Speakers

Kenneth Allen
Drafted in 1970, Ken served as a combat engineer and received a direct commission to Second Lieutenant, and in 1975 he was a nonvoting member of President Ford’s VietNam Clemency Board. After becoming a lawyer, he was an active duty and reserve Army judge advocate, retiring in 2002. In his federal civil service career, he practiced law for the Army at Pirmasens and Ziewbrucken, Germany; Ft. Ritchie MD; and Ft. Detrick, MD. His assignments during his last ten years of federal service included being a Special Assistant United States Attorney with a focus on procurement and grant fraud. In 2007 he retired from the federal government and became the general counsel of a defense contractor. In 2009 he retired (again). He now teaches for commercial training companies and the Naval Post Graduate School, and writes law books for Thomson Reuters.

Since 1995 Ken has been a frequent speaker for government and private educators. He has addressed the American Society of Military Comptrollers, the Army War College, the Army Management Staff College, the Naval Postgraduate School, NCMA national and Chapter events, and Thomson Reuters’ Contract Year in Review (2014-2017). He has authored over 40 training manuals and courses on subjects such as government contract law, federal fiscal law, trial advocacy, leadership and management, the interpretation of government contracts, contract administration and CORs, federal grants, and legal ethics. He is the author of three Thomson Reuter books, The Contract Interpretation Handbook: A Guide for Avoiding and Resolving Government Contract Disputes; How to Read a Government Contract, A Manual on Contract Interpretation for Acquisition Professionals; and Federal Grant Practice. He is the author of two recent NCMA Contract Management magazine articles, and two Thomson Reuters’ Briefing Papers.

He is a 1976 graduate of the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville, the resident Army JAG School basic and advanced courses, Army Command and General Staff College, Army Management Staff College, National Defense University, and the Army War College. He does most of his writing and research at home in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland near Camp David.

Jason Bergman
Department of Justice
Coming Soon!

BrugatoThomas Brugato
Covington & Burling, LLP
Thomas Brugato is a lawyer in Covington’s Washington, DC office. He was a member of the trial team representing the plaintiffs in Alta Wind I Owner-Lessor C v. United States, 128 Fed. Cl. 702 (2016), a case involving a dispute over how to determine basis under the Section 1603 program. After a nine-day trial, the Court of Federal Claims held that the plaintiffs were entitled to over $206 million in additional Section 1603 payments. In addition to his Section 1603 work, he also has experience in civil and administrative litigation, and environmental law.

Judge Eric Bruggink
Court of Federal Claims
Judge Bruggink was appointed Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims on April 15, 1986 and entered on duty April 21, 1986. He is a cum laude graduate of Auburn University, receiving a B.A. degree in sociology in 1971 and an M.A. degree in speech in 1972. Judge Bruggink received his J.D. in 1975 from the University of Alabama School of Law, where he was a Hugo Black Scholar and Note and Comments Editor of the Alabama Law Review.

Judge Bruggink was appointed Director, Office of Appeals Counsel of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board in November 1982, and served in that position until his appointment as Judge of the Court of Federal Claims. He formerly served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Frank H. McFadden of the Northern District of Alabama, and as an associate with the law firms of Steiner, Crum & Baker in Montgomery, Alabama, 1979-1982, and Hardwick, Hause & Segrest in Dothan, Alabama, 1976-1977. He was Assistant Director of the Alabama Law Institute from 1977 to 1979, during which time he established the Office of Energy and Environmental Law and served as its first director.

Born in Kalidjati, Indonesia, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1960, and speaks Dutch. Judge Bruggink is married to the former Melinda Harris, and has two sons, John and David. He is a member of the Alabama State Bar, the District of Columbia Bar, and the Federal Circuit Bar.

ColatrianoVince Colatriano
Cooper & Kirk, PLLC
Vincent J. Colatriano has extensive civil litigation experience representing a wide range of clients before a number of administrative agencies and federal and state trial and appellate courts on a variety of constitutional, statutory, administrative, contractual, tort, intellectual property, and commercial matters. He has appeared regularly in cases brought against the federal government and federal agencies in both federal district court and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and has successfully represented other companies in government contract cases against the United States.

Mr. Colatriano has regularly represented property owners in litigation brought against the United States under the Fifth Amendment’s “takings” clause, which prohibits the taking by the government of property for a public use without the payment of just compensation. He has represented plaintiffs in litigation, before both the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, seeking compensation from the federal government as a result of the Government’s unauthorized use of inventions covered by valid patents. He has also helped to analyze whether provisions of federal patent reform legislation run afoul of various provisions of the United States Constitution.

