The topic is a timely one and an important one both for the nation and for Washburn Law. The Symposium will consist of a keynote speaker and two panels:
Registration coming soon.
Thursday, November 5, 2026
9:00 a.m. - Welcomes and introductions
9:15 a.m. - Opening Address by Judge Richard E.N. Federico
9:30 a.m. - Panel 1
12:15 p.m. - Break to pick up box lunches
12:30 p.m. - Lunch keynote presentation by Hon. Jeremy D. Fogel
1:15 p.m. - Break
1:30 p.m. - Panel 2
3:35 p.m. - Closing remarks
3:45 p.m. - End of Program
Executive Director, Berkeley Judicial Institute
University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
United States District Court for the Northern District of California (ret.)
On September 17, 2018, Judge Jeremy Fogel became the first Executive Director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute, a center at Berkeley Law School whose mission is to build bridges between judges and academics and to promote an ethical, resilient and independent judiciary. Prior to his appointment at Berkeley, he served as Director of the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, DC (2011-2018), as a United States District Judge for the Northern District of California (1998-2011), and as a judge of the Santa Clara County Superior (1986-1998) and Municipal (1981-1986) Courts. He was the founding Directing Attorney of the Mental Health Advocacy Project from 1978 to 1981.
View Website: Jeremy Fogel
View Website: Jeremy Fogel
The Hon. Richard E.N. Federico will provide opening the opening address.
Rich Federico was raised in Hagerstown, a small, rural community in Eastern Indiana. He began his legal career serving as a Navy Officer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG). He served on active duty from 2002 to 2015, including tours of duty as a military prosecutor (Norfolk, Virginia), the senior Navy prosecutor for Europe and Southwest Asia (Naples, Italy; Bahrain), defense counsel for Guantanamo detainees charged with war crimes and being tried before military commissions (Washington, DC; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba), and as Officer in Charge of Navy defense offices (Jacksonville, Florida). During these assignments, he also served at sea and led investigation missions to
Afghanistan and Korea.
In 2015, Judge Federico left active duty and became an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the District of Oregon (Portland). While in Portland, he tried several high-profile cases in district court, litigated habeas petitions, and argued before the Ninth Circuit. He transferred to the Federal Public Defender for the District of Kansas in 2017, where he served until he received his judicial commission in 2023. Judge Federico continued to serve as a Navy JAG in the Reserves, first as an appellate defense counsel and later as a military judge. He retired from the Navy in July 2024 at the rank of Captain.
Judge Federico was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and received his commission from President Biden to serve as a Circuit Judge in December 2023. He assumed office and joined the Tenth Circuit on December 14, 2023. He is an honors graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M., 2012), University of Kansas School of Law (J.D., 2002), and Indiana University School of Journalism (B.A., 1999). He lives in Lawrence, Kansas with his family.
Our morning panel examines the thin line between preserving judicial independence from outside pressure and influence and ensuring our courts remain accountable within our constitutional framework. Alexander Hamilton famously framed the judiciary as the “least dangerous branch,” thus our panelists will put that framing to the test in 2026—as courts confront an expanding executive branch, and increasingly polarized public and political scrutiny, and mounting questions about their own institutional legitimacy.
Merritt McAlister
Dean
University of Florida Levin College of Law
Merritt E. McAlister is the Interim Dean and Levin, Mabie & Levin Professor at Levin College of Law. She joined the UF Law faculty in 2018, and she was appointed interim dean in June 2023. Prior to her career in academia, Dean McAlister was a partner in the national appellate practice group of King & Spalding. While in private practice, she was elected to the American Law Institute, named a Georgia Super Lawyer, and recognized for her pro bono work on civil rights issues.
Jessie Allen
Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development, Professor of Law
University of Pittsburgh School of Law
Professor Jessie Allen teaches jurisprudence, legal ethics, and property. Much of her scholarship considers how traditional legal authorities and practices can be reimagined to contribute to a socially progressive rule of law. A current project argues that conventional property doctrine can be read to accommodate more-than-human personhood. Another article proposes that formal doctrinal reasoning might have psychological effects that could distance judges from their usual subjective outlooks. A recent book chapter reinterprets and defends Blackstone’s declaratory theory of common law as a kind of legal ritual.
