President, Americas and Global Chief Legal Officer, Merkle Science
Mary Beth Buchanan is currently President, Americas and Global Chief Legal Officer at Merkle Science. She was former General Counsel for Kraken Cryptocurrency Exchange. She was a partner at Bryan Cave LLP in the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations and Securities Litigation and Enforcement Client Service Groups. She concentrated her practice on white collar criminal defense, SEC and FINRA enforcement matters, corporate and accounting fraud, internal investigations, corporate compliance, foreign corrupt practices violations, Congressional investigations and complex civil litigation.
Ms. Buchanan served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania from September 2001 to November 2009, having been appointed by President George W. Bush. She is the only woman in Pennsylvania's history to be presidentially appointed to this position. As the United States Attorney, Ms. Buchanan oversaw the prosecution of more than 5,000 cases, including corporate and securities fraud, bank fraud, foreign corrupt practices, false claims, money laundering, health care fraud, public corruption and a broad range of violent crimes. Prior to that time, Ms. Buchanan spent more than 13 years as an Assistant United States Attorney litigating criminal, civil and appellate cases.
During her tenure as the United States Attorney, Ms. Buchanan also held several posts at the DOJ, including serving as the director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, acting director of the DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women and chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee. Ms. Buchanan also served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission's Organizational Guidelines Advisory Committee, which made recommendations to the Commission for amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines for Business Organizations.
Executive Vice President and Strategic Counselor, Blacklake Group
Jim Haynes is Executive Vice President and Strategic Counselor of Blacklake Group (a privately held holding company) and concurrently advises several early and mid-stage privately held emerging technology companies, Nichols Law, and the Torridon Group.
Twice a partner in a major national law firm, Jim also previously served as a corporate executive at four public companies: General Dynamics Corporation (as Staff Vice President and Associate General Counsel from 1996-1999), Chevron Corporation (as Chief Corporate Counsel from 2008-2012); Siga Technologies, Inc. (as EVP & General Counsel from 2012-2016); and CSRA Inc. (as EVP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary from 2016-2018, at the end of which the company was acquired for $9.7B.)
Jim has held two presidentially appointed offices requiring Senate confirmation: General Counsel of the Department of the Army from 1990-1993, and General Counsel of the Department of Defense from 2001-2008. Chief Legal Officer and Designated Agency Ethics Officer of both departments during highly consequential times, Jim also served as Director of the Defense Legal Services Agency from 2001-2008.
Jim earned degrees from Davidson College and Harvard Law School, and holds an honorary Doctor of Laws from Stetson Law School. After a judicial clerkship with Judge James B. McMillan (USDJ, WDNC), Jim served four years on active duty in the U.S. Army. He is the recipient of a significant number of awards and medals from the Departments of Defense, Justice, Army, Navy, and Air Force. Jim holds a patent issued in 2025: https://patents.justia.com/patent/12367458.
For several months in 1999, Jim worked in Almaty, Kazakhstan, volunteering assistance for Mercy Corps International in managing microcredit services across six countries in Central Asia. A former Eagle Scout, Jim served on the Board of Directors of the Greater New York City Councils of the Boy Scouts of America from 2013-2023. He has served as director or advisor on many other boards.
He currently is a director or trustee of three boards: Labrynth (labrynth.ai), the Supreme Court Historical Society, and the William T. Coleman, Jr. Foundation.
Former United States Attorney General
Michael B. Mukasey is the former Attorney General of the United States, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. As Attorney General from November 2007 to January 2009, he oversaw the U.S. Department of Justice and advised on critical issues of domestic and international law.
From 1988 to 2006, Judge Mukasey served as a district judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, becoming Chief Judge in 2000.
From 1972 to 1976, Judge Mukasey served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and as Chief of the Official Corruption Unit from 1975 to 1976. His practice consisted of criminal litigation on behalf of the government, including investigation and prosecution of narcotics, bank robbery, interstate theft, securities fraud, fraud on the government and bribery. From 1976 to 1987 and from 2006 to 2007 he was in private practice.
Judge Mukasey has received numerous honors, including the Federal Bar Council’s Learned Hand Medal for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence. He served as Chairman of the Committee on Public Access to Information and Proceedings of the New York Bar Association from 1984 to 1987. He served on the Federal Courts Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York from 1979 to 1982 and its Communications Law Committee from 1983 to 1986. Judge Mukasey was also a part-time lecturer at Columbia School of Law from January 1993 to May 2007, teaching trial advocacy.
He received his LL.B. from Yale Law School in 1967 and his B.A. from Columbia College in 1963.
