The Columbus School of Law Judicial Clerkship Opinion Writing Conference
February 26-27, 2021

Current Faculty (Subject to Additions)

U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

Judge Kyle Duncan: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Prior to judicial service, Judge Duncan was partner at the Washington, D.C., firm of Schaerr Duncan LLP. He was previously Assistant Solicitor General in the Office of the Solicitor General in the Texas Attorney General's Office and taught at The University of Mississippi School of Law and Columbia University School of Law.

 

Judge Paul B. Matey: United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Prior to judicial service, Judge Matey was a partner at the law firm of Lowenstein Sandler LLP. He previously served as General Counsel at University Hospital Newark, Deputy Chief Counsel to Governor Chris Christie, and an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of New Jersey.

 

Judge Chad A. Readler: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Prior to judicial service, Judge Readler was Principal Deputy United States Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice Civil Division and served as Acting United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division. Before joining the Department of Justice, Judge Readler was a partner in the Issues & Appeals practice of the Columbus office of Jones Day.

 

Judge Lawrence VanDyke: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to judicial service, Judge VanDyke served as Solicitor General of Montana, as Solicitor General of Nevada, and as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division.

 

U.S. District Court and Court of Federal Claims 

Judge Dabney L. Friedrich: United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Prior to judicial service, Judge Friedrich was Associate Counsel to the President during the George W. Bush Administration, Chief Crime Counsel to Senator Orrin Hatch, an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, a trial attorney at the United States Department of Justice, and an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of California.

 

Judge Joseph F. Leeson, Jr.: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Prior to judicial service, Judge Leeson was a founding partner in an eastern Pennsylvania based law firm, where his practice was focused primarily on civil trial and appellate litigation. 

 

Judge Steven C. Seeger, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois: Prior to judicial service, Judge Seeger practiced for twelve years in the Chicago, Illinois, office of Kirkland & Ellis, where he spent his last seven years as a partner. From 2010 to 2019, Judge Seeger served as Senior Trial Counsel in the Chicago Regional Office of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, where he litigated cases to enforce federal securities laws on behalf of the public.

 

Judge Edward H. Meyers: United States Court of Federal Claims. Prior to Judicial service, Judge Meyers clerked for Judge Loren A. Smith of the United States Court of Federal Claims. He was a partner at Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner in Washington, D.C. and also practiced at Kirkland & Ellis.

Practitioners: Former and Current Judicial Clerks 

William J. Haun: Counsel, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Will Haun litigates free exercise cases in federal and state courts nationwide, focusing on appellate and Supreme Court litigation. Prior to joining Becket, he practiced appellate and antitrust litigation at Shearman & Sterling LLP and Hunton & Williams LLP. He clerked for Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Judge Claude M. Hilton of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

 

Anika Smith: Anika Smith is a graduate of The Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America. She is currently a law clerk for Judge Paul B. Matey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and will be clerking next year for Judge Kyle Duncan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

 

 

John Paul Vivian.  Jack Vivian is an associate at Jones Day. Prior to joining the firm, he clerked for the Honorable Roger W. Titus on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland (2017- 2018), and the Honorable David B. Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (2018-2019).  He is also currently an adjunct professor at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law

 

Faculty Director of Bench and Bar Programs

A.G. Harmon, Ph.D.: A.G. Harmon is the author of A House All Stilled, the winner of The Peter Taylor Prize for the Novel in 2001. His short story collection, Some Bore Gifts, was published by Word Galaxy Press in 2018. Other fiction, essays, and reviews have appeared in such publications as Triquarterly, The Antioch Review, Shenandoah, Image, The Bellingham Review, Logos, The Arkansas Review, Dappled Things, and Commonweal. His work on Shakespeare and the law, Eternal Bonds, was published by SUNY Press in 2004. He received his J.D. from the University of Tennessee and his Ph.D. in English The Catholic University of America. He has taught a range of courses at CSL, including Remedies, Jurisprudence, Professional Responsibility, Legal Drafting, and courses in scholarly writing. He is the Co-Director of CSL’s Seigenthaler Sutherland-Cup First Amendment Moot Court Competition.

 

CSL Faculty Participants 

J. Joel Alicea: Joel Alicea joined the Catholic Law faculty in 2020 after having practiced law for several years at the law firm of Cooper & Kirk, PLLC, where he specialized in constitutional litigation. He previously served as a law clerk for Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., on the United States Supreme Court and for Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He is a Fellow at the Columbus School of Law's Center for Religious Liberty.

 

Susanna Frederick Fischer: Susanna Fischer joined the faculty of Columbus School of Law in 1999, where she teaches or has taught a variety of courses in the fields of creativity, constitutional law, and comparative law, including art law, music law, entertainment law, copyright law, comparative law, comparative constitutional law, and constitutional law. She obtained her legal education at Merton College, University of Oxford, where she received a B.A. in jurisprudence, and the University of Virginia School of Law, from which she was awarded the L.L.M. She is the Director of CSL’s International Human Rights Summer Law School Program in Rome, Italy and the Co-Director of CSL’s Seigenthaler Sutherland-Cup First Amendment Moot Court Competition