David Fontana
Samuel Tyler Research Professor
George Washington University Law School
David Fontana is the Samuel Tyler Research Professor at the George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC. He is the author or co-author of papers on constitutional or comparative constitutional law that have been or will be published by leading scholarly journals in law and political science, including the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, Virginia Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Texas Law Review, UCLA Law Review, and the Southern California Law Review, among others. Professor Fontana has won numerous awards for his teaching at the law school, graduate and undergraduate levels.
Robert Luther III
Associate Professor of Law
George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School
Robert Luther III was appointed Associate Professor of Law in 2025 after serving as Distinguished Professor of Law from 2024-2025 and Adjunct Professor of Law from 2019-2024. He teaches and writes on the federal courts, legal and judicial ethics, political law, Congress, and professional sports. He has served at high levels in all three branches of the federal government and recently founded Constitutional Solutions PLLC—a law firm that navigates judicial candidates, judges, elected officials, professional athletes, and executives through high-stakes hearings, investigations, and reputational attacks. Immediately before joining the Scalia Law faculty, Professor Luther spent over five years in the Washington, D.C. office of Jones Day, where his practice focused on strategic counseling, crisis management, and litigation. Prior to joining Jones Day, he served as Associate Counsel to the President of the United States in the White House Counsel’s Office.
Judge Rachel Pickering (moderator)
Kansas Court of Appeals
Judge Rachel Pickering is the first Hispanic to serve on the Court of Appeals. She comes to the Court following service as a district court judge in Kansas’ 3rd Judicial District. Prior to joining the bench, she was assistant solicitor general in the Attorney General's Office and assistant district attorney in Shawnee County. She also spent a decade in criminal defense, both at the appellate and trial levels. She specialized in intellectual property earlier in her career. She earned her law degree from the University of Missouri School of Law in 2003, with a certificate in e-commerce and intellectual property. She is an adjunct professor at Washburn University School of Law.
The afternoon panel will address the physical security of judges—including recent requests to Congress for increased funding to protect the justices of the Supreme Court and their families—alongside the rising tide of public and political scrutiny shaping judicial behavior. Panelists will examine whether the judiciary can withstand mounting attacks on their legitimacy.
Daniele Evans
Assistant Professor of Law
University of Washington School of Law
Danieli Evans teaches in the areas of Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, Law and Social Science, and Civil Rights. Broadly stated, her research is about law, inequality and social welfare. Her work investigates how people's experiences with government institutions influence their sense of belonging, and how this impacts their wellbeing and social opportunities. Much of her work is informed by social science and behavioral science. Her writing spans topics from the criminal legal system and policing to constitutional law and discrimination law. Her articles have been published in the Virginia Law Review, Michigan Journal of Race and Law, Stanford Law Review, Pennsylvania Law Review, Stanford Law & Policy Review, Georgetown Law Journal and Psychology, Crime & Law, among others. Danieli joined the University of Washington School of Law faculty in 2024. Prior to that, Danieli was an Assistant Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law from 2021–2024.
Michael R. Dimino, Sr.
Professor of Law
Widener University Commonwealth Law School
Professor Dimino teaches courses related to constitutional law, election law, federal courts, statutory interpretation, and criminal law. Professor Dimino graduated summa cum laude from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1998 with degrees in political science and history. He then attended Harvard Law School, where he was Articles Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and from which he graduated cum laude in 2001. Professor Dimino served as Chief Clerk to Associate Judge Albert M. Rosenblatt of the New York State Court of Appeals, and then clerked for Senior Circuit Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Judge Paul L. Friedman of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Devi Nair
Director, Cybersecurity Programs
Aspen Institute
Devi Nair is a program manager and research associate in the International Security Program at CSIS. In this position, she provides research and program support to the Defending Democratic Institutions project. Her research looks at cyber and cyber-enabled disinformation operations aimed at undermining the justice system and the rule of law.