President, Americas and Global Chief Legal Officer, Merkle Science
Mary Beth Buchanan is currently President, Americas and Global Chief Legal Officer at Merkle Science. She was former General Counsel for Kraken Cryptocurrency Exchange. She was a partner at Bryan Cave LLP in the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations and Securities Litigation and Enforcement Client Service Groups. She concentrated her practice on white collar criminal defense, SEC and FINRA enforcement matters, corporate and accounting fraud, internal investigations, corporate compliance, foreign corrupt practices violations, Congressional investigations and complex civil litigation.
Ms. Buchanan served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania from September 2001 to November 2009, having been appointed by President George W. Bush. She is the only woman in Pennsylvania's history to be presidentially appointed to this position. As the United States Attorney, Ms. Buchanan oversaw the prosecution of more than 5,000 cases, including corporate and securities fraud, bank fraud, foreign corrupt practices, false claims, money laundering, health care fraud, public corruption and a broad range of violent crimes. Prior to that time, Ms. Buchanan spent more than 13 years as an Assistant United States Attorney litigating criminal, civil and appellate cases.
During her tenure as the United States Attorney, Ms. Buchanan also held several posts at the DOJ, including serving as the director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, acting director of the DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women and chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee. Ms. Buchanan also served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission's Organizational Guidelines Advisory Committee, which made recommendations to the Commission for amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines for Business Organizations.
Executive Vice President and Strategic Counselor, Blacklake Group
Jim Haynes is Executive Vice President and Strategic Counselor of Blacklake Group (a privately held holding company) and concurrently advises several early and mid-stage privately held emerging technology companies, Nichols Law, and the Torridon Group.
Twice a partner in a major national law firm, Jim also previously served as a corporate executive at four public companies: General Dynamics Corporation (as Staff Vice President and Associate General Counsel from 1996-1999), Chevron Corporation (as Chief Corporate Counsel from 2008-2012); Siga Technologies, Inc. (as EVP & General Counsel from 2012-2016); and CSRA Inc. (as EVP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary from 2016-2018, at the end of which the company was acquired for $9.7B.)
Jim has held two presidentially appointed offices requiring Senate confirmation: General Counsel of the Department of the Army from 1990-1993, and General Counsel of the Department of Defense from 2001-2008. Chief Legal Officer and Designated Agency Ethics Officer of both departments during highly consequential times, Jim also served as Director of the Defense Legal Services Agency from 2001-2008.
Jim earned degrees from Davidson College and Harvard Law School, and holds an honorary Doctor of Laws from Stetson Law School. After a judicial clerkship with Judge James B. McMillan (USDJ, WDNC), Jim served four years on active duty in the U.S. Army. He is the recipient of a significant number of awards and medals from the Departments of Defense, Justice, Army, Navy, and Air Force. Jim holds a patent issued in 2025: https://patents.justia.com/patent/12367458.
For several months in 1999, Jim worked in Almaty, Kazakhstan, volunteering assistance for Mercy Corps International in managing microcredit services across six countries in Central Asia. A former Eagle Scout, Jim served on the Board of Directors of the Greater New York City Councils of the Boy Scouts of America from 2013-2023. He has served as director or advisor on many other boards.
He currently is a director or trustee of three boards: Labrynth (labrynth.ai), the Supreme Court Historical Society, and the William T. Coleman, Jr. Foundation.
Former United States Attorney General
Michael B. Mukasey is the former Attorney General of the United States, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. As Attorney General from November 2007 to January 2009, he oversaw the U.S. Department of Justice and advised on critical issues of domestic and international law.
From 1988 to 2006, Judge Mukasey served as a district judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, becoming Chief Judge in 2000.
From 1972 to 1976, Judge Mukasey served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and as Chief of the Official Corruption Unit from 1975 to 1976. His practice consisted of criminal litigation on behalf of the government, including investigation and prosecution of narcotics, bank robbery, interstate theft, securities fraud, fraud on the government and bribery. From 1976 to 1987 and from 2006 to 2007 he was in private practice.
Judge Mukasey has received numerous honors, including the Federal Bar Council’s Learned Hand Medal for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence. He served as Chairman of the Committee on Public Access to Information and Proceedings of the New York Bar Association from 1984 to 1987. He served on the Federal Courts Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York from 1979 to 1982 and its Communications Law Committee from 1983 to 1986. Judge Mukasey was also a part-time lecturer at Columbia School of Law from January 1993 to May 2007, teaching trial advocacy.
He received his LL.B. from Yale Law School in 1967 and his B.A. from Columbia College in 1963.
Opinion Columnist, FTC:WATCH
Neil Averitt is a lawyer, editor, and writer.
He was born in Washington, D.C., and later attended Dartmouth College, Harvard College, the London School of Economics, and Harvard Law School, where he was Note Editor on the Law Review.
