NAFUSA lifetime member Stephen J. “Steve” Cox assumed the duties of Attorney General for the State of Alaska on August 29, 2025, after being appointed by Governor Mike Dunleavy the previous day. Governor Dunleavy will forward Cox’s name to the Alaska Legislature for confirmation during the 2026 session.
Steve served in the first Trump Administration as Deputy Associate Attorney General and Chief of Staff within the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Associate Attorney General. In 2020, he was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas by U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr and later that year by the Court. He served in that position until January 20, 2025.
Earlier in his career, Steve served on the William H. Webster Commission on the FBI’s
counterterrorism and intelligence operations in the wake of the 2009 Fort Hood attacks,
and as a senior advisor to the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
during the latter part of the Bush Administration. Prior to public service, He was a senior
associate attorney at a multinational law firm in Washington, D.C. Prior to appointment as Alaska’s Attorney General, he served as Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Strategy Officer at Bristol Bay Industrial (BBI), an investment platform of Bristol Bay Native Corporation.
Steve thanked the Governor for the appointment, “I am honored that Governor Dunleavy has invited me to be a part of the Alaska story. And I am grateful to the Governor and the people of Alaska for the opportunity to serve.”
NAFUSA welcomed several new members in August, all of whom served during the Biden
Administration. We look forward to having them as members and hope to see them in
October at the NAFUSA annual conference at the Willard!
Erek Barron was the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland from 2021 to 2025, the first
African American to hold that position. Prior to his nomination by President Biden, Barron
served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, while practicing law as a private
attorney. Before entering elected office, he served as a prosector at the state and federal
levels and worked as a policy advisor in the U.S. Senate. He joined the law firm Mintz,
Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo in May 2025.
Delia L. Smith served as the U.S. Attorney for the Virgin Islands from 2022 to April 2025. Her
career prior to that included serving as law clerk for Judge Ishmael Meyers on the U.S.
Virgin Islands Superior Court; serving as an assistant attorney general in the Office of the
Attorney General for the Virgin Islands; a detail as a trial attorney in the Office of
International Affairs at DOJ; and from 2005 until sworn in as U.S. Attorney, serving as an
AUSA in that office.
Sayler A. Fleming served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri from her
appointment by then-Attorney General William Barr in December 2020 until her resignation
on June 3, 2025. A 2006 Vanderbilt University law graduate, she clerked for Missouri
Supreme Court Justice, Stephen Limbaugh, Jr. and was later an associate at Bryan CaveLeighton Paisner before her appointment at U.S. Attorney. While U.S. Attorney she co-
chaired the Attorney General’s Child Exploitation Working Group.
Joshua (Josh) Hurwit served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho from 2022 to 2025.
After graduating from Harvard in 2006, he worked as an associate at Paul Weiss, Rifkind,
Wharton & Garrison in New York City before becoming a judicial law clerk for Federal Judge
Naomi Reice Buchwald for a year. He was in private practice from 2008 until 2011 before
joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Idaho as an AUSA in 2012. In 2022 he was nominated
and later confirmed as U.S. Attorney for that office and served until his resignation in
February 2025.
Philip R. Sellinger served as U.S. attorney for District of New Jersey from 2021 to 2025.
Following graduation from New York University School of Law in 1979, he served as a
judicial law clerk for a year before becoming an AUSA in New Jersey from 1981 to 1984.
From 1984 to 2002, he worked at Sills Cummis & Gross until becoming a co-managing
partner of Greenberg Traurig in 2002. He was sworn in as U.S. Attorney for the District of NJin December 2021 and served until his resignation in January 2025. He is currently co-
chair, Global Litigation at Greenberg Traurig.
Sports law will be on tap at the 2025 Annual NAFUSA Conference in D.C. in October! Recent developments in the world of college sports, including the legal and practical issues surrounding name, image and likeness (NIL) agreements and the creation of the College Sports Commission, are hot issues in sports AND legal environments. How will college sports be impacted? What roles will attorneys have in advising athletes or other affected clients? What will regulations look like? These and so many other questions surrounding the “ever-changing landscape of college athletics” will be addressed in two separate sessions on NAFUSA’s conference program next month in D.C.
On Thursday, October 9, Jay Bilas, ESPN’s top college basketball analyst, widely known for his thorough knowledge of the game and his professional, clever style, will be interviewed by NAFUSA Vice President Tim Purdon. Jay was a four-year starter at Duke University under Mike Krzyzewski helping to lead Duke to the No. 1 ranking in 1986 and set the NCAA record for the most wins in a single season. While a player at Duke, he was appointed to the NCAA’s Long-Range Planning Committee., serving from 1984-1986.
