Christopher J. Farrell joined Judicial Watch in 1999 as the organization’s Director of Investigations & Research, and has been a member of the Board of Directors since September 2003. Chris is a native of Long Island, New York. He was a Distinguished Military Graduate from Fordham University with a B.A. in History, whereupon he accepted a Regular Army Commission and served as a Military Intelligence Officer – specializing in Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence.

Chris is a graduate of the Military Intelligence Officers Basic and Advanced Courses, the U.S. Army Advanced Counterintelligence Training Course, the Combined Arms Services Staff School of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Military Operations Training Course, and the Haus Rissen Institut für Politik und Wirtschaft in Hamburg, Germany. He is a specialist in national security matters, specializing in unconventional warfare and terrorism.

Following command and staff assignments that included three tours of duty in the Federal Republic of Germany, and one tour at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Chris returned to civilian life as a contractor to the defense and intelligence communities. He also provided management and training consulting services to non-profit organizations, and was active in the establishment of a small, private, co-ed Christian high school where he both taught and served as director.

Chris has appeared on numerous national TV and radio shows, and has authored dozens of articles. He contributed a chapter on terrorism to Dr. Irwin Redlener’s book “Americans at Risk” (Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 2006). Chris maintains a busy lecture schedule on both government corruption issues and intelligence matters. He served as a Senior Staff Associate of Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Mailman School of Public Health (2005 – 2008).

Chris is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute. He was an adjunct professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia (2013 – 2018). Chris is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers; the Society of Professional Journalists; Investigative Reporters and Editors; the National Military Intelligence Association; and is a constituent member of the State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council. Chris serves as the Judicial Watch main representative to United Nations Headquarters in New York.

William F. Marshall is a Senior Investigator for Judicial Watch. Bill was raised in Queens, New York, and graduated with honors from St. John’s University in Jamaica, New York with a B.A. in Government and Politics, and an M.A. in International Affairs from American University in Washington, DC. He served as an Intelligence Analyst with the Drug Enforcement Administration. He was then a Senior Investigator with the Investigative Group International, President of the Investigations Division of Armor Holdings North America, and co-founder of the international investigations firm GlobalSource LLC. He then founded the investigations firm Veritas Intelligence LLC. He joined Judicial Watch in 2013 as a Senior Investigator.

Geoff Lyon is an Investigative Counsel who screens and performs Triage upon all incoming Email/Voicemail/ as well as Snail-Mail Requests for Legal Assistance.  If deemed appropriate upon his review, Substantive Requests are forwarded to Judicial Watch Directors and Other Branch Heads. As an Investigative Counsel, Mr. Lyon also researches and formulates litigation strategy/tactics with respect to Veterans and other meritorious Petitioners.

Create and file open records requests with federal and state agencies, review and analyze records received for public distribution, and coordinate with Judicial Watch attorneys to identify requests for FOIA litigation.  Administer the day-to-day FOIA operations, primarily through tracking ongoing requests.

Kirsti Jespersen is an Investigator who initiates, tracks, and analyzes the results of FOIA requests, performing deep research tasks for ongoing legal cases. Ms. Jespersen is a primary in-house observer and report-writer for GTMO detainee procedures in association with the Judicial Watch International Program (https://www.judicialwatch.org/public-education-the-international-program/) – established pursuant to the United Nations Department of Public Information mission.

Paul Orfanedes heads Judicial Watch’s Litigation Department and has been with Judicial Watch since its inception. Paul is a distinguished civil litigator who has argued in front of the Supreme Court and in the federal appeal courts on behalf of Judicial Watch and its clients.As Director of Litigation, he has been a spokesperson for Judicial Watch with his legal commentary appearing in major radio and print media outlets. In addition to managing the day-to-day operations of the Legal Department, Paul is Corporate Secretary and Treasurer of Judicial Watch. He is also member of the Board of Directors.Paul is a native of Illinois. He graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1986. He received his Juris Doctorate from American University in 1990.

Robert Sticht joined Judicial Watch as a senior attorney in February 2018. Robert has 30 years’ experience as a trial and appellate lawyer representing parties in complex civil and criminal cases and administrative proceedings involving public corruption, constitutional litigation and civil rights, white collar crime, organized crime and racketeering, major narcotics trafficking, tax controversies and litigation, civil enforcement actions by government agencies, and public records litigation. Robert’s background includes seven years on the Criminal Justice Act panel of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California representing indigent persons accused of serious federal felonies. Before entering private practice, Robert served as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice and worked in the Tax Division and Criminal Division in Washington, D.C. He received his Master of Laws from New York University School of Law, his J.D. with honors from Southwestern Law School, and his B.S. from the University of Arizona. Robert is an active member of the California, New York, and District of Columbia state bars, and is admitted to practice before many federal district and appellate courts and the United States Supreme Court.

