Chair, Issues & Appeals, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
The former Solicitor General of West Virginia, Mr. Lin has been on the front lines of many precedent-setting cases in appellate courts across the country, including in a US Supreme Court victory that George Will called “the court’s most severe rebuke of a president” since the Truman administration. Having argued more than 60 appeals, he brings to clients a well-honed ability to identify the most persuasive issues for appeal and a practiced understanding of how best to frame complex legal questions in appellate courts.
With experience in the private sector and multiple branches of government, Mr. Lin’s practice has spanned a wide range of issues, including major questions of constitutional and administrative law at the federal and state levels. On behalf of more than two dozen states, he won a stay from the US Supreme Court of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. Described by the New York Times as an “unprecedented” order, the stay was the first time the Supreme Court had ever put a regulation on hold before review by a federal appeals court. In that same case, Elbert argued before the en banc DC Circuit in an historic proceeding that one commenter quoted in E&E News compared to “the NBA All-Star Game.” At the state level, Elbert led the effort that persuaded the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to overturn an injunction of the state’s right-to-work law.
In 2013, Mr. Lin was appointed the Solicitor General of West Virginia. During his four-and-a-half year tenure, he served as a member of the Attorney General’s senior management team, oversaw all civil and criminal appeals, and argued nearly two dozen cases in federal and state appellate courts. He authored more than twenty-five briefs in the US Supreme Court and more than forty-five formal Opinions of the Attorney General.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Lin served as a trial attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the US Department of Justice’s Civil Division, where he received a Special Service Award. He has also been a law clerk at all three levels of the federal judiciary: for Justice Clarence Thomas on the US Supreme Court; for Judge William H. Pryor Jr. on the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; and for Senior Judge Robert E. Keeton on the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Mr. Lin speaks regularly on a wide variety of topics, including constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, state and federal relations, the US Supreme Court, and appellate practice. He has testified before Congress, and has spoken at the national conventions of the American Bar Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Federalist Society, Americans for Prosperity, and the American Legislative Exchange Council. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
Mr. Lin is admitted to practice in the following federal courts: the Supreme Court of the United States; the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh, D.C., and Federal Circuits; the District of Massachusetts; the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia; and the Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia.
United States Senator, Missouri
Senator Eric Schmitt represents Missouri in the United States Senate, where he serves as the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution. He also serves on the Senate Armed Services and Commerce Committees and is the Vice-Chair of the Joint Economic Committee.
Prior to his election to the Senate in 2022, he served as Missouri’s Attorney General, where he was a tireless advocate for the First Amendment and our Separation of Powers and against the Biden Administration's overreach and COVID craziness.
He details those accounts in his New York Times Bestselling book:The Last Line of Defense: How to Beat the Left in Court.
He is a graduate of Truman State University and Saint Louis University School of Law.
Chair, Issues & Appeals, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
The former Solicitor General of West Virginia, Mr. Lin has been on the front lines of many precedent-setting cases in appellate courts across the country, including in a US Supreme Court victory that George Will called “the court’s most severe rebuke of a president” since the Truman administration. Having argued more than 60 appeals, he brings to clients a well-honed ability to identify the most persuasive issues for appeal and a practiced understanding of how best to frame complex legal questions in appellate courts.
With experience in the private sector and multiple branches of government, Mr. Lin’s practice has spanned a wide range of issues, including major questions of constitutional and administrative law at the federal and state levels. On behalf of more than two dozen states, he won a stay from the US Supreme Court of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. Described by the New York Times as an “unprecedented” order, the stay was the first time the Supreme Court had ever put a regulation on hold before review by a federal appeals court. In that same case, Elbert argued before the en banc DC Circuit in an historic proceeding that one commenter quoted in E&E News compared to “the NBA All-Star Game.” At the state level, Elbert led the effort that persuaded the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to overturn an injunction of the state’s right-to-work law.
In 2013, Mr. Lin was appointed the Solicitor General of West Virginia. During his four-and-a-half year tenure, he served as a member of the Attorney General’s senior management team, oversaw all civil and criminal appeals, and argued nearly two dozen cases in federal and state appellate courts. He authored more than twenty-five briefs in the US Supreme Court and more than forty-five formal Opinions of the Attorney General.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Lin served as a trial attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the US Department of Justice’s Civil Division, where he received a Special Service Award. He has also been a law clerk at all three levels of the federal judiciary: for Justice Clarence Thomas on the US Supreme Court; for Judge William H. Pryor Jr. on the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; and for Senior Judge Robert E. Keeton on the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Mr. Lin speaks regularly on a wide variety of topics, including constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, state and federal relations, the US Supreme Court, and appellate practice. He has testified before Congress, and has spoken at the national conventions of the American Bar Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Federalist Society, Americans for Prosperity, and the American Legislative Exchange Council. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
Mr. Lin is admitted to practice in the following federal courts: the Supreme Court of the United States; the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh, D.C., and Federal Circuits; the District of Massachusetts; the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia; and the Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia.
