Senior Research Fellow, Border Security and Immigration Center, The Heritage Foundation
Simon Hankinson is a Senior Research Fellow in the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation.
From 1999–2022, he was a Foreign Service Officer serving in India, Fiji, Ghana, Slovakia, Togo, Washington, D.C., Marseille, and Nairobi. Prior to entering the State Department, Hankinson worked as a lawyer in London, and then taught history, English, and drama at a private school in Miami.
Hankinson holds a master’s degree in modern history from St. Andrews, Scotland, a degree from the College of Law in London, and a master’s degree in international security affairs from the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.
Immigration Law and Policy Fellow, Cornell Law School
Randel Johnson has worked on employment and immigration law and policy issues for over twenty-five years, bringing a broad perspective from working in the executive agencies, on Capitol Hill, and in the private sector. Deeply involved in past efforts on comprehensive immigration reform, including testifying in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, his experience includes working as the senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, labor counsel to the House Education and Labor Committee, and special assistant to the solicitor of labor at the U.S. Department of Labor. He was also a partner at the law firm of Seyfarth Shaw and most recently a judge on the Administrative Review Board at the Labor Department.
Senior Counsel, America First Legal Foundation
James Rogers is Senior Counsel at America First Legal Foundation, where he litigates in a number of areas, including border security, election integrity, parental rights, and administrative and constitutional law. Before joining America First Legal, from 2021 to 2022, he was Senior Litigation Counsel at the Solicitor General’s Office of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. While there, he spearheaded lawsuits against the Biden Administration’s destructive open borders policies and its COVID19 vaccine mandates. From 2015 to 2021, James was a Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Department of State, where he worked in the Office of the Assistant Legal Advisor for Consular Affairs, at the U.S. Consulate in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and at the U.S. Embassy in Windhoek, Namibia.
Prior to joining the Department of State, he was a commercial litigation partner at Osborn Maledon, a Phoenix-based firm with a #1 litigation ranking from Chambers and Partners. James earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2009, an L.L.M. in International Law from the University of Cambridge in 2008, and a B.A., with honors, in International Studies from Brigham Young University in 2005. He is a sixth-generation Arizonan and lives in Mesa, Arizona, with his four children.
Vice President, Immigration Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Patrick Shen is vice president for Immigration Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He helps Chamber member companies develop sensible, pro-growth immigration policies and advocates for such policies on our members’ behalf before Congress and the executive branch.
Before joining the Chamber, Shen was an immigration lawyer for over 30 years in the government and private sector. Most recently, he was a partner at a leading global business immigration law firm where he advised multinational companies on worksite compliance and represented employers from all sectors in government enforcement actions.
Earlier in his career, Shen was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate as Special Counsel for Immigration-related Unfair Employment Practices in the Justice Department. He previously served as the policy and planning director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the chief immigration counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Shen began his government career as a trial attorney for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, and the Justice Department’s Civil Division in Washington, D.C.
Shen received his undergraduate and law degrees from Brigham Young University. He was an adjunct professor at American University’s Washington College of Law and a sports reporter in Taiwan before attending law school. He became a certified emergency medical technician (EMT) shortly after September 11, 2001, and still volunteers with his local fire department in Maryland.
Partner, Holland & Hart
Chris provides strategic counsel when companies and individuals face government audits or investigations of their immigration practices. With nearly three decades of experience, he brings extensive experience and government relationships to help clients prepare for such audits and investigations and to defend them when regulators show up.
Often working with clients in times of crisis, Chris’s goal is to alleviate anxiety and put them at ease. Whether counseling a company about responding to a subpoena or defending it in a government investigation or raid, clients appreciate his pragmatic, straight forward counsel and clear plans of action.
Chris and his team work closely with in house legal and human resources departments to provide training and to help them develop effective compliance policies and internal audit and remediation plans. When significant legal concerns arise, he helps teams conduct internal investigations and formulate the best path forward to protect the interests of the company.
