The Conference on Public Service and the Law

at the University of Virginia School of Law

Practicing National Security Law

This panel will explore the ways in which the criminal and immigration laws have been used since September 11 to protect against terrorist and other security threats. Are such uses of the law necessary? How has their use affected practice in these fields?

Rosa Ehrenreich Brooks, Moderator
Professor of Law, University of Virginia
Professor Brooks joined the Law School in 2001 after a fellowship year at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at HarvardŐs Kennedy School of Government. From 2000-2001 she also served as a consultant to the Open Society Institute and to Human Rights Watch. Until August 1999, Brooks worked at the U.S. Department of State, where she was Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. At the State Department, she participated in the U.S. negotiating team for the International Criminal Court and worked extensively in trouble spots such as Kosovo and Sierra Leone. Before joining the State Department, Brooks taught at Yale Law School as a Lecturer in Law, and also served as Acting Director of Yale's Orville H. Schell Jr. Center for International Human Rights Law and faculty supervisor of the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Law Clinic. Since coming to the Law School she has continued her active involvement with various human rights organizations and foundations, and she remains a consultant on global legal issues for the Open Society Institute. Brooks served on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA in 2002-2003, and she is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

David Schiller
Assistant United States Attorney, Eastern District of Virginia
Mr. Schiller has served as an Assistant United States Attorney since 1984. As a federal prosecutor, he has prosecuted cases involving heath care fraud, firearms offenses, economic crimes, narcotics offenses, counterfeiting, and bank fraud. He developed an implemented Project Exile, to reduce gun violence. Mr. Schiller has expertise in the fields of health care fraud and bankruptcy fraud, and lectures at the Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy on those matters. He served on the Attorney General?s Advisory Committee Bankruptcy Working Group and authored Section 312 of the Bankruptcy Reform Bill in 1994, which was adopted by Congress. Mr. Schiller is extensively involved in training state and local law enforcement entities, and lectures at the Richmond Police Department Academy and Central Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy. Mr. Schiller also serves as an adjunct professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. Mr. Schiller received his J.D. from the University of Virginia and his undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

Joe Whitley
General Counsel, Department of Homeland Security
Before his appointment as General Counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, Mr. Whitley was a partner with Alston & Bird in Atlanta, Georgia, where he chaired the Government Investigations and Compliance Group, and concentrated his practice in the area of White Collar Criminal Defense and Compliance. Mr. Whitley has had an extensive career in the Department of Justice, serving as the Acting Associate Attorney General in the Bush Administration. He was appointed by Presidents Reagan and Bush, respectively, to serve as U.S. Attorney in the Middle and Northern Federal Districts in Georgia. He has also been in other Department of Justice positions serving under five Attorneys General. Mr. Whitley is a member of the Criminal Justice Section Council of the American Bar Association and he is a frequent participant as a lecturer in national ABA programs on Health Care Fraud and White Collar Crime. He chairs several Georgia Institute of Continuing Legal Education programs, including the Annual White Collar Crime Program, the Cyber Crime Institute, and the Health Care Fraud Institute. Mr. Whitley received his J.D. and his undergraduate degrees from the University of Georgia.