Jason Aldrich is Judicial Watch’s longest standing employee having joined the organization in November of 1997. Since 2001 he has served as a staff attorney. Jason has extensive experience litigating Freedom of Information Act cases in federal court as well as Freedom of Information Law cases in New York State. Jason has been involved in several significant Judicial Watch cases, including the FOIA lawsuit that uncovered a scheme in President Clinton’s Commerce Department to offer seats on government trade missions in exchange for campaign contributions. Jason received his law degree from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William & Mary in 1997, where he was an article editor for the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. He received his undergraduate degree in Philosophy from Bates College in 1993. He is a member of the bars of New York, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Michael Bekesha is a senior attorney. Since 2009, Michael has litigated over 100 public records cases in both state and federal courts on behalf of Judicial Watch, individuals, media organizations, and other not-for-profit organizations. In addition to government transparency litigation, he has extensive experience litigating accountability and integrity lawsuits in both federal and state court. Michael also has drafted legislation, testified before state legislatures, and filed amicus curiae briefs on behalf of state legislators. He received his law degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, School of Law in 2009 and received his undergraduate degree in Political Science from Northwestern University in 2004. Michael has been published three times and is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, and numerous federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lauren M. Burke joined the Judicial Watch legal team in September 2014. She has extensive trial experience and a background in government and public policy. Lauren worked for a large New England law firm and a boutique, full service law firm in Boston, MA where she was part of a strong litigation team that developed a cooperative legal group working in Massachusetts and Washington D.C. Lauren has litigated civil, commercial and criminal cases in federal, state, and administrative courts. Notably, Lauren argued against qualified immunity in a federal civil rights case and successfully defeated summary judgment in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts; arbitrated an award for compensation, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees in a Wage and Payment Act case on fraud and successor liability; negotiated a multi-million dollar settlement as lead counsel in an international trademark and patent rights case; was lead counsel in a consumer protection case obtaining favorable judgment and collaborating with the Massachusetts Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs for further prosecution; successfully resolved a commercial contract dispute in the international arbitration forum. Prior to embarking on a legal career, Lauren worked in government relations in both the public and private sectors in Washington, D.C. While pursuing a B.A. in politics from the Catholic University of America, Lauren worked at Judicial Watch in the development department. She received her J.D. from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, MA where she worked as a certified prosecutor in Boston district court under Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rule 3.03. She also worked for the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services as an appellate attorney for indigent clients achieving remand or overturned verdict in 10 out of 12 appeals filed and argued. Originally from Philadelphia, PA, Lauren now resides and primarily practices in Washington D.C. She is licensed in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Ramona R. Cotca joined Judicial Watch’s legal team as a senior attorney in May 2013. For the last eight years prior to joining Judicial Watch, she worked as a litigator for a local boutique firm and then joined the national in-house litigation group for a Fortune 500 company. In her previous practice she represented corporate clients in a variety of complex civil litigation matters, including contracts, insurance, product liability, professional malpractice, real estate and wrongful death. Ms. Cotca has tried cases in local state and federal courts in the District of Columbia and Maryland, and has argued cases at the appellate levels, including the U.S. Court for Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Ms. Cotca is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia and Maryland, as well as several federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. Ms. Cotca earned her Juris Doctorate and Masters of Arts in International Affairs from Washington College of Law and American University in 2004. She graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor with high honors in 2001 and attended Oxford University in 2000. Ms. Cotca is also an active member in a number of professional legal organizations, including The Barristers, and sits on several boards. Ms. Cotca is fluent in Romanian.