Chris also works with executives, operational leaders, and talent management teams to help position a company for success with effective, compliant global mobility programs. With expertise maneuvering within the complex US immigration process, he helps a wide range of companies secure employment-based non-immigrant (e.g., E, H, L, O, P, TN, etc.) and immigrant (first, second, and third preference categories) visas.
Chris also works with organizations seeking to do business outside of the United States, working closely with in-house and outside counsel to assess legal risks and develop solutions to overcome challenges with doing business abroad.
Chris’s fluency in Spanish is a value-add to clients.
Chris rejoins Holland & Hart from Ogletree Deakins where he was an equity shareholder and managed the firm’s Denver immigration practice.
Senior Research Fellow (Wolfson College); Fellow (Lauterpacht Centre for International Law), Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge
Over twenty years' experience as legal adviser, advocate, and strategist in complex multi-jurisdiction matters across several substantive fields, including public international law, international investment protection, trade law, and law of the sea. Academic writings on international arbitration, international organizations, use of force, State immunity, State succession, recognition of States, artificial intelligence, law & technology.
Stevenson Bernard Professor, George Washington University Law School
The Honorable F. Scott Kieff is the Stevenson Bernard Professor at George Washington University Law School and a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
He served as Commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission from 2013-2017. He also served during the Bush, Obama, and Trump Administrations in the part-time leadership of the national security defense-intelligence community.
He was previously a professor of law and medicine at Washington University in Saint Louis and a Senior Fellow at Hoover. A former law clerk to U.S. Circuit Judge Giles S. Rich, he is a graduate of Penn Law School and MIT, where he studied molecular biology and microeconomics. He was elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2012 and the Academia Europaea in 2024.
His private sector work through Kieff Strategies LLC (www.kieffstrategies.com) provides neutral services including mediation and compliance, and expert services including crisis management, advising, and testimony.
Former Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Judge Michel served for more than 22 years on the Federal Circuit, retiring on May 31, 2010. From December 25, 2004 until his retirement, he also discharged the duties of Chief Judge of this national court, serving simultaneously on the U.S. Judicial Conference -- the Judiciary's governing body -- and by appointment of the Chief Justice on its seven-judge Executive Committee.
He judged several thousand appeals and authored more than 800 opinions, one third concerning intellectual property law. Intellectual Asset Management magazine inducted him into its Hall of Fame and he was designated one of the 50 most influential leaders in intellectual property law in the world. His contributions were also recognized by lifetime achievement and similar awards by the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA); Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation (IPO); the American Bar Association's Intellectual Property Section; Managing Intellectual Property magazine; the Sedona Conference; the Patent and Trademark Office Society (PTOS); the New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles Intellectual Property Law Associations; and the William C. Connor, the Giles S. Rich, and the Richard Linn Intellectual Property American Inns of Court. In 2010 the Los Angeles IP Inn was renamed in his honor as the Paul R. Michel IP Inn.
Judge Michel received the Jefferson Medal, the Eli Whitney Award, and the Katz-Kiley Prize as well as Honorary Doctor of Law degrees from the Catholic University of America and the John Marshall Law School. He is a lifetime Member of Honore of FICPI, the international association of private practitioners of intellectual property law. Williams College granted him the Kellogg Award for "outstanding leadership in law and public service."
Judge Michel has written numerous articles on patent law and advocacy, taught related courses and master classes at George Washington University, the University of Akron, and John Marshall law schools, serving as well on their IP advisory boards and on counterpart boards at the universities of California (Berkley), Washington, and Maryland. He co-authored a casebook, Patent Litigation and Strategy (West, 1999) and an August 2010 editorial in the New York Times on strengthening the patent system to promote prosperity and create new jobs.
A frequent speaker at conferences and law schools during his judicial tenure and since, he retired from a lifetime appointment to be free to speak out on the national need for better patent policy and protection of intellectual property and the vital, unmet resource needs of the courts, the PTO, the International Trade Commission, and other IP-related agencies. He was appointed Distinguished Scholar in Residence by IPO, following his retirement. Judge Michel also consults for law firms and their clients in intellectual property litigations, conducting moot courts, mock trials, case evaluations, editing briefs, advising on strategy and providing mediation and arbitration services.
