Annual Symposium on Ethics and Professionalism

Sara C. Benesh (PhD Michigan State University 1999) is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee where she teaches courses on courts. Sara's research focuses on the legitimacy of the American courts and on judicial decision making. She is the author or coauthor of two books and a number of peer-reviewed articles in political science journals including American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Journal of Law and Courts, and others. She has also published work in a number of law reviews and in some edited volumes and is a frequent media commentator on the courts.

Noel Francisco served as the 47th Solicitor General of the United States, from 2017 to 2020. He represents clients in a broad array of civil and criminal litigation, challenges to federal and state laws and regulations, and government investigations and enforcement actions. The matters he handles often have significant public policy implications, including in the areas of global climate change, opioids, asbestos, tobacco, firearms, health care, administrative law, free speech, religious liberty, and separation of powers. 

Noel has argued some of the most important cases the Supreme Court has heard in recent years. For example, 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; Seila Law LLC v. CFPB, which invalidated restrictions on the president's authority to remove the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; 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. 

David Frederick is one of the most accomplished lawyers in the United States. For more than a quarter-century, he has been a prominent advocate before the U.S. Supreme Court, where he has argued more than 55 cases on behalf of a wide diversity of clients. He has represented individuals, workers, investors, immigrants, classes of consumers, farmers, Native Americans, small corporations, public-sector labor unions, trade associations, large companies, foreign governments, States (Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vermont), the European Union, and the United States. 

In the lower courts, David has played a leading role in some of the most pressing legal controversies of recent decades. On behalf of the United States, he was one of the counsel to argue the landmark Microsoft antitrust case, which enabled competition to flourish on the Internet. In the fallout from the historic settlement in the late 1990s between tobacco companies and States, he represented 38 States in arbitration to hold the tobacco companies to their payment obligations for damages related to tobacco use. When the financial crisis of 2008 occurred, he served as lead counsel for the National Credit Union Administration in recovering more than $5.2 billion for the NCUA from Wall Street banks for their sale of faulty mortgage-backed securities that caused five of the largest credit unions to fail in the Great Recession. His argument in court representing retired professional football players led to their historic billion-dollar settlement with the National Football League for concussion-related injuries and illnesses, which has produced greater attention on preventing head injuries in sports. He was lead counsel for the State of Florida in holding the manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies in recovering more than $3.6 billion for their role in the opioids epidemic. Throughout, his path breaking work has protected the rights of consumers, workers, and patients to obtain civil remedies for injuries from defects and inadequate warnings from companies selling pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and agricultural chemicals. 

A former law clerk to Justice Byron White and Judge Joseph Sneed, David graduated from the University of Texas School of Law (J.D., with honors); University of Oxford (University College) (D.Phil.), where he was a Rhodes Scholar; and University of Pittsburgh (B.A., summa cum laude), where he was a Truman Scholar. David served in the Department of Justice as Assistant to the Solicitor General (1996-2001) and as Counselor to the Inspector General (1995-1996). He is the author of three books: Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy (Thomson 3d ed. 2019, with a foreword by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg); The Art of Oral Advocacy (West 3d ed. 2019); and Rugged Justice: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the American West, 1891-1941 (UC Berkeley 1994, with a foreword by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor). Since 2001, David has been a partner at Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, P.L.L.C. in Washington, D.C. 

Ryan Germany is a partner at Gilbert, Harrell, Sumerford & Martin, P.C., where he leads the Political and Election Law Group. Prior to joining Gilbert Harrell, Ryan served as general counsel to the past three Georgia Secretaries of State—successfully guiding the office through some of the most fiercely contested and heavily litigated elections in the state’s history. Ryan graduated cum laude from Washington & Lee University School of Law, where he served on the Executive Committee of the Student Body and currently serves on the Law Council. He received his undergraduate degrees, magna cum laude, from the University of Georgia. Ryan lives in Atlanta with his wife and daughter.

Judge Lucy Inman returned to the private practice of law earlier this year following 12 years of service as a trial and appellate judge in North Carolina. As Senior Counsel at Milberg, she focuses on the firm's appellate work.

