Expertise
The Alliance Defense Fund has a team of more than 25 experienced litigators working to defend religious freedom, sanctity of human life and traditional family values.
Below are short biographies of a few of these team members:
Benjamin W. Bull, Esquire is the 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, General Counsel of the Children’s Legal Foundation, and was a founding director of the Slavic Center for Law and Justice (Moscow, Russia). He has been lead attorney in over 200 trial and appellate cases, including over 30 reported decisions in the First Amendment area. Ben has lectured widely on religious freedom issues throughout the United States and Europe. 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 CLE speaker on First Amendment litigation at numerous state and federal attorney associations, including the American Bar Association. He has appeared on many television and radio shows, including Today Show, Good Morning America, NightLine, Crossfire, and Headlines on Trial.
Jordan Lorence, Esquire is Senior Counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund and Senior Vice President of the Office of Strategic Initiatives. He specializes in constitutional law and has litigated religious liberty and free speech cases around the nation since 1984. Jordan previously worked for the Home School Legal Defense Association and Concerned Women for America. In November 1999, Jordan argued the Southworth case before the U.S. Supreme Court, involving mandatory student fees at public universities. 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. He worked from 1980 to 1982 at the Minnesota State Senate as the administrative assistant to a Senate committee chairman. 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.
Gary McCaleb, Esquire is Senior Counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund and Senior Vice President of Litigation Support and Mentoring, responsible for training new attorneys in First Amendment litigation and supervising litigators stationed in Arizona and at five regional service centers. Gary graduated with honors from Regent University School of Law in 1997 and joined ADF in 2002. He is licensed to practice law in Arizona and has litigated in defense of religious liberties in numerous district and appellate courts as well as state supreme courts, from coast to coast and border to border.
Jeffery Ventrella, Esquire is Senior Counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund and Senior Vice President directing the Office of Strategic Training. Jeff oversees the design and implementation of the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, National Litigation Academy programs, and Regional Litigation Academy sessions. He also engages the culture through formal debate, serves as an “approved speaker” for The Federalist Society, and has testified before a U.S. Senate Sub-Committee.
Prior to ADF he litigated for nearly 15 years practicing appellate advocacy, commercial and insurance litigation, financial litigation, and environmental and natural resource litigation.
Having graduated magna cum laude with his B.M.E from the University of Northern Colorado he received his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, serving as Production Editor of the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly. He has contributed to several books, teaches Ethics and Apologetics at the seminary level, is a member of the Idaho State Bar and is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Bar of the United States Supreme Court.
Glen Lavy, Esquire, Senior Counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund and Senior Vice President of ADF’s Marriage Litigation Center, joined the organization in 2001 to develop a legal response to homosexual activism in America. As a result of his work in developing a corporate response, Glen was well positioned to respond to the increasing onslaught of litigation demanding a right to same-sex “marriage.” He is directly involved in litigating numerous same-sex “marriage” or marriage related cases. Glen is also coordinating litigation throughout the country.
Glen has a background in the construction industry, and earned his bachelor’s degree with a 4.0 grade-point average prior to graduating from Harvard Law School. During his final year at Harvard, he served as an Executive Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. He then worked for two years as Senior Law Clerk to the Hon. John L. Coffey, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, where he assisted Judge Coffey in drafting numerous judicial opinions, including cases involving religious liberty. Prior to joining ADF, Glen was engaged in an active legal practice that included a variety of complex litigation matters such as securities fraud, antitrust, and tax law.
Joseph P. Infranco, Esquire is Senior Counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund and Senior Vice President of Allied Attorney Support and Coordination. His duties include working with more than 750 attorneys trained by ADF at National Litigation Academies and the development of strategic projects. Before coming to work for ADF, Joe was a partner in a New York law firm where he was an experienced litigator for 25 years and an Av rated attorney. There, he represented hundreds of churches and ministries in a wide variety of matters including First Amendment litigation, corporate matters, tax issues, and administrative and zoning proceedings. He was counsel for New York State American Family Association, Teen Challenge, Youth For Christ, Youth With A Mission, and many other organizations. Joe was involved in many equal access cases and high school Bible Club issues, and testified on the rights of religious organizations before a congressional sub-committee and the U.S. Department of Civil Rights.
Joe graduated from Manhattan College, where he received the Alumni Medal for the outstanding undergraduate record in his class. He attended Franklin Pierce Law Center and also clerked for New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Maurice Bois. Joe has made numerous media appearances, including ABC, CBS and Fox News.