Mr. Colatriano has represented state governments in numerous constitutional, statutory, administrative law, and commercial matters involving such complex issues as the disposal of nuclear waste, compliance with oil and gas leases, health care reform, and the meaning and application of the “commerce” clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Mr. Colatriano has extensive experience representing clients in proceedings before administrative agencies, and has worked on cases before such agencies as the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (in matters involving the Atomic Energy Act and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (in matters involving the Animal Welfare Act). He was awarded his B.A. degree in Political Science, summa cum laude, from

George Washington University in 1987, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1990, he received his J.D. degree from the National Law Center, George Washington University, with highest honors. He is a member of the bars of the State of Maryland, the District of Columbia, the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Federal, First, and District of Columbia Circuits, the United States District Courts for the District of Maryland and the District of Columbia, and the United States Court of Federal Claims.

ConwayKevin Conway
Conway Homer, PC
Since the inception of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in 1988, Kevin Conway’s firm has focused its entire practice to representing persons in the Vaccine Program. During this time, the firm’s efforts have resulted in millions of dollars in awards for its clients.

Kevin is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame for his undergraduate degree, and Georgetown University Law Center for his law degree. Prior to establishing the firm, Kevin’s past legal experience includes serving as counsel for the New York/New Jersey Waterfront Crime Commission, CBS News, and the CBS Television and Radio Networks. Kevin was also a partner at Schlichtmann, Conway & Crowley during the noted “Woburn Trial,” when the firm represented eight (8) children with leukemia, allegedly caused by drinking wells contaminated by WR Grace and Beatrice Foods. The suit formed the basis of Jonathan Harr’s book, “A Civil Action,” required reading in many law schools, and the movie “A Civil Action,” starring John Travolta (actor Tony Shalhoub played Kevin in the movie).

Kevin is a member of the Vaccine Program’s Process Committee, former member of the Mediation Committee and the past president of the Vaccine Injured Petitioners Bar Association. He assisted in the preparation of the Program’s Guidelines. In addition, he served as a member on Vaccine Program Panels for the American Bar Association and the Court of Federal Claims. Kevin is currently a member of the Court of Federal Claims Bar Association, the Vaccine Injured Petitioners Bar Association and the American Association of Justice. As the firm’s senior partner, he has practiced extensively before the Vaccine Program, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He currently is an adjunct professor at Boston College.

Judge Edward Damich
Court of Federal Claims
Edward J. Damich was appointed a judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims on October 22, 1998, by President William J. Clinton. He served as Chief Judge from 2002-2009. Judge Damich has an A.B. degree from St. Stephen’s College, Dover, Massachusetts; a J.D. degree from Catholic University; and L.L.M. and J.S.D. degrees from Columbia University. From 1995-98 Judge Damich served as Chief Intellectual Property Counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee. During his tenure on the Committee, he assisted the Chairman, Senator Orrin Hatch, with the passage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the most significant change in copyright law since the Copyright Act of 1976. The DMCA updated U.S. law for the digital age and for the Internet.

In September 1992, Judge Damich was appointed by President George H. W. Bush to be a Commissioner of the Copyright Royalty Tribunal (CRT). In formal adjudicatory proceedings, the CRT set rates and distributed royalties under the statutory license provisions of the Copyright Act regarding cable television, non-commercial broadcasting, satellite television, sound recordings, and digital audio recording technology. He served as a Commissioner until November 1993. Judge Damich is also a professor and extensive author.

He has testified before congressional committees on five occasions on copyright issues and on U.S. foreign policy regarding the former Yugoslavia. On May 8, 2009, Judge Damich received the Loren A. Smith Award, the highest award the Court bestows for service on its behalf.

Jeanne Davidson
Department of Justice
Jeanne Davidson is an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice. She received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a Juris Doctorate from the New York University School of Law. Jeanne was an associate at the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson and then served as Associate General Counsel in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. For more than 25 years, she served in the National Courts Section of the Commercial Litigation Branch in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, service in various roles, including Director from 2007 to 2013. Jeanne is currently the Director of the Offices of Foreign Litigation and International Legal Assistance as well as the International Trade Field Office in the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Civil Division. She also currently serves as President of the Federal Circuit Bar Association.

Chief Special Master Nora Beth Dorsey
Court of Federal Claims, Office of Special Masters
Nora Beth Dorsey was appointed Special Master of the United States Court of Federal Claims on January 14, 2013. She was designated Chief Special Master by the court to succeed Denise K. Vowell, effective September 1, 2015.

She graduated from Winston-Salem State University with a B.S. in Nursing in 1979, and she received her J.D. in 1991 from the University of Georgia School of Law.

