NAPA LEGAL - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Founder of Alliance Defending Freedom and ADF International
Alan Sears is the Founder of Alliance Defending Freedom and ADF International. As the first president, CEO, and General Counsel, Sears led all strategic initiatives from 1993 through 2017. Sears is the author of several books, including his most recent title, The Soul of an American President: The Untold Story of Dwight D. Eisenhower's Faith. Sears has received many awards from Catholic, other Christian, and legal entities including the 2017 Edwin Meese III Originalism and Religious Liberty Award. He also received the 2017 William Wilberforce Award from The Colson Center, and with his wife, Paula has been invested as a Knight/Dame of the Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great (KSG) per Pope Francis, the highest award given by the Pope to a layperson.
Job Titles:
- Special Advisor to Arizona State University 's Center for American Institutions
Amy Shepard serves as Special Advisor to Arizona State University's Center for American Institutions. Amy served in various executive development and marketing positions for non-profit organizations. Prior to her non-profit work, Amy worked in the for-profit sector. She was vice president of healthcare content solutions for McMurry/TMG where she created strategic partnerships with hospitals and healthcare foundations across the United States and Canada, generating millions of dollars in new business. She was also founder of Optimum Marketing, where she developed integrated television broadcast strategies for television stations across the nation. Shepard served on the board of directors for Bosco Classical School Rochester, Minnesota and on the board for Knights of Columbus Charitable Fund (KCCF). She is an allied member of Catholic Medical Association. Shepard earned her B.A. in Communications from Canisius College in New York.
Job Titles:
- Board Chairman of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty / Bishop Robert Vasa
Job Titles:
- Bishop
- Ninth Bishop of Springfield in Illinois
The Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki was named the Bishop of Springfield in Illinois on April 20, 2010 by his Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI.
Bishop Paprocki was born on August 5, 1952, in Chicago. He was ordained to the priesthood in Mundelein, IL on May 10, 1978 for the Archdiocese of Chicago. After ordination, he studied law at DePaul University College of Law and was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1981. On January 24, 2003, Pope John Paull II appointed him to serve as Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago. He was installed as the ninth bishop of Springfield in Illinois on June 22, 2010.
Carrie currently serves as an appellate attorney for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of General Counsel. Prior to her time at the VA, she worked in health law and policy. Carrie holds a BA in English from Chapman University, a JD from Mercer University, and an LLM in Law and Government from American University. She grew up in Southern California, but now calls DC home.
Christian Townsend is an attorney with the Center for the American Future. Prior to joining the Foundation, Christian was a legal associate with the Cato Institute's Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.
Clara serves as Program Director for Napa Legal. She is a 2019 graduate of Hillsdale College where she double majored in history and French. While at Hillsdale, she ran one of the college's volunteer programs for high schoolers, played in the orchestra, and was a member of the French and history honoraries. Before joining Napa Legal, Clara worked in development at Stand Together.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Frank DeVito serves as Counsel at Napa Legal. Prior to his position at Napa Legal, he served as the full-time solicitor for the Carbon County, PA Children & Youth Services Agency, and before that was an associate at the law firm of Lesavoy Butz & Seitz LLC. He has served on the Northampton County Election Commission, as well as the boards of directors for the Valley Against Sex Trafficking and the National Coalition of Clergy and Laity. His written work has been published in the Penn State Online Law Review, The American Conservative, The Federalist, First Things Online, The Public Discourse, and several other publications.
Job Titles:
- Member of the State Bar of California
Heather A. Lachenauer is an experienced litigator, appellate advocate and educator who has successfully represented international companies, federal agencies, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. She has advocated on behalf of clients in a variety of pro bono matters involving asylum, the death penalty, and religious liberty, among others. Ms. Lachenauer has taught political science, rhetoric, and poetics and aesthetics as an adjunct professor and is a former member of the Board of Regents of St. John Paul the Great Catholic University. She is a co-founder of Epiphany Prep Charter School, a school dedicated to providing quality education to children living in low-income communities in San Diego.
