Our Team
- National Board
- Michigan Advisory Council
- Pennsylvania Advisory Council
- Wisconsin Advisory Council
- Senior Staff
- Anti-Subversion Task Force
As the commonwealth's 46th governor, Corbett held Pennsylvania's highest office from 2011 through January 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 served as a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard 28th Infantry Division from 1971 until 1984, rising from private to captain.
Cowan serves on governance and advisory boards for the Massachusetts General Hospital, Duke University, MassChallenge, Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, Eastern Bank Corporation, Stackwell Capital, and Mass General Brigham. Mo also is a founding member of the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund.
He has led projects for the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security regarding pandemic and biological defense issues and he conducted the first review of the former U.S. offensive biological and toxin weapons programs as well as prepared briefing materials for the U.S. Congress on the threats of assassination with CBR agents. McCleary served under Chairman John Mekalanos on the board of advisors for the Microbiology Department of Harvard Medical School. He is a managing partner of Four Seasons Ventures and a co-founder of Keep Our Republic.
Early in his career, Medish worked on Capitol Hill as a junior staffer for Senator Edward M. Kennedy and as pro bono counsel to Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton. Medish’s professional experience as a lawyer, policy expert and strategic adviser includes leading the sovereign advisory and debt restructuring practices and as clerk with Judge John M. Steadman on the D.C. Court of Appeals, serving as president of The Messina Group, and of Guggenheim International, LLC.
He is vice chair of Project Associates, Ltd.,headquartered in London, with offices in Paris, Brussels, Berlin, New York, and Washington, is a founding partner of The Mosaiq Law Group, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations,
and he serves on several corporate and non-profit advisory boards including the Georgetown University Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and the Institut für die Wissenschaften von Menschen, and is a co-founder of Keep Our Republic.
*Executive Board Member
Tracey Brame is the Associate Dean of Experiential and Practice Preparation and the Director of the WMU-Cooley Innocence Project, and she is the Immediate Past President of the Grand Rapids Bar Association.
Professor Brame has a history of service to the community through public defender work in the District of Columbia, with the Federal Defender Office, and the State Appellate Defender Office in Detroit, as well as at Legal Aid of Western Michigan. Professor Brame started the Access to Justice Clinic at the Grand Rapids campus in 2006, overseeing it and the West Michigan Public Defender Clinic, and ran the Access to Justice Clinic in Grand Rapids.
She began her legal career as a law clerk to the Hon. Julian Abele Cook, Jr. in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan after death penalty litigation experience as an extern with the Alabama Capital Resource Center, helping prepare an argument before the U.S. Supreme Court, and she drafted racial justice legislation for the state of Alabama. Professor Brame taught constitutional law courses, and has served as an adjunct professor at Grand Rapids Community College.
He has also served previously as the director of several non-profit organizations including the Urban Linkage Program at Wayne State University, Detroit Future City, and most recently habitat for Humanity Detroit. Cockrel is the Founder and Principal of Kenneth Cockrel Jr. Consulting Inc, a strategic consulting firm specializing in government relations, communications, strategic partnership, and fund development and lives in Detroit, Michigan.
Prior to his experience as a legislator, Dillon served two terms as a Kent County Commissioner, and worked as Chief of Staff for a Michigan State Senator. Dillon began his professional career with an award winning direct mail firm, working with campaigns at the local, state and national level.
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.
McCormack was elected to The American Law Institute in 2013. The U.S. Attorney General appointed her to the National Commission on Forensic Science in 2014. In 2019, Michigan’s governor named her co-chair of the Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration. In 2020, she joined the American Bar Association’s Council on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar and currently serves as vice chair. In 2021, the governor asked her to co-chair the Michigan Task Force on Forensic Science and to chair the Michigan Jail Reform Advisory Council, and McCormack was appointed to serve nationally on The Council of State Governments Healthy States National Task Force and the ABA Center for Innovation’s Governing Council. Justice McCormack also chaired the Michigan Judicial Council and was named chair of the ABA Board of Elections. She now is president and CEO of the American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution.
