2016 Fellowship

James Wilson Fellowship
Washington, D.C., July 31-August 5, 2016

 

In partnership with the Wheatley Institution of Brigham Young University, we were pleased to host our third annual James Wilson Fellowship in Washington, D.C, July 31-August 5.

 

 

     James Baehr

A resident of New Orleans, LA, James is an Assistant United States Attorney at the Eastern District of Louisiana, after clerking for Judge Edith Brown Clement on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. He previously served as a judge advocate in the United States Marine Corps, stationed as a defense counsel in Camp Pendleton, CA. He presently serves in the reserves with 4th Civil Affairs Group. He holds a J.D. and M.A. from the University of Virginia, and a B.A. from Dartmouth College. He is especially interested in criminal justice and legal philosophy.

 

 

 

 

      Chris Bates

Chris serves as Counsel to Senator Orrin G. Hatch on the Senate Judiciary Committee, with primary responsibility for criminal issues and antitrust. Prior to working in the Senate, Chris was a litigation associate at Sidley Austin LLP in Washington, DC. Before joining Sidley, Chris served as a law clerk to the Honorable Thomas B. Griffith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he served as the Managing Editor of the Harvard Law Review. Chris holds a B.A. in Political Science from Brigham Young University.

 

 

 

 

   Steven Begakis

Steven Begakis received a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School, magna cum laude, and a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. In August he will begin clerking for Judge Margaret Ryan on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and after clerking he will practice litigation at Greenberg Traurig in his home city of Los Angeles. Steven wrote an article in the Notre Dame Law Review on the doctrine of judicial takings and is interested in the intersection of natural law and economic rights.

 

 

 

 

 Sohan Dasgupta

R. Sohan Dasgupta will first clerk for Judge David Faber of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia and then for Judge Consuelo Callahan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. As a law student, Dr. Dasgupta served as executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and the executive editor of the Berkeley Journal of International Law. He is also the author of the monograph International Interplay: The Future of Expropriation Across International Dispute Settlement (2013) and served as chief draftsman of a draft constitution of Tunisia on behalf of a think tank. During law school, Dr. Dasgupta served in the office of the Solicitor General of West Virginia and at a multinational law firm.  He holds a B.A. in Economics-Industrial Engineering Operations Research and History from Columbia University, an M.Sc. in Social Policy from the University of Oxford, a Ph.D. in International Law from the University of Cambridge, and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, from which he was graduated Order of the Coif.

 

 

 

 

 

 Catherine Glenn Foster

Catherine Glenn Foster is an attorney in private practice. She is a former litigation counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom at its Washington, D.C., Regional Service Center, where she was a key member of its Life Litigation Team to protect the sanctity of human life. Foster earned her J.D. at Georgetown University Law Center and also holds a M.A. in French from the University of South Florida and a B.A. in History and French from Berry College. She is admitted to the bar in Virginia. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The Federalist, The Washington Examiner, Townhall.com, American Thinker and many more. She has worked on topics from euthanasia and assisted suicide to abortion and maternal health, health and safety regulations, conscience protections, and constitutional aspects of the right to life.

 

 

 

      Doug Gates

Doug grew up in Washington, D.C. and is a student at the University of Chicago Law School.  He previously served as a U.S. Naval Officer, including tours forward deployed to Japan and teaching political science at Annapolis. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy (with merit), Georgetown's Walsh School of Foreign Service, and the U.S. Naval War College (with highest distinction). He is particularly interested in international law, the separation of powers, and beating Army.

 

 

 

 

 

    Eric Hageman

Eric is from Glendive, Montana.  He received his J.D. from Notre Dame Law School, cum laude, and his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Notre Dame.  This fall, he will clerk for Judge Thomas Schroeder of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.  He is interested in constitutional structure and in the Constitution’s republican character.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Jonathan Hornok

Jonathan is a graduate of the University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law and John Brown University, where he studied computer science and accountancy. After law school, Jonathan clerked for Justice Jill N. Parrish of the Utah Supreme Court and Judge Lavenski R. Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He has accepted a position as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Arizona. Jonathan, who is originally from Texarkana, Texas, is moving to Phoenix in September 2016 with his wife, Mariah, and their two daughters. 

