Ross M. Bradford is acting chief legal officer and general counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, where he provides general corporate legal services on a wide range of subjects and provides support for advocacy related matters affecting National Trust historic sites. He also supervises the organization’s Easement Program and oversees gifts of real estate transactions. Ross is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and North Carolina. He received a BA in political science and English literature from Emory University and a JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Matthew Casassa is an associate at Foley Hoag LLP, where he represents businesses, individuals, and sovereign states in complex litigation, appellate matters, and administrative proceedings. His practice includes commercial litigation, regulatory disputes, insurance recovery, international litigation, and appellate advocacy before state and federal courts. Matthew has represented clients before numerous federal courts of appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States. He has authored briefs addressing a broad range of issues, including international arbitration, bankruptcy, restrictive covenants, and administrative law. In addition to his appellate practice, he represents businesses, municipalities, and sovereign states in regulatory litigation and other complex disputes. Before rejoining Foley Hoag, Matthew served as a law clerk to the Honorable Seth R. Aframe of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the Honorable Nathaniel M. Gorton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Matthew is admitted to practice in Massachusetts and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He earned his JD, with honors, from Columbia University School of Law and his BA, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Boston College.

Christopher (Chris) M. Cody is associate general counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, where he focuses on legal advocacy. He previously served as deputy state historic preservation officer for Arizona and as manager of advocacy and staff attorney for Historic Charleston Foundation in Charleston, South Carolina. Chris is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he received a BA in history, the University of South Carolina School of Law, and Tulane University’s Master of Preservation Studies program. A native of McLean, Virginia, he resides in Northern Virginia with his wife Kathryn and daughter Genevieve.

Will Cook is an attorney at Wyche, P.A. Previously, he worked at Cultural Heritage Partners, PLLC, and served as associate general counsel at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Will is also a board member on the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation, New York Preservation Archive Project, Valleys Planning Council, and Ladew Topiary Gardens. He teaches preservation law and lectures regularly to national audiences on issues related to property, land use, and historic preservation law.

Gregory (Greg) B. Craig is senior counsel at Foley Hoag LLP, where he advises corporations, executives, governments, and public officials on complex litigation, congressional and government investigations, constitutional law, international law, and regulatory matters. His practice includes representing clients in civil and criminal proceedings, arbitrations, and matters before federal agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Justice, State, and the Treasury, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal Election Commission. Greg has held several senior positions in the federal government. He served as White House counsel to President Barack Obama, where he oversaw the development of executive orders addressing detention and interrogation policies and played a leading role in the nomination and confirmation of Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States. He previously served as assistant to the president and special counsel to President Bill Clinton, director of policy planning at the U.S. Department of State under Secretary Madeleine Albright, and national security advisor and counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Greg is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia. He earned his JD from Yale Law School, a diploma in historical studies from the University of Cambridge, and his BA from Harvard College.

Andrea C. Ferster of Andrea C. Ferster Law Offices is an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C., and New York. She brings thirty-seven years of experience in enforcing federal and local historic preservation laws on behalf of numerous local governments, nonprofits, and community associations in federal and state courts across the country. Her clients include the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, where she serves as general counsel. Andrea lectures frequently on historic preservation law at historic preservation conferences and continuing legal education programs and is a regular guest lecturer at the University of Maryland School of Architecture on historic preservation law. In 2009, Andrea received the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Law and Public Policy. Andrea served as president of the D.C. Bar from 2013-2014.

Karin Gross is the founder of K. Tyson Law PLLC, where she advises clients on federal tax issues affecting charitable contributions, exempt organizations, and nonprofit compliance. Her practice focuses on the tax rules governing charitable giving, including substantiation, reporting, appraisal requirements, conservation easements, and donations of real and personal property. Before entering private practice, Karin spent more than thirty years with the Internal Revenue Service Office of Chief Counsel, where she specialized in charitable contribution law. In 2008, she served as an advisor to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs in the United Kingdom on charitable giving issues. Earlier in her career, Karin served in the Office of Legislative Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives, where she drafted legislation for Members of Congress and congressional committees. Karin is a fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and has served on the Board of Advisors of the National Center on Philanthropy and the Law. She is a frequent speaker on charitable contribution taxation and has lectured for professional organizations and law schools, including Georgetown University Law Center, New York University School of Law, and the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. She has also taught in the Appraisers Association of America’s Comprehensive Appraisal Studies Program. Karin is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia. Karen earned her JD, with honors, from the University of Wisconsin, and her LLM in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center. She earned her BA, with honors, from the University of Maryland and her MA in communication arts from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Tad Heuer is a partner at Foley Hoag LLP and founder and co-chair of the firm’s Appellate Practice Group. His practice focuses on appellate advocacy, administrative law, regulatory compliance, land use, environmental permitting, energy, education, transportation, and public law. He represents public and private companies, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations in complex regulatory proceedings, litigation, and appeals before state and federal courts and administrative agencies. Tad regularly appears before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and Appeals Court and has litigated matters involving energy, environmental, zoning, eminent domain, election, and administrative law. He also represents clients before state and local regulatory bodies. In addition to his litigation practice, he advises clients on regulatory compliance, permitting, and legislative and regulatory initiatives. Before entering private practice, Tad clerked for Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Active in the legal profession and civic affairs, Tad is co-chair of the Amicus Committee of the Real Estate Bar Association and is a member of the Massachusetts and Boston Bar associations and the National Association of College and University Attorneys. He has served on the Cambridge Zoning Board of Appeals, the Wellesley Community Preservation Commission, and the Wellesley Historical Commission, and is an elected town meeting member. He is also a contributing author to Appellate Practice in Massachusetts. Tad is admitted to practice in Massachusetts and before the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He earned his JD from Yale Law School, his PhD in social policy and administration from the London School of Economics, and his MA and AB, magna cum laude, from Brown University.

