Our Team

Tom Corbett is executive in residence at Duquesne University School of Law. The former governor most recently served as an adjunct professor at the law school.

As the commonwealth’s 46th governor, Corbett held Pennsylvania’s highest office from 2011 to 2015. Corbett has a long and distinguished career serving citizens as assistant U.S. attorney, U.S. attorney, chair of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, Pennsylvania attorney general, and governor. Corbett has also served as a key advisor to U.S. presidents and governors. 

Corbett is a graduate of Lebanon Valley College and St. Mary’s University School of Law, and is a veteran of the Pennsylvania National Guard 28th Infantry Division from 1971 until 1984, rising from private to captain during his service.

Derek Clinger is a senior staff attorney at the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Before joining the Initiative, Clinger worked in private practice in Ohio, focusing on election law, voting rights, and related topics. He previously worked on several federal, state and local campaigns, as well as for the Ohio Secretary of State’s office. Clinger attended the Ohio State University.

Edward Foley holds the Ebersold Chair in Constitutional Law and directs the election law program at The Ohio State University. He is a graduate of Columbia University School of Law and Yale College. Foley clerked for Chief Judge Patricia M. Wald of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Justice Harry Blackmun of the United States Supreme Court. He also served as a State Solicitor in the office of Ohio’s Attorney General. Previous publications include Presidential Elections and Majority Rule and Ballot Battles: The History of Disputed Elections in the United States. Foley is a frequent contributor to the Washington Post, and his op-eds and other essays have appeared in The New York Times, the Atlantic, and POLITICO, among others.

Bryna Godar is a staff attorney at the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Before joining the Initiative, Godar clerked for Judge Jeffrey R. Howard on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Godar attended University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, and Harvard Law School, where she served as the Vice President/Treasurer of Harvard Law Review.

Gary Gordon is a Michigan attorney with extensive experience in election law, regulatory law, and litigation. Before entering private practice at Dykema, Gordon served as the Chief Deputy Attorney General for the State of Michigan. Gordon frequently speaks to groups on election matters, and has been recognized as one of Michigan’s preeminent attorneys in the areas of election and campaign finance law, government relations practice, and administrative law. He attended Wayne State University and Michigan State University.

Robert A. Graci is a Pennsylvania attorney and former appellate court judge. He served as an assistant district attorney and deputy and chief deputy attorney general before being appointed to and serving on Pennsylvania’s Superior Court, an intermediate appellate court. He served as Executive Director and Chief Counsel to the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board. Graci has experience as a trial lawyer and has handled appeals in all of Pennsylvania’s appellate courts as well as the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third and Fourth Circuits and the Supreme Court of the United States. He was named many times as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer.
Graci currently serves as senior counsel in a Pennsylvania law firm where he Chairs the Attorney and Judicial Ethics and Discipline Practice Group, counselling judges and lawyers in ethics matters. He also represents clients in the Appellate and Post-Trial Advocacy Practice and Criminal Defense and Investigations Groups. He earned his law degree, with honors, from the University of Miami School of Law.

Bree Grossi Wilde is the Executive Director at the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Before joining the State Democracy Research Initiative, Grossi Wilde served as a career law clerk in the Western District of Wisconsin. She previously practiced general commercial litigation at Foley & Lardner LLP and clerked for Judge Richard Cudahy of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Judge Martin is a native of Macon, Georgia. She stepped down from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and serves as the Executive Director of NYU Law’s Center on Civil Justice. Prior to her time on the Circuit Court, she was a judge on the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and US Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. She is a graduate of University of Georgia School of Law and Stetson University.

Joseph Sabino Mistick is an associate professor at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University and is the founder of the award-winning Urban Development Law Clinic, which he has operated since 1995. Mistick was executive secretary (deputy mayor) to Pittsburgh Mayor Sophie Masloff from 1989-1992, and served seven years as chairman of the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment and vice-chairman of the Planning Commission. Mistick was appointed by Mayor Caliguiri to the original Pittsburgh Apportionment Commission. He also served on the original Allegheny County Apportionment Commission by appointment of the Democratic Caucus of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He served as counsel to the Democratic Caucus of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives during the 2012 reapportionment of the state legislature.