 

 

 

  Kathleen Hunker

Kathleen Hunker is a senior policy analyst and managing editor at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Originally hailing from Levittown, N.Y., she has testified nearly two-dozen times before the Texas Legislature. Hunker holds a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, an LL.M from University College London, and a B.A. in Political Science and History from Hofstra University, summa cum laude. She specializes in comparative constitutional law and natural rights. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Derek Khanna

Derek Khanna is as an award-winning public policy expert who has been recognized by leading business publications Forbes, BusinessWeek, and the New York Times for work that has shaped public policy. He has been referred to as the “GOP wunderkind” by David Weigel, as a “rising star” in the Republican Party by David Brooks, BusinessWeek has even joked that he should run for President of the United States, and Techcrunch has referred to him as a “living martyr against the entertainment and telecommunication lobbies.” Derek’s expertise is based upon work on two U.S. Presidential campaigns, experience as a House and Senate policy adviser, and spearheading a major advocacy campaign that resulted in legislation being enacted. Derek Khanna has received a JD from Georgetown Law and did a fellowship with Yale Law School’s Information Society Project. He currently works for Fenwick & West LLP where he represents leading technology companies. He is also completing a book manuscript on copyright policy. 

 

 

   

   Caroline Lamb

Caroline is originally from Columbia, MO and is an April 2016 graduate of BYU law school. As a student she was active in criminal trial practice, finishing as a semi-finalist in the Texas Young Lawyers Association 2015 national tournament. She has also been named the 2016 A.H. Christensen Excellency in Advocacy fellow. She is interested in, and has contributed to articles regarding, such topics as the extension of Constitutional rights to detained foreign terrorists, the law governing the weapons cation of emerging technologies, and the misuse of executive orders in regards to national foreign policy actions. Currently, Caroline works for the firm of Shumway Van in Salt Lake City.

 

 

 

 

 

     

      Nicholas Lee

Originally from Tennessee, Nicholas is currently a law clerk to the Honorable Robert J. Conrad, Jr. of the Western District of North Carolina in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Nicholas received his J.D. from Regent University School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, and his B.B.A. from Mississippi State University.  Before clerking for Judge Conrad, Nicholas was a litigation attorney at Parker Poe Adams and Bernstein, LLP, and he will be returning to Parker Poe after the conclusion of his clerkship this fall. 

 

 

 

 

      Kevin LeRoy

Kevin is a magna cum laude graduate of Indiana University Maurer School of Law; he is currently a law clerk to Judge Diane S. Sykes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. After his clerkship, he will be a deputy solicitor general in his adopted home of Wisconsin. A Blackstone Legal Fellow, Kevin is especially interested in the areas of religious liberty, separation of powers, and federalism. He received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Franciscan University.

 

 

 

 

 

  Marianna Orlandi

Marianna Orlandi received her Ph.D. in Law from the University of Padua, Italy, and from the University of Innsbruck, Austria. Prior to moving to Texas, she was a 2019-2020 James Madison Associate Research Scholar and Lecturer in the Department of Politics at Princeton University. She was admitted to the Italian bar in 2015 after graduating magna cum laude from the University of Padua. She practiced as a criminal lawyer in Milan and worked in the United States as a policy research analyst. Her interests and research focus on issues of life, and on its legal and international protection, in particular through the lens of criminal law.

 

 

 

      Ed Wenger

Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, Ed is currently a judicial law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.  His current clerkship follows several years as an associate attorney at Jones Day in Washington, DC and a clerkship immediately after law school on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  He is an Order of the Coif graduate of Vanderbilt Law School.  He also has an M.S. from Florida International University and a B.S. from Florida International University, summa cum laude.     

  

 

 

 

    Caleb Wolanek

An Alabama native, Caleb received his B.A. in Political Science from Auburn University, summa cum laude and University Honors Scholar. He currently attends Harvard Law School, where he serves as an Articles Editor on the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. After graduating, Caleb will clerk for the Honorable Andrew J. Kleinfeld of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and for the Honorable W. Keith Watkins of the Middle District of Alabama. He is especially interested in religious liberty issues and the right to life.