For most of his professional career he practiced law at the Federal Trade Commission, helping to formulate policy on both antitrust and consumer protection issues. He has worked as advisor to one of the Commissioners, assistant to the Chairman, and as acting head of the antitrust planning staff. He has written numerous articles on antitrust topics, and has contributed to the briefs in a number of Supreme Court litigations.
He was the principal author of the Commission’s 1980 policy statement on its consumer unfairness jurisdiction, and of the opinion in International Harvester which formally adopted that statement.
He presently writes a column of opinion and analysis for the newsweekly FTC:WATCH.
Averitt is married to Kirstin Downey, who is also a writer. She recently published a biography of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor, under the title of The Woman Behind the New Deal (Random House 2009). She is presently working on a biography of Queen Isabella of Spain (Random House 2014).
Averitt lives in Alexandria, Virginia.
Professor Emeritus of Strategic Management and Public Policy, School of Business, The George Washington University
Howard Beales teaches in the School of Business at the George Washington University, where he has been since 1988. His research interests include a wide variety of consumer protection regulatory issues, including privacy, law and economics, and the regulation of advertising. He has published numerous articles addressing these issues in academic journals.
From 2001 through 2004, Dr. Beales served as the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission. In that capacity, he was instrumental in redirecting the FTC’s privacy agenda to focus on the consequences of the use and misuse of consumer information. During his tenure, the Commission proposed, promulgated, and implemented the national Do Not Call Registry. He also worked with Congress and the Administration to develop and implement the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, and testified before Congress on numerous occasions. His aggressive law enforcement program produced the largest redress orders in FTC history and attacked high volume frauds promoted through heavy television advertising.
Dr. Beales also worked at the FTC from 1977 to 1987, as a staff economist, Assistant to the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, Associate Director for Policy and Evaluation, and Acting Deputy Director. In 1987-88, he was the Chief of the Human Resources and Housing Branch of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget.
Howard Beales received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 1978. He graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a B.A. in Economics in 1972.
President, Antitrust Education Project
Associate Professor, School of Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania, Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research
Ioana Marinescu is an economist who studies the labor market to craft policies that can enhance employment, productivity, and economic security. To make an informed policy decision, it is crucial to determine the costs and benefits of policies. Dr. Marinescu’s research expertise includes online job search, antitrust & the labor market, the universal basic income, unemployment insurance, the minimum wage, and employment contracts.
Dr. Marinescu’s research has been published in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Labor Economics, the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, and the Journal of Public Economics. She has testified for policy makers, including the Federal Trade Commission, and has briefed Congressional Staff. Her research has been cited in many media outlets including the New York Times, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal. She writes a monthly op-ed for the French newspaper Liberation.
Dr. Marinescu is a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. You can follow her on Twitter @mioana and check out her research on her website, marinescu.eu.
Managing Partner - Washington, D.C., Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP
Jane Luxton is the Managing Partner of Lewis Brisbois’ Washington, D.C. office, co-chair of the Government Investigations & White Collar Defense Practice, co-chair of the Government Relations Group Leadership, co-chair of the Environmental and Administrative Law Practice, and vice-chair of the Consumer Financial Services Practice. Jane has extensive experience in environmental as well as other federal regulatory, policy, and litigation matters. She advises businesses, associations, and coalitions in navigating all levels of the federal regulatory process, including appellate advocacy.
Recent matters include:
Jane’s knowledge of environmental and administrative law gained key insights from her experience serving in several prominent positions in the U.S. government. From 2007-2009, she served as general counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, advising the Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere on legal and policy issues related to natural resource damages, coastal zone and fisheries management, endangered species and marine mammal protection, and weather and climate change science. In this role, in which she held a top secret/SCI security clearance, Jane was appointed by the President to head the U.S. delegation to the 2008 Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. She also received the U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal Award in 2008 and 2009.
Jane’s experience includes “first chair” prosecution of antitrust and other criminal cases at the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorneys office, Eastern District of Virginia. In private practice, Jane has represented clients in grand jury and other government investigations.
Senior Counsel, First Liberty Institute
Jordan Lorence is Senior Counsel in FLI’s Washington, D.C. office, where he represents First Liberty in strategic efforts promoting religious liberty, and works on important First Amendment projects and litigation, including those at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Lorence has a long career of litigating religious liberty cases since 1984. He has worked for many public interest law firms, including Alliance Defending Freedom, Home School Legal Defense Association, the North Star Legal Center and Concerned Women for America.
He has worked on important religious liberty cases. Lorence worked on school choice cases at the Supreme Court, such as Witters v. Washington Department of Services for the Blind (1986), and Trinity Lutheran (2016), which laid the foundation for First Liberty’s crucial win in Carson v. Makin (2022), requiring Maine to include religious schools in its school choice program.
