The Alliance Defense Fund has a team of experienced litigators working to defend religious freedom, sanctity of human life and marriage and the family.
Below are short biographies of a few of these team members:
Benjamin W. Bull, Esquire: Ben Bull is Executive Vice-President and Chief Counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund and practices exclusively in the area of constitutional law. He has served as Executive Director of the European Center for Law and Justice (Strasbourg, France), Senior Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, founding General Counsel of the American Family Association Law Center, and General Counsel of the Children’s Legal Foundation. He has been lead attorney in over 300 trial and appellate cases, including over 35 reported decisions addressing Constitutional questions. Several of Ben's cases have been decided by the United States Supreme Court.
Ben has lectured widely on religious freedom issues throughout the United States and Europe. He is the author of two books and several law review articles. He obtained his J.D. from the University of South Carolina Law Center (1975) and has been awarded an honorary Doctorate of Law from the Institute of Law and Religion in Moscow, Russia.
He has been a popular speaker on First Amendment litigation at numerous state and federal attorney associations, including the United States Department of Justice and American Bar Association National Convention. He has appeared on many television and radio shows, including the Today Show, Good Morning America, NightLine, Crossfire, Headlines on Trial, CSPAN, and National Public Radio. He has testified as expert witness in United States Congress and many state legislatures.
Gary McCaleb, Esquire serves as Senior Counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, having joined ADF in 2002. Gary leads a litigation team comprised of 27 attorneys and 18 support staff with offices in Washington, D.C., Arizona, Kansas, California, Louisiana, Georgia, and Tennessee. He has litigated religious liberty and free speech cases in federal and state trial and appellate courts throughout the United States.
Before working with ADF, Gary litigated and lobbied for the Center for Arizona Policy and litigated with the American Center for Law and Justice. Gary is a U.S. Navy veteran and served as a forester for the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. He graduated with honors from Regent University School of Law in 1997 and is admitted to the Arizona state bar.
Jordan Lorence, Esquire: Jordan Lorence serves as Senior Counsel and Senior Vice-President of the Office of Strategic Initiatives for the Alliance Defense Fund. He has litigated religious liberty and free speech cases across the nation since 1984. Jordan has worked for the Home School Legal Defense Association, Concerned Women for America, and the American Center for Law and Justice. In 2001, he joined the Alliance Defense Fund.
Jordan earned a B.A. in journalism from Stanford University (California) in 1977 and earned a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1980. In November 1999, Jordan argued the Southworth case before the U.S. Supreme Court, involving mandatory student fees at public universities. In 2004, Jordan argued before the California Supreme Court in the case Lewis v. Alfaro, which resulted in a ruling that declared same-sex "marriage" licenses issued by San Francisco invalid. He is admitted to the bar in three states, the U.S. Supreme Court, and multiple federal courts.
Jordan is a native of Mound, Minnesota, and worked from 1980 to 1982 at the Minnesota State Senate as the administrative assistant to a Senate committee chairman. Jordan traveled to Honduras in 1983 with a medical missionary group and aided Nicaraguan refugees in Costa Rica in 1987. In 1974, Jordan studied for almost one month at L’Abri in Switzerland under Francis Schaeffer. Jordan has written opinion pieces for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Minneapolis Star and Tribune, the St. Paul Dispatch, Pioneer Press, and the Miami Herald. He has appeared as a guest on numerous television programs, including the Today Show, C-SPAN, Hannity and Colmes, the O’Reilly Factor, MSNBC, BBC, CNN, and National Public Radio.
Glen Lavy, Esquire: Glen Lavy is Senior Counsel and Senior Vice President of Allied Coordination and Funding for the Alliance Defense Fund. In this role, Glen oversees the coordination of the nearly 1,200 allied attorneys trained through the ADF National Litigation Academy program.
Glen joined ADF in 2001. From 2004 to 2007, he served as Senior Vice-President of the ADF Marriage Litigation Center and was responsible for leading the litigation strategy opposing all same-sex "marriage" cases and for overseeing the development of marriage amendment language for voter ballot initiatives across the country during that time period. Under Glen’s leadership, the ADF marriage litigation team successfully defended marriage in dozens of cases. In addition, he has consulted on same-sex "marriage" and other homosexual issues internationally.
A graduate of Harvard Law School, Glen served as Executive Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. After graduation, he worked as the Senior Law Clerk to the Hon. John L. Coffey, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, where he assisted in drafting numerous judicial opinions, including cases involving religious liberty. Prior to ADF, Glen was engaged in legal practice in the securities fraud, antitrust, and tax law arenas.
Glen has practiced law for almost 20 years and is a member of the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, multiple other federal appellate and district courts across the country, the Court of Federal Claims, and the U.S. Tax Court. He resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife and their three children.
Joseph P. Infranco, Esquire serves as Senior Counsel and Senior Vice-President of Allied Attorney Support and Coordination at the Alliance Defense Fund. His duties include working with nearly 1,200 attorneys trained through the ADF National Litigation Academy and overseeing the development of strategic projects. Before coming to work at ADF, he was a partner in a New York law firm where he was an experienced litigator for over 25 years.
