Senior Director, Global Investigations, Cognizant
Brian Lichter directs and oversees sensitive internal investigations related corruption, bribery, fraud, and other serious misconduct; manages outside counsel where appropriate; and responds to government requests and inquiries. He serves as Cognizant's primary cybersecurity attorney, including managing incident response to cyber incidents and providing legal advice regarding cybersecurity issues and crisis management.
Partner, King & Spalding LLP
Rod J. Rosenstein is a partner in King & Spalding’s Special Matters & Government Investigations practice. Drawing upon three decades of experience as a federal prosecutor and a senior government official, Rod helps clients resolve complex regulatory and litigation challenges, including government investigations, crisis management, internal investigations, national security, compliance and monitoring.
Rod served in senior leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Justice during the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, including as Deputy Attorney General (2017 to 2019) and United States Attorney for Maryland (2005 to 2017).
As the second-highest ranking official at the Department of Justice, Rod was responsible for overseeing 115,000 employees in the Department’s litigating divisions, law enforcement agencies and United States Attorney’s Offices, and for formulating and implementing federal enforcement policies. He led the revision of policies concerning corporate criminal prosecutions and parallel domestic and foreign investigations, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters, and health care fraud cases. He also reviewed significant proposed criminal and civil enforcement actions, proposed False Claims Act settlements and related matters, and proposals to appoint corporate monitors. Rod also acted on national security matters subject to review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Additionally, Rod led the interagency Task Force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud and developed a strategy to combat cybercrime as head of the Department’s Cyber-Digital Task Force.
Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP
Jonathan Su, Deputy Office Managing Partner of the Washington, D.C. office and a former Special Counsel to the President, advises clients on government, Congressional, and internal investigations as well as related litigation.
Mr. Su advises corporations, boards of directors, and individuals on investigations conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ), US Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and other federal agencies. Mr. Su also conducts internal investigations regarding a wide range of alleged misconduct, including corruption, financial irregularities, and sexual misconduct.
As part of his work, Mr. Su helps navigate often intense government and media scrutiny so that clients can maintain their business operations. In so doing, he draws on significant experience both in private practice representing leading corporations and individuals, as well as his prior work at the highest levels of the Executive Branch and as a federal white collar crime prosecutor.
In his prior role as Special Counsel to President Barack Obama, Mr. Su advised the President and senior White House and Executive Branch officials on a wide range of matters, including Congressional investigations, risk management, nominations and personnel issues, litigation matters involving the White House, and matters relating to the DOJ. He also advised the President on executive clemency matters. Mr. Su’s responsibilities at the White House Counsel’s Office included engaging with senior officials of several cabinet agencies, including the Departments of Justice, the Treasury, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, and several offices within the Executive Office of the President.
Prior to joining the White House, Mr. Su served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Maryland where he conducted 12 jury trials to verdict. Among his most significant matters, Mr. Su led a team of FBI and IRS agents in securing convictions (through jury trials and guilty pleas) of the leaders of a US$78 million Ponzi scheme affecting more than 1,000 victims in the East Coast and California (United States v. Andrew Williams, et al). Mr. Su also led the Maryland component of a joint Maryland / District of Columbia federal prosecution of the largest embezzlement (US$49 million) in the history of the District of Columbia government (United States v. Harriette Walters, et al). In 2011, then-United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein awarded Mr. Su the US Attorney’s Award for Excellence in Prosecution of Fraud.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Su served as a law clerk to both Judge Julian Abele Cook, Jr. of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, and Judge Ronald M. Gould of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Mr. Su currently serves as Chair of Latham’s Global Pro Bono Committee, through which the firm has provided more than 3.5 million hours of free legal services valued at more than US$1.6 billion since 2000.
Professor of Law, Notre Dame University
Roger P. Alford joined the Notre Dame Law faculty in January 2012. Alford teaches and writes in a wide range of subject-matter areas, including international trade, international arbitration, international antitrust, and comparative law.