He played professionally before returning to Duke in 1990 and attending Duke Law School while serving as an assistant coach under Krzyzewski. During that time the Blue Devils won back-to-back National Championships in 1991 and 1992.
Jay has spoken and lectured at Harvard Law School, Harvard Business School, SMU’s Maguire Center for Ethics, The University of North Carolina, Tennessee, and many other great schools. His extensive knowledge of both the sports and legal worlds and his witty style have made him a very popular speaker. He has won too many awards and accolades to list here – including being named Sports Illustrated Best Analyst in College Basketball three times. And he is a practicing attorney.
It will be interesting to hear more about Jay Bilas’s exciting career during Tim’s interview and to hear his thoughts about NIL, what the impact on college sports has been so far, his prediction for the future and where it stands today. The interview will discuss the legal implications of NIL and the new sports commission.
The next day, NAFUSA Board Member Conner Eldridge will lead a panel of experts who are very familiar with the legal and practical implications of NIL, the College Sports Commission and potential impact of revenue sharing on Division One athletic programs and universities. The panel is entitled, “Show Me the Money: The Current and Everchanging Landscape of Collegiate Athletics, NIL, and Thoughts on Justice in College Sports.”
The panel will include former NAFUSA board members Ron Machen and Greg Brower and NAFUSA member Dan French. They each bring a wealth of knowledge and interesting viewpoints to different aspects of the issues surrounding collegiate sports today. Greg Brower served as the Chief Global Compliance Officer of Wynn Resorts, a publicly-trading hospitality and gaming company based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and brings his knowledge of the legal gambling industry to the discussion of its potential impact on college sports. Ron Machen is an experienced and well-regarded litigator specializing in representing clients, including the NCAA, in complex high-stakes situations. Dan French has a distinguished career spanning multiple related fields within the legal profession. Prior to his current position as co-chair of Barclay Damon’s Higher Education and White Collar & Government Investigations Practice, he was the senior vice president and general counsel at Syracuse University.
Many thanks to our Conference Committee for bringing these and the other great presentations to the line-up for NAFUSA’s 2025 Annual Conference.
NAFUSA lifetime member and president-elect Catherine Hanaway will become the first
woman to hold the position of Attorney General (AG) for the State of Missouri when she
assumes office on September 8. Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe announced on August 19
he will appoint Catherine Hanaway to replace and complete the three years remaining on
the term of current AG Andrew Bailey who resigned to become co-deputy director of the
FBI.
Ms. Hanaway most recently has been a partner at Husch Blackwell, including serving as
the elected chair of the firm. She was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of
Missouri by President George W. Bush and served from 2005-2009.
Ms. Hanaway first ran for elected office in 1998, winning a seat in the Missouri House of
Representatives where she served until 2005. She was elected Speaker, the first woman to
hold that position. There have been none since. She ran unsuccessfully for Missouri
Secretary of State in 2004.
Governor Kehoe praised her as “…a talented, trusted prosecutor who has a passion for
enforcing the rule of law.”
Ms. Hanaway told reporters that she plans to serve the next three years and then “…if
Missourians will vote for me and believe I earn a full term, then I’d like to serve a full term.”
NAFUSA President Donna Bucella congratulated Catherine on her appointment. “She is a
true public servant who is passionate, committed and thrilled to serve the people of
Missouri.
As in previous years, Thursday night of the conference is designated for members of
presidential administrations to have dinner together independently. These mini reunions,
dubbed “class dinners” are organized by volunteers from the different administrations
represented. Please be sure to contact your class dinner organizer to let them know if you
will join them for dinner and if you will bring a guest.
NAFUSA is excited to host our 2025 annual conference at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, D.C. Regarded as one of the top historic hotels in America, the luxury Beaux-Arts hotel is two blocks east of the White House at 1401 Pennsylvania Ave., NW and has a rich history spanning over two centuries. The hotel has been the site of many important events in American history and has housed hundreds of notable guests. Author Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote in the 1860’s that “the Willard Hotel more justly could be called the center of Washington than either the Capitol or the White House or the State Department.”
The current hotel was founded by Henry Willard in 1847 on the site of the first six buildings to be constructed at that location and used as a hotel. He combined and transformed the buildings into a grand four-story hotel.