Mistick is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and has spent nearly fifty years in public service and the law, starting as a page in the Pennsylvania House when he was 15 and has served as an aide, on committees of State Senate, in local elected and appointed positions, and on boards and commissions. As a weekly Sunday columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review since 2002, Mistick writes on current affairs, politics and public policy. For over 20 years, he was the Democratic half of the political talk show Roddey Mistick, and is a frequent guest lecturer and public speaker appearing on Voice of America, CBS Sunday Morning, PBS NewsHour, Court TV and numerous local television and radio stations. Mistick attended University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne Kline School of Law. 

Miriam Seifter is a Professor of Law, and Rowe Faculty Fellow in Regulatory Law, and Co-Director of the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Her research interests include federalism, administrative and constitutional law, and state and local government law. Her recent publications appear in the Harvard Law Review, the Columbia Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, and the NYU Law Review, among others. Professor Seifter attended Yale University, and receiver her M.Sc. with distinction from Oxford University, and a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. She served as the Environmental Fellow and an Articles Editor on the Harvard Law Review. She previously clerked for Chief Judge Merrick Garland on the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Supreme Court

Adam Sopko is a staff attorney at the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Before joining the Initiative, he clerked for Chief Justice Stuart J. Rabner on the New Jersey Supreme Court. Sopko attended Manhattan College and Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Northwestern University Law Review.

Chris Trebilcock is an attorney who represents clients in the Detroit, Michigan area, recognized by peers and selected to Rising Stars for 2008 – 2009, 2011 – 2014. Trebilcock litigates labor and employment disputes in federal and state courts and administrative agencies across the country on behalf of Fortune 500 companies, medium and small employers, including governmental agencies. He has worked in the U.S. Department of Labor’s national office and routinely advises candidates, elected officials, political action committees, and ballot question committees on all matters involving campaign finance, ballot access, recounts, and other election law issues. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Wake Forest University School of Law. 

Rex VanMiddlesworth is a 2023 Fellow in the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative and the Senior Democracy Editor for the Harvard Social Impact Review, VanMiddlesworth’s focus is on addressing threats to American democracy. Prior to becoming an ALI Fellow, he was a trial partner at O’Melveny and Myers, where he is now of counsel. VanMiddlesworth has been recognized by numerous publications for his outstanding legal career, including The Best Lawyers in America®, Chambers USA, and Texas Super Lawyers. He was been named an Austin “Lawyer of the Year” by The Best Lawyers in America and the Austin Business Journal recognized VanMiddlesworth as the best public law litigator in Austin in its inaugural “Best of the Bar” awards. He is a frequent author and lecturer on constitutional law, election law, evidence, and administrative law. Prior to beginning his legal career, VanMiddlesworth was awarded a Teaching Fellowship in Constitutional Law at Harvard University under Archibald Cox.

John W. Vaudreuil served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin from 2010 to 2017. He served as an Assistant US Attorney starting in 1980 and over the years handled thousands of criminal cases. In 2002 he was named the Chief for the Criminal Division for the United States Attorney’s Office. He served in that position until his appointment as US Attorney in 2010. Vaudreuil is a graduate of University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Wisconsin Law School. He was born in Rice Lake, Barron County.

Jonathan Winer previously served as the US State Department’s Special Envoy for Libya, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement, and initiated the establishment of International Law Enforcement Academies in Thailand and Botswana. He was awarded a distinguished honor award from Secretary of State Madeline Albright for his contributions to the State Department. Winer served for 10 years as counsel and principal legislative assistant to Senator John Kerry. He attended New York University School of Law and Yale University.

Robert Yablon is an Associate Professor of Law and the Co-Director of the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. With research interests spanning across political and election law, constitutional law, and statutory interpretation, he brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to his role. Yablon received his Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and went on to earn a Master’s degree in Social Policy from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He later graduated from Yale Law School, where he was an Articles Editor for the Yale Law Journal. After graduating, he served as a law clerk for Judge William Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor. Before joining academia, Yablon worked in the private sector at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in San Francisco and Washington, D.C.