Announcing the newest members of the Claremont family
Dear Friend,
We are delighted to announce the newest members of the Claremont family: the 2025 John Marshall Fellows. This promising group of law students, clerks, and attorneys will join us this summer in the pursuit of restoring the Founders' Constitution.
During the program, John Marshall Fellows learn about and discuss political philosophy, American government, and American history with a specific focus on the origins and development of American constitutional jurisprudence.
John Marshall Fellows go on to become judges, lawyers advising Congress and the President, and law professors across the country.
Thank you for your support in making this program—and all of our programs—a success. We invite you to learn more about the new fellows below.
Kyle Atwood is a law clerk for the Honorable Joseph L. Falvey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Next year, he will begin a clerkship with the Honorable John W. Broomes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. Kyle graduated from The George Washington University Law School in May 2024. He served as a teaching assistant for Assistant Dean Aram A. Gavoor, Executive Editor for the Federal Circuit Bar Journal, member of the Moot Court Board, coordinator of GW Street Law’s Mount Vernon High School program, and President of the GW Federalist Society. Before law school, Kyle grew up in San Jose, California, and graduated summa cum laude from Texas Christian University with a B.A. in Political Science.
Michael Bartnick graduated from Florida State University’s College of Law in May 2025 and will clerk for Judge Wendy Berger of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. He was previously a Gubernatorial Fellow in the Office of General Counsel for Governor Ron DeSantis. He has interned at the Florida First District Court of Appeal and the United States Commission on Civil Rights. At FSU, Michael was President of the Federalist Society and served on the executive board of the Law Review. He also volunteered as a research assistant for the American Civil Rights Project. Michael received a B.B.A. in Economics from the University of Miami in 2013. After leaving Miami, he joined the Navy and served for eight years as an enlisted SEAL. He now lives outside Jacksonville with his beautiful wife and their four children.
Toby Calvert Lee is a law clerk for the Honorable Jay Mitchell of the Alabama Supreme Court. He will next clerk for the Honorable Andrew Brasher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 2024, where he served as the Executive Vice President of the Yale Federalist Society and Bulletin Editor of the Yale Journal on Regulation. While a student at Yale, he worked as a summer associate at both Cooper & Kirk and King & Spalding. Prior to law school, he received a Master of Letters degree, with distinction, in Modern History from the University of St. Andrews. He also graduated summa cum laude from Birmingham-Southern College with a B.A. in History.
Andrew Debter is a litigation and appellate attorney at Brown Fox PLLC in Dallas, Texas. He previously served a two-year clerkship with Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Andrew earned his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, where he was President of the Federalist Society and Notes and Articles Editor of the Fordham Urban Law Journal. He holds a B.A. in Politics, Philosophy, & Economics from The King’s College.
Caroline Divver will graduate from The University of Tennessee College of Law in May 2025. After graduation, she will clerk for the Honorable Katherine A. Crytzer of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. While in law school, Caroline interned for Judge Crytzer and externed for Justice Sarah K. Campbell of the Tennessee Supreme Court and the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee. She was a 2024 Arthur D. Hellman Fellow in First Amendment Litigation at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). Caroline holds a B.A. in American Studies from Hillsdale College.
Jack Foley is a law clerk for Judge Paul S. Diamond of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He will next clerk for Judge Paul B. Matey of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Prior to clerking, Jack was a litigation associate at Dechert LLP in Philadelphia. In law school, he interned at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and for Judge John K. Bush of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Jack was also a law clerk for Senator Josh Hawley on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He received a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in Political Science and History from the University of California, Berkeley. He worked as an Articles Editor for the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy and a Managing Editor for that journal’s online counterpart, Per Curiam.
Steven Foster is a Captain in the Army J.A.G. Corps, serving in the Military Honors Program at the Army Corps of Engineers Office of Chief Counsel. He defends the Corps in nationally significant takings, environmental, and APA litigation, and advises on constitutional, administrative, and information law. Steven interprets judicial opinions and executive orders for their operational impact on the Corps and evaluates grounds for appealing adverse determinations in District and Circuit Courts. He earned a B.A. from the Virginia Military Institute and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. Before joining active duty, he clerked for Chief Judge William Johnson of the District of New Mexico and will clerk for Judge Tymkovich on the Tenth Circuit in 2026.