Alford earned his B.A. with Honors from Baylor in 1985, his J.D. with Honors from New York University, and his LL.M. from Edinburgh University. Before entering the legal academy, he served as a law clerk to Judge James Buckley of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Richard Allison of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. He practiced law with Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) in Washington, D.C., and was also a senior legal advisor to the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Activities in Zurich, Switzerland.
In addition to publishing widely in leading law reviews and journals, Alford is the general editor of Kluwer Arbitration Blog and on the Executive Committee of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration.
He is Concurrent Professor at the Keough School of Global Affairs, a Faculty Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, and a Faculty Fellow at the Nanovic Institute for European Studies. He was the Academic Director of the London Global Gateway from 2016-2017 and Associate Dean for Graduate and International Programs from 2013-2017.
He served as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for International Affairs with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2017-2019.
Partner, Bell Giftos St. John LLC
Kevin St. John is a partner with Bell Giftos St. John LLC in Madison, Wisconsin. From 2011 to 2015, he served as Wisconsin’s Deputy Attorney General. Prior to his government service St. John practiced law with the Madison office of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP and the Washington D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. St. John is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned his law degree from the University of Chicago.
St. John has contributed to Federalist Society as a speaker and in commentaries on topics including redistricting, free speech, and separation of powers.
Executive Director & Secretary, American Civil Rights Project
Dan Morenoff is the executive director at the American Civil Rights Project and an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
His work focuses on protecting and, where necessary, restoring the primacy of all Americans' shared civil rights against the identitarian alternative.
Before practicing law, Morenoff served on the legislative staff of Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX). Morenoff holds a B.A. from Columbia College of Columbia University in the City of New York and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. He has also served as an officer or director of several community organizations in Dallas, Texas.
Professor of Law, Notre Dame University
Roger P. Alford joined the Notre Dame Law faculty in January 2012. Alford teaches and writes in a wide range of subject-matter areas, including international trade, international arbitration, international antitrust, and comparative law.
Alford earned his B.A. with Honors from Baylor in 1985, his J.D. with Honors from New York University, and his LL.M. from Edinburgh University. Before entering the legal academy, he served as a law clerk to Judge James Buckley of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Richard Allison of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. He practiced law with Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) in Washington, D.C., and was also a senior legal advisor to the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Activities in Zurich, Switzerland.
In addition to publishing widely in leading law reviews and journals, Alford is the general editor of Kluwer Arbitration Blog and on the Executive Committee of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration.
He is Concurrent Professor at the Keough School of Global Affairs, a Faculty Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, and a Faculty Fellow at the Nanovic Institute for European Studies. He was the Academic Director of the London Global Gateway from 2016-2017 and Associate Dean for Graduate and International Programs from 2013-2017.
He served as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for International Affairs with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2017-2019.
JAMS Mediator and Arbitrator
Gary Birnberg, Esq., FCIArb is a seasoned ADR professional, specializing in the resolution of a diverse array of commercial matters both domestic and international. He has served as mediator, arbitrator, or special master in hundreds of disputes and is known for employing his legal acumen and business skills to quickly grasp the facts in complex cases. He is appreciated by attorneys and clients for his ability to nurture trust and for the determination and creativity that he employs to find common settlement ground among the parties.
Mr. Birnberg is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit and Appellate mediator admitted to the Bar in four U.S. states, including New York and the District of Columbia, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He has served as an arbitrator or mediator and sits on panel lists maintained by institutions worldwide, including CAM-CCBC, ICC, ICDR, and JAMS. He is a sought-after speaker and trainer in various areas of ADR. Recently, he single-handedly mediated to settlement a US$600 million limit of liability insurance claim in an international, multi-lingual mediation with 56 participants, including insured, insured’s institutional shareholders, numerous insurers and re-insurers, and attorneys for all direct and interested parties.
