
Ms. Meehan’s practice focuses on constitutional litigation, election law matters, and complex federal statutes. She has represented states, state legislatures, and individual clients in the U.S. Supreme Court, state supreme courts, federal courts of appeals, and federal district courts. She has served as trial and appellate counsel for disputes about legislative privilege for state legislators and has successfully appealed to federal appellate courts to halt subpoenas targeting high-ranking public officials. She has served as trial and appellate counsel in recent redistricting litigation in Alabama, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin. And she has had the privilege of defending other state laws in every stage of litigation, including in state supreme courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 2022, Ms. Meehan served as counsel of record for the Wisconsin Legislature in Wisconsin Legislature v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, 595 U.S. 398 (2022). The U.S. Supreme Court granted the legislature’s request to summarily reverse the state supreme court’s redistricting decision, which would have racially gerrymandered electoral districts on the eve of elections. In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court appointed Ms. Meehan to brief and argue Patel v. Garland, 596 U.S. 328 (2022), and the court adopted the position she was appointed to argue. Years earlier, the en banc Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals appointed Ms. Meehan to brief and argue a federal habeas case as the court-appointed amicus curiae, and the en banc court adopted the position she was appointed to argue. Before joining Consovoy, Ms. Meehan was a partner at Bartlit Beck, where she served as a trial lawyer for high-stakes commercial disputes and constitutional litigation.
Ms. Meehan is a former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court and Chief Judge William H. Pryor Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She graduated with high honors from the University of Chicago Law School, where she was selected for Order of the Coif and served as Managing Editor of the Law Review. Before law school, Ms. Meehan graduated first in her class from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Her first writing job was bylining a human-interest column inspired by Studs Terkel for her Indiana hometown paper.
Associate Justice, Supreme Court of Alabama
Justice William G. Parker, Jr. (“Will”) was appointed to the Alabama Supreme Court on November 10, 2025, by Governor Kay Ivey. His appointment continues a career of public service dedicated to upholding the Constitution and preserving the rule of law.
Before joining the Court, Justice Parker served as an attorney in the Office of the Governor, including for nearly six years as General Counsel to the Governor. In this capacity, Justice Parker advised Governor Ivey and her administration on a wide range of issues—from education, economic development, ethics, and elections to procurement, government accountability, regulation, and public safety. By virtue of his position, Justice Parker served on the Alabama Judicial Resources Allocation Commission and the Court Advisory Committee for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
Prior to joining Governor Ivey’s office, Justice Parker worked for nearly ten years as Assistant Attorney General in the Constitutional Defense Division of the Alabama Attorney General’s Office. There, Justice Parker handled cases in state and federal trial and appellate courts defending state policies in areas including court administration, campaign finance, economic policy, education, environmental law, immigration, public employment, public finance, and taxation.
Justice Parker came to the AG’s Office after clerking for the Honorable Ed Carnes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Earlier in his career, he taught U.S. History at a Montgomery public high school.
Justice Parker graduated magna cum laude from the University of Alabama School of Law, where he was Senior Articles Editor for the Alabama Law Review and a member of the National Moot Court Team. He earned his undergraduate degree in political science with a concentration in education from Davidson College, where he was Chair of the College Honor Council and President of the College Union Board.
Justice Parker and his wife Karen are the proud parents of two school-aged sons. A seventh-generation Alabamian, Justice Parker is a Trustee for the Eleventh Circuit Historical Society, a member of the Federalist Society, and a member of First Methodist Church. Growing up, Justice Parker was active in Scouting, earning his Eagle, working at Camp Tukabatchee and Philmont Scout Ranch, and serving in 1999 as National Chief of the Order of the Arrow.
Professor of Law, University of Alabama School of Law
Professor Rosen received his LLM with honors from the University of London, London School of Economics, in 1997, his JD from Yale Law School in 1994, and his BS from Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, in 1991 as a Merill Presidential Scholar. He served as a Senior Editor of the Yale Law Journal and an Editor of the Yale Journal of International Law. Upon graduation from Yale, he clerked for the Honorable Edward E. Carnes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Montgomery, Alabama. From 1995 to 1996, he was an associate with the Washington, D.C. firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. From 1998 to 2002, he worked in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Market Regulation, where he achieved the rank of Special Counsel. During his time at the Commission, he provided counsel on matters before the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, aided the restoration of financial markets following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, assisted with legislative drafting, and worked on matters including foreign market access, financial derivatives, market structure, and the regulation of exchanges and over-the-counter markets. While at the SEC, Professor Rosen received the Commission's Law and Policy Award and the Manuel F. Cohen Award from the Securities Law Committee of the Federal Bar Association. Before arriving at the University of Alabama, he served as the first Fellow for the Fordham University School of Law's Center for Corporate, Securities and Financial Law in New York City. He has spoken both in the United States and abroad at events sponsored by such organizations as the Association of American Law Schools, the American Society of International Law, the Law and Society Association, the Southeastern Association of Law Schools, Futures Industry Association, the Small Business Committee of the American Bar Association's Section on Business Law, the Washington Campus, National Regulatory Services, and the United Kingdom's City and Financial Conferences.
