The Columbus School of Law Judicial Clerkship Opinion Writing Conference
February 23, 2023
Current Faculty (Subject to Additions and Changes)
Keynote Speaker
Paul D. Clement served as the 43rd Solicitor General of the United States from June 2005 until June 2008. Before his confirmation as Solicitor General, he served as Acting Solicitor General for nearly a year and as Principal Deputy Solicitor General for over three years. Mr. Clement has argued over 100 cases before the United States Supreme Court, including McConnell v. FEC, Tennessee v. Lane, United States v. Booker, MGM v. Grokster, Hobby Lobby v. Burwell, Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, Rucho v. Common Cause, Facebook v. Duguid, and TransUnion v. Ramirez. Paul has argued more Supreme Court cases since 2000 than any lawyer in or out of government. He has also argued many important cases in the lower courts, including Walker v. Cheney, United States v. Moussaoui and NFL v. Brady.
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Judge Robert E. Bacharach: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Prior to judicial service on the Court of Appeals, Judge Bacharach served for fourteen years as a United States Magistrate Judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. He was nominated for his current position by President Barack Obama and confirmed in 2013.
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 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 Armando Bonilla, United States Court of Federal Claims: Prior to judicial service, Judge Bonilla spent the majority of his career with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). He began his twenty-four-year career at DOJ in 1994 as a Trial Attorney in the Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, where he represented the United States in trial and appellate court litigation before the Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Thereafter, from 2001 to 2010, Judge Bonilla served as a Trial Attorney in the Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section and in the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section. Between 2010 and 2017, Judge Bonilla served as Associate Deputy Attorney General in the Office of the U.S. Deputy Attorney General. He also served as Associate General Counsel for the U.S. Marshals Service from 2017 to 2018.
Judge Kathryn Davis, United States Court of Federal Claims: Prior to judicial service, Judge Davis served in the Federal Programs Branch in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, joining in 2008 as a Trial Attorney and rising to the position of Senior Trial Counsel. During her tenure at the Justice Department, Judge Davis received the Attorney General's Distinguished Service Award for her work on district court litigation related to the 2013 Federal Government shutdown and a Civil Division Special Commendation Award for her work on the Guantanamo Bay detainee litigation.
Judge Ryan Holte: United States Court of Federal Claims. Judge Holte was confirmed by the United States Senate in June 2019 and sworn in as a judge on the United States Court of Federal Claims in July 2019. Prior to judicial service, he served as the David L. Brennan Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law and Technology at The University of Akron School of Law (2017-2019) and an assistant professor of law at Southern Illinois University School of Law (2013-2017).
Judge Trevor McFadden, United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Prior to judicial service, Judge McFadden was with the U.S. Department of Justice, serving as Deputy Assistant Attorney General and as the second-in-command of the Department's Criminal Division. He also had been a white collar partner at a major law firm and had served as a federal prosecutor.
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.
Judge Lee Rudofsky, U.S. District Court for the E.D. Arkansas. Prior to judicial service, Judge Rudofsky was an associate at Kirkland & Ellis, Solicitor General of Arkansas, and a Senior Director for global anti-corruption compliance at Walmart.
Judge Eleni M. Roumel: United States Court of Federal Claims. Prior to judicial service, Judge Roumel served in the White House as Deputy Counsel to Vice President Mike Pence and as Assistant General Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives in its Office of General Counsel. She was a partner with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP, in Charleston, South Carolina, and practiced at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP and at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, LLP in New York City. She also was an adjunct professor at the Charleston School of Law, where she taught intellectual property law.
Associate Dean 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.