Special Master Dorsey served from 2005 until her appointment as director of the civil litigation defense team of Hancock Daniel Johnson & Nagel, P.C. in Richmond, Virginia. Prior to 2005 she worked in various personal injury and medical malpractice law firms. She is admitted to the bars of the District of Columbia, Georgia, and Virginia, several U.S. District Courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Steven Gillingham
Department of Justice
Steve Gillingham is an Assistant Director in the DOJ Civil Division’s National Courts Section in Washington, DC, an office of approximately 135 attorneys who litigate before the United States Court of Federal Claims, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, and the United States Court of International Trade. The office’s practice involves government contracts, government programs, takings, import regulation, federal employment, and veteran and military status. Steve is responsible for reviewing attorney work, leading trial teams, personally handling complex cases, and for various administrative and management matters, including case assignment.

Steve has served on the Board of Governors of the United States Court of Federal Claims Bar Association, and has lectured at the George Washington University, the Judge Advocate General’s School, the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center, and before various agency attorney groups. Steve is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Gonzaga University School of Law and is a Retired Colonel of the United States Army. In his spare time, Steve is a baseball umpire and soccer and basketball referee.

Gary Golkiewicz
Private Mediator and Former Chief Special Master
Gary Golkiewicz is a private mediator and formerly served as Chief Special Master from 1988 to 2010. Mr. Golkiewicz received a B.S. degree in accounting from Canisius College and a Juris Doctorate from Catholic University. He formerly served as Chief of Staff to Chief Judge Loren Smith at the Court of Federal Claims, was a senior attorney at the Court of Federal Claims, a staff attorney with the Grant Appeals Board and started his career as a law clerk with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

HauskenGary Hausken
Department of Justice
Mr. Hausken is the Director of the Intellectual Property Staff, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice. He joined the Department of Justice as a patent attorney in 1990 and was appointed Assistant Director in 2003. He was promoted to Deputy Director in 2016. Mr. Hausken assumed his current position as Director on January 3, 2017. The Intellectual Property Staff represents the United States in complex intellectual property litigation and advises government agencies on a wide variety of issues related to intellectual property rights.

Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Mr. Hausken was a Judge Advocate officer in the U.S. Army for 11 years. During his tenure, he held a variety of assignments, culminating with a tour of duty at the Intellectual Property Law Division of the Office of the Judge Advocate General.

Mr. Hausken received a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from Oregon State University and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Montana in 1979. He was awarded an LL.M in patent and trade regulation law from The George Washington University Law School in 1991. He is an enrolled patent attorney, as well as being admitted in California and Montana.

KumarDr. Princy Kumar
MedStar, Georgetown University Hospital
Dr. Princy Kumar serves as the Senior Associate Dean for Students at the School of Medicine, and has held this position since 2000. In this role, she mentors students with a wide variety of academic interests, and also meets with students facing challenges or concerns about health, well-being, or personal issues impacting their academic performance. In addition, she is a Professor of Medicine and Microbiology and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Travel Medicine at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. Dr. Kumar received her medical degree at Kasturba Medical College in India, and completed her residency at Englewood Hospital in New Jersey. Dr. Kumar trained as a Fellow in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Georgetown University Hospital, where she served as the director of that fellowship program from 1996-2012 and currently serves as the Associate Program Director.

She has a broad portfolio of research and scholarly endeavors, which includes ongoing clinical research on adult HIV therapeutic strategies in her role of Principal Investigator for the Georgetown University sub-site of the NIH/NIAID funded AIDS Clinical Trials Group, as well as her work as Principal Investigator for the HPTN TLC-Plus study that focuses on HIV prevention through enhanced HIV testing, linkage to care, and treatment. Her public service work includes serving as a consultant to the FDA’s Anti-Viral Drugs Committee, and a consultant to the Peace Corps. Dr Kumar lives in Potomac, MD with her husband, daughter, and son.

LarkinSharon Larkin
Steptoe & Johnson, LLP
Sharon L. Larkin, a partner in Steptoe’s Washington office, has nearly 20 years of experience handling complex government contract matters. Ms. Larkin is identified in Chambers USA 2015 and 2016 as a “Recognized Practitioner” among government contracts lawyers nationwide, and in 2016 as a Washington, DC “Super Lawyer” in government contracts. She represents government contractors in the full spectrum of procurement matters, with particular emphasis on bid protests, claims litigations, and dispute resolutions. She also advises and assists clients with contract negotiations, small business matters, data rights, investigations and compliance, and civil disputes. Her clients include both large and small contractors, and her particular areas of industry focus include health care and biotechnology, aerospace and defense, information technology, and construction.

Ms. Larkin spent 12 years with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), where she served as a Judge on the GAO Contract Appeals Board and an Assistant General Counsel in the Procurement Law Division. During her time at GAO, she heard more than 1,600 cases, issued 425 public decision, presided over more than 40 hearings and trials, and conducted more than 65 alternative dispute resolution sessions. Before and after GAO, Ms. Larkin was a government contracts attorney in private practice. She also served as an expert witness in procurement matters.

