Event: New Legal Tools to Combat Emerging Foreign Threats
Date: Rescheduled for Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Time: 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.
Location: Belo Mansion, 2101 Ross Ave., Dallas, TX 75201
CLE Credit: CLE credit is pending

Carter Burwell is litigation counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of Debevoise & Plimpton.  His practice focuses on white collar criminal defense, government investigations and internal investigations, and national security matters.  Prior to Debevoise, he served as Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Finance Intelligence, Chief Counsel to U.S. Senator John Cornyn, and Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York and Eastern District of Virginia prosecuting national security and international crimes.

Earlier on in his career, Mr. Burwell served as a law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge John Gleeson, now a Debevoise litigation partner, before going on to clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for the Hon. Judge Karen Henderson.  Mr. Burwell was also a litigation associate at another international law firm.

Mr. Burwell received his J.D. from the University Virginia School of Law in 2002, an M.Phil from the University of Cambridge in 1998, and his B.A. from Columbia College in 1996.

Event: Racial Classifications and the Indian Child Welfare Act: Litigating Brackeen v. Haaland
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Time: 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.
Location: Belo Mansion, 2101 Ross Ave., Dallas, TX 75201
CLE Credit: CLE credit is pending

Matthew D. McGill is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Co-Chair of the firm’s Judgment and Arbitral Award Enforcement and Betting and Gaming practice groups. He also is a member of the firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law and Sports Law practice groups.

A three-time “Litigator of the Week” (The AmLaw Litigation Daily) Mr. McGill has been ranked by Chambers USA in Nationwide Appellate Law and recognized by The National Law Journal as a “Litigation Trailblazer” for his pioneering work enforcing judgments against foreign sovereigns. In 2020, he successfully negotiated a $335 million resolution of terrorism claims against the Republic of Sudan arising from the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Previously, he successfully resolved NML Capital’s multi-billion dollar claims against the Republic of Argentina after what the Financial Times called “the trial of the century in sovereign debt restructuring.” He currently represents clients in public enforcement matters against the governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Pakistan, Spain, and Venezuela.

An accomplished appellate advocate, Mr. McGill has participated in 23 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, prevailing in 17. His oral argument in Brackeen v. Haaland is scheduled for November 9, 2022.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Mr. McGill served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice. He clerked for the Hon. Joseph M. McLaughlin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Hon. John G. Roberts, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Mr. McGill earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Dartmouth College in 1996. In 2000, he graduated from Stanford Law School, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif.

Event: The Second Founding: Originalism and the Fourteenth Amendment
Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Time: 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.
Location: Belo Mansion, 2101 Ross Ave., Dallas, TX 75201
CLE Credit: CLE credit is pending

The Fourteenth Amendment is now over 150 years old. The Supreme Court has long rejected interpreting that Amendment with its original meaning. But what would an originalist interpretation of the Amendment look like? Would it be unworkable for modern problems? In this talk, Ilan Wurman, associate professor at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, argues not only that we should reclaim the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment, but that doing so would lead to many desirable and surprising results. This talk is based on Professor Wurman’s new book, The Second Founding: An Introduction to the Fourteenth Amendment (Cambridge 2020). A limited number of copies will be available for sale at the event.

Professor Ilan Wurman teaches administrative law and constitutional law. He writes on administrative law, separation of powers, and constitutionalism, and his academic writing has appeared or is forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal, the Stanford Law Review, the University of Chicago Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, the Duke Law Journal, and the Texas Law Review among other journals. He is also the author of the book A Debt Against the Living: An Introduction to Originalism (Cambridge 2017).

Event: Against Living Common Goodism
Date: Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Time: 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.
Location: Kirkland & Ellis at Weir’s Plaza, 4550 Travis St., Dallas, TX 75205
CLE Credit: CLE credit is pending

William H. Pryor Jr. serves as Chief Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

In 2013–18, he served on the United States Sentencing Commission and, in 2017–18, served as Acting Chair.

He has taught as a visiting professor at the University of Alabama School of Law and previously taught as an adjunct professor at the Cumberland School of Law of Samford University. 

He served as the 45th Attorney General of Alabama from 1997 to 2004.  When he took office, he was the youngest attorney general in the nation. In his reelection, he received the highest percentage of votes of any statewide candidate.

He graduated magna cum laude from Tulane Law School where he finished first in the common-law curriculum and was editor in chief of the Tulane Law Review. He then served as a law clerk for Judge John Minor Wisdom of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

He is a member of the Tulane Law School Hall of Fame and has received the Defender of the Constitution Award from the Heritage Foundation, the Jurist of the Year Award from the Texas Review of Law & Politics, and the St. Thomas More Award from the St. Thomas More Society of Atlanta. Judge Pryor is also a proud member of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Event: Supreme Court Roundup
Date: Thursday, August 18, 2022
Time: 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.
Location: Belo Mansion, 2101 Ross Ave., Dallas, Texas 75201
CLE Credit: CLE credit is pending

Kyle Hawkins is a partner and the chair of the Texas appellate practice at Lehotsky Keller.  Mr. Hawkins previously served as the Solicitor General of Texas.  In that role, he represented the State in high-profile matters before federal and state appellate courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States.  He has presented 30 appellate oral arguments, including four before the United States Supreme Court and 18 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (including five en banc sittings).  Mr. Hawkins previously practiced law at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where he was a member of the Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group.  He served as a law clerk to the Hon. Samuel A. Alito, Jr., of the United States Supreme Court, and the Hon. Edith H. Jones, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  Mr. Hawkins is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College.