Eric Lee joined Judicial Watch’s legal team after graduating law school in 2015.  He previously interned at Judicial Watch in the Fall of 2011 and Summer of 2013, where he helped successfully defend the constitutionality of petition signatures in Doe v. Md. State Bd. of Elections, 428 Md. 596 (Md. 2012), and aided in filing various civil complaints under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  Since joining full-time, Eric assisted in ending racially-based voting practices and procedures under the Fifteenth Amendment and § 2 of the Voting Rights Act in Akina v. Hawaii, 136 S. Ct. 581 (2015). Prior to Judicial Watch, Eric was invited by faculty to co-lead the University of Maryland’s Clinical Law Program, where he served as advisor and practiced in various civil-litigation matters pro bono publico under Md. Rule 16.  Among other things, Eric helped defend low-income Baltimore City residents from city tax-lien foreclosure and worked with Maryland pro bono organizations to help defend consumers from predatory lending practices. Eric graduated magna cum laude from St. Mary’s College of Maryland with a degree in Economics and received his J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law. Eric is licensed to practice in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

James F. Peterson, an attorney with broad experience in complex litigation, is a senior member of Judicial Watch’s legal team. His breadth of knowledge and experience have contributed greatly to Judicial Watch’s success as he has played a key role in some of Judicial Watch’s most significant cases. These include Judicial Watch’s case before the Supreme Court concerning Vice President Cheney Energy Task Force documents (Judicial Watch v. Nat’l Energy Policy Dev. Group) and many of Judicial Watch’s groundbreaking lawsuits seeking to compel the enforcement of the nation’s immigration law. Most recently, Mr. Peterson has worked closely with the Arizona State Legislature in its legal defense of Arizona’s “S.B. 1070” immigration enforcement law.Prior to joining Judicial Watch in 2002, Mr. Peterson was a member of the litigation practice of a large national law firm in Washington, D.C., representing business clients in federal and state courts and administrative proceedings. He also was in the litigation department of a major national trade association, representing the industry in complex tax and administrative litigation.Mr. Peterson is a graduate of the George Mason University School of Law, where he was the Articles Editor of the school’s Civil Rights Law Journal. He received his undergraduate degree from Kent State University in Ohio. Mr. Peterson is an active member of the Federalist Society and other conservative organizations. He is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia, Virginia, and numerous federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States.

Robert Popper joined Judicial Watch in September 2013 as a senior attorney and directs Judicial Watch’s voting integrity efforts. Prior to joining Judicial Watch, Mr. Popper worked for eight years, five as deputy chief of the Voting Section, in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, in which capacity he garnered numerous professional awards. Before that, Mr. Popper worked as a private attorney in New York City for 17 years, where his practice extended to a wide range of legal matters, including voting rights. Mr. Popper served as counsel in a successful constitutional challenge alleging racial segregation in the design of New York’s congressional districts, and successfully defended the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Popper is a published author on the topic of voting rights law. He developed a legal standard relating to gerrymandering that is widely cited by experts and was adopted by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. He has testified before the Missouri Senate Redistricting Committee and the Pennsylvania House State Government Committee; and he has spoken about voting rights to a conference of U.S. Attorneys at the National Advocacy Center, to state officials, and to countless local community representatives. Mr. Popper is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern University Law School. He is admitted to practice in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Russ Nobile joined Judicial Watch’s legal team as a senior attorney in May 2019. Mr. Nobile has appeared before federal courts across the country and has a wealth of experience developing, analyzing, and presenting investigative findings involving difficult and sensitive questions of state and federal law. Mr. Nobile is part of Judicial Watch’s voting integrity efforts and focuses on campaign and voting issues, civil rights issues, constitutional law, official misconduct by public institutions and officials, and other issues. Prior to joining Judicial Watch, Mr. Nobile was in private practice where he utilized his extensive, high-profile government enforcement experience to handle government litigation, regulatory matters, and commercial litigation. He represented state and local agencies and financial institutions in a wide range of matters, including complex civil litigation, internal investigations, government enforcement actions, and appellate matters. Mr. Nobile previously served for seven years as a trial attorney for the United States Department of Justice, where he brought complex enforcement actions involving disparate-treatment or disparate-impact claims of discrimination, as well as actions enforcing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Help America Vote Act, National Voter Registration Act, The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, and other federal laws. Prior to joining the Department, Mr. Nobile handled Financial Services Committee issues for a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr. Nobile is an active member of The Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Studies and was appointed to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s Board of Advisors. Mr. Nobile is a graduate of the University of Mississippi and Mississippi College School of Law. He is admitted to practice before all Louisiana and Mississippi courts, as well the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Cristina joined Judicial Watch as a legal assistant in 2002. She holds a BA and a Master’s degree in English from the University of Bucharest, Romania. She also has completed coursework toward a PhD in English at the University of Maryland, where she taught writing and composition for ten years.