Lorence argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in Regents of the University of Wisconsin v. Southworth (2000). He represented prolife Christian law students from the University of Wisconsin Law School who objected to the University’s requirement that they pay a mandatory student fee that funded the advocacy of student pro-abortion groups. Other Supreme Court cases Lorence has worked on include NIFLA v. Becerra (2018), protecting prolife pregnancy centers from a California statute requiring them to post signs explaining how pregnant women could obtain state-funded abortions; Masterpiece Cakeshop (2017), involving a Christian cake artist sued by the State of Colorado for declining to design a case celebrating the wedding of a same-sex couple and other cases such as Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (2012), Rosenberger v. University of Virginia (1995), Hurley v. GLIB (1995) and Lamb’s Chapel v. Center Moriches Center Moriches School District (1993).
Churches and other religious groups in New York City obtained the right to rent vacant public schools on weekends to conduct worship services after Lorence’s tenacious 20 years of litigation in Bronx Household of Faith. Lorence won protection for churches facing eviction from discriminatory zoning ordinances in Minnesota in Cornerstone Bible Church v. City of Hastings, Minnesota (1991). He also argued at the New Mexico Supreme Court one of the first cases in the nation defending a Christian wedding photographer charged by the State of New Mexico with discrimination for declining to create photos celebrating the commitment ceremony of a lesbian couple in Elane Photography v. Willock (2013).
Lorence defended home schooling families from intrusive school officials during his time working at Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) in the 1980s and 1990s. HSLDA also tasked Lorence with establishing a sister organization in Canada to protect home schooling families there. He traveled extensively in Canada from British Columbia to Prince Edward Island speaking to families how they could protect their right to home school under relevant Canadian law.
Lorence earned his undergraduate degree in journalism from Stanford University and his law degree from the University of Minnesota, his home state. Lorence was born and raised in Minnesota, where he worked one summer building Mighty Dump trucks at Tonka Toys in Mound, Minnesota. For two years immediately after he graduated from law school, Lorence served as the head administrator for a Minnesota Senate committee.
He speaks extensively on First Amendment and other legal issues. Lorence has spoken at least 75 law schools and many legal conferences. Prominent publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and others have printed his opinion pieces on key legal issues involving religious liberty and freedom of speech. He has appeared on such media outlets as Fox News, CNN, National Public Radio, NBC’s Today Show, BBC radio and many others.
Lorence and his wife Marilyn have been married 40 years. They live in the Washington, D.C. area where they raised their seven children.
Opinion Columnist, FTC:WATCH
Neil Averitt is a lawyer, editor, and writer.
He was born in Washington, D.C., and later attended Dartmouth College, Harvard College, the London School of Economics, and Harvard Law School, where he was Note Editor on the Law Review.
For most of his professional career he practiced law at the Federal Trade Commission, helping to formulate policy on both antitrust and consumer protection issues. He has worked as advisor to one of the Commissioners, assistant to the Chairman, and as acting head of the antitrust planning staff. He has written numerous articles on antitrust topics, and has contributed to the briefs in a number of Supreme Court litigations.
He was the principal author of the Commission’s 1980 policy statement on its consumer unfairness jurisdiction, and of the opinion in International Harvester which formally adopted that statement.
He presently writes a column of opinion and analysis for the newsweekly FTC:WATCH.
Averitt is married to Kirstin Downey, who is also a writer. She recently published a biography of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor, under the title of The Woman Behind the New Deal (Random House 2009). She is presently working on a biography of Queen Isabella of Spain (Random House 2014).
Averitt lives in Alexandria, Virginia.
Professor Emeritus of Strategic Management and Public Policy, School of Business, The George Washington University
Howard Beales teaches in the School of Business at the George Washington University, where he has been since 1988. His research interests include a wide variety of consumer protection regulatory issues, including privacy, law and economics, and the regulation of advertising. He has published numerous articles addressing these issues in academic journals.
From 2001 through 2004, Dr. Beales served as the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission. In that capacity, he was instrumental in redirecting the FTC’s privacy agenda to focus on the consequences of the use and misuse of consumer information. During his tenure, the Commission proposed, promulgated, and implemented the national Do Not Call Registry. He also worked with Congress and the Administration to develop and implement the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, and testified before Congress on numerous occasions. His aggressive law enforcement program produced the largest redress orders in FTC history and attacked high volume frauds promoted through heavy television advertising.
Dr. Beales also worked at the FTC from 1977 to 1987, as a staff economist, Assistant to the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, Associate Director for Policy and Evaluation, and Acting Deputy Director. In 1987-88, he was the Chief of the Human Resources and Housing Branch of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget.
