A graduate of Yale College and the Georgetown University Law Center, Helaine Greenfeld spent her legal career at the United States Department of Justice and the United States Senate Judiciary Committee working on a wide range of issues and specializing in the nomination and confirmation of Article III Judges and Executive Branch nominees.
After a clerkship in the Central District of California, Greenfeld spent eight years at the Department of Justice (1993-2001), spending four years in the Civil Right Division as an assistant to Assistant Attorney General Deval Patrick, and four years in the Office of Policy Development (now the Office of Legal Policy), leaving as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General. From 2001-2006, she served as Chief Nominations Counsel to Senator Patrick Leahy, both while he was Chair and Ranking Member. She handled scores of nominations, including the Roberts and Alito confirmation processes.
She returned to the DOJ from 2009 until 2013, serving as a Deputy Associate Attorney General under Associate AG Tom Perrelli and as Counsel to Attorney General Eric Holder. In 2017, Greenfeld became Chief Counsel to Senator Mazie Hirono, who served on the Judiciary Committee, handling all of the issues in the Committee’s jurisdiction, including the Kavanaugh nomination. In 2021, Greenfeld served as Acting Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs in the Biden DOJ.
Marcus A.R. Childress is a Partner and Co-Lead of the congressional investigations practice at the international law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Based in Washington, D.C., he co-chairs Akin’s DEI Protection Task Force and serves as a City Lead for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.
Prior to his current role, Childress built a distinguished career in public service and corporate law. He served as Senior Advisor and Special Counsel to U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin on the House Judiciary Committee and was investigative counsel for the House January 6th Select Committee. Earlier in his career, he also served as an Assistant Staff Judge Advocate for the U.S. Air Force and a Special U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia.
He holds a Juris Doctor from American University Washington College of Law and a Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering from George Mason University.
Barbara J. (B.J.) Chisholm serves as the Managing Partner of Altshuler Berzon LLP, focusing primarily on complex civil litigation and public-interest cases for workers, labor unions, public entities, and environmental groups. With extensive experience briefing and arguing cases across state and federal trial and appellate courts, her practice also encompasses representing nonprofits and unions in social justice campaigns, contract negotiations, arbitrations, and advising nationwide clients on legislation, ballot measures, and election law.
She is currently the Chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco's Labor and Employment Committee, a Lawyer Representative for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, a member of the Board of Directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco, and Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of Public Advocates. B.J. previously served as Co-Chair of the Lawyer Representatives Committee for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and on the Board of Directors of the Union Lawyers Alliance, the Executive Committee of the Labor and Employment Section of the California State Bar, the Board of the Bay Area Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society, and the Board of Directors of the AIDS Legal Referral Panel. She also served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Pacific Environment for many years.
Chisholm was named a “California Lawyer of the Year” by California Lawyer Magazine in 2013 for her work in an Ohio voting rights case.
Prior to law school, she spent five years in the Russian Far East founding and directing a local branch of ISAR focused on environmental and human rights. She speaks fluent Russian and enjoys reading mysteries, kayaking, and playing music with her children.
Jonah Abraham is a law student at the University of Michigan Law School (JD candidate 2027), where he serves as Co-president of ACS Chapter, Executive Online Editor of the Michigan Law Review, and Vice President of the AI Law and Policy Society. He has worked as a summer associate at Kirkland & Ellis and at WilmerHale.
Brendan V. Johnson is a Partner and Member of the Executive Board of Robins Kaplan LLP. He is Chair of the National Business Litigation Group, and Co-Chair of the Government and Internal Investigations Group at the firm, splitting his time between Minneapolis and Sioux Falls, S.D.
Johnson served as the Senate-confirmed United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota from 2009 to 2015. During his tenure as United States Attorney, he chaired the U.S. Department of Justice's Native American Issues Subcommittee and served on the Attorney General's Advisory Committee.
He has received numerous awards recognizing his legal skills and accomplishments, including South Dakota's Trial Lawyer of the Year (2024), the Attorney of the Year Award from the University of South Dakota's Women in Law (2013), and the South Dakota Violence Against Women Prosecutor of the Year Award (2013).
He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and his B.S. from the University of South Dakota.
Hayley has dedicated her career to health law and public service. After graduating cum laude from the University of California, Irvine School of Law, she attended the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health for a Master's in Public Health Policy. During her Master's program, she was a Health Policy Fellow at the U.S. House of Representatives Ways & Means Health Subcommittee Minority Staff Office where she worked on fighting against efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
After her Master's program, she worked as an Attorney at the National Health Law Program (NHeLP) where she advised state agencies, legislative staff, and other organizations to ensure that law and policy changes were effective and did not have unforeseen consequences and contributed to litigation strategy for enforcing existing health care laws. Hayley then worked as a Deputy Legislative Counsel with the Office of Legislative Counsel (OLC) for the State of California, a nonpartisan office that drafts bills and advises members of the Legislature on constitutional and statutory construction issues that arise in their legislative proposals. Hayley focused on health care issues, leading the public health deputy working group at OLC. Hayley currently is a Deputy Attorney General with the Healthcare Rights and Access Section of the California Attorney General's Office where she focuses on reproductive health and health privacy issues.