Ms. Larkin chaired the ABA Section of Public Contract Law in 2013 to 2014, where she led the Section through the federal government shutdown. She is a frequent lecturer on government contracting matters and has taught numerous classes on contract formation and administration, litigation practice, and alternative dispute resolution. Prior to going to law school, Ms. Larkin worked for several years in the field of medical technology in laboratory medicine.

Judge Charles Lettow
Court of Federal Claims
Judge Lettow was appointed a judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims on July 14, 2003, and entered on duty on July 22, 2003. He previously spent more than 30 years as a litigator with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. During that time, he argued three cases in the U.S. Supreme Court and more than 40 cases in the federal courts of appeals, and handled numerous cases in federal trial courts.

Prior to joining Cleary, Gottlieb, Judge Lettow served as Counsel, Council on Environmental Quality in the Executive Office of the President. He was a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, Supreme Court of the United States and was a law clerk to Judge Ben C. Duniway, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judge Lettow received an LL.B. degree from Stanford University in 1968, where he was Note Editor of the Stanford Law Review and a member of Order of the Coif. He also received a B.S.Ch.E. from Iowa State University and a M.A. in history from Brown University. From 1963 to 1965, Judge Lettow served in the U.S. Army with the Third Infantry Division.

While at Cleary, Gottlieb, Judge Lettow was active with educational institutions and bar organizations. He served as chairman of the board of trustees of The Potomac School from 1985-1988, and as a member of the board from 1983-1990. He also was chairman of the Environmental Controls Committee of the Section of Business Law, American Bar Association, from 1983-1987. He has been a member of the American Law Institute since 1994.

Judge Lettow maintains an interest in academic research on historical topics, particularly in the Tudor-Stuart period in England and the corresponding colonial period in the United States. He also sustains an interest in agriculture and farming. He is married and resides in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas. He and his wife have four children.

MadsenMarcia Madsen
Mayer Brown, LLP
Marcia Madsen is Chair of the Government Contracts practice and co-chair of the National Security Practice at Mayer Brown. She has represented contractors in regulatory, policy, transactional, litigation, and investigative matters involving virtually every federal agency. Her clients include defense contractors, information technology and systems integrators, telecommunications companies, engineering firms, insurers, and manufacturing companies. Ms. Madsen’s practice includes defense of False Claims Act matters, internal investigations, audits, bid protests, claims and disputes before administrative forums and in the federal courts.

She is a former Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Public Contract Law and currently co-chairs the Section’s Procurement Fraud Committee. She is a member of the Court of Federal Claims Advisory Council – Emeritus, and a recipient of the Court’s Golden Eagle award. She is a Past President of the Board of Contract Appeals Bar Association. She was appointed by the Executive Office of the President to chair the Section 1423 Panel which recommended revision of the acquisition laws. She speaks and writes frequently on the Government Contracts and litigation topics.

ManhardtKirk Manhardt
Department of Justice
Kirk Manhardt is an Assistant Director in the Civil Division of the Department of Justice and a former Deputy General Counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Mr. Manhardt received his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and is a 1981graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

Mr. Manhardt has represented the interests of the United States in court for nearly three decades. Within the Civil Division, Mr. Manhardt currently supervises the National Courts Section+IBk-s Bid Protest Team. He also currently serves as a co-chair of the Bid Protest Committee of the ABA Public Contract Law Section and regularly speaks on topics related to procurement litigation. In addition, Mr. Manhardt supervises a wide variety of contract-based litigation and has litigated some of the largest claims filed against the United States under the Contract Disputes Act. Mr. Manhardt has also appeared regularly before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and before nearly every other Circuit Court of Appeals.

In prior activities, Mr. Manhardt co-chaired the Court of Federal Claims Advisory Council+IBk-s Bid Protest Group which drafted recommendations that served as the basis for Court of Federal Claims General Order No. 38, the precursor to Appendix C of the current rules governing procedures in procurement cases. Mr. Manhardt served as a member of the Board of Governors of the United States Court of Federal Claims Bar Association from 2000-2002 and in 2008 he served as an editor to the Fifth Edition of the Court of Federal Claims Bar Association+IBk-s Deskbook for Practitioners. Mr. Manhardt is a recipient of the Court of Federal Claims+IBk-s Wilson Cowen Award for Distinguished Service and has received Special Commendation Awards for his work at the Department of Justice.