Judge Inman earned a degree in English from NC State University in 1984 and earned her law degree from The University of North Carolina School of Law at Chapel Hill in 1990. After clerking for Chief Justice Jim Exum of the North Carolina Supreme Court, she practiced civil litigation for 18 years, first in California and then in North Carolina. From 2010 through 2014, she served as a North Carolina Superior Court judge. After winning statewide nonpartisan election to the North Carolina Court of Appeals in 2014, she served there through 2022, authoring more than 450 appellate opinions, including decisions on issues of first impression in constitutional, criminal, civil, and administrative law. Judge Inman serves on the Judicial Independence Committee of the National Association of Women Judges and in various leadership roles with the North Carolina Bar Association. She often presents continuing education programs for attorneys and judges on topics including professional ethics, trial and appellate practice, legal writing, and the connection between self-care and a healthy work environment. 

Allegra Lawrence-Hardy uses creativity and results-oriented strategic analysis to develop legal solutions that work for her clients. She works with her clients on complex commercial and labor and employment matters, and has successfully defended Fortune 100 companies throughout the United States and abroad in numerous trials, arbitrations, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.

Lawrence-Hardy is known for her skill in trying cases, negotiating complex settlements, and finding creative solutions. She helps develop processes and tools for improving the efficiency and delivery of legal services, and often shares her deep litigation knowledge as a prolific author and sought- after speaker. She is a fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation-only trial lawyer honorary society that represents less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers. Fellows are selected based on excellence and accomplishments in litigation, trial work, and superior ethical reputation.

Lawrence-Hardy has been recognized by Chambers USA: Guide to Leading Business Lawyers, repeatedly named to The Best Lawyers in America®, repeatedly included in the Georgia Trend “Legal Elite,” and repeatedly listed as an Atlanta Magazine “Super Lawyer®,” “Top 100 Georgia Super Lawyers,” and “Top 50 Female Georgia Super Lawyers.” She was selected for inclusion in The Black Lawyers “Top 100” and named to the “Rainmakers” list by Diversity & the Bar. She is regularly quoted in the media as a leading practitioner in her field.

Lawrence-Hardy is a graduate of Yale Law School and is a member of the Yale Law Fund Board. She received her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from Spelman College. She was a law clerk for the Honorable Susan H. Black of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. After spending 18 years of her career at Sutherland, where she was a member of the firm’s executive committee and co-leader of the business litigation group, Lawrence-Hardy co- founded Lawrence & Bundy LLC. Lawrence & Bundy is a boutique commercial litigation law firm which leverages its authentic diversity and combines the sophistication, depth, and rigor of a large law firm with nimble and agile client service. At the foundation of the firm’s success is its deep investment in attorney-client relationships. Lawrence & Bundy dedicates extensive time and resources to understanding each client’s problems and addressing challenges with real-world solutions. With offices in Atlanta, GA, and Washington, D.C., the firm represents an array of sophisticated entities and individuals across a wide spectrum of industries throughout the country.

David Nahmias — a former Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court and senior U.S. Justice Department official — uses his broad experience and distinguished judgment to counsel organizations and individuals on government and internal investigations, compliance and regulatory matters, and litigation. 

Dave served as a Justice on Georgia's highest court for nearly 13 years. Appointed in 2009, he won two statewide elections to six-year terms. He authored more than 470 published opinions and joined more than 2,700 others while becoming an influential leader in the judiciary. The U.S. Chief Justice appointed Dave to serve on the U.S. Judicial Conference's Advisory Committee on Civil Rules from 2013 to 2018. 

After law school, Dave was a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and worked for a large law firm in Washington before serving for almost 15 years in the U.S. Justice Department. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Atlanta, he handled high-profile fraud, public corruption, and terrorism cases and was lead counsel for multiple jury trials. After the 9/11 attacks, Dave worked in the Criminal Division in Washington, including as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General overseeing the Fraud, Counterterrorism, and Appellate Sections. 

In 2004, Dave was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia — the chief federal law enforcement official for metropolitan Atlanta and more than six million residents. For almost five years, Dave supervised significant public corruption and corporate, health care, and other fraud cases. He also served on the Attorney General's Advisory Committee (AGAC) and chaired the AGAC's subcommittee on White Collar Crime. 