Dr. Schwarz served in Southeast Asia for five years, first with the U.S. Navy in Vietnam and as an assistant naval attaché in Indonesia, then with the Central Intelligence Agency in Laos and in Vietnam. Dr. Schwarz has been in private otolaryngology practice in Battle Creek, Michigan for over 40 years, and has served on federal and state panels by appointment, as well as numerous boards and commissions. He currently serves as a Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of Michigan Ford School and on the board of directors for Voters Not Politicians.
founded after 20 years in state government. She began her tenure as a staffer in the state legislature and concluded her service as Special Advisor to Governor John Engler.
Mervenne is a Co-Director Emeritus for the Michigan Political Leadership Program. She serves on the Board of Directors of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Michigan and chairs the Enterprise Risk committee, is the first female chair of the Detroit Public Safety Foundation which supports Detroit’s first responders and has been appointed by four Michigan governors to bi-partisan policy-making boards.
He recently served on the education group of President Biden’s Transition Team and was a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Pennsylvania’s Election Security at the University of Pittsburgh.
Previously, he served in the Army Reserve, worked as both a Public Defender and Assistant District Attorney in Allegheny County. From 1978 to 1991, he was US Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
He retired from the bench to serve as Chief Legal Counsel to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
As the commonwealth's 46th governor, Corbett held Pennsylvania's highest office from January 18, 2011 through January 20, 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 served as a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard 28th Infantry Division from 1971 until 1984, rising from private to captain.
Congressman Dent is Executive Director and Vice President of the Aspen Institute Congressional Program, where he leads bipartisan, bicameral policy education programs for sitting members of Congress. Dent also serves as a Senior Policy Advisor to DLA Piper where he provides strategic advice and counsel to clients on a variety of public policy issues.
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. Graci has frequently lectured on constitutional law topics, as well as legal and judicial ethics.
Green-Hawkins is a voter-protection attorney and recently served on the Lawyers Steering Committee for the PA Democratic Party. She has received numerous awards for her leadership in politics and in the community, and was appointed to Pittsburgh’s Community Task Force on Police Reform. An alumna of Duke University and Northeastern University School of Law, she is an Adjunct Professor teaching Labor Law in her most recent endeavor to pay it forward.
In November 1994, then Governor-elect Tom Ridge named Jones as a co-chair of his transition team. In May 1995, Ridge nominated Jones to serve as chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
Judge Lewis co-chairs the Schnader law firm’s ADR Practice Group; he serves as a mediator, arbitrator and settlement counselor.
He has served on numerous nonprofit and foundation boards, including The Heinz Endowments and The Buhl Foundation and is the recipient of numerous civic leadership awards from organizations such as the University of Pittsburgh, the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh and the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Redmond was Chairman of the Board of Managers of Milton Hershey School, was Chairman of the Board of Hershey Trust Company and played a key role in Pennsylvania infrastructure upgrading and development.
He is Senior Advisor to the Committee of Seventy and Chair of Ballot PA, an initiative of the organization that aims to repeal closed primaries in Pennsylvania and allow the state’s 1.1 million independent voters to vote in every election. He is also a Professor of Practice in Temple University’s Master of Public Policy program and an Adjunct Instructor at Franklin and Marshall College.
In May of 2021, he was appointed by the President of the Pennsylvania Bar Association to serve as chair of a statewide task force to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the delivery of legal services and to make recommendations to mitigate the disruption of services resulting from future catastrophes. The task force generated a comprehensive report that will serve as the foundation for enhancing the use of technology to assure that legal services will be delivered despite widespread disasters
Zien was born in Chippewa Falls, joined the United States Marines and served with Lima Company in Vietnam in 1969. He has been active in veteran issues his entire career.
Brooke Bergen is an experienced public interest attorney and social media content creator. Bergen was an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, New York where she worked to create compassionate and equitable outcomes for victims of violent crime and individuals affected by the criminal justice system. In the private sector, she represented survivors of childhood sexual abuse in civil litigation, and advocated for protections for survivors. Since 2020, Bergen has launched a successful social media brand for responsible outdoor adventure travel and the protection of America’s public lands. As a digital media consultant, she has worked with numerous brands, nonprofits, and small businesses to manage their social media presence.
Norris has been selected as a “Power Player” and recognized as the “Best
CPA in Washington D.C.”by DC Magazine. Norris is a proud U.S. Army Paratrooper Veteran, and was comptroller of a special forces battalion. He continues to be a staunch supporter of veterans, first responders, and teacher services. Norris has a Master’s in marketing, an MBA, holds active CPA licenses in the states of Maryland and Virginia, as well as a certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP).
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.