Alumni Reunion Weekend
Panelists
Rodney Slater – Partner, Squire Patton Boggs
A 1980 graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law, Former US Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater helps clients integrate their interests in the overall vision for the transportation system of the 21st century – a vision he set as Transportation Secretary to promote a safer, more efficient, environmentally sound and sustainable worldwide transportation infrastructure.
Secretary Slater also helps state and local government clients address the vexing
challenge of closing the gap between transportation demand and capacity by employing
public-private strategies and innovating financing solutions. As an industry group
leader of our Automotive & Transportation Group, Secretary Slater focuses on many
of the policy and transportation objectives that were set under his leadership, including
automobile use and development, aviation competition and congestion mitigation, maritime
initiatives, high-speed rail corridor development, and overall transportation safety
and funding. He continues to embrace the framework he established as secretary for
making transportation decisions that called for more open, collaborative and flexible
decision making across the transportation enterprise her and abroad.
Secretary Slater’s bipartisan and inclusive approach to problem solving has earned him tremendous respect and admiration on both sides of the aisle, enabling him to have one of the best relationships with the White House, Congress and business, labor and political leaders worldwide in the history of the UD Department of Transportation (DOT). His work at DOT forever altered America’s and the world’s appreciation of transportation as more than just concrete, asphalt and steel. Secretary Slater brings the same strategic, results-oriented and collaborative approach to the practice of law and to his public policy practice.
Robert Steinbuch – Professor of Law, William H. Bowen School of Law
Robert Steinbuch joined the Bowen School of Law faculty in 2005 after several years in government and private practice. Professor Steinbuch’s government service includes clerking on the United States Court of Appeals and working for the United States Department of Justice. Most recently, he worked for the United States Senate Judiciary Committee. He is well-published in law reviews, legal periodicals and medical journals, and he has been interviewed by various news sources for his legal expertise.
Professor Steinbuch’s publications include articles in the Harvard BlackLetter Law
Journal (renamed the Harvard Journal on Racial & Ethnic Justice), the Texas Review
of Law and Politics, the Houston Law Review, the Maryland Law Review, the Loyola of
L.A. Law Review, the Kentucky Law Review, the Health Matrix, the National Law Journal,
the American Journal of Cardiology, and the Journal of the National Medical Association.
His article “Mere Thieves” was republished in the Securities Law Review as one of
the year’s ten best securities-law articles.
Professor Steinbuch has served as an expert witness on complex economic matters and is singular at Bowen to have testified before the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. He has also testified many times before the Arkansas Legislature. Professor Steinbuch was a Fulbright Scholar, teaching in Poland, in 2015 and continues his affiliation as a Peer Reviewer for the program. Professor Steinbuch is the Chair of the Arkansas Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He held the position of medical-legal editor for the Journal of the National Medical Association, was a Commissioner on the Arkansas Commission for Newborn Umbilical Cord Blood Bank Initiative, and served on the boards of the Society of Chest Pain Centers and the Healthcare Accreditation Colloquium. Professor Steinbuch is the recipient of the law school’s Faculty Excellence Awards in both Scholarship and Service.
Bethany Li – Legal Director, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Bethany Li is the legal director at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education
Fund, where she uses a community lawyering model to fight for social justice in Asian
American communities and advance racial equity. Using an innovative and multi-faceted
approach in collaboration with community organizers, Bethany has litigated cases and
led advocacy work on a range of civil rights issues, including housing and displacement,
workers’ rights, immigration and deportation defense, education equity, language access,
and hate violence. Bethany led an amicus brief at the Supreme Court with 121 Asian
American groups and educators in support of race-conscious admissions at Harvard University
and the University of North Carolina. She is also co-counsel to a multi-racial coalition
of organizations and families intervening in a lawsuit to support Boston Public Schools’
shift in exam policy. Bethany was previously the Asian Outreach Unit director at Greater
Boston Legal Services, the Robert M. Cover Fellow in Yale Law School’s Veterans Legal
Services Clinic, and an Equal Justice Works Fellow and staff attorney at AALDEF. Bethany
graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and Amherst College.
Mithun Mansinghani – Partner, Lehotsky Keller LLP
Mithun Mansinghani is an experienced appellate and trial litigator who has argued cases at all levels in state and federal court, including at the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Mansinghani has argued more cases before the Justices of the Oklahoma Supreme Court than any other litigator in the last decade.
From 2017 to 2022, Mr. Mansinghani served as Oklahoma Solicitor General, the state’s
chief advocate on appellate matters, constitutional issues, and challenges to federal
regulation. In that role, he also advised the Attorney General, the Governor, the
Legislature, and other state leadership on critical and high-stakes legal issues.
As the state’s Solicitor General, Mr. Mansinghani has been nationally recognized for amici briefs he authored on behalf of multi-state coalitions at the U.S. Supreme Court. These amici briefs have been cited in Supreme Court opinions, referenced by the Justices at argument, and received a National Association of Attorneys General “Best Brief” award. He also provides commentary on U.S. Supreme Court cases for media outlets including NPR, The New York Times, SCOTUSblog, and Bloomberg.
In addition to appellate litigation, Mr. Mansinghani has first-chaired several bench trials to successful verdicts. He has conducted all stages of district court litigation, and has prevailed in numerous cases on summary judgment and motions to dismiss.
Mr. Mansinghani’s extensive experience includes federal and state constitutional law, litigating federal and state regulation, and work with state attorneys general. He also has significant experience negotiating with Native American tribes and has litigated some of the nation’s most important federal Indian law cases.
Prior to serving in the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office, Mr. Mansinghani was a litigator with Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher in Washington, D.C. He served as a law clerk to the Hon. Jerry E. Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Mr. Mansinghani graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, where he served as an editor of The Harvard Law Review.
Moderator
Wendy Stouffer – Associate Vice Provost for Enrollment Services, Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, University of Arkansas
Wendy Stouffer is the Associate Vice Provost for Enrollment Services, and the Assistant
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid. She provides oversight of the Financial Aid
Office and Academic Scholarships, and operational oversight of the Credential Evaluation
Unit.
Stouffer is a Rogers native who holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and criminal justice and a law degree, both from the University of Arkansas. She practiced law for three years before joining the university in 2001 as assistant director of admissions. Stouffer served in the admissions office in various capacities until September 2010 when she was named director of academic scholarships. She has served on many campus committees including the faculty admissions and appellate board, the athletic integrity committee, the enrollment advisory committee, and the scholarship review committee.