Professor Rosen has taught multiple courses at the law school including business organizations, securities regulation, international business transactions, economy in crisis (public policy-making role-playing simulation course), integrated financial regulation (banking, commodities, securities, and insurance law), and conflict of laws. He also holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Economics, Finance, and Legal Studies at The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration and has been appointed to The University of Alabama Graduate School faculty in connection with his work on PhD dissertation committees. His focus on inter-disciplinary matters also has led to his membership in organizations such as the American Economic Association, American Finance Association, and American Law and Economics Association. He has advised The Journal of the Legal Profession and was awarded the Edward M. Friend Jr. Award in the year he coached the law school's team to its first appearance in the national final rounds as a super-regional champion in the American Bar Association's National Appellate Advocacy Competition. He has served as Director of the law school's successful judicial clerkship program, and the law school's students selected him for the 2007-2008 Outstanding Faculty Member Award.
Since joining the legal academy, Professor Rosen continues his public policy work and has advised federal and state government officials. His expertise is sought in various contexts. For example, he has testified before the Committee on Financial Services of the United States House of Representatives. Professor Rosen also currently serves as a Uniform Law Commissioner. He was appointed to represent Alabama on the Uniform Law Commission by the Governor for a term of service that runs to April 4, 2023.
Professor Rosen also continues to be involved in legal matters around the globe. He has advised on business law curricula in Ethiopia and has been selected to teach courses at Australia National University in Canberra, Pusan National University in Korea, and the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He has served as Director of the law school's exchange program with the University of Fribourg. In addition, he has served as a Corresponding Editor for the American Society of International Law's International Legal Materials and as Co-Chair of ASIL’s Teaching International Law Interest Group. His work for the American Bar Association has included service to the Section of International Law and Practice. His interest in development issues also has led to his participation in the World Bank's Law, Justice, and Development Week program and the International Finance Corporation's Doing Business Project. Moreover, he has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Comparative Law and has been selected to be the United States Reporter on Company Law and the Law of Succession for the Congress of the Academy of International Comparative Law in Vienna, Austria.
Justice of the Supreme Court, Michigan Supreme Court
Justice Brian K. Zahra was appointed by Governor Rick Snyder to the Michigan Supreme Court on January 14, 2011. The people of Michigan subsequently elected him in November 2012 to a partial term and then re-elected him in November 2014 to a full term.
Justice Zahra received his undergraduate degree in 1984 from Wayne State University. To finance his education, he opened and operated a small health and personal care retail store in downtown Detroit. Justice Zahra later opened a grocery outlet, also in Detroit, with two partners. In 1987, he graduated with honors from the University Of Detroit School Of Law, where he served as a member of the Law Review and as Articles Editor of the State Bar of Michigan’s Corporation and Finance Business Law Journal. Upon graduation he served as law clerk to Judge Lawrence P. Zatkoff of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan before joining and eventually becoming a partner in the law firm of Dickinson, Wright, Moon, Van Dusen & Freeman. In 1994, Governor John Engler appointed him to the Wayne County Circuit Court where in 1996 he was elected to a six-year term. In December of 1998, he was appointed to the Michigan Court of Appeals by Governor Engler. He was elected to six-year terms in 2000 and 2006. From December 2005 to January 2007, he served as the Court of Appeals’ Chief Judge Pro Tem.
Justice Zahra has been active in many civic and charitable organizations, including Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan, Kiwanis Club International, Leadership Detroit, the Knights of Columbus, the Maltese American Community Club, and the Maltese American Benevolent Society, of which he is a past officer. He is a former board member and officer of the Catholic Lawyers Society, and past officer of the Federalist Society, where he currently serves as a member of the Advisory Board to the Michigan chapter. He also serves as the judicial advisor to the Hillsdale College Federalist Society Chapter.
Clinical Professor and Director of the First Amendment Clinic, Florida State University College of Law
Denise Mayo Harle is a clinical professor and director of the First Amendment Clinic at FSU College of Law, where she leads student advocacy and litigation on free speech, religious liberty, and press freedom issues. Her teaching and scholarship focus on constitutional law, appellate practice, and First Amendment rights. Before entering academia, Professor Harle was a partner at Shutts & Bowen LLP in Tallahassee, where she was a member of the firm’s Appellate Practice Group and Constitutional Law Practice Area. Prior to that, she served as Deputy Solicitor General in the Office of the Florida Attorney General. Professor Harle has briefed and argued high-profile cases involving significant constitutional issues and questions of statutory interpretation in both state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
Professor Harle’s early career includes clerking for Justice Ricky L. Polston on the Florida Supreme Court and practicing appellate law in California. In 2022, she was selected as a finalist for a seat on the Florida Supreme Court. She was appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis to Florida’s Faith and Community Advisory Council and currently serves on the Judicial Nominating Commission for Florida’s Second Circuit. She was also selected for the prestigious U.S. Supreme Court Fellowship through the National Association of Attorneys General in 2017. She earned her J.D. cum laude from Duke University Law School and her B.A. and B.S. summa cum laude from Florida State University.
