Confronting the Assault on the Independence of the Legal Profession & Judiciary

Ms. Corrales worked as an attorney for the Federal Government from 1995 to 2012. Ms. Corrales began her career with former Immigration and Naturalization Service and continued as a prosecutor when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) was created. Ms. Corrales was a Senior Attorney with DHS. As a Senior Attorney, Ms. Corrales was part of a team of lawyers who handled complex National Security cases. She worked closely with Special Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), and the FBI. Ms. Corrales is also a leading expert in questions pertaining to the revocation of United States citizenship for those who have procured their citizenship illegally. As a Senior Attorney with ICE, Ms. Corrales worked closely with various United States Attorneys Offices nationwide and was dedicated to providing quality legal analysis on criminal denaturalization cases.

Ms. Corrales has received training in Privacy laws and was the point of contact in the Los Angeles Chief Counsel’s Office on related issues pertaining to the Privacy Act.

Prior to working with ICE, Ms. Corrales worked as a Deputy District Attorney in the Denver District Attorney’s office where she prosecuted a broad range of felony and misdemeanor cases.

Ms. Corrales received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Mt. St. Mary’s University in 1986 and her Juris Doctorate degree from University of Colorado School of Law in 1989. In 2009, Ms. Corrales was selected to participate in the Executive Leadership Program for the Center of Homeland Security.

Ms. Corrales is a member of the California Bar. Ms. Corrales also holds bar admissions in the Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern California Federal District Courts. She has also been admitted into the Ninth Circuit, Sixth Circuit and Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Professor McDonald teaches courses in constitutional Law, First Amendment law, comparative constitutional law, intellectual property law and contracts law. He is a recognized expert on constitutional law and the U.S. Supreme Court, and is frequently interviewed or writes in such major media outlets as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The CBS Evening News, CNN, Fox News, National Public Radio, and The Los Angeles Times. He is also a recognized scholar in the area of constitutional law and First Amendment law. Since joining the Pepperdine faculty in 2000, he has published numerous articles and essays in such prominent journals as the Emory Law Journal, Illinois Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, Ohio State Law Journal, and Washington & Lee Law Review. 

At Northwestern Law, Professor McDonald received the Order of the Coif, the Arlyn Miner Legal Writing Award, and was an associate editor of the Northwestern Law Review. After graduation, he clerked for the Chief Justice of the United States, William H. Rehnquist, during the 1989-90 Term of the Supreme Court, and before that the Honorable James K. Logan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Following his clerkships, Professor McDonald worked for the U.S. Department of State, the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and served as general counsel to two different technology companies.

Professor McDonald is currently a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, the State Bar of California, the American Bar Association, and the American Association of Law Schools (AALS). He also serves on the Scholarly Research Committee of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS), and has served as a SEALS scholarship mentor for junior faculty. Professor McDonald is also a member of the Litigation Advisory Committee of the national board of the Presbyterian Church of the U.S.A. In 2008, he served as the 2008 Chairperson of the Mass Communications Law Section of the AALS, and continues to serve on the section’s Executive Committee.

Hon. Joe Hilberman (Ret.) is a former Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge, appointed after a 27-year civil litigation career. Since leaving the bench, Judge Hilberman has been a sought-after speaker on arbitration and mediation. Judge Hilberman has presented several times at CAALA and received the Judge of the Year award from ABOTA’s Los Angeles chapter. He is a UCLA School of Law graduate, and has served as president of the Alumni Association. He is affiliated with ADR Services as a full-time mediator and discovery referee.

Stephen Rohde is a constitutional scholar, lecturer, writer, political activist and retired civil rights lawyer. He is a past a president of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, a founder and Chair of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace, past President of the ACLU of Southern California, a Past Chair of Bend the Arc: a Jewish Partnership for Justice, and is on the board of Death Penalty Focus. He is the author of two books American Words of Freedom: The Words That Define Our Nation and Freedom of Assembly and co-author of Foundations of Freedom: A Living History of Our Bill of Rights. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, Truthout, American Prospect, Truthdig and Ms. Magazine and is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Review of Books and Los Angeles Lawyer magazine. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and Columbia Law School.