Robert Meltz
Congressional Research Service
Robert Meltz is an attorney-adviser with the Congressional Research Service, providing nonpartisan legal analysis to Congress. He has long specialized in the takings issue, a topic on which he has issued numerous CRS reports, testified before Congress, and delivered CLE courses to Members and staff. Outside CRS, Mr. Meltz has lectured and written widely on the takings issue, including coauthoring a book entitled “The Takings Issue: Constitutional Limits on Land Use Control and Environmental Regulation” (1999). Most recently, he coauthored “Temporary Takings: Settled Principles and Unresolved Questions,” 11 Vt. J. Envtl. L. 479 (2010). Mr. Meltz has also been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where he co-taught a takings law seminar. He earned his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Douglas Mickle
Department of Justice
Doug Mickle is an Assistant Director with the National Courts Section of the Commercial Litigation Branch, United States Department of Justice, where he supervises the National Courts Section’s Bid Protest Team and is a senior member of the Commercial Branch’s contracts disputes and military and civilian personnel/ pay practice groups. Within the National Courts Section, in addition to bid protests, he has personally handled and supervised a wide variety of contract-based litigation, personnel cases, and other commercial matters before the United States Court of Federal Claims, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and other federal district and appellate courts. Mr. Mickle has taught courses on litigating bid protests, contract disputes, and military personnel matters, and has been a featured panelist on these subjects at seminars sponsored by the Department of Defense, military services, American Bar Association, and the Court of Federal Claims Bar Association.

Mr. Mickle is a Distinguished Military Graduate of St. Lawrence University and upon graduation was commissioned in the Regular Army. He served in various command and staff positions until he was selected for the Army’s Funded Legal Education Program. Mr. Mickle received his law degree from George Washington University Law School. As a Judge Advocate, Mr. Mickle had several diverse litigation assignments at various levels of command, culminating with his final assignment as the Chief of the General Litigation Branch at the Army’s Litigation Division. Mr. Mickle currently serves as a co-chairman of the American Bar Association’s Public Contract Law Section’s Bid Protest Committee, and also is a member of the Court of Federal Claims Advisory Council and Court of Federal Claims Bar Association’s Board of Governors.

PawlowJean Pawlow
McDermott, Will & Emery
Jean A. Pawlow represents businesses and individuals on significant tax controversy matters. She serves on the Firm’s Management Committee and Finance Committee and is co-chair of the Tax Controversy Practice.

Jean has nearly three decades of experience in the field. She has handled transfer pricing issues under Code Section 482, tax advantaged transactions, tax accounting issues, insurance tax matters, the tax treatment of financial instruments, foreign tax credit and research credit issues, leveraged leases, credit card interchange and original issue discount (OID), excise taxes, reasonable compensation, estate and gift tax issues, and charitable contribution deductions. She also advises on California and District of Columbia tax controversies.

Jean has litigated cases before US district and appellate courts, as well as the US Tax Court, the US Court of Federal Claims and the US Supreme Court. She also has extensive experience with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures, including fast-track settlement, rapid appeals, post-appeals mediation, pre-filing agreements and compliance assurance process (CAP) audits. She frequently represents clients who are being audited by the IRS Global Wealth Industry Group.

Jean writes and speaks frequently on tax controversy matters and has appeared on CBS and CNBC. She is the contributing editor of a 2016 book on global tax controversies.

PerelliThomas J. Perelli
Jenner & Block, Former U.S. Associate Attorney General
Thomas J. Perrelli is a nationally recognized litigator who re-joined Jenner & Block as a partner in 2012 after serving for three years as associate attorney general of the United States, the third highest-ranking official in the U.S. Department of Justice. In that capacity, Mr. Perrelli was responsible for the Department’s Civil, Antitrust, Civil Rights, Environment and Natural Resources, and Tax Divisions, the United States Trustee Program, the Office of Justice Programs and the Office on Violence Against Women, among others. Among numerous high-level, multi-party negotiations, he led the US government’s efforts to negotiate a $25 billion settlement to resolve claims against financial institutions for servicing of mortgages and negotiated the creation of a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Mr. Perrelli is the founder and chair of the Government Controversies and Public Policy Litigation Practice. He also serves on the firm’s Policy Committee.

Mr. Perrelli represents businesses, governmental entities and their leaders at the intersection of law, business and government regulation, drawing upon a wealth of experience in government service, the Washington, DC political environment and private practice, to provide clients with high-level strategic advice, both litigation and transactional, as well as regulatory compliance guidance and public policy counsel.

Mr. Perrelli began practicing law as an associate at Jenner & Block in 1992. He left the firm in 1997 to serve as counsel to then-US Attorney General Janet Reno, rising to the position of deputy assistant attorney general before returning to Jenner & Block in 2001. Over the next eight years, he concentrated his practice in copyright, media and constitutional litigation, as well as complex litigation with a public policy or regulatory component. During that time, Mr. Perrelli was recognized by Chambers USA as one of the country’s leading media and entertainment law attorneys. In 2005, The National Law Journal named him one of the most promising lawyers under 40 years old. In 2009, he was nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate to the position of associate attorney general of the United States.