United States Senator, Missouri
Senator Eric Schmitt represents Missouri in the United States Senate, where he serves as the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution. He also serves on the Senate Armed Services and Commerce Committees and is the Vice-Chair of the Joint Economic Committee.
Prior to his election to the Senate in 2022, he served as Missouri’s Attorney General, where he was a tireless advocate for the First Amendment and our Separation of Powers and against the Biden Administration's overreach and COVID craziness.
He details those accounts in his New York Times Bestselling book:The Last Line of Defense: How to Beat the Left in Court.
He is a graduate of Truman State University and Saint Louis University School of Law.
Chair, Issues & Appeals, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
The former Solicitor General of West Virginia, Mr. Lin has been on the front lines of many precedent-setting cases in appellate courts across the country, including in a US Supreme Court victory that George Will called “the court’s most severe rebuke of a president” since the Truman administration. Having argued more than 60 appeals, he brings to clients a well-honed ability to identify the most persuasive issues for appeal and a practiced understanding of how best to frame complex legal questions in appellate courts.
With experience in the private sector and multiple branches of government, Mr. Lin’s practice has spanned a wide range of issues, including major questions of constitutional and administrative law at the federal and state levels. On behalf of more than two dozen states, he won a stay from the US Supreme Court of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. Described by the New York Times as an “unprecedented” order, the stay was the first time the Supreme Court had ever put a regulation on hold before review by a federal appeals court. In that same case, Elbert argued before the en banc DC Circuit in an historic proceeding that one commenter quoted in E&E News compared to “the NBA All-Star Game.” At the state level, Elbert led the effort that persuaded the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to overturn an injunction of the state’s right-to-work law.
In 2013, Mr. Lin was appointed the Solicitor General of West Virginia. During his four-and-a-half year tenure, he served as a member of the Attorney General’s senior management team, oversaw all civil and criminal appeals, and argued nearly two dozen cases in federal and state appellate courts. He authored more than twenty-five briefs in the US Supreme Court and more than forty-five formal Opinions of the Attorney General.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Lin served as a trial attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the US Department of Justice’s Civil Division, where he received a Special Service Award. He has also been a law clerk at all three levels of the federal judiciary: for Justice Clarence Thomas on the US Supreme Court; for Judge William H. Pryor Jr. on the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; and for Senior Judge Robert E. Keeton on the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Mr. Lin speaks regularly on a wide variety of topics, including constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, state and federal relations, the US Supreme Court, and appellate practice. He has testified before Congress, and has spoken at the national conventions of the American Bar Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Federalist Society, Americans for Prosperity, and the American Legislative Exchange Council. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
Mr. Lin is admitted to practice in the following federal courts: the Supreme Court of the United States; the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh, D.C., and Federal Circuits; the District of Massachusetts; the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia; and the Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia.
United States Senator, Missouri
Senator Eric Schmitt represents Missouri in the United States Senate, where he serves as the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution. He also serves on the Senate Armed Services and Commerce Committees and is the Vice-Chair of the Joint Economic Committee.
Prior to his election to the Senate in 2022, he served as Missouri’s Attorney General, where he was a tireless advocate for the First Amendment and our Separation of Powers and against the Biden Administration's overreach and COVID craziness.
He details those accounts in his New York Times Bestselling book:The Last Line of Defense: How to Beat the Left in Court.
He is a graduate of Truman State University and Saint Louis University School of Law.
Partner, Robbins Ross Alloy Belinfante Littlefield LLC
Josh Belinfante represents clients in commercial and administrative disputes, and he is one of Georgia’s most knowledgeable attorneys on appellate matters and questions of governmental law and policy. He represents governmental and non-governmental clients, and those in the highly regulated fields of healthcare, gaming, land use, and energy.
Josh brings to bear his experience in all three branches of government, having served as the Executive Counsel or Chief Legal Advisor to Governor Sonny Perdue, Georgia’s 81st Governor (2007-2009), Legal Counsel to the Georgia House Judiciary Committee (2006), and Law Clerk to Judge J.L. Edmondson of the Eleventh Circuit (2004-2005).