The present 12 story structure opened in 1901, suffered major damage in a fire in 1922, and by 1968 had fallen into severe decline and closed. After gaining new owners with a 73-million-dollar restoration project and a goal to make the restoration as historically accurate as possible, the 389 room Willard Hotel reopened in 1986, once again an elegant and important hotel.
The Willard has hosted numerous U.S. Presidents and notable guests. Abraham Lincolnstayed there for ten days before his inauguration in 1861. The hotel hosted the 1861 peace conferences aimed at preventing the war. It served as a temporary residence for Vice President Calvin Coolidge. Martin Luther King finished his “I Have a Dream” speech in his hotel room there. Charles Dickens and Buffalo Bill stayed there. Ulysses S. Grant famously held court in the lobby (a beginning of the term “lobbyists.”)
In addition to many fine restaurants and bars, the Willard houses the iconic Round Robin Bar which has been nicknamed the “Oval Office of Bars.” The bar has been a meeting place for D.C.’s political and social elite since 1847 – and is famous for its oak lined walls and its signature drink, the Mint Julip.
NAFUSA conference attendees will have an opportunity to learn more about the Willard’s rich history while enjoying its luxurious amenities. The hotel has a famous History Gallery which guests can visit, and the concierge has pamphlets with more information and a guide to significant areas within the hotel.
Be sure to register for the conference starting next week and use the link to reserve a room at the Willard for your stay.
NAFUSA 2025 conference registration is now open. The NAFUSA opening reception, sponsored again this year by our generous sponsor Guidepost, will be Wednesday October 8 at 6:00 p.m. It will be hosted by King & Spalding LLP on the penthouse floor of their Washington, D.C. offices located at 1700 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W., a short walk from the conference hotel. Please click the link below to register and book a hotel room in the NAFUSA block at the Willard hotel.
If you have any issues booking your room or want to extend your stay please contact Lisa Rafferty.
NAFUSA member and former board member, Ed Stanton, and another former U.S. Attorney from the western district of Tennessee, Larry Laurenzi, presented a flag flown over the Department of Justice in honor of former U.S. Attorney Mike Cody to his widow Suzanna (“Suzi”) Cody on June 6, 2025, at a memorial service held in Memphis.
NAFUSA welcomed five new members in July. They are all former U.S. Attorneys who served in the Biden administration. Welcome!
Damien Diggs was sworn in as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas in May 2023 and served there until his resignation in January 2025. A graduate of Towson University and American University, where he received his JD, Damien served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) in Washington D.C. from 2012 to 2018 and then joined the Northern District of Texas as an AUSA in 2018. He is currently a partner at Winston & Strawn in its Dallas office.
Jason Frierson served as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada from May 2022 until January 2025. Prior to his nomination as U.S. Attorney, he served in legal roles in the public and private sector. He was elected to the Nevada State Assembly in 2010 and served there from 2011 to 2014. He was later reelected to a term from 2016 to 2022 and selected in a bipartisan and unanimous vote to serve as speaker from 2017 to 2022. He joined Cornerstone as Principal and Counsel in February 2025.
Brandon B. Brown served as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana (WDLA)
from 2021 to January 2025. While U.S. Attorney he served on the Attorney General’s
Advisory Committee. Following graduation from the Southern University Law Center in
2007 he joined the Ouachita Parish District’s Attorney’s Office. From 2012 until his
appointment as U.S. attorney, he served as an AUSA in the WDLA. He joined McGlinchey as a partner in its Baron Rouge office in April 2025.
Jacqueline Romero served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania (EDPA) from 2022 to 2025. The granddaughter of Spanish immigrants, she joined the U.S. Department of Justice as a trial attorney in 1998, leaving that position in 2000 to serve as senior counsel for the U.S. Mint. She joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the EDPA as an AUSA in 2006 and served in that capacity until her unanimous confirmation as U.S. Attorney. She joined BakerHostetler’s Philadelphia office in July as a partner in the firm’s Litigation Practice Group.
Tara McGrath served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California (SDCA) from October 2023 to February 2025. She graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 2001 and served as a judge advocate while on active duty in the United States Marine Corp from 2001 to 2005. She served as an AUSA in the SDCA from 2008 to 2019, including 2015 to 2018 as a trial attorney in the Office of Enforcement Operations of the DOJ’s Criminal Division. She joined the litigation practice at Perkins Cole as a partner in July.
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