Catherine Reeves
Department of Justice
Catharine Reeves is Deputy Director of the Constitutional and Specialized Torts Branch, where her primary responsibility is managing litigation under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. After several years in private practice, she began her public service career with the Department of Justice in October 1990 as a Trial Attorney defending Vaccine Act cases. She has experience handling all aspects of Vaccine Act claims, including the litigation of complex medical and scientific issues, the negotiation of settlements, and the briefing and argument of appeals before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. From January 1999 to September 2001, Ms. Reeves was Deputy Director of the Department of Justice’s Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management, where she participated in the adjudication of background investigations, acted as a decision maker on personnel actions, and assisted with administration of the Attorney General’s Honors Program. A native of Maryland, she received her undergraduate degree in Political Science from Frostburg State University in 1982 and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 1985. She was admitted to practice in Maryland in 1985.

SiskProfessor Gregory Sisk
University of St. Thomas School of Law
Gregory Sisk holds the Laghi Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minnesota. Prior to entering the academy, Sisk was an appellate attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, law clerk to a federal court of appeals judge, and head of the appellate department in a law firm. Sisk teaches litigation courses and professional responsibility, along with an appellate clinic in which he and students handle a pro bono case before the U.S. Court of Appeals. He also continues to brief cases pro bono in the Supreme Court and other federal courts.

In addition to several dozen law review articles on litigation and judicial decision-making, his hornbook on “Litigation with the Federal Government” was published by West Academic Press in Spring 2016. He also is lead author for a new West Academic hornbook on Professional Responsibility that is under contract and scheduled for publication in early 2018.

Judge Loren Smith
Court of Federal Claims
Judge Smith was appointed a judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims on July 11, 1985 and entered duty on September 12, 1985. He was designated Chief Judge on January 14, 1986. He graduated from Northwestern University, receiving a B.A. in 1966; he attended Northwestern University School of Law, receiving a J.D. in 1969.

Judge Smith formerly served as Chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States from 1981 to 1985. During his tenure as Chairman, Judge Smith was a member of the President’s Cabinet Councils on Legal Policy and on Management and Administration. He also served as the Chairman of the Council of Independent Regulatory Agencies. Judge Smith was Deputy Director of the Executive Branch Management Office of Presidential Transition from 1980-81; Chief Counsel, Reagan for President campaigns in 1976 and 1980; Professor of Law, Delaware Law School, 1976-1984; Special Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, 1974-75; Assistant to the Special Counsel to the President, 1973-74; General Attorney, Federal Communications Commission in 1973; and Consultant, Sidley & Austin, Chicago, 1972-73. Also in 1972 he served as host of a nightly radio talk show called What’s Best for America? In 1970, he ran for Illinois General Assembly with the endorsement of the Chicago Tribune. Judge Smith is also an accomplished author.

He is a member of the Bars of the Supreme Court of Illinois; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces; United States Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit; United States Supreme Court; United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; United States Court of Federal Claims.

Judge Smith is Adjunct Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law; Washington College of Law, American University; Georgetown University Law Center; and Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America. He taught as an Adjunct Professor of Law at The International School of Law (now George Mason University School of Law), 1973-74. Judge Smith has served as an international elections observer in Chile and Serbia. He has spoken and appeared on TV and radio in Estonia, The Republic of South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Italy, Germany, England, Canada, Spain, Switzerland, and Ukraine on behalf of the United States Information Agency and other groups.

IMG_5061Robson Stewart
Department of Justice
Rob Stewart is an Assistant Chief in the Court of Federal Claims Section of the Department of Justice’s Tax Division. He joined the Department of Justice through the Honors Program in 1987 and has litigated tax cases in the Court of Federal Claims for 26 years. He also served as the president of the Court of Federal Claims Bar Association.

 

 

StouckJerry Stouck
Greenberg, Traurig, LLP
Jerry Stouck has a wide-ranging trial and appellate litigation practice. He has particular experience in complex business, regulatory and environmental disputes with government agencies, and is Chair of the firm’s Federal Regulatory and Administrative Law practice group.

Jerry represented the lead bank plaintiff in the landmark “Winstar” litigation involving the government’s breach of hundreds of savings and loan merger agreements, and has represented several nuclear utility companies in damages litigation over the government’s failure to complete the Yucca Mountain repository for spent nuclear fuel.

Jerry regularly challenges federal agency action under a wide range of regulatory regimes. He also handles environmental and land use litigation, including related contract/commercial disputes, and has extensive experience with eminent domain and Fifth Amendment regulatory takings claims. Jerry appears frequently in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and Federal Circuit, in the D.C. federal district court and D.C. Circuit, and in other trial and appellate courts across the country.