Kate Shaw is a Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Her research focuses on executive power, the Supreme Court, the law of democracy, and reproductive rights and justice. Her academic work has appeared, among other places, in the Columbia Law Review, the Cornell Law Review, the Texas Law Review, the Georgetown Law Journal, and the Northwestern University Law Review, and her popular writing has appeared in the New York Times (where she is a contributing opinion writer), the Washington Post, the Atlantic, Time, and Slate. She is a contributor with ABC News and co-hosts the Supreme Court podcast Strict Scrutiny. Before joining Cardozo, she served as an Associate Counsel in the White House Counsel’s Office and clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens and Judge Richard Posner.

Fred Smith Jr. is a Professor of Law at Emory University. He is a scholar of the federal judiciary, constitutional law, and local government. In 2019 and 2022, he was named the law school’s Outstanding Professor of the Year. 

Smith clerked for Judge Myron Thompson of the Middle District of Alabama; Judge Barrington D. Parker Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; and Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the United States Supreme Court. Prior to teaching, he also worked for Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore LLP in Atlanta. 

Smith's research focuses on accountability, federal jurisdiction, and state sovereignty. His work has appeared, or will appear, in Columbia Law Review, Harvard Law Review, Michigan Law Review, New York University Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, Stanford Law Review, the University of Chicago Law Review, and Vanderbilt Law Review, among other academic journals. Representative works include: “Reconstructing Klein,” 90 U. Chi. L. Rev. __ (2023) (with Helen Hershkoff); “Policing Mass Incarceration,” 135 Harv. L. Rev. 1853 (2022); “On Time, (In)equality, and Death,” 120 Mich. L. Rev. 195 (2021); “The Constitution After Death,” 121 Colum. L. Rev. 1471 (2020); “Abstention in the Time of Ferguson,” 131 Harv. L. Rev. 2283 (2018); and "Local Sovereign Immunity," 116 Colum. L. Rev. 409 (2016). He has given lectures on related topics across the United States and internationally, including in Istanbul, Shanghai, and Warsaw. He also has been interviewed as an expert by major media outlets, including CNN, CBS News, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Time Magazine, Esquire Magazine, Court TV, and National Public Radio. 

In a range of volunteer capacities, Smith promotes equity and social justice. He serves on the board of Invest Atlanta, which serves as the economic and community development authority of City of Atlanta. He also serves the national board of Lambda Legal; the national board of Civil Rights Corps; and the LGBT Advisory Board of Historic Atlanta. He served as an inaugural member of Atlanta’s Mayoral LGBTQ Advisory Board. He also served as an inaugural advisory board member for the Harvard Debate Council Diversity Project, which annually trains black Atlanta youth in critical thinking and public speaking. 

Education : J.D., Stanford Law School; B.A. (with honors), Harvard College. 

Amy Steigerwalt is professor and chair within the department of Political Science at Georgia State University. Her research focuses on the federal judicial selection process, as well as the role of courts as institutions and the differing influences on court operations and decision-making. She is the current Director of the Georgia Legislative Internship Program. She has published four books to date, including Battle Over the Bench: Senators, Interest Groups and the Politics of Courts of Appeals Confirmations (UVA Press, 2010), as well as articles in journals such as Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and Justice System Journal. Her most recent book is Gendered Vulnerability: How Women Work Harder to Stay in Office, coauthored with Jeff Lazarus (University of Michigan Press, 2018), which argues that female politicians face a more treacherous electoral landscape, and this leads them to pursue a more constituent-oriented approach to legislative activity once in office. Dr. Steigerwalt, along with Drs. Corley and Ward, was awarded the 2013 Hughes-Gossett Award for the best article published that year in the Journal of Supreme Court History. 

Dr. Steigerwalt is a frequent panelist on GPB's daily show "Political Rewind with Bill Nigut," and has recently been cited in outlets such as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Washington Post, New York Times, Bloomberg News, and The Independent. 

Before joining the Harvard Law School faculty, Stephanopoulos was a Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. He was previously an Associate-in-Law at Columbia Law School and an Associate in the Washington, DC office of Jenner & Block LLP. Before entering private practice, he clerked for Judge Raymond C. Fisher of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

A graduate of Yale Law School, Stephanopoulos also holds an M.Phil. in European Studies from Cambridge University and an A.B. in Government from Harvard College, graduating summa cum laude. While at Yale, he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Journal of International Law, received the Jewell Prize for best second-year student contribution to a law journal, and was a finalist in both the moot court and mock trial competitions. 