Mr. Birnberg is a U.S. citizen and permanent resident of Brazil, fluent in English, French, and Portuguese with conversational capacity in Italian and Spanish. He is active within the international legal community, staying current on local and international issues to continue his growth and expertise as a neutral.
Mediation Specialist, Office of the Ombudsman for UN Funds and Programmes, The United Nations
Mushegh Manukyan is a technology enthusiast international lawyer with significant in-house experience who has a passion for solving novel legal problems and navigating through different legal systems with a special focus on EMEA, APAC, and Latin America. He is a true believer in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and enjoy resolving complex legal disputes through negotiations, mediation, and arbitration. His current efforts focus on developing capacity and encouraging international mediation with the United Nations system.
He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and admitted to practice law in New York, Washington D.C. (Special Legal Consultant), and Armenia.
Of Counsel, DLA Piper LLP (US)
Harout J. Samra – a Board Certified Specialist in International Law – focuses his practice on international dispute resolution and arbitration matters, including international civil litigation in US courts.
Harout has represented clients from both the public and private sectors, including foreign governments, public officials and clients from a variety of industries. He has experience in international arbitrations administered under the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), Bogota Chamber of Commerce, Madrid Court of Arbitration and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitration rules.
Harout currently serves as a member of the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission, by appointment of Governor Ron DeSantis. He previously served, by appointment of Governor Rick Scott, as a member of the Florida Third District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission, and was elected as Chair of the Commission from 2018-2019.
Partner-in-Charge Washington, Jones Day
Noel Francisco served as the 47th Solicitor General of the United States in the Trump Administration, from 2017 to 2020. He has argued some of the most important cases the Supreme Court has heard in recent years on a wide array of issues.
For example, as Solicitor General, he argued Trump v. Hawaii, where he successfully defended the president's orders restricting travel from countries deemed to present security risks; Janus v. AFSCME, which upheld the First Amendment rights of public employees who decline to join labor unions; Kisor v. Wilkie, which adopted his argument that the "Auer deference doctrine" should be significantly curtailed but retained in its core applications; Apple Inc. v. Pepper, which addressed whether Apple's App Store customers had standing to sue the company for antitrust violations; Knick v. Township of Scott, which held that property owners could sue state and local governments in federal court to vindicate Fifth Amendment takings claims; and Seila Law LLC v. CFPB, which invalidated restrictions on the president's authority to remove the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
He also spearheaded the government's general strategy to seek emergency relief in the appellate courts and the Supreme Court when lower courts issued nationwide injunctions against important government programs.
Noel's service as Solicitor General built on his previous tenure at Jones Day, during which he argued McDonnell v. United States, which reversed the federal bribery conviction of the governor of Virginia; NLRB v. Noel Canning, which limited the president's constitutional recess appointments power; and Zubik v. Burwell, which challenged federal insurance coverage regulations that violated Catholic organizations' religious beliefs.
Co-Chairman, The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies
Leonard is Co-Chairman and former Executive Vice President of the Federalist Society, joining the organization over 25 years ago. Since that time he has been instrumental in helping the organization top 70,000, focusing on the growth of lawyers membership, operations and activities advancing limited, constitutional government. In addition to his work at the Society, Leonard has advised President Trump on judicial selection, assisted with the Gorsuch and Kavanaugh Supreme Court selection and confirmation process, and served as a member of the transition team. He also organized the outside coalition efforts in support of the Roberts and Alito U.S. Supreme Court confirmations. Leonard was appointed by President George W. Bush to three terms to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom as chairman. He was also a U.S. Delegate to the UN Council and UN Commission on Human Rights during the Bush Administration. Leonard was the recipient of the 2009 Bradley Prize, along with the other founders and directors of the Federalist Society, for his work in advancing freedom and the rule of law. He is the coeditor of Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House, as well as the author of opinion editorials in the New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. Leonard holds degrees from Cornell University and Cornell Law School. He presently resides in Northern Virginia, where he and his wife Sally have raised their seven children.