Dr. Terry Dalle-Tezze
Department of Health and Human Services
Dr. Terry Dalle-Tezze received his medical degree from Eastern Virginia Medical School in 1996. He began his pediatric training at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters and finished his training at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Dr. Dalle-Tezze also completed an additional year as Chief Resident at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Dr. Dalle-Tezze spent the early part of his clinical career working in the inner city of Newport News, Virginia at a federally funded community health center. In 2002, he received the Provider of the Year Award from the Virginia Primary Care Association for his contribution. Dr. Dalle-Tezze spent the remainder of his clinical career as a pediatric ER physician/pediatric hospitalist in both Virginia and Maryland. Dr. Dalle-Tezze arrived at the Division of Injury Compensation Programs of the Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, in 2013, where he currently holds the position of Pediatric Team Lead.

Professor Dana L. Trier
University of Miami School of Law
Dana Trier graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Indiana University, and received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was Associate Editor and Note Editor of the Michigan Law Review. He served as Deputy Tax Legislative Counsel, Tax Legislative Counsel and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy in the Treasury Department in 1988 and 1989. After his service in the Treasury Department, he consulted with the House Ways and Means Committee and its staff on corporate taxation and consumption taxes, and more recently has consulted with the Senate Finance Committee staff on tax issues relating to private equity and hedge funds.

Mr. Trier has lectured widely on corporate, partnership and compensation issues for professional groups including the Practicing Law Institute, ALI-ABA, the N.Y.U. Institute on Federal Taxation, the University of Chicago Tax Conference and the Federal Bar Association. He has also written articles and bar association reports that have been published in the Michigan Law Review, Tax Lawyer, Taxes, the Journal of Taxation, the New York University Institute on Federal Taxation, Tax Notes and the National Law Journal.

Darrell Valdez
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia
Darrell Valdez has been with the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia since 1994, and has served substantial assignments in both the Criminal and Civil Divisions. While assigned to the Criminal Division, Mr. Valdez prosecuted matters before the District of Columbia Superior Court and the United States District Court in cases involving violent and non-violent offenses, major narcotics, gang-related crimes, homicides, and financial crimes.

His experience in the Civil Division includes both defensive and affirmative litigation in the Federal courts; and he has been involved all aspects of law practiced in that Division, including civil fraud, torts, qui tam, employment and labor law, administrative procedures, class action matters, contracts, and other areas of commercial and civil litigation. In 2008, Mr. Valdez was appointed to a full-time Affirmative Civil Enforcement (ACE) position with the United States Attorney’s Office, investigating and civilly prosecuting fraud, False Claims Act matters, including health care fraud, government contractor fraud, and grant fraud.

Darrell Valdez received his Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of Colorado (1984) and his Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center (1988).

Judge Thomas Wheeler
Court of Federal Claims
Judge Wheeler was appointed to the United States Court of Federal Claims on October 24, 2005. He received his Juris Doctor Degree from Georgetown University Law School in 1973, and his undergraduate degree from Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1970. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, and of the American Bar Association’s Public Contracts and Litigation Sections.

From 1973 to 2005, Judge Wheeler was in private practice in Washington, D.C. He was an associate and partner in the law firm of Pettit & Martin until 1995, and then moved as a partner to the law firm of Piper & Marbury. Through mergers with other firms, Piper & Marbury became known as Piper Marbury Rudnick & Wolfe, and later as DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary. During his years in private practice, Judge Wheeler specialized in Government Contract claims, litigation, and counseling, representing a wide variety of large and small business clients. He appeared before many agency boards of contract appeals, the United States Court of Federal Claims and its predecessors, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, a number of United States District Courts, and the Government Accountability Office (formerly the General Accounting Office).

Judge Wheeler is married, and has two grown children. Judge Wheeler is active in his Church and community, and he previously served for many years as a youth soccer coach and referee. His outside interests include skiing, photography, writing, softball, and hiking.

Judge Mary Ellen Coster Williams
Court of Federal Claims
Judge Williams was appointed to the United States Court of Federal Claims on July 21, 2003. In 1974, she graduated summa cum laude from Catholic University where she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Latin and Greek and a Master’s degree in Latin. In 1977, Judge Williams received her J.D. from the Duke University School of Law, where she served on the Editorial Board of the Duke Law Journal.

From March 6, 1989 to July 18, 2003, Judge Williams served as an administrative judge on the General Services Administration Board of Contract Appeals (“Board”), where she resolved federal government contract cases. From 1987 to 1989, Judge Williams was a partner in the law firm of Janis, Schuelke and Weschler, focusing on civil litigation. Prior to joining the law firm, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) in Washington, D.C., from 1983 until 1987. Before joining the DOJ, Judge Williams was an associate with Schnader, Harrison, Segal and Lewis from 1979 to 1983 and with Fulbright and Jaworski from 1977 to 1979.