Senior Research Fellow (Wolfson College); Fellow (Lauterpacht Centre for International Law), Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge
Over twenty years' experience as legal adviser, advocate, and strategist in complex multi-jurisdiction matters across several substantive fields, including public international law, international investment protection, trade law, and law of the sea. Academic writings on international arbitration, international organizations, use of force, State immunity, State succession, recognition of States, artificial intelligence, law & technology.
Stevenson Bernard Professor, George Washington University Law School
The Honorable F. Scott Kieff is the Stevenson Bernard Professor at George Washington University Law School and a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
He served as Commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission from 2013-2017. He also served during the Bush, Obama, and Trump Administrations in the part-time leadership of the national security defense-intelligence community.
He was previously a professor of law and medicine at Washington University in Saint Louis and a Senior Fellow at Hoover. A former law clerk to U.S. Circuit Judge Giles S. Rich, he is a graduate of Penn Law School and MIT, where he studied molecular biology and microeconomics. He was elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2012 and the Academia Europaea in 2024.
His private sector work through Kieff Strategies LLC (www.kieffstrategies.com) provides neutral services including mediation and compliance, and expert services including crisis management, advising, and testimony.
Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
Dr. Meltzer is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C., where he is an expert on international trade law and policy issues, including digital trade, emerging technologies and AI. At Brookings, Meltzer leads the Digital Economy and Trade Project and co-leads the Forum for Cooperation on AI. Meltzer has testified before the U.S. Congress, the U.S. International Trade Commission and the European Parliament on trade issues. He has been an expert witness in litigation on data flows and privacy issues in the EU and a consultant to the World Bank on trade and privacy matters. He is also a member of Australia’s National Data Advisory Council. Meltzer teaches digital trade law at Melbourne University Law School and at the University of Toronto Law School, where he is an adjunct professor. Meltzer also teaches ecommerce and digital trade at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office diplomatic academy. Before joining Brookings, Meltzer was posted as a diplomat at the Australian Embassy in Washington D.C. and prior to that was an international trade negotiator in Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Meltzer has appeared in print and news media, including the Economist, the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, Bloomberg, MSNBC, CBS, Fox, the Asahi Shimbun and China Daily. Meltzer holds an S.J.D. and LL.M. from the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor and law and commerce degrees from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
CoFounder, RightsClick
Steven’s extensive background in IP law and policy began as an attorney for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, after which, he served as senior counsel for Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Copyright Office and then as Chief Intellectual Property Counsel for the Global Intellectual Property Center of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Before co-founding RightsClick, he started the IP consultancy Sentinel Worldwide, and teaches copyright law at George Washington University Law School.
Professor Emerita of Law, George Mason University Antonin Scalia School of Law
Professor Emerita Joyce Lee Malcolm is an historian and constitutional scholar active in the area of constitutional history, focusing on the development of individual rights in Great Britain and America. She is the author of eight books, most recently The Tragedy of Benedict Arnold: An American Life, May 2018. Professor Malcolm has written many books and articles on gun control, the Second Amendment, and individual rights. Her work was cited several times in the recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller.
Professor Malcolm has previously taught at Princeton University, Bentley College, Boston University, Northeastern University and Cambridge University. She was also a Senior Advisor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Security Studies Program, a Visiting Scholar at Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies, and is a Bye Fellow at Robinson College, Cambridge University.
Her seventh book, Peter's War: A New England Slave Boy and the American Revolution, was published by Yale University Press in 2009. "Magna Carta in America: Entrenched," a chapter authored by Professor Malcolm, appears in Magna Carta: The Foundation of Freedom 1215-2015 (Nicholas Vincent, Third Millennium Publishing). Her essays have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe and other newspapers.
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