Howard Beales received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 1978. He graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a B.A. in Economics in 1972.
President, Antitrust Education Project
Managing Partner - Washington, D.C., Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP
Jane Luxton is the Managing Partner of Lewis Brisbois’ Washington, D.C. office, co-chair of the Government Investigations & White Collar Defense Practice, co-chair of the Government Relations Group Leadership, co-chair of the Environmental and Administrative Law Practice, and vice-chair of the Consumer Financial Services Practice. Jane has extensive experience in environmental as well as other federal regulatory, policy, and litigation matters. She advises businesses, associations, and coalitions in navigating all levels of the federal regulatory process, including appellate advocacy.
Recent matters include:
Jane’s knowledge of environmental and administrative law gained key insights from her experience serving in several prominent positions in the U.S. government. From 2007-2009, she served as general counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, advising the Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere on legal and policy issues related to natural resource damages, coastal zone and fisheries management, endangered species and marine mammal protection, and weather and climate change science. In this role, in which she held a top secret/SCI security clearance, Jane was appointed by the President to head the U.S. delegation to the 2008 Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. She also received the U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal Award in 2008 and 2009.
Jane’s experience includes “first chair” prosecution of antitrust and other criminal cases at the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorneys office, Eastern District of Virginia. In private practice, Jane has represented clients in grand jury and other government investigations.
Associate Professor, School of Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania, Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research
Ioana Marinescu is an economist who studies the labor market to craft policies that can enhance employment, productivity, and economic security. To make an informed policy decision, it is crucial to determine the costs and benefits of policies. Dr. Marinescu’s research expertise includes online job search, antitrust & the labor market, the universal basic income, unemployment insurance, the minimum wage, and employment contracts.
Dr. Marinescu’s research has been published in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Labor Economics, the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, and the Journal of Public Economics. She has testified for policy makers, including the Federal Trade Commission, and has briefed Congressional Staff. Her research has been cited in many media outlets including the New York Times, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal. She writes a monthly op-ed for the French newspaper Liberation.
Dr. Marinescu is a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. You can follow her on Twitter @mioana and check out her research on her website, marinescu.eu.
Professor Emeritus, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University
In memoriam
Dr. John Baker is Professor Emeritus of Law, and previously the Dale E. Bennett Professor of Law, at Louisiana State University Law School. He is currently Visiting Professor at Peking University School of Transnational Law (via Zoom) and has been Visiting Professor at The Center for the Constitution, Georgetown Law School (2013-2020). He has also been a Visiting Fellow at Oriel College, the University of Oxford (2012-2014) and taught at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford in 2014. Dr. Baker has also been an adjunct Fellow at the Heritage Foundation (Spring, 2008) and a Distinguished Scholar at the Catholic University of America Law School (2011-12). He has taught at Tulane Law School, George Mason Law School, Pepperdine Law School, New York Law School, Hong Kong University, and the University of Dallas, School of Management and also taught and/or lectured in 17 foreign countries. Notable among his foreign visits are the
following: Visiting Professor at the University of Lyon III (France) (1999-2011); Visiting Professor at the Universidad de los Andes, Chile (2012), as a Fulbright Specialist (2006); and a Fulbright Scholar at various universities in the Philippines. Dr. Baker received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Michigan Law School and his B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Dallas. He also earned a Ph.D. in Political Thought from the University of London. Baker has taught over a dozen different subjects, mostly courses in public law. His main areas of interest are Constitutional Law (particularly federalism and separation of powers), Criminal Law, Anti-Terrorism Law, International Law, Health Care Law, Mediation, and Comparative Law.
In addition to law review articles and book chapters, Dr. Baker’s academic publications include Hall's Criminal Law: Cases and Materials (with Benson, Force and George; 5th ed. Michie, 1993); An Introduction to the Law of the United States (ed. with Levasseur; University Press of America, 1992). He has also published on Forbes.com, FoxNews.com, in The Washington Times, and a number of times in The Wall Street Journal. He argues in federal court, including two oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court. For many years, he co-taught courses for the Federalist Society on separation of powers with the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In September 2016, he co-taught a Supreme Court seminar in China with Justice Samuel Alito. Following law school, he served as a law clerk in federal district court and as an assistant district attorney in New Orleans before joining LSU in 1975. While a professor, he has been as a consultant to USAID, USIA (since rolled into the State Department), the Justice Department, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, and the Office of Planning in the White House. He served on an ABA Task Force which issued the report, The Federalization of Crime (1998) and later as a consultant to the “Bi-Partisan Task Force on the Over- federalization of Crime” (2012-2014) created by the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime. Dr. Baker was a co-founder of the first iteration (1995) of Stratfor Inc., a global intelligence agency. He co-authored its first book: The Intelligence Edge (with Friedman, Friedman and Chapman; Crown Books/Random House 1997). In 2022, he began a short, weekly video podcast available on YouTube and Rumble, The Baker Brief.