In litigation matters, Josh’s practice involves commercial disputes and representation of government and those challenging governmental acts. He has successfully argued cases that have shaped the Georgia healthcare and gaming industries. Josh also represents clients involved in procurement matters and bid protests, cases before the public service commission, and in precedent-setting challenges to annexations and local ordinances. He has long been a go-to lawyer of the State of Georgia in numerous high stakes cases against the United States Department of Justice, and private parties challenging Georgia’s Medicaid and special education programs.
Outside of litigation, Josh has significant experience in in campaign finance and election law matters. He represents entities governed by federal and state campaign finance laws, including campaigns and political action committees. He also has specific experience drafting laws governing Certificate of Need, gaming, the Georgia Lottery, restrictive covenants and non-compete agreements, and eminent domain.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle described Josh as the “go-to guy for Georgia healthcare policy and legislation.” In 2011, the Atlanta Business Chronicle named Josh one of the 40 Under 40 of Atlanta’s Rising and Business Leaders. In 2010, The Fulton County Daily Report named Josh one of 10 attorneys “On the Rise,” and Georgia Trend named him one of Georgia’s “Legal Elite.” Atlanta Magazine named Josh a “Super Lawyer” since 2015, and it frequently named him a Georgia “Rising Star Super Lawyer.” James Magazine has repeatedly identified Josh as one of the “Best Lawyers in Georgia.”
Josh serves on the University of Georgia Law School Alumni Council, the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Chapter of the Federalist Society, and he is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta (2012), Leadership Sandy Springs (2015), and the Coverdell Leadership Institute (2007).
Josh is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Georgia School of Law. He also taught high school at Pace Academy in Atlanta.
Partner, Jones Day
Stephen Petrany focuses on appellate litigation and critical motions practice. He briefs and argues cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, federal and state appellate courts, trial courts, and regulatory agencies.
Prior to rejoining Jones Day in 2026, Stephen served as the Solicitor General of Georgia, where he led the State's appellate and multistate litigation. In that role he briefed and argued multiple cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, dozens of cases in federal and state courts of appeal, and critical issues in trial courts. Some of the matters he oversaw include challenges to the U.S. president's asserted power over federal contractors and employees, defending against novel Title IX and employment discrimination claims, voter redistricting and elections challenges, campaign finance disclosure violations, and numerous challenges to EPA regulation.
Stephen's pro bono practice includes winning a D.C. Superior Court case to obtain a birth certificate for a minor after the city denied her application, as well as arguing numerous pro bono appeals in federal appellate courts. Stephen also has represented clients in matters involving immigration, asylum, religious liberty, and prisoner petitions.
Solicitor General, Tennessee Attorney General's Office
Matt Rice serves as the Solicitor General of Tennessee. Before joining the State, Matt worked in private practice at Williams & Connolly LLP. He clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the United States Supreme Court as well as Judge Sandra Ikuta on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before his legal career, Matt played professional baseball in the Tampa Bay Rays organization.
Solicitor General, West Virginia
Michael Williams is the Solicitor General for the State of West Virginia. In that role, Michael represents the State in appeals before state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Michael also coordinates strategic affirmative litigation on the State’s behalf, including litigation against the federal government.
Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, Michael co-led the complex briefing and appeals group at a Michigan boutique firm, representing Fortune 50 companies and others in actions across the country. He also practiced in the litigation groups of two Washington, D.C. firms and clerked with the Appellate Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine.
Michael’s work has been honored with a Best Brief Award from the National Associationof Attorneys General and a Leader in the Law Award from Michigan Lawyers Weekly. He often speaks and writes on appellate-related issues.
Michael clerked twice in the Fourth Circuit: once with then-Chief Judge Deborah Chasanow of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and later with Judge G. Steven Agee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He attended George Washington University Law School and Bates College.
Solicitor General, West Virginia
Fireside Chat with Senator Eric Schmitt
Elbert Lin, Eric Schmitt
Featuring: Hon. Eric Schmitt, United States Senator, Missouri Moderator: Mr. Elbert Lin, Former Solicitor General,...
Fireside Chat with Senator Eric Schmitt
Elbert Lin, Eric Schmitt
Featuring: Hon. Eric Schmitt, United States Senator, Missouri Moderator: Mr. Elbert Lin, Former Solicitor General,...
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