Throughout her career, Judge Williams has been active in bar associations and professional organizations. She currently serves on the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association (“ABA”). From 2002 to 2003, she was the Chair of the ABA’s Section of Public Contract Law, having served as the Section’s Chair-Elect, Vice Chair, and Secretary. She was the Section’s delegate to the ABA House of Delegates from 2003 to 2008. Judge Williams also served as the section representative on the ABA Committee on Ethics and Professionalism and the ABA Commission on Evaluation of Rules of Professional Conduct from 1998 to 2000 and chaired the Ad Hoc Committee on Model Rules of Professional Responsibility of the Bar Association of D.C. in the early 1980’s. From 2009 to 2010, she served on the ABA’s Commission on Youth At Risk. She was a member of the ABA President’s Task Force on Government Lawyers from 2000 to 2001 and was elected a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation in 1985. Judge Williams has also served the Bar Association of the District of Columbia in many capacities, as its Foundation president, as a Trustee, and as a member of its Board of Directors. In addition, Judge Williams was Chair of the D.C. Young Lawyers Section, Secretary of the D.C. Bar, and a member of the Policy Board for Legal Counsel for the Elderly.

Judge Williams has taught Remedies and Administrative Law at the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University, since 2004, and also serves as an adjunct professor in the Advanced Academic Program for Law and Government at Johns Hopkins University, where she has taught Intellectual Property Law, Litigation with the Federal Government, Government Contracts, The American Civil Trial, and Legal Method. She has also lectured extensively on various legal topics, including civil trial practice and government contracts.

WinstonProfessor Elizabeth Winston
Columbus School of Law
Professor Winston came to the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America in 2006, having previously been Director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law and assistant professor of law at Whittier Law School. She currently teaches Contracts, Patent Law and Trademarks and Unfair Competition. In 2007, the students at the law school voted Professor Winston the Outstanding Professor of First Year Classes, and again in 2009.

A frequent speaker on a variety of intellectual property topics, Professor Winston has spoken at the Federal Circuit Judicial Conference, the Intellectual Property Owners Association’s Annual Meeting, the Joint Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission and United States Patent and Trademark Office Seminar Series, the Western Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, and the Music Library Association’s Annual Meeting. She has addressed audiences at the University of Akron, American University, DePaul University, George Washington University, University of Maryland University College, Michigan State University, Texas Wesleyan University, Tulane University, and Washington University in St. Louis.

Professor Winston earned her J.D. at University of Virginia School of Law, and an S.B. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While in law school, she was managing editor of The Journal of Law and Politics. Two clerkships followed upon her graduation, first with the Honorable James T. Turner of the United States Court of Federal Claims, followed by two years with the Honorable Paul R. Michel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. After her clerkships, Professor Winston spent three years in private practice as an associate with Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C.

Judge Victor Wolski
Court of Federal Claims
Judge Wolski was appointed Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims by President George W. Bush on July 14, 2003 and entered duty on July 24, 2003. He is a 1984 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, receiving a B.A. in History from the College of Arts and Sciences and a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School. Following graduation, he served as research associate to a supply-side economist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and at the Institute for Political Economy. In 1988, he served in the Reagan Administration as speech writer to Secretary of Agriculture Richard Lyng, and in 1989 he served in the administration of President George H. W. Bush, in the General Counsel’s office at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Judge Wolski received his J.D. in 1991 from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as president of the Federalist Society and as a member of the editorial board of the Virginia Tax Review. In 1991-92, he served as law clerk to Judge Vaughn R. Walker on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. From 1992 to 1997 he was an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, where he was counsel of record at the petition stage in Suitum v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 520 U.S. 725 (1997).

From 1997 to 2000, Judge Wolski served as tax counsel to Senator Connie Mack (R-FL), a member of the United States Senate Committee on Finance. He was General Counsel and Chief Tax Adviser to the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress in 1999 and 2000. From 2000 to 2003, Judge Wolski was an attorney with the Washington, D.C. law firms Cooper, Carvin & Rosenthal and Cooper & Kirk. He is a member of the bars of the United States Supreme Court, the District of Columbia, the states of California, Washington, and Oregon, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and the Federal Circuits, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and several other federal courts. Judge Wolski and his wife are residents of Virginia.

Zoldan-PhotoProfessor Evan Zoldan
University of Toledo College of Law
Evan C. Zoldan is an Associate Professor at the University of Toledo College of Law, where he teaches and researches in the areas of legislation and constitutional law. He recently presented his work on legislation and constitutional law at the Yale/Harvard/Stanford Junior Faculty Forum at Yale Law School and is currently serving as Chair-elect of the Legislation Section of the Association of American Law Schools.

Prior to teaching, Professor Zoldan worked as a trial attorney for the United States Department of Justice and for Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Nancy B. Firestone on the United States Court of Federal Claims and the Honorable Kathryn A. Oberly on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. He earned his B.A. summa cum laude from New York University and his J.D. cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center.