A Virginia native, Ms. Lachenauer is a member of the State Bar of California and the State Bar of Texas, and is admitted to practice before multiple federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
John serves as President and General Counsel of Napa Legal. He is also a partner in the Orange County, California law firm of Brown & Streza, LLP. In his law practice, John counsels a wide range of nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations, including both public charities and private foundations, with a particular emphasis on religious organizations. He advises dioceses, religious orders, private religious schools, and other religious institutions on mission-focused corporate restructuring, governance, and compliance. John also advises for-profit and nonprofit clients on business transactions, entity structures, and corporate formation and governance.
Job Titles:
- Associate at South Bank Legal
Katie is an associate at South Bank Legal in Washington, DC, where she works on matters such as commercial litigation and white-collar criminal defense. She earned her law degree from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, and her bachelor's degree from Hanover College. Katie was a collegiate soccer player during her time at Hanover. At Catholic, she was an active member of the community, holding roles such as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Law and Technology and Vice-President of the Student Bar Association. She also earned a certificate from Catholic in Comparative and International Law. Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Katie and her husband, David, now reside in Washington, DC.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- President
- Chairman of CRC Advisors
- Co - Chairman of the Federalist Society
Leonard Leo is Chairman of CRC Advisors and Chairman and Trustee of Marble Freedom Trust. CRC Advisors is a full-service public affairs firm that seeks to strengthen its clients by providing strategic guidance and bringing together the capabilities they need to win. As Chairman, Mr. Leo leads the firm and its focus on incubating new ventures for the conservative movement, connecting philanthropy to those ventures, and filling gaps in the capacities of existing conservative non-profits.
Leonard Leo serves as Co-Chairman of the Federalist Society and Chairman of the Teneo Network, two of the most successful talent pipelines in the conservative movement. He has assisted two presidential administrations on judicial selection as an outside advisor and participated in the Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett Supreme Court selection and confirmation process, as well as the outside coalition efforts in support of the Roberts and Alito U.S. Supreme Court confirmations.
Mr. Leo was appointed by President George W. Bush to three terms as Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. He was also a U.S. Delegate to the U.N. Council and U.N. Commission on Human Rights. He holds degrees from Cornell University and Cornell Law School. Leonard and his wife Sally reside in Maine and Northern Virginia. They have seven children and three grandchildren.
Luke Miller was born and raised in the great state of South Dakota. Upon graduation from high school, he entered St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, on the campus of the University of St. Thomas. It was while studying philosophy that Luke fell in love with legal theory and followed God's call out of seminary. He briefly moved to New York City to join the Holy See's Mission to the United Nations where he served as a policy advisor. He returned home for law school at the University of South Dakota. After graduating in May 2022, he accepted a judicial clerkship with the Honorable U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan of the Eastern District of Texas in Plano, where he currently resides. In his free time, Luke enjoys playing pickup basketball, reading classic literature, and doing yard work.
Job Titles:
- Legal Counsel at Grantham
Margo currently serves as legal counsel at Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. LLC, an asset management firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to her time at GMO, Margo was an associate attorney at Goodwin Procter LLP. Margo holds a bachelor's degree in theology from Boston College. She graduated magna cum laude from Notre Dame Law School in 2019, where she served as the first Polking Fellow for the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. Margo hails from Oklahoma City, and currently lives with her husband in Boston.
Job Titles:
- President and CEO of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Mark is President and CEO of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. He is also Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Center for Religious Liberty at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, and has previously taught at Harvard Law School. At Catholic University, Mark teaches constitutional law, religious liberty, torts, and evidence. He has been voted Teacher of the Year three times.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Vice President
Mary Margaret serves as Napa Legal Institute's Vice President & Executive Director. She joined Napa Legal in 2019, serving most recently as the organization's Senior Counsel. Before working at Napa Legal, Mary Margaret was an associate attorney with a Chicago-based law firm which specialized in nonprofits and tax-exempt organizations. While there, Mary Margaret helped clients with legal guidance on matters including corporate formation, governance, and tax and regulatory compliance. Prior to serving the nonprofit sector, Mary Margaret focused her career in finance. While in law school, she worked at the CME Group and Dimensional Fund Advisors on financial compliance matters, implementation of U.S. sanctions programs, and cyber-security risk management. She is particularly interested in the intersection of business and law and helping nonprofit organizations navigate the complexities involved in that area. Mary Margaret attended Texas A&M University on a National Merit Scholarship and received an undergraduate degree with honors in Finance and Business. Mary Margaret earned CALI awards for her work in Constitutional Lawand Administrative Law while studying at Chicago Kent Law School. Mary Margaret also studied Spanish law during a semester at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, and she received a certificate in Legal Spanish from American University Washington College of Law. She is an ADF Blackstone Fellow.
