2017 Fellowship

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James Wilson Fellowship

Washington, D.C., July 30-August 4, 2017

 

Prof. Hadley Arkes, along with five other JWI Faculty, will lead five days of seminars on natural law in Washington, DC, from July 30-August 4, 2017. We are pleased to present the James Wilson Fellows Class of 2017:

 

 

     Christian "Coby" Ascunce

Coby Ascunce is clerking for Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. He previously worked in Washington, DC as a litigation associate at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, the latter of which he will be returning to post-clerkship. He graduated cum laude from Notre Dame Law School, where he served as Managing Senior Editor of the Notre Dame Law Review. Mr. Ascunce holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Economics from the University of Virginia.

 

 

 

 

     Kyser S. Blakely

Kyser Blakely is a JD/MBA student at Pepperdine University. After graduating, he will serve as a law clerk to the Honorable Sandra Ikuta of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to graduate school, Mr. Blakely earned a B.S. in Kinesiology from Sonoma State University and worked as a sports performance coach in Boston, MA.

 

 

 

 

 

     Zachary M. Bluestone

Zack Bluestone is a law clerk for Judge Raymond W. Gruender of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. Bluestone graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was Managing Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Prior to clerking, he worked in all three branches of the federal government, including legal internships with the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of Military Commissions at the U.S. Department of Defense, the Office of the President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate, and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Federal Courts. Mr. Bluestone graduated from Georgetown University with B.S. in Foreign Service and earned his MBA from the University of Oxford. He is particularly interested in foreign relations and national security law and related separation-of-powers issues.

 

 

 

 

     Christopher Cooke

Chris Cooke is a litigation associate at Chadbourne & Parke LLP, where he works on federal and state government investigations, civil litigation, and white collar criminal defense matters. Mr. Cooke will clerk for Texas Supreme Court Justice Don R. Willett for the 2017 term. Mr. Cooke previously served as a law clerk in the Appellate Section of the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division and in the office of United States Senator Rand Paul. He is also an active member of the Federalist Society, where he serves on the Executive Committee for the Federalism and Separation of Powers Practice Group. Mr. Cooke holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

 

 

 

 

     Jeremiah A. Egger

Jeremiah Egger is an attorney at Winston & Strawn in Washington, D.C. Prior to entering private practice, he was a judicial law clerk to Chief Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was an editor of the Virginia Law Review, and received his Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 

 

 

 

     Christian A. Harris

Christian Harris is currently clerking for Justice Jeffrey S. Boyd of the Supreme Court of Texas. After his current clerkship, he will clerk for Judge Amos Mazzant III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Mr. Harris received his B.A. in History from Princeton University and his J.D. from Duke University School of Law. As a research assistant to several professors, he has received publication credits in nationally recognized law journals. A first generation high school, college, and law school graduate from a disadvantaged background, Mr. Harris is devoted to helping the less fortunate. After clerking, he aspires to serve his country as an Assistant United States Attorney. He is most interested in criminal justice and legal philosophy. 

 

 

 

 

     Thomas M. Johnson, Jr.

Thomas M. Johnson, Jr. is the Deputy Solicitor General for the State of West Virginia. Before joining the office, he practiced appellate and constitutional law and labor and employment law as Of Counsel at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. Prior to working at Gibson Dunn, Mr. Johnson clerked for the Honorable Jerry E. Smith on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Houston, TX. Before that, he attended Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude. Before Harvard, he received a bachelor of arts, magna cum laude, in Government from Georgetown University.

 

 

 

 

     Jason Manion

Jason Manion earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and his B.S. from Thomas Edison State University. In September, he will return home to Ohio to clerk for Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. During law school, Mr. Manion clerked in the Appeals Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, was a summer associate for Sidley Austin, and was a legal intern at the Federal Trade Commission. He also served as a research assistant to Professors Charles Fried, Philip Hamburger, Guy Rub, and Chris Walker, was involved in the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology and the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.

 

 

 

 

     John E. McGlothlin

John E. McGlothlin is a former Army paratrooper and Arabic linguist who graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2015. He currently works as counsel at Cause of Action, a non-profit law firm focused on government transparency. His prior work also includes speechwriting, journalism, a Senate fellowship, and teaching as an adjunct professor.

 

 

 

 

     Katlyn M. Miller

Katlyn Miller is Assistant Attorney General in the West Virginia Solicitor General’s Office. She will soon clerk for Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, Ms. Miller earned her J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School, and her B.A. from American University. She previously clerked for Judge James C. Mahan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, and served as a staff member at the Supreme Court of the United States.

 

 

 

 

     Elizabeth Oberan

Elizabeth Oberan graduated from BYU law school in April 2015 and currently serves as Counsel to Senator Mike Lee on the Senate Judiciary Committee, with primary responsibility for criminal issues and antitrust. She is particularly interested in confining government to its proper roles, ending civil asset forfeiture, and preventing agency overreach. As a native of the west, with roots in Utah, Arizona, California and Oregon, Elizabeth has a life goal to see the Antiquities Act repealed.

 

 

 

 

     Bradley Rebeiro

Bradley Rebeiro is a 2017 graduate from J. Reuben Clark School of Law at BYU, magna cum laude, and received his BA in Political Science at BYU. Mr. Rebeiro focused his studies primarily in jurisprudence and constitutional history, with interests in exploring natural law and originalism as theories of interpretation. He also dedicated substantial time to the area of law and religion, assisting the International Center for Law and Religious Studies at BYU during his time in law school. Mr. Rebeiro will begin work at Ballard Spahr in Salt Lake City September 2017, and will later clerk with Associate Chief Justice Thomas R. Lee of the Utah Supreme Court.

 

 

 

 

     Morgan De Ann Shields

Morgan Shields is an Assistant General Counsel for the National Rifle Association of America where her practice focuses on tax, and state lobbying, ethics, and campaign finance compliance. She received her law degree from the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where she served as the Publications Editor of the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy and was a Writing Fellow in the legal writing program. While in law school, her journal article “Which Came First the Cost or the Embryo? An Economic Argument for Disallowing Cryopreservation of Human Embryo” was published. She received her LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center. She presented a paper titled “Oh Say Can You 501(c): Tax Exemption and Other Compliance Issues for Gun Clubs and Ranges” at the 20th Annual National Firearms Law Seminar in 2017. Ms. Shields also serves as an adjunct legal writing professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School.

 

 

 

 

     Guice "Chip" Slawson III

Chip Slawson is a native of Montgomery, AL, and recently received his JD from Samford University, cum laude, along with his MBA. Prior to that, he received a BA in political science from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. Mr. Slawson will serve as a Research Assistant in the Department of Justice's Office of Legislative Affairs for one year, followed by a one-year clerkship with Judge Joel Dubina on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. During law school, he served as a law clerk for the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he worked primarily on immigration policy and federal judicial nominations.  

 

 

 

 

     Stephanie N. Taub

Stephanie N. Taub serves as Counsel with First Liberty Institute, a public interest law firm dedicated to defending religious liberty for all Americans. Before joining First Liberty as a Judicial Fellow, she worked as a law clerk to the Honorable Reed O’Connor in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Stephanie is a Harvard Law School graduate in the class of 2014, and a Blackstone Fellow in the class of 2012. During law school, she served as Co-President of the HLS Christian Fellowship and Managing Technical Editor of the Harvard Human Rights Journal. For her undergraduate studies at the University of Southern California, Stephanie graduated summa cum laude, majoring in Business Administration with a minor in Philosophy. She has authored an article on Title VII’s statutory protections for religious employers published in the Texas Review of Law and Politics.