2025 Legal & Public Policy Conference

Kathryn Nash chairs Lathrop GPM’s Labor, Employment and Higher Education Practice Group, advising colleges and universities on various employment and higher education issues, including Title VII, Title IX, Clery, VAWA and FERPA.

Since she cofounded trainED, a division of Lathrop GPM and a nationally recognized provider of higher education training and compliance services, Kathryn and her trainED team have conducted hundreds of sexual misconduct trainings, investigations, adjudications and appeals.

The trainED team has provided training to students, faculty, staff, administrators and other key personnel from over 300 higher education institutions located in nearly all 50 states.

Melissa Rogers is a nationally known expert on religion in American public life. National Journal has recognized Rogers as one of the church-state experts “politicians will call on when they get serious about addressing an important public policy issue.”

Her areas of expertise include the United States Constitution’s religious liberty guarantees and the interplay of law, religion, policy and politics.

Rogers served as special assistant to the President and executive director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships for President Barack Obama (2013-17) and President Joe Biden (2021-25). She also previously served as chair of President Obama’s inaugural Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (2009-10), director of the Center for Religion and Public Affairs at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity (2003-13), executive director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (2000-03), and associate counsel/general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Public Affairs (1994-2000). Rogers is the author of Faith in American Public Life (2019) and co-author of Religious Freedom and the Supreme Court (2008). She received an honorary doctorate of divinity from both Wake Forest University and the John Leland Center for Theological Studies. Rogers holds a J.D. from University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Baylor University.

Ian Speir is the founder of Covenant Law, whose primary mission is to protect, steward and advance religious freedom within the Constitution’s framework of ordered liberty.

On behalf of individuals, religious congregations, ministries, schools and others, Ian serves as both counselor and advocate, helping his clients achieve their missions, honor their consciences and promote the common good. Ian’s work spans corporate governance, employment, tax-exempt issues, intellectual property, data privacy and First Amendment advocacy in courts around the country. He graduated from Georgetown Law in 2011 and clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Myron Steeves is an attorney practicing in Newport Beach, California. His practice serves nonprofit organizations, religious organizations and churches by offering sound legal guidance from a faith-based perspective.

He is an active member of the nonprofit committees of both the California Bar Association and the American Bar Association. A graduate of Biola University and Georgetown University Law Center, Myron has also served as a Christian missionary to the Middle East. He is the dean emeritus at Trinity Law School, a Christian law school devoted to championing a biblical view of human law and government.

He frequently speaks on a wide array of issues involving Christianity and the law, including the integration of faith and law, legal careers as tools for Christian ministry, law and public policy and law and theology.

Cort Thomas is a partner at Brown Fox PLLC in Dallas, where he regularly represents universities, businesses and nonprofits in a host of litigation matters.

Prior to joining Brown Fox, Cort clerked for the United States District Judge Jane J. Boyle in the Northern District of Texas and then worked for one of the largest international law firms in Texas. He received undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas. Cort also serves on the boards of Providence Christian School of Texas and Marketplace Chaplains.

William Wagner, J.D., currently holds the Wagner Faith & Freedom Center Distinguished Chair, housed at Spring Arbor University.

He holds the academic rank of distinguished professor emeritus after a career teaching constitutional law at both secular and Christian universities. William was recently inducted as a fellow of the Ben Franklin Fellowship. He also held a Danforth Fellowship (law and public policy).

Outside of his academic career, William served as United States magistrate judge in the U.S. Courts, legal counsel in the U.S. Senate, senior assistant United States attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice and as an American diplomat and senior advisor at the U.S. Department of State.

Ben Wanger works closely with clients to proactively assess and mitigate cyber risk, develop privacy and information security policies and respond to data security incidents.

Drawing from a decade of experience litigating both commercial and data privacy matters, he offers the particular perspective of having handled numerous data breach incidents, enabling him to manage clients’ issues before they escalate to litigation.

Ben has represented organizations of all types and sizes in data privacy matters. In particular, he has significant experience helping educational institutions develop data breach prevention and response protocol and respond to data security incidents. Ben regularly advises educational institutions concerning FERPA compliance and assists them in navigating the requirements of the Department of Education and other state regulatory bodies. He is a Certified Information Privacy Professional in the U.S. (CIPP/US).