Event: Views from the Bench with Judges Barker, Jordan, Kernodle, and Starr
Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Time: 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.
Location: Belo Mansion, 2101 Ross Ave., Dallas, Texas 75201
CLE Credit: CLE credit is pending

Hon. J. Campbell Barker:  Prior to taking the bench, Judge Barker served as Deputy Solicitor General of Texas, arguing appeals and public-law cases for the State.  Before his state-government service, Judge Barker was an appellate and IP partner at Yetter Coleman in Houston.  Before that, he spent four years in the Appellate Section of the DOJ’s Criminal Division.  While there, he taught appellate advocacy at the National Advocacy Center, completed a Pegasus Scholarship with the English Inns of Court, and served on detail as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.  Judge Barker served as a law clerk to Judge William Bryson on the Federal Circuit and Chief Judge John Walker on the Second Circuit.  He earned his BS in computer engineering summa cum laude from Texas A&M and his JD from the University of Texas, where he graduated first in his class. 
  
Hon. Sean J. Jordan:  Prior to becoming a judge, Mr. Jordan was a partner in the Austin, Texas, office of Jackson Walker, where he served as the Co-Chair of the firm’s Appellate Practice Group.  Prior to entering private practice, Judge Jordan served as Principal Deputy Solicitor General for the State of Texas, representing the State in appeals in both federal and state courts.  He also served in the United States Army as an infantryman and paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division.  Judge Jordan received his BA, summa cum laude, from the University of Texas at Austin and his JD, with Honors, from the University of Texas School of Law.
 
Hon. Jeremy D. Kernodle:  Before joining the bench, Judge Kernodle was a partner at Haynes and Boone, where he founded and chaired the firm’s False Claims Act practice group and focused on representing healthcare providers and government contractors in federal courts throughout the country.  He also served on the firm’s executive committee.  Judge Kernodle is a past president of the Dallas Chapter of the Federalist Society and the Dallas Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, and a former secretary of the Dallas Bar Association’s Appellate Section.  Before joining Haynes and Boone, Judge Kernodle was an attorney-advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice.  After earning his law degree at Vanderbilt in 2001, Judge Kernodle clerked for Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.  He earned his BA and BBA, both summa cum laude, from Harding University.
 
Hon. Brantley Starr:  Prior to taking the bench, Judge Starr served as the Deputy First Assistant Attorney General of Texas, from 2016 to 2019, under Jeff Mateer.  Starr also served as a staff attorney to Justice Eva Guzman of the Supreme Court of Texas, and worked as an Assistant Attorney General, Assistant Solicitor General, and Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel, all in the office of the Attorney General of Texas.  Judge Starr received his BA, summa cum laude, from Abilene Christian University, and earned his JD from the University of Texas School of Law.  After graduating from law school, he was a law clerk to then-Justice Don Willett of the Supreme Court of Texas.  

Event: In the Eye of the Storm with Ilya Shapiro
Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Time: Noon–1:00 p.m.
Location: Belo Mansion, 2101 Ross Ave., Dallas, Texas 75201
CLE Credit: One hour of CLE credit available

Ilya Shapiro is the author of Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court (2020). He has contributed to a variety of academic, popular, and professional publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, National Review, and Newsweek. He also regularly provides commentary for various media outlets, is a legal consultant to CBS News, and once appeared on the Colbert Report.

He was a vice president of the Cato Institute, director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, and publisher of the Cato Supreme Court Review. Before joining Cato, he was a special assistant/adviser to the Multi-National Force in Iraq on rule-of-law issues and practiced at Patton Boggs and Cleary Gottlieb. Before entering private practice, Shapiro clerked for Judge E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He holds an AB from Princeton University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School (where he became a Tony Patino Fellow).

CLE credit will be available.

Event: Take Your Shot (or Don’t): Winning the Vaccine Mandate Stay with Katherine C. Yarger
Date: Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Time: Noon–1:00 p.m.
Location: Belo Mansion, 2101 Ross Ave., Dallas, Texas 75201
CLE Credit: One hour of CLE credit available

Katherine C. Yarger is a partner at Lehotsky Keller, where she focuses on complex commercial litigation at the trial and appellate levels.  Ms. Yarger previously practiced as a trial and appellate litigator at the law firms of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP where she represented clients across a wide array of industry sectors. 

After graduating from Duke University School of Law, Ms. Yarger clerked for the Honorable Allison H. Eid of the Colorado Supreme Court and the Honorable Neil M. Gorsuch of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.  Ms. Yarger then went on to clerk for the Honorable Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  Ms. Yarger is a recent member of the Colorado General Counsel Group (CGCG) Advisor Program.  She is also an active member in the United Way “Read With Me” program, supporting child literacy.

Event: Immigration Reform for the 21st Century with Gene Hamilton
Date: Thursday, May 6, 2021
Time: 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.
Location: Online event

Gene Hamilton served as Counselor to the Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice from 2017–2021—providing legal advice, counsel, and strategic guidance to Attorneys General Jeff Sessions and William Barr as well as other officials throughout the Department of Justice.  Prior to his service at the Department of Justice, Gene served as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security, John Kelly; as General Counsel to Senator Jeff Sessions on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest; as Assistant Chief Counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and as an Attorney Advisor in the Secretary’s Honors Program for Attorneys at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Gene graduated from the Washington and Lee School of Law magna cum laude and Order of the Coif, and has a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from the University of Georgia.

Event: Epstein on Energy: Understanding the Texas Power Breakdown with Professor Richard Epstein
Date: Thursday, April 6, 2021
Time: 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.
Location: Online event

Please join the Dallas and Austin Chapters of the Federalist Society for a presentation about the recent Texas Power outage.

Richard A. Epstein is the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Law and Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School.  Epstein started his legal career at the University of Southern California, where he taught from 1968 to 1972.  He served as Interim Dean of the Law School from February to June 2001.  He is also the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at New York University, and the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.