Professor Harle is active in the legal and academic communities. She is a member of the American Enterprise Institute’s Leadership Network and the Federalist Society’s Speakers Bureau. She has served on the board of Tallahassee Women Lawyers, the Florida Bar’s Client Security Fund Committee, and the First District Appellate American Inn of Court.
Before practicing law, Professor Harle completed doctoral coursework in Political Science at Stanford University as a Stanford Graduate Fellow, where she taught undergraduate courses on public policy, law, and American politics, and earned a Master’s degree. She continues to serve as a dissertation faculty advisor for Concordia University–St. Paul mentors doctoral students in research and writing.
A frequent speaker and media commentator on constitutional law, Professor Harle has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, and has appeared on national outlets including C-SPAN and Fox News. She has also testified before the U.S. Senate on matters of constitutional significance.
Justice, Florida Supreme Court
On January 14, 2026, Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Justice Adam S. Tanenbaum to be the 94th justice of the Supreme Court of Florida.
Justice Tanenbaum served on the First District Court of Appeal from 2019 to 2026 before joining the Supreme Court.
Before his appointment, Justice Tanenbaum served as general counsel for the Florida House of Representatives (2016–2019). In that position, he provided legal advice and counsel to the Speaker of the House and to House members and staff regarding matters of legislative interest. He also advised House members and senior staff regarding ethics laws, public records requirements, House rules, and issues requiring constitutional or statutory interpretation. He also had primary responsibility for handling litigation affecting the House. Previously, Judge Tanenbaum served as general counsel for the Florida Department of State (2015–2016) and chief deputy solicitor general at the Florida Department of Legal Affairs (2014–2015). He moved with his family to Tallahassee from Tampa in 2014.
Judge Tanenbaum grew up in Pinellas County and was student body president and valedictorian at Seminole High School in Seminole, Florida. He spent most of his professional career living in Tampa and Orlando. He has tried jury and non-jury cases and briefed and argued civil and criminal appeals in state and federal courts. He has worked as an assistant federal public defender in Tampa and Orlando (2008–2010; 2012–2014) and as an assistant public defender in Orlando (2005–2006). He practiced as a private complex commercial litigator in Tampa, Orlando, and New York City, including during several stints at Carlton Fields, P.A. (1997–2001; 2001–2002; 2003–2005; 2010–2011). He also taught complex litigation as an adjunct professor at Stetson University College of Law (2001; 2007). He now teaches a spring course on legislative power as an adjunct professor at Florida State University College of Law.
In 1993 Judge Tanenbaum earned a bachelor of arts degree (major in political science and minor in economics), with honors, from the University of Florida, where he was co-valedictorian; recognized with awards for Outstanding Male Leader and Four-Year Scholar; and inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, Florida Blue Key, and the UF Hall of Fame. He graduated cum laude with a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1996 and was selected to be his section’s commencement speaker. He started his legal career as a law clerk to then-U.S. District Judge Stanley Marcus in the Southern District of Florida.
Miami Lawyer Chapter's Annual Law Review and Journal Topic Selection Night: Legal Scholarship at America's 250th Anniversary
Miami Lawyer Chapter
Miami, FL250 Years of American Political Satire - A Fall Kickoff Mixer
Richmond Lawyer Chapter
Richmond, VAPanel I: America 250: The Enduring Constitution: Ordered Liberty and the Rule of Law
2026 Kentucky Chapters Conference
Lexington, KY2026 Texas Chapters Conference
Arlington, TXPanel III: Lessons from the Declaration of Independence and the Founders for Today
Huntsville, ALAmerica 250: Madison's Long Echo: How The Lessons Of America's Founding Still Endure Today
Tri-Cities Lawyer Chapter
Midland, MIAmerica 250: Enduring Freedoms of Thoughts, Beliefs, Speech, and Assembly
Palm Beach Lawyer Chapter
West Palm Beach, FLNH Lawyers Celebrate America 250-Summer Happy Hour
New Hampshire Lawyer Chapter
Concord, NHAmerica 250: A Conversation with Justice Tanenbaum
Palm Beach and Treasure Coast Lawyer Chapters
Palm City, FLRecreational Activities: Semiquincentennial Leadership Retreat
Park City, UT