President, Americas and Global Chief Legal Officer, Merkle Science
Mary Beth Buchanan is currently President, Americas and Global Chief Legal Officer at Merkle Science. She was former General Counsel for Kraken Cryptocurrency Exchange. She was a partner at Bryan Cave LLP in the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations and Securities Litigation and Enforcement Client Service Groups. She concentrated her practice on white collar criminal defense, SEC and FINRA enforcement matters, corporate and accounting fraud, internal investigations, corporate compliance, foreign corrupt practices violations, Congressional investigations and complex civil litigation.
Ms. Buchanan served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania from September 2001 to November 2009, having been appointed by President George W. Bush. She is the only woman in Pennsylvania's history to be presidentially appointed to this position. As the United States Attorney, Ms. Buchanan oversaw the prosecution of more than 5,000 cases, including corporate and securities fraud, bank fraud, foreign corrupt practices, false claims, money laundering, health care fraud, public corruption and a broad range of violent crimes. Prior to that time, Ms. Buchanan spent more than 13 years as an Assistant United States Attorney litigating criminal, civil and appellate cases.
During her tenure as the United States Attorney, Ms. Buchanan also held several posts at the DOJ, including serving as the director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, acting director of the DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women and chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee. Ms. Buchanan also served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission's Organizational Guidelines Advisory Committee, which made recommendations to the Commission for amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines for Business Organizations.
Executive Vice President and Strategic Counselor, Blacklake Group
Jim Haynes is Executive Vice President and Strategic Counselor of Blacklake Group (a privately held holding company) and concurrently advises several early and mid-stage privately held emerging technology companies, Nichols Law, and the Torridon Group.
Twice a partner in a major national law firm, Jim also previously served as a corporate executive at four public companies: General Dynamics Corporation (as Staff Vice President and Associate General Counsel from 1996-1999), Chevron Corporation (as Chief Corporate Counsel from 2008-2012); Siga Technologies, Inc. (as EVP & General Counsel from 2012-2016); and CSRA Inc. (as EVP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary from 2016-2018, at the end of which the company was acquired for $9.7B.)
Jim has held two presidentially appointed offices requiring Senate confirmation: General Counsel of the Department of the Army from 1990-1993, and General Counsel of the Department of Defense from 2001-2008. Chief Legal Officer and Designated Agency Ethics Officer of both departments during highly consequential times, Jim also served as Director of the Defense Legal Services Agency from 2001-2008.
Jim earned degrees from Davidson College and Harvard Law School, and holds an honorary Doctor of Laws from Stetson Law School. After a judicial clerkship with Judge James B. McMillan (USDJ, WDNC), Jim served four years on active duty in the U.S. Army. He is the recipient of a significant number of awards and medals from the Departments of Defense, Justice, Army, Navy, and Air Force. Jim holds a patent issued in 2025: https://patents.justia.com/patent/12367458.
For several months in 1999, Jim worked in Almaty, Kazakhstan, volunteering assistance for Mercy Corps International in managing microcredit services across six countries in Central Asia. A former Eagle Scout, Jim served on the Board of Directors of the Greater New York City Councils of the Boy Scouts of America from 2013-2023. He has served as director or advisor on many other boards.
He currently is a director or trustee of three boards: Labrynth (labrynth.ai), the Supreme Court Historical Society, and the William T. Coleman, Jr. Foundation.
Former United States Attorney General
Michael B. Mukasey is the former Attorney General of the United States, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. As Attorney General from November 2007 to January 2009, he oversaw the U.S. Department of Justice and advised on critical issues of domestic and international law.
From 1988 to 2006, Judge Mukasey served as a district judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, becoming Chief Judge in 2000.
From 1972 to 1976, Judge Mukasey served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and as Chief of the Official Corruption Unit from 1975 to 1976. His practice consisted of criminal litigation on behalf of the government, including investigation and prosecution of narcotics, bank robbery, interstate theft, securities fraud, fraud on the government and bribery. From 1976 to 1987 and from 2006 to 2007 he was in private practice.
Judge Mukasey has received numerous honors, including the Federal Bar Council’s Learned Hand Medal for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence. He served as Chairman of the Committee on Public Access to Information and Proceedings of the New York Bar Association from 1984 to 1987. He served on the Federal Courts Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York from 1979 to 1982 and its Communications Law Committee from 1983 to 1986. Judge Mukasey was also a part-time lecturer at Columbia School of Law from January 1993 to May 2007, teaching trial advocacy.
