Judge Michelle Friedland was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in April of 2014.

Judge Friedland received a B.S. degree in ecology and population biology in 1995 from Stanford University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. She then studied philosophy at Oxford University as a Fulbright scholar, returning to California for law school. She received a J.D. in 2000 from Stanford Law School, graduating Order of the Coif and second in her class. She served as a law clerk to Judge David Tatel of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and then to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the United States Supreme Court.

Judge Friedland taught for two years at Stanford Law School before entering private practice at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, where she was a litigation associate and then a partner. She litigated cases in the state and federal trial and appellate courts, with a particular focus on constitutional and antitrust issues. The University of California was one of her biggest clients, and she litigated a variety of constitutional issues on the University’s behalf. Judge Friedland also has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia Law School, teaching a course on constitutional issues in higher education.

Professor Bradley Joondeph is a well regarded author on the topics of federalism, judicial behavior, and American constitutional development. He has had extensive experience with the Supreme Court, having served as judicial clerk to the Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor. He also served as clerk for the Honorable Deanell Reece Tacha of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Prior to joining Santa Clara University School of Law in 2000, Professor Joondeph was an associate professor at Washington University School of Law, a lecturer and head teaching fellow at Stanford Law, and an adjunct instructor at the University of Kansas School of Law. He also served as a research assistant on the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project.

Ambassador Crystal Nix-Hines (Ret.) is a Partner in the Los Angeles Office where she focuses on class action litigation, internal investigations, data privacy and security, complex business disputes, intellectual property and sovereign dispute litigation. Her clients include domestic and multinational corporations, global investment firms, business executives and entrepreneurs and major non-profit organizations. Ambassador Nix-Hines returned to the firm in 2017 after her tenure in Paris, France as U.S. Ambassador to UNESCO. A C-Suite and Board-level strategic thinker, Ambassador Nix-Hines Co-Chairs the firm’s Crisis Law & Strategy Group, advising clients on crisis management and resolution including leading internal investigations involving sensitive reputational issues such as alleged sexual misconduct, discrimination, harassment, Title IX violations, corporate governance disputes and other matters. She also Chairs the firm’s Education Practice Group and is currently defending numerous universities in COVID-19-related class action litigation. She initially joined the firm in 2008.

A law clerk to Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and Sandra Day O’Connor, and to Judge William Norris of the Ninth Circuit, Ambassador Nix-Hines excels in formulating legal strategy and persuasive written advocacy that often leads to early resolution at the pleading and summary judgment stages. She has played an instrumental role in significant trial and appellate cases, including two successful cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.  To view the full bio, please click here.

Eugene Volokh is the Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. For thirty years, he has been a professor at the University of California – Los Angeles School of Law, where he has taught First Amendment law, copyright law, criminal law, tort law, and firearms regulation policy.

Volokh is the author of the textbooks The First Amendment and Related Statutes (7th ed., 2020) and Academic Legal Writing (5th ed., 2016), as well as more than one hundred law review articles. He is a member of the American Law Institute and of the American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel, and the founder and coauthor of The Volokh Conspiracy, a leading legal blog. His work has been cited in more three hundred court opinions, including ten Supreme Court cases, as well as over five thousand academic articles. He has also filed briefs (mostly amicus briefs) in more than 150 cases and has argued in over thirty-five appellate cases in state and federal courts throughout the country. He hosts Free Speech Unmuted – a video podcast series sponsored by the Hoover Institution.

Before coming to UCLA, Volokh clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the US Supreme Court and for Judge Alex Kozinski on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Volokh worked for twelve years as a computer programmer. He graduated from UCLA with a BS in math-computer science and has written many articles on computer software. Volokh was born in the Soviet Union; his family emigrated to the United States when he was seven years old.

Bella Ryb (Moderator) was the President of Stanford Law Review, Volume 76. She graduated from Stanford Law School in 2024 and is currently a PhD student in Stanford’s interdisciplinary program in Modern Thought & Literature. Her research explores antidiscrimination law, judicial politics, and the intersections of law and gender. In 2026-2027, she will clerk for the Honorable Judge Raymond J. Lohier on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.