Stephanopoulos is a frequent television and radio commentator on legal issues. He is a co-founder of PlanScore, a website evaluating past, present, and proposed district plans. He is a member of policy reform initiatives including the Campaign Legal Center’s Litigation Strategy Council and the Committee for the Study of Digital Platforms. He has been named to The Politico 50 list as well as the National Law Journal’s “Chicago’s 40 Under 40.” 

Education 

• A.B. Government Harvard University, 2001 
• M.Phil. European Studies University of Cambridge, 2002 
• J.D. Yale Law School, 2006 

Representative Publications 

• Nicholas Stephanopoulos, Disparate Impact, Unified Law, 128 Yale L.J. 1566 (2019). 
• Nicholas Stephanopoulos, Race, Place, and Power, 68 Stan. L. Rev. 1323 (2016).
• Nicholas Stephanopoulos & Eric McGhee, Partisan Gerrymandering and the Efficiency Gap, 82 U. Chi. L. Rev. 831 (2015). 
• Nicholas Stephanopoulos, Partisan Gerrymandering, in The Oxford Handbook of American Election Law (forthcoming 2023). 
• Nicholas Stephanopolous, The Partisan Implications of the ISL Theory, Democracy Docket (Aug. 29, 2022). 

Stephen I. Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) holds the Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts at the University of Texas School of Law and is a nationally recognized expert on the federal courts, constitutional law, national security law, and military justice. Professor Vladeck has argued over a dozen cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Texas Supreme Court, and various lower federal civilian and military courts; has testified before numerous congressional committees and Executive Branch agencies and commissions and the Texas legislature; has served as an expert witness both in U.S. state and federal courts and in foreign tribunals; and has received numerous awards for his influential and widely cited legal scholarship, his prolific popular writing, his teaching, and his service to the legal profession. 

Vladeck is the co-host, together with Professor Bobby Chesney, of the popular and award-winning “National Security Law Podcast.” He is CNN’s Supreme Court analyst and a co-author of Aspen Publishers’ leading national security law and counterterrorism law casebooks. He is editor and author of "One First," a popular weekly newsletter about the Supreme Court. And he is currently writing a book on the rise of the Supreme Court's "shadow docket," to be published by Basic Books in May 2023. 

Vladeck joined the Texas faculty in 2016 after 11 years teaching at the University of Miami School of Law and American University Washington College of Law. He is an elected member of the University of Texas Faculty Council, in which he serves as Chair-Elect of the Committee of Counsel on Academic Freedom and Responsibility; an elected member of the American Law Institute; a Distinguished Scholar at the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law; and a senior editor of the peer-reviewed Journal of National Security Law and Policy. He is the Supreme Court Fellow at the Project on Government Oversight's Constitution Project; a Distinguished Fellow of the National Institute of Military Justice; and a member of the Advisory Committee to the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security, the American Constitution Society's Board of Academic Advisors, and the advisory boards of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the RAND History of U.S. Military Policy. 

A 2004 graduate of Yale Law School, Vladeck clerked for the Honorable Marsha S. Berzon on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Honorable Rosemary Barkett on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. While a law student, he was Executive Editor of the Yale Law Journal and the Student Director of the Balancing Civil Liberties & National Security Post-9/11 Litigation Project, and he was awarded the Harlan Fiske Stone Prize for Outstanding Moot Court Oralist and shared the Potter Stewart Prize for Best Team Performance in Moot Court. He earned a B.A. summa cum laude with Highest Distinction in History and Mathematics from Amherst College in 2001 — where he wrote his senior thesis on 

"Leipzig's Shadow: The War Crimes Trials of the First World War and Their Implications from Nuremberg to the Present," and shared the Alfred J. Havighurst Prize as the outstanding senior History major. A native New Yorker and fatalistic Mets fan, Vladeck lives in central Austin with his wife, Karen (a Managing Director at Whistler Partners, and with whom he co-hosts the "In Loco Parent(i)s" podcast), their daughters, Madeleine and Sydney, and their nine-year-old pug, Roxanna.