Matthew is currently clerking for the Honorable John Kness of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois during the 2022-23 term. Matthew then will clerk for the Honorable Kyle Duncan of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit during the 2023-24 term. Born and raised in Minnesota, Matthew graduated from the University of Saint Thomas in 2016 where he triple majored in Philosophy, Catholic Studies, and Classical Languages. He then lived abroad for three years in Rome where he completed a master's degree in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 2019. After returning from Rome, Matthew attended Notre Dame Law School, graduating in May 2022. While at Notre Dame, Matthew served as an Executive Productions Editor for the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy, worked as a Research Assistant for Professors Paolo Carozza and Gerard Bradley, and served as an executive board member for the Federalist Society and the Future Prosecuting Attorneys Council. In his free time, Matthew enjoys playing golf, playing the piano, learning languages, and traveling with his wife, Lauren.
Meredith Criner is a 2022 graduated of Duke University School of Law. At Duke, she served as President of the Federalist Society and received the Justin Miller Award for Leadership and Pro-Bono All-Star Award. Prior to attending law school, Meredith grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina and attended Cornell University where she played soccer and participated in the Cornell in Washington program before transferring to North Carolina State University. She graduated from North Carolina State as valedictorian.
Michael Watkins lives in Rochester Hills, Michigan with his wife and young son. He is an Associate at Jones Day specializing in the firm's Corporate and Restructuring practices. Michael received a degree in Theology from Ave Maria University in 2014, and he earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. Prior to practicing law, Michael served as a Finance Officer in the Marine Corps from 2015 to 2019. Michael currently serves as Board President for Regina Caeli Academy, a classically based hybrid program for homeschooling families. Michael and his family are parishioners at the apostolate of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, St. Joseph's Shrine, in Detroit, Michigan.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board & CEO of EWTN Global Catholic Network
Job Titles:
- Board Chairman of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty / Bishop Robert Vasa
Job Titles:
- Dean of the Columbus School of Law and Knights of Columbus Professor of Law
Steve Payne began his tenure as Dean of the Columbus School of Law and Knights of Columbus Professor of Law on July 1, 2019. He previously served as a partner and the Chair of the FDA and Health Care practice group at the global law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where his practice focused on regulatory compliance, investigations, and enforcement litigation, as well as an adjunct professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where he taught FDA Regulation and Health Law & Policy. Prior to that role, Dean Payne practiced at Sidley Austin LLP both as a partner and associate in the Washington, D.C. office. Dean Payne also served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps at the U.S. Army Infantry Center at Fort Benning, Georgia. Dean Payne holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics and a Prize Finalist in the Thomas Swann Barristers' Union Mock Trial Competition. He also graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, where he finished first in his class.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Founder of the Busch Firm
Tim Busch is the founder of the Busch Firm, which specializes in estate and tax planning and the representation of religious organizations. He is the CEO of the Pacific Hospitality Group, a company that owns and operates twelve hotels throughout the United States. Tim and his wife are involved in many Catholic organizations, including the Magis Institute and the Napa Institute, which they co-founded with Fr. Robert J. Spitzer. Long time advocates of Catholic education, Tim and Steph cofounded St. Anne School in Laguna Niguel and J Serra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano. In 2016, the Catholic University of America named the Tim and Steph Busch School of Business and Economics, in recognition of Tim and Steph's generous support of the school.
Job Titles:
- Operations Manager
- Research Assistant
Wesley Hunnell is an associate attorney with Winstead P.C. in its Austin, Texas, office. His practice focuses on construction transactions and real estate development. Wes is a 2020 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law with his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University. He also holds graduate degrees from Missouri S&T and Norwich University. Prior to practicing law, he served in the United States Army, including in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where he managed a portfolio of construction projects in Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Wes continues to serve in the U.S. Army Reserves to this day. He and his wife, Misty, are blessed with five children.