2021 John Marshall Fellows

Phil Axt is a litigation associate with the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  Before joining Gibson Dunn, Phil clerked for the Honorable Jennifer Walker Elrod on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was President of the Veteran’s Association, Executive Vice President of the Federalist Society chapter, and Managing Editor of the Yale Journal of Law & Technology. He also holds a B.S. in Economics from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated as a Distinguished Cadet. Prior to law school, Phil was a Captain in the U.S. Army.

Tiffany Bates is an associate at Consovoy McCarthy PLLC, where she assists clients with a variety of litigation and appellate matters that encompass constitutional law, administrative law, and commercial litigation. She also helps direct the Supreme Court and Administrative Law Clinics at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. Tiffany is a former law clerk to Judge Kyle Duncan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She previously served as a Legal Policy Analyst at the Heritage Foundation, where she researched and wrote about the courts, judicial nominations, and constitutional issues. Tiffany earned her B.A. in Politics from Hillsdale College and her J.D. from the Scalia Law School, where she served as Managing Editor of the George Mason Law Review and President of the Federalist Society.

Paul Draper will soon begin clerking for the Honorable Chad A. Readler of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He is a 2021 graduate of Stanford Law School, where he was president of the Stanford Federalist Society, co-founder of the Stanford Law Conservatives, and a Hoover Institution Rising Fellow. He also served as a research assistant for Professor Jonathan Mitchell. During law school, he worked as a summer associate for Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Gibbs & Bruns LLP, as a legal extern for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, and as a judicial extern for the Honorable Amul R. Thapar of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Paul holds an A.B. in History from Princeton University.

Paul Draper is the Hugh and Hazel Darling Foundation John Marshall Fellow for 2021

Lucas Funk is a law clerk to Judge Patrick Bumatay of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Diego. After, he will clerk for Judge Federico Moreno of the Southern District of Florida in Miami. In law school, Lucas served as Executive Articles Editor of the Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property and the Vice President of Membership for the Northwestern Federalist Society. He was also a summer associate at Husch Blackwell in Chicago, an extern for Judge John Blakey of the Northern District of Illinois, and a student-attorney in the Northwestern Supreme Court Clinic. Lucas holds a B.A. in political science from Western Michigan University and a J.D. from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.

Elizabeth Henry will graduate in 2022 from Georgetown University Law Center and will then clerk for Judge Cory T. Wilson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  Elizabeth attends law school as an evening student, while working full-time as Director of Administration and Senior Policy Advisor to Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.  Prior to law school, Elizabeth worked for four years as Legislative Assistant to the then Appropriations Committee Chairman, Senator Thad Cochran. At Georgetown, Elizabeth is President of the Federalist Society, a Bradley Fellow and Research Assistant in the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, an Executive Editor for the Food and Drug Law Journal, on the Professional Responsibility and Appeals Student-Faculty Committee, and a member of the moot court team.  Elizabeth graduated cum laude from Yale University, having majored in ethics, politics, and economics.

Daniel Judge will soon begin clerking for Judge Michael B. Brennan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He attended Notre Dame Law School, where he was the Executive Notes Editor of the Notre Dame Law Review, a member of the Moot Court Board’s Seventh Circuit Team, and an inaugural participant in the Religious Liberty Initiative. During law school, Judge was a summer associate at Jenner & Block LLP in Chicago, and an intern at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Judge holds a B.A. in Political Philosophy, Policy, and Law from the University of Virginia, where he graduated with high distinction.

Deion Kathawa clerks for Justice Brian K. Zahra of the Michigan Supreme Court. He holds a B.A. in philosophy and political science from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School, both with honors. For two years, he served on the executive board of the Notre Dame Law School Federalist Society. As a 2L, his essay, “Ambition Can Still Be Made to Counteract Ambition—Just Not in the Way Madison Envisioned,” won first place in the Federalist Society’s second annual Article I Initiative Writing Contest. Kathawa’s non-scholarly writing has been featured at RealClearPolitics, RealClearEducation, American Greatness, Quillette, The Detroit News, National Review, and others.