Alexander Hakes is an associate at Sidley Austin LLP. Prior to joining Sidley, he served as a law clerk to Jonathan Mitchell, assisting with high-profile appellate litigation, including the Trump v. Anderson Supreme Court certiorari petition and brief. He graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a Bradley Scholar at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. During law school, Alex served as a legal intern for the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division in the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, where he assisted with prosecuting money laundering crime, as well as a legal intern for the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, where he assisted with policy and bill creation. He also served as a law clerk at Kim & Chang, South Korea’s preeminent law firm. Alex earned an undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Brigham Young University and served a two-year full-time church mission in South Korea. In 2026, he will clerk for the Honorable Chief Judge Raúl M. Arias-Marxuach of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
Kenneth Lee serves as Senior Counsel to Senator Ted Cruz on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He is a 2021 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, where he was a Rubenstein Scholar and President of the Federalist Society. Ken clerked for Judge James C. Ho on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and practiced law at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York. He holds a B.A. from the University of Southern California. He was born and raised in Hawaii.
Christopher Pavlinec is a law clerk for the Honorable Jay Mitchell of the Alabama Supreme Court. He will then work in the Texas Solicitor General’s Office as a Coleman Fellow. He graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as a Lead Articles Editor for the Journal of Law & Politics and as the Mentorship Chair of UVA’s Federalist Society Chapter. During law school, Christopher worked as a summer intern for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Georgia and as a summer associate for Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart, P.A. He was also the guitarist in the unofficial law school band, Torts Illustrated. He graduated summa cum laude from the College of Charleston with a B.A. in Political Science, where he served as the Honor Board Chair and volunteered as an Emergency Medical Technician.
Caleb Pirc serves as a Deputy Attorney General in the Civil Litigation & Constitutional Defense Division of Idaho’s Office of the Attorney General. He received a J.D. from Regent University School of Law where he served as a Symposium Editor of the Regent University Law Review, an Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, the Vice President of the Regent Federalist Society, the Vice Chair of the Trial Advocacy Board, and founder of Regent’s chapter of the Republican National Lawyer’s Association. In law school, Caleb worked as a law clerk for the Utah Solicitor General, a Law & Policy Fellow with the Cicero Institute, and a law clerk for the Idaho Attorney General. Before law school, he operated his own agricultural business. He is a Blackstone Fellow and holds a B.S. in Business Administration: Entrepreneurship. His work has been published in the Regent University Law Review and the Grove City Journal of Law & Public Policy.
Courtney Rimann is a law clerk for Judge Brantley Starr in the Northern District of Texas. She previously worked as an associate for Winston & Strawn LLP, where her practice focused on complex commercial litigation. She earned a J.D., magna cum laude, from SMU Law. While in law school, Courtney was an editor on the SMU Law Review and a guest editor on the Texas Review of Law & Politics. Prior to law school, she worked at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Courtney holds a B.S., summa cum laude, from the University of Southern Mississippi.
J.D. Rimann is a law clerk for Judge Sean Jordan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He will clerk for Judge Cory Wilson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Previously, he was in private practice at Gibson Dunn. J.D. graduated summa cum laude and Order of the Coif from SMU Law, where he was Executive Vice President of the Federalist Society and an editor on the SMU Law Review and the Texas Review of Law & Politics. Prior to law school, J.D. ran Republican campaigns in Texas, served as the Legislative Director to then-State Representative Mayes Middleton, worked as a policy analyst at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and was a Publius Fellow. He is currently an intelligence officer in the Army National Guard.
Austin Severns will graduate from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School in 2025 and is an incoming associate in Sidley Austin’s Washington, D.C. office. He will serve as a law clerk for Judge Raag Singhal of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida and Judge Barbara Lagoa of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Before attending law school, Austin served as a Marine Corps officer in the 2d Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Throughout law school, he interned with the Manhattan Institute and the Senate Judiciary Committee. He is a Blackstone Fellow and received a B.A. from Temple University.
Join us in shaping the next generation of conservative legal scholars prepared to defend the American way of life in this critical hour.
