Faculty
Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, Dunlap Law, PLC / Richmond
Joshua Erlich, Erlich Law Office / Arlington
The Honorable Anne Holton, Professor of Education Policy, George Mason University / Arlington
Michelle Kallen, Jenner and Block / Washington, DC
Craig Konnoth, Professor of Law, University of Virginia / Charlottesville
About the Speakers
Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, Dunlap Law, PLC / Richmond
Claire Guthrie Gastañaga is a partner in the Richmond woman-owned small business and non-profit focused law firm, Dunlap Law, PLC. Prior to joining the firm, she was the executive director of the ACLU of Virginia for nine years, where she helped lead collaborative efforts to protect and expand voting rights, including a constitutional amendment to guarantee the right to vote, and to reform the criminal legal system including legalizing marijuana, bringing accountability to policing, and ending solitary confinement.
While she was executive director, the ACLU challenged the use of automated license plate readers by police to engage in passive surveillance, initiated successful class action litigation that helped bring marriage equality to Virginia and represented Gavin Grimm in a precedent-setting case that secured protection against discrimination for transgender students in Virginia public schools.
Named by Virginia Lawyers Weekly in 2010 as one of 50 Women of Influence in Virginia and as the 2019 Leader in the Law, Gastañaga has been a key player in Virginia state government, serving as Chief of Staff and Special Counsel to the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates and as the first woman Chief Deputy Attorney General of Virginia. While in the Virginia Attorney General’s office, she argued cases in the Supreme Court of the United States and in the Supreme Court of Virginia, helped secure a nation-wide recall of Ford-based ambulances that were catching fire, and led the effort to close a rayon manufacturing plant that was polluting the air, water, and land and jeopardizing worker lives. Gastañaga is a Fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation.
Early in her career, she helped write the Federal Rules implementing both Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Gastañaga received her J.D. from the University of Virginia and her bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University.
Joshua Erlich, Erlich Law Office / Arlington
The primary focus of Josh Erlich’s practice is to find creative ways to help clients. Client problems often require creative solutions, and he prides himself on coming up with the best solution based on the individual needs of each client. More than anything else, he finds ways to use the law to help people who have been treated unfairly. This includes people of all races, religions, and genders, from entry-level employees to executives, as well as small and medium size businesses in need of guidance.
Oftentimes, he litigates employment issues, non-competition disputes, and cases focused on unpaid wages, commissions, or bonuses. At other times, he is focused on complex cases involving prisoners’ rights, sexual assault, and police misconduct. He also regularly works on other civil matters, defamation, and contract issues.
When he’s not litigating, he works with individuals and businesses to provide legal guidance on a wide range of issues, including severance negotiations, employee handbooks, and compliance concerns.
He earned both his J.D. and his LL.M. in Taxation with a Certificate in Employee Benefits Law from Georgetown University Law Center. While at Georgetown, he was a Legal Research and Writing Fellow and worked as a research assistant for Martha Jo Wagner, an adjunct professor focused on ERISA litigation. He was a finalist in the American Bar Association’s Law Student Tax Challenge, LL.M. Division.
He graduated from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge with a B.A. in History, a minor in Philosophy, and a B.A. in Classics. He is admitted to practice in both Washington, D.C., and the Commonwealth of Virginia. He has lived in Arlington since 2006.
The Honorable Anne Holton, Professor of Education Policy, George Mason University / Arlington
Anne Holton is back as a faculty member after serving as Interim President of George Mason University from 2019-20. She is a professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government and in the College of Education and Human Development, and a Senior Fellow at EdPolicyForward. She is a lifelong advocate for children and families in Virginia.
With an AB from Princeton and a Harvard law degree, Holton has worked as a legal aid lawyer serving low-income families, a juvenile and domestic relations district court judge, a child welfare reformer, and Virginia’s Secretary of Education.
She helped integrate the inner-city schools of Richmond, Virginia, as a child when her father was Virginia’s governor in the early 1970s. As Virginia’s First Lady when her husband was governor in 2006-10, Holton championed foster care system reform. As Virginia’s Secretary of Education in 2014-16, she worked to increase Virginia’s investment in public education, to promote innovation and the joy of teaching and learning in our schools, and to ensure every student has a successful pathway to the future, especially those in high-poverty communities. Her life’s work has focused on children and families at the margin, and the crucial role education must play in helping young people escape poverty.
Holton currently serves on the Virginia Board of Education.
Michelle Kallen, Jenner and Block / Washington, DC
Michelle Kallen, the former Solicitor General of Virginia, helps clients navigate complex matters before federal and state appellate courts. Leading companies in the aerospace and defense, hospitality, technology, and transportation industries benefit from her extensive government experience, unique insight into multistate and constitutional litigation matters, and award-winning appellate work.
Kallen regularly files briefs and litigates matters in the U.S. Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Virginia, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the Eastern District of Virginia, and other state and federal courts. She achieved notable wins in these venues during her tenure in the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia, including defending the Commonwealth against challenges to its COVID-19 response. She also served as lead counsel in the Commonwealth’s election matters and in litigation to certify and publish the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Her past public service includes serving as Special Litigation Counsel in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol in litigation. She successfully defended the Committee against attempts to block subpoenas for phone records and an effort to compel testimony from 16 lawmakers and congressional staffers.
Kallen speaks regularly on a wide variety of topics including constitutional law, state and federal regulations, appellate cases, crypto currency, and equal rights. She maintains an active pro bono practice and is committed to serving her community. She serves as a mentor for The Appellate Project and has litigated pro bono cases on behalf of the Center for Reproductive Rights. She is also a founding member of the Ad Idem Corporate Counsel Network, the Washington Area Women Trial Attorneys, and the Women Lawyers on Guard.
Craig Konnoth, Professor of Law, University of Virginia / Charlottesville
Craig Konnoth is the Karsh Bicentennial Professor at the University of Virginia School of Law. Professor Konnoth writes in health and civil rights, as well as on health data regulation. He is also active in LGBT rights litigation and has filed briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and the Tenth Circuit on LGBT rights issues.
Professor Konnoth formerly was an associate professor at the University of Colorado, where he ran the Health Law Certificate Program. Prior to Colorado, he was a Sharswood and Rudin Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and New York University Medical School, where he taught health information law, health law, and LGBT health law and bioethics.
Professor Konnoth has also served as a deputy solicitor general with the California Department of Justice, where his docket primarily involved cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and also before the California Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. His cases involved the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act, sexual orientation change efforts, Facebook privacy policies, and cellphone searches. Before moving into government, he was the R. Scott Hitt Fellow in Law and Policy at the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School, where he focused on issues affecting same-sex partners, long-term care, and Medicaid coverage issues, and drafted HIV rights legislation. He clerked for Judge Margaret McKeown of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