Deion Kathawa is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation John Marshall Fellow for 2021

Minsoo Kim is a 2021 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where he served as a Publishing Editor for the California Law Review, a two-time co-president of the Federalist Society, a board member of Christians at Berkeley Law, and a research assistant for Professors John Yoo and Orin Kerr. He will soon serve as a law clerk to the Honorable Martha M. Pacold of the Northern District of Illinois, then to the Honorable James C. Ho of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 2022. He graduated summa cum laude from University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in Political Science.

Jessica Lee is an Assistant Solicitor General for the State of West Virginia. She will serve as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Don. R. Willett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit next year. Lee clerked for the Honorable Thomas E. Johnston, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. In law school she served as an Articles and Notes editor for the Fordham Law Review. Lee holds a B.A. in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from The King’s College and a J.D. from Fordham Law School.

Jessica Lee is the Richard and Debbie Verheij John Marshall Fellow for 2021

Austin Mayron is a law clerk to the Honorable Elizabeth L. Branch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.  He previously clerked for the Honorable Steven J. Menashi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  Before clerking, he served as Deputy Associate Counsel to the President in the Office of the White House Counsel and as an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.  As a law student, he was president of the Washington University Federalist Society.  He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology and a J.D. from the Washington University School of Law.

John Thorpe is clerking for Judge Bridget S. Bade on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He previously clerked for Judge Carolyn B. McHugh on the Tenth Circuit and worked as an associate at Lewis Roca, focusing on appeals and complex litigation. He earned his J.D. from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where he served as an Articles Editor on the Arizona State Law Journal, helped organize the Federalist Society’s 2019 Student Symposium, and interned for Justice Clint Bolick on the Arizona Supreme Court and for the Arizona Solicitor General’s Office. Before law school, John taught Economics, Latin, and Humane Letters at Great Hearts Academies, a network of classical charter schools. He holds a B.S. in Economics, with minors in Russian and Political Science, from Arizona State University.

Jacob R. Weaver will soon begin clerking for Judge Charles R. Eskridge III of the Southern District of Texas; he will then go on to clerk for Judge Edith H. Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. After completing his clerkships, he will serve in the military as a Navy judge advocate. Mr. Weaver holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.A. in history from Hillsdale College. At Michigan Law, Mr. Weaver worked as a senior editor for the Michigan Law Review, a contributing editor for the Michigan Journal of Law Reform, and an executive editor for the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy’s Student Symposium Edition. And during his time at Hillsdale College, he served as a Churchill Fellow and as a founding board member and president of the nation’s second undergraduate Federalist Society chapter. His publications have appeared in various outlets including the Michigan Law Review, the Michigan Journal of Law Reform‘s online forum Caveat, the Wall Street Journal, and the FedSoc Blog.

Conor Woodfin is a clerk for Judge David Porter of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He will next clerk for Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Conor previously worked as a summer associate at Consovoy McCarthy PLLC and as a law clerk for Senator Ted Cruz on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He earned his J.D. from the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where he served as the Editor in Chief of the George Mason Law Review, an Alexander Hamilton Fellow for the C. Boyden Gray Center, and a research assistant to Professor Jennifer Mascott. He holds a B.S. in Accounting from Hillsdale College.

Michael Zarian is currently clerking for Judge Gregory G. Katsas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He previously clerked for Judge Sandra S. Ikuta of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. While in law school, he served as the Business and Communications Editor of the University of Chicago Law Review, the Treasurer of the Federalist Society, and President of the Texas Law Society. He also worked part-time as a litigation law clerk for Chapman Spingola, LLP in Chicago. Upon completion of his clerkship this fall, he will be joining the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He holds a B.S. in applied physics from Brigham Young University and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.