He received his LL.B. from Yale Law School in 1967 and his B.A. from Columbia College in 1963.
Opinion Columnist, FTC:WATCH
Neil Averitt is a lawyer, editor, and writer.
He was born in Washington, D.C., and later attended Dartmouth College, Harvard College, the London School of Economics, and Harvard Law School, where he was Note Editor on the Law Review.
For most of his professional career he practiced law at the Federal Trade Commission, helping to formulate policy on both antitrust and consumer protection issues. He has worked as advisor to one of the Commissioners, assistant to the Chairman, and as acting head of the antitrust planning staff. He has written numerous articles on antitrust topics, and has contributed to the briefs in a number of Supreme Court litigations.
He was the principal author of the Commission’s 1980 policy statement on its consumer unfairness jurisdiction, and of the opinion in International Harvester which formally adopted that statement.
He presently writes a column of opinion and analysis for the newsweekly FTC:WATCH.
Averitt is married to Kirstin Downey, who is also a writer. She recently published a biography of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor, under the title of The Woman Behind the New Deal (Random House 2009). She is presently working on a biography of Queen Isabella of Spain (Random House 2014).
Averitt lives in Alexandria, Virginia.
Professor Emeritus of Strategic Management and Public Policy, School of Business, The George Washington University
Howard Beales teaches in the School of Business at the George Washington University, where he has been since 1988. His research interests include a wide variety of consumer protection regulatory issues, including privacy, law and economics, and the regulation of advertising. He has published numerous articles addressing these issues in academic journals.
From 2001 through 2004, Dr. Beales served as the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission. In that capacity, he was instrumental in redirecting the FTC’s privacy agenda to focus on the consequences of the use and misuse of consumer information. During his tenure, the Commission proposed, promulgated, and implemented the national Do Not Call Registry. He also worked with Congress and the Administration to develop and implement the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, and testified before Congress on numerous occasions. His aggressive law enforcement program produced the largest redress orders in FTC history and attacked high volume frauds promoted through heavy television advertising.
Dr. Beales also worked at the FTC from 1977 to 1987, as a staff economist, Assistant to the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, Associate Director for Policy and Evaluation, and Acting Deputy Director. In 1987-88, he was the Chief of the Human Resources and Housing Branch of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget.
Howard Beales received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 1978. He graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a B.A. in Economics in 1972.
President, Antitrust Education Project
Managing Partner - Washington, D.C., Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP
Jane Luxton is the Managing Partner of Lewis Brisbois’ Washington, D.C. office, co-chair of the Government Investigations & White Collar Defense Practice, co-chair of the Government Relations Group Leadership, co-chair of the Environmental and Administrative Law Practice, and vice-chair of the Consumer Financial Services Practice. Jane has extensive experience in environmental as well as other federal regulatory, policy, and litigation matters. She advises businesses, associations, and coalitions in navigating all levels of the federal regulatory process, including appellate advocacy.
Recent matters include:
Jane’s knowledge of environmental and administrative law gained key insights from her experience serving in several prominent positions in the U.S. government. From 2007-2009, she served as general counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, advising the Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere on legal and policy issues related to natural resource damages, coastal zone and fisheries management, endangered species and marine mammal protection, and weather and climate change science. In this role, in which she held a top secret/SCI security clearance, Jane was appointed by the President to head the U.S. delegation to the 2008 Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. She also received the U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal Award in 2008 and 2009.
Jane’s experience includes “first chair” prosecution of antitrust and other criminal cases at the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorneys office, Eastern District of Virginia. In private practice, Jane has represented clients in grand jury and other government investigations.
Associate Professor, School of Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania, Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research
Ioana Marinescu is an economist who studies the labor market to craft policies that can enhance employment, productivity, and economic security. To make an informed policy decision, it is crucial to determine the costs and benefits of policies. Dr. Marinescu’s research expertise includes online job search, antitrust & the labor market, the universal basic income, unemployment insurance, the minimum wage, and employment contracts.
Dr. Marinescu’s research has been published in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Labor Economics, the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, and the Journal of Public Economics. She has testified for policy makers, including the Federal Trade Commission, and has briefed Congressional Staff. Her research has been cited in many media outlets including the New York Times, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal. She writes a monthly op-ed for the French newspaper Liberation.
Dr. Marinescu is a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. You can follow her on Twitter @mioana and check out her research on her website, marinescu.eu.
