The Federalist Society will host its first event of the semester discussing the American legal system this evening at 7 p.m. in the Hoynack Room.

The event features two speakers with professional experience in courts of appeals. Judge Kyle Duncan serves on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and attorney Marc Ayers is a partner at Bradley, a national law firm. 

The first portion of the event will be a casual conversation with Ayers and Duncan focused on the reasons they chose to enter the legal profession and the kind of work they do now. The second portion will be an audience Q&A.

The conversation will allow students to learn from distinguished professionals in the legal field, Professor of Philosophy and Religion and Director of the Pre-Law program Nathan Schlueter said.

“The Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal are the second highest level courts in the land, so that’s an extremely prestigious and important legal position to be in – very influential, very consequential,” Schlueter said. “And Judge Duncan has a very distinguished career defending the sorts of things that we believe in here at Hillsdale, especially religious liberty and the rule of law.”

Junior Curtis Herbert, president of the Federalist Society, said appellate courts make significant contributions to the development of jurisprudence. He hoped the event would draw attention to the importance of their role in the legal system more broadly. 

“In class, if we talk about a judicial opinion, it’s almost always from the Supreme Court,” Herbert said. “So we thought it’d be great to give people a chance to learn about the courts of appeals and the role that they play since a lot of the time they don’t quite get the attention they deserve.”

Herbert said he was looking forward to the different points of view Ayers and Duncan will be able to share. 

“Part of why we’re so excited is we’ve got a judge and an attorney who are each going to offer different perspectives on what the appellate process is like,” Herbert said. 

Schlueter, who serves as the faculty adviser to the Federalist Society, said he met Ayers and Duncan by chance several semesters ago and invited them to speak in the future.

“I was standing in line for some parents’ event next to two very tall people, and we introduced ourselves to one another – they were together I was just there in line, and it turned out that they were two prospective parents, and one was a judge at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and one was a prominent appellate attorney,” Schlueter said. “And so that was very exciting, Hillsdale is really privileged to have parents of that kind of prominence.”

Ducan said he welcomed the opportunity to speak to students who might be interested in pursuing careers in law.

“I’m looking forward to talking to students about the important—though limited—role the federal judiciary plays in our constitutional republic,” Duncan said. “More than that, though, I’m looking forward to talking with the students, hearing their questions, and trying to answer them accurately.”