Author and Founding Member, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Roya Hakakian is a writer. Her opinion columns, essays and book reviews appear in English language publications like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and NPR’s All Things Considered among many others. She has collaborated on over a dozen hours of programming for leading journalism units in network television, including CBS 60 Minutes. She currently serves as an editorial board member of World Affairs. An active thinker of foreign relations, Roya is a founding member of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. She has been featured in the Washington Post and the US News and World Report, among other publications. In the book, Political Awakenings by University of California at Berkeley’s Professor Harry Kreisler, she has been highlighted “among the most important activists, academics, and journalists of her generation.”
In 2008, she received a Guggenheim prize in nonfiction. It enabled her to complete the work on her most recent book, Assassins of the Turquoise Palace (Grove/Atlantic), about Iran’s terror campaign against exiled dissidents in Western Europe received the Asian American Literary Award for best non-fiction book in 2013. It was named a New York Times Notable Book in 2011, made Newsweek’s Top Ten Not-to-be-missed books and was among Kirkus Reviews Best Non-Fictions in the same year. Her account of the work of the German prosecutor of the case, a modern day Atticus Finch, moved the US Federal Bar Association to establish “the Rule of Law Award,” the first of which was bestowed upon that prosecutor in 2014 at the Daniel Moynihan Federal Courthouse in New York City.
Her memoir of growing up a Jewish teenager in post-revolutionary Iran, Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran (Crown) has been a celebrated Freshman Experience book at a number of colleges in the US. It was a Barnes and Noble’s Pick of the Week, Ms. Magazine Must Read of the Summer, Publishers Weekly’s Best Book of the Year, Elle Magazine’s Best Nonfiction Book of 2004, and was named Best Memoir by the Connecticut Center for the Book in 2005 and has been translated into several languages including German, Dutch, and Spanish.
She is currently at work on a new book at the The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars where she has been awarded a fellowship in 2014. Talking to her readers is one of her great joys and she has addressed them at venues ranging from high schools on Native American reservations to the US Capitol and the CIA.
Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
Professor Koplow specializes in the areas of public international law and national security law. He joined the Georgetown Law faculty in 1981. His principal courses have been International Law I (the introductory survey of public international law topics), a seminar in the area of arms control, non-proliferation and terrorism, and the pro-seminar for LLM students in national security law. In addition, he has directed a clinic, the Center for Applied Legal Studies, in which students provide pro bono representation to refugees who seek asylum in the United States because of persecution in their homelands. His government service has included stints as Special Counsel for Arms Control to the General Counsel of the Department of Defense (2009-2011); as Deputy General Counsel for International Affairs at the Department of Defense (1997-1999); and as Attorney-Advisor and Special Assistant to the Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1978-1981). He is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School and a Rhodes Scholar. Most of his scholarly writing concentrates on the intersection between international law and U.S. constitutional law, especially in the areas of arms control and national security and treaty negotiation and implementation.
Legal Counsel, Global Religious Freedom, ADF International
Sean Nelson serves as Legal Counsel for Global Religious Freedom with ADF International, where he advocates on behalf of Christians and other religious minorities being persecuted for their faith around the world.
East Asia Team Leader, Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Benedict Rogers is a journalist and human rights advocate based in London. His work focuses mainly on Burma, North Korea and Indonesia. He is a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Huffington Post and has appeared on BBC, CNN, Sky, Al Jazeera and other television and radio stations. He is the co-founder and deputy chairman of the Conservative Party's human rights commission and the co-founder of the International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea. He is also the East Asia Team Leader at Christian Solidarity Worldwide and the founder of Hong Kong Watch. He has written three books which focus on Burma, including A Land Without Evil: Stopping the Genocide of Burma's Karen People (Monarch, 2004) and Burma: A Nation at the Crossroads (2012), and co-authored two others on Christian human rights obligations.
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