Professor Emeritus, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University
In memoriam
Dr. John Baker is Professor Emeritus of Law, and previously the Dale E. Bennett Professor of Law, at Louisiana State University Law School. He is currently Visiting Professor at Peking University School of Transnational Law (via Zoom) and has been Visiting Professor at The Center for the Constitution, Georgetown Law School (2013-2020). He has also been a Visiting Fellow at Oriel College, the University of Oxford (2012-2014) and taught at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford in 2014. Dr. Baker has also been an adjunct Fellow at the Heritage Foundation (Spring, 2008) and a Distinguished Scholar at the Catholic University of America Law School (2011-12). He has taught at Tulane Law School, George Mason Law School, Pepperdine Law School, New York Law School, Hong Kong University, and the University of Dallas, School of Management and also taught and/or lectured in 17 foreign countries. Notable among his foreign visits are the
following: Visiting Professor at the University of Lyon III (France) (1999-2011); Visiting Professor at the Universidad de los Andes, Chile (2012), as a Fulbright Specialist (2006); and a Fulbright Scholar at various universities in the Philippines. Dr. Baker received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Michigan Law School and his B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Dallas. He also earned a Ph.D. in Political Thought from the University of London. Baker has taught over a dozen different subjects, mostly courses in public law. His main areas of interest are Constitutional Law (particularly federalism and separation of powers), Criminal Law, Anti-Terrorism Law, International Law, Health Care Law, Mediation, and Comparative Law.
In addition to law review articles and book chapters, Dr. Baker’s academic publications include Hall's Criminal Law: Cases and Materials (with Benson, Force and George; 5th ed. Michie, 1993); An Introduction to the Law of the United States (ed. with Levasseur; University Press of America, 1992). He has also published on Forbes.com, FoxNews.com, in The Washington Times, and a number of times in The Wall Street Journal. He argues in federal court, including two oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court. For many years, he co-taught courses for the Federalist Society on separation of powers with the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In September 2016, he co-taught a Supreme Court seminar in China with Justice Samuel Alito. Following law school, he served as a law clerk in federal district court and as an assistant district attorney in New Orleans before joining LSU in 1975. While a professor, he has been as a consultant to USAID, USIA (since rolled into the State Department), the Justice Department, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, and the Office of Planning in the White House. He served on an ABA Task Force which issued the report, The Federalization of Crime (1998) and later as a consultant to the “Bi-Partisan Task Force on the Over- federalization of Crime” (2012-2014) created by the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime. Dr. Baker was a co-founder of the first iteration (1995) of Stratfor Inc., a global intelligence agency. He co-authored its first book: The Intelligence Edge (with Friedman, Friedman and Chapman; Crown Books/Random House 1997). In 2022, he began a short, weekly video podcast available on YouTube and Rumble, The Baker Brief.
The Terrorist Attacks of 9/11, Then and Now
Mary Beth Buchanan, William J. Haynes, Michael B. Mukasey
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 profoundly affected America. This program presented a conversation among former...
The Terrorist Attacks of 9/11, Then and Now
Mary Beth Buchanan, William J. Haynes, Michael B. Mukasey
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 profoundly affected America. This program presented a conversation among former...
Deep Dive Episode 197 – Competition at a Crossroads: Will the Executive Order on Competition Advance Competition, or Restrict It?
Neil Averitt, J. Howard Beales III, Robert H. Bork, Ioana Marinescu, Jane Luxton
Protecting and preserving competition are the key objectives of U.S. antitrust laws, which are all...
State Court Docket Watch: DeWeese-Boyd v. Gordon College
Jordan Lorence
Note from the Editor: Mr. Lorence's organization, Alliance Defending Freedom, was retained by Gordon College to...
The Terrorist Attacks of 9/11, Then and Now
New York City Lawyers Chapter and the International & National Security Law Practice Group
New York, NYCompetition at a Crossroads: Will the Executive Order on Competition Advance Competition, or Restrict It?
A Regulatory Transparency Project Webinar
TeleforumCompetition at a Crossroads: Will the Executive Order on Competition Advance Competition, or Restrict It?
Neil Averitt, J. Howard Beales III, Robert H. Bork, Jane Luxton, Ioana Marinescu
Protecting and preserving competition are the key objectives of U.S. antitrust laws, which are all...
Topics
Voting News: The 11th Circuit Holds That Postage to Mail Ballots Is Not an Unconstitutional Poll Tax
In the State of Georgia, voters must pay for postage when submitting mail-in and absentee...
Reasoned Argument Book Club: Defending the Republic through Rhetoric [Session 3]
Defending the Republic through Rhetoric: Cicero and Justice Scalia
Reasoned Argument Book Club: Defending the Republic through Rhetoric [Session 3]
John S. Baker
Session 3 Readings:The Five parts of Rhetoric, as outlined by Cicero.Our Republican Constitution, CH. 2...