Brent Leggs is the eleventh President and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and has served in the role since 2026. Brent has been with the National Trust for over twenty years, most recently as the founding executive director of its African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, which has raised over $200 million for the preservation of sites associated with Black history across the country. Brent is a former Resident of the American Academy in Rome, Harvard University Loeb Fellow, 2018 recipient of the Robert G. Stanton National Preservation Award, and author of Preserving African American Historic Places, which is considered the “seminal publication on preserving African American historic sites” by the Smithsonian Institution.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) L. Lewis is a senior associate at Eubanks & Associates, PLLC, where her practice focuses on environmental, natural resources, wildlife, and administrative law. She represents clients in federal trial and appellate courts and administrative proceedings, with experience in ocean conservation and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Her practice also includes matters arising under the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, National Historic Preservation Act, Administrative Procedure Act, and other federal environmental and public lands statutes. Lizzie has served as lead or co-lead counsel in environmental litigation throughout the country and has obtained precedential rulings involving historic preservation, wildlife management, and federal agency actions. Before entering private practice, she completed a Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, serving as special assistant to the Assistant Administrator of NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. Her prior experience also includes work with NOAA’s Office of General Counsel, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Environmental Law Institute, and Oceana. Lizzie is an adjunct professor at the American University Washington College of Law, where she teaches Marine and Coastal Environmental Law and the Program on Environmental and Energy Law Practicum. She was selected for the Environmental Law Institute’s Emerging Leaders Initiative in 2020 and received Washington College of Law’s 2025 Outstanding Graduate of the Last Decade award. Lizzie is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Ninth, and District of Columbia Circuits and the United States District Courts for the District of Columbia and District of Colorado. She earned her JD, summa cum laude from the American University Washington College of Law, where she was Oder of the Coif, and her BS, summa cum laude, in biology from Dickinson College, where she was Phi Beta Kappa.

Thompson (Tom) Mayes is former chief legal officer and general counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. As chief legal officer, he oversaw the National Trust’s legal defense fund, which advocates for the protection of significant places and defends and strengthens historic preservation laws throughout the United States; the historic preservation easements program, which protects over 135 historic places throughout the country; and the full range of corporate law matters for the National Trust, including specialized areas of historic site management and museum law. Tom served as the National Trust’s representative on the boards of the Montpelier Foundation, Main Street America, and the National Trust Community Development Corporation. Tom has written and spoken widely on preservation law, the underlying purposes of historic preservation, and the future of preservation. For many years, he taught historic preservation law at the University of Maryland. A lifelong preservationist, Tom serves as a member of his local historic preservation commission in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. A recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Rome Prize in Historic Preservation in 2013, Tom is the author of Why Old Places Matter (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018). Tom received his BA, with honors, in history in 1981, his JD in 1985 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an MA in writing from Johns Hopkins University. He joined the NTHP’s legal team in 1986.

Elizabeth (Betsy) Merritt is deputy general counsel at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, where she has been responsible for the organization’s legal advocacy program for more than 42 years. Although Betsy is known for her litigation work, having represented the National Trust in hundreds of cases in state and federal courts, she has a stronger interest in using negotiation and administrative advocacy to persuade government agencies to make more preservation-sensitive decisions, especially through consultation under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. In addition to her litigation and advocacy experience, Betsy has lectured widely on preservation law, and she has testified before Congress regarding transportation policy and other issues relating to historic preservation. She has also been directly influential in shaping legislation and regulations implementing Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Betsy is a native of Seattle, Washington. She graduated from Harvard Law School in 1980, and from Mills College in Oakland, California, in 1976.

Marion Forsyth Werkheiser is co-founder and managing partner of Cultural Heritage Partners PLLC. She is an award-winning attorney and internationally recognized trailblazer in the cultural heritage field. Her well-established practice is firmly rooted at the intersection of preservation and development. She has a proven track record of convening diverse stakeholders to identify shared values, solve tough problems, and scale solutions. Marion’s creative approach to resolving threats to historic properties has led to first-of-their-kind agreements between developers and Tribal Nations, African American descendant communities, and local governments that have resulted in tens of millions of dollars of investment in preservation priorities. She thrives on pursuing justice for communities who care about historic places and improving corporate governance to reduce risks to those communities’ rights. Marion earned her JD from Harvard Law School and is licensed to practice in California, the District of Columbia, and Virginia. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Indiana University, where she was a Wells Scholar and earned her BA in political science and classical civilization with an emphasis in art and archaeology. The Register of Professional Archaeologists honored Marion with the John F. Seiberling Award for her significant and sustained efforts in the conservation of archaeological resources, and she is a recipient of the 2023 Albert Simons Medal of Excellence in Historic Preservation.