Joe received his J.D. from the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire, and clerked for then-New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Maurice Bois. He has tried more than 100 cases to successful conclusions, and participated as counsel or local counsel on many First Amendment cases, such as Lambs Chapel v. Center Moriches School District; Hsu v. Roslyn School District; Altman v. Bedford; and Amandola v. Town of Babylon.
Joe has made numerous media appearances on television and radio, including ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News. Joe is admitted to the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, and the New York state bar.
Jeffery Ventrella, Esquire: Jeffery J. Ventrella joined the Alliance Defense Fund in July 2000 and is Senior Vice President of Strategic Training. Ranked first in his high school class, he received the B.M.E. degree (magna cum laude) from the University of Northern Colorado, where he specialized in trumpet performance. After attending law school and serving as production editor for the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, Jeff earned his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
Prior to joining ADF, Jeff litigated for nearly 15 years, concentrating his work in complex commercial and insurance litigation, financial litigation, environmental and natural resource litigation, and appellate advocacy. He is presently undefeated as a trial attorney and as a federal appellate attorney. He has presented numerous seminars for a number of organizations, including the Idaho State Bar, on a host of topics such as motion practice, discovery practice, boundary law, legal reasoning and appellate advocacy. He has also lectured extensively on the relationships between civil law, tort liability and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, with an eye toward equipping churches with more biblically based institutional by-laws. As an ordained servant, he regularly preaches and lectures in churches and conferences throughout the United States, Europe, China and South Africa.
At ADF, Jeff oversees the design and implementation of The Blackstone Legal Fellowship and National Litigation Academy programs. He also engages the culture through formal debate and serves as an "approved speaker" for The Federalist Society.
Jeff’s professional writings have appeared in a number of legal journals and periodicals such as For the Defense as well as Christian publications such as Citizen Magazine, Penpoint, Answers, Christian Culture and New Horizons. He is a contributing author to several books, including: The Idaho Appellate Handbook (3rd Ed.); The Standard Bearer (2001); Thine is the Kingdom (2003), Backbone of the Bible: Covenant in Contemporary Perspective (2004) and authored The Cathedral Builder: Pursuing Cultural Beauty (2007). He is also the general editor of ADF's Blackstone Core Curriculum Project.
Jeff's numerous media appearances include a segment on the History Channel, in which he discussed the 10 Commandments. He has participated in debates with atheist Michael Newdow and American Civil Liberties Union President Nadine Strossen.
Jeff previously served on the adjunct faculties of several seminaries, where he taught Ethics and Apologetics. He is a member of the Idaho State Bar and is also admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho and the Bar of the United States Supreme Court. He has achieved the rank of second degree black belt in the martial art of taekwondo.
Brian Raum, Esquire: Brian W. Raum is Senior Legal Counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund. Before joining the organization in 2006, his experience included five years with the American Center for Law and Justice, and seven years in private practice. Brian graduated from Regent University School of Law, graduating as a member of the dean’s list with honors, and has a B.S. from Lee University. He is admitted to the bar in the states of Virginia and New York. His significant media appearances include the New York Post, the New York Daily News, New York Channel 7 News and the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
David Cortman, Esquire: David A. Cortman is Senior Legal Counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund. David graduated magna cum laude with his juris doctorate degree in 1996 from Regent University School of Law. He is listed in the Who’s Who of American Law Students and the Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, and is a recipient of the American Jurisprudence Award, the Regent University Merit Scholarship, the C.A.S.E. Scholarship and was a member of the dean’s list. David is admitted to the bar in Georgia and Florida, and at the D.C. Court of Appeals, and has practiced law for 11 years. David’s notable media interviews include appearances on Hannity and Colmes, Court TV, CNBC and MSNBC News with Brian Williams.
Mike Johnson, Esquire serves as Senior Legal Counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, at its Louisiana Regional Service Center. Mike is a trustee of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention; a founder and board member of La. Family Initiatives, Inc.; a board member of the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools; and serves on various other boards, ministries and organizations.
Mike has litigated and won high profile religious liberty cases nationwide, been a principal drafter of pro-life and pro-family legislation for many states and municipalities, and been interviewed and featured more than 1,000 times on radio and in national media outlets including Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, TIME magazine, Citizen Magazine, World Magazine, and major newspapers across the country. Mike regularly informs, engages and motivates radio audiences nationwide through ADF’s “Frontline Report” initiative, and maintains a busy speaking schedule year round.
Mike and his wife, Kelly, are the proud parents of three children, and were honored as recipients of the 2001 "Champions for the Faith" award by the Southern Baptist Convention for their work in promoting Covenant Marriage, religious liberty, and other pro-family initiatives. In recognition of his work in the courts defending marriage and the family, he was awarded the 2005 "Faith, Family & Freedom" award by the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., and the 2005 "Family Gladiator" award by the Louisiana Family Forum. He earned a B.S. in Bus. Admin. from LSU ('95), and his J.D. from the LSU Law School ('98).