David F. Rothstein is a paralegal with Judicial Watch’s legal team. He has worked for Judicial Watch since 2003. David’s prior legal experience included working with both a small law firm and a large legal contractor. David has worked with courts in many different jurisdictions. David has utilized the broad-based knowledge that he has attained to assist Judicial Watch in its many legal victories in both state and federal courts. David is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government. David also has a law degree from the Columbus School of Law of Catholic University and is a member of both the District of Columbia Bar and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Bar. David has litigated Freedom of Information Act cases in addition to his paralegal duties.

Katie grew up in the Bay Area of California. At 16, she started her own online boutique, Cute As A Cupcake. In 2016, she received her B.A. from Stanford University. While at Stanford, she spent a quarter studying criminology at the University of Oxford. She also was a research assistant in the Department of Genetics at Stanford University’s School of Medicine. After graduating from Stanford, she worked as a research analyst at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.  In 2020, she graduated from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. She previously interned for Judicial Watch in the Summer of 2019.

Brooke Paz joined Judicial Watch as a paralegal in 2022. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications – Public Relations with a minor in Political Science from California State University, Fullerton. During college, she worked as a call responder and later the marketing and development manager for a California-based crisis pregnancy call center. She later served as an intern in the Office of the Second Lady and a staff assistant in the Office of Cabinet Affairs at the White House. Prior to joining Judicial Watch, Brooke worked in federal government affairs at Students for Life Action, successfully initiating the introduction of two pregnancy and parenting related bills in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.

Tom Fitton is the President of Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption. Founded in 1994, Judicial Watch seeks to ensure government and judicial officials act ethically and do not abuse the powers entrusted to them by the American public.With 20 years of experience in conservative public policy, Tom Fitton has helped lead Judicial Watch since 1998 and overseen its tremendous growth and success in recent years. Under Fitton’s leadership, Judicial Watch was named one of Washington’s top ten most effective government watchdog organizations by The Hill newspaper.

Mr. Fitton provides Judicial Watch with strategic guidance and leadership on Judicial Watch’s comprehensive efforts to fight government corruption. He is a nationally recognized expert on government corruption, immigration enforcement, congressional and judicial ethics, and open government.

A former talk radio and television host and analyst, Tom is well known across the country as a national spokesperson for the conservative cause. He has been quoted in TIME, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Associated Press, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and most every other major newspaper in the country. He has also appeared on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, C-SPAN and MSNBC.

Mr. Fitton has authored numerous articles such as “Judicial Activism Hurts our Courts,” “What Bill Clinton Knew About bin Laden,” “Following Terrorism’s Money Trail,” “Senate Abandons Judicial Nominees,” “Every Town is a Border Town,” “Obama’s Records Problem” and “Jesse Jackson Exposed.” Judicial Watch also publishes the monthly 375,000+ circulation Verdict newsletter and runs the cutting-edge Internet site JudicialWatch.org, which includes the oft-cited Corruption Chronicles blog. Mr. Fitton gained national attention as a political analyst, previously working for America’s Voice and National Empowerment Television. He is a former employee of the International Policy Forum, the Leadership Institute, and Accuracy in Media.Mr. Fitton holds a B.A. in English from George Washington University.

Paul Orfanedes heads Judicial Watch’s Litigation Department and has been with Judicial Watch since its inception. Paul is a distinguished civil litigator who has argued in front of the Supreme Court and in the federal appeal courts on behalf of Judicial Watch and its clients.As Director of Litigation, he has been a spokesperson for Judicial Watch with his legal commentary appearing in major radio and print media outlets. In addition to managing the day-to-day operations of the Legal Department, Paul is Corporate Secretary and Treasurer of Judicial Watch. He is also member of the Board of Directors.Paul is a native of Illinois. He graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1986. He received his Juris Doctorate from American University in 1990.

Christopher J. Farrell joined Judicial Watch in 1999 as the organization’s Director of Investigations & Research, and has been a member of the Board of Directors since September 2003. Chris is a native of Long Island, New York. He was a Distinguished Military Graduate from Fordham University with a B.A. in History, whereupon he accepted a Regular Army Commission and served as a Military Intelligence Officer – specializing in Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence.

Chris is a graduate of the Military Intelligence Officers Basic and Advanced Courses, the U.S. Army Advanced Counterintelligence Training Course, the Combined Arms Services Staff School of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Military Operations Training Course, and the Haus Rissen Institut für Politik und Wirtschaft in Hamburg, Germany. He is a specialist in national security matters, specializing in unconventional warfare and terrorism.

Following command and staff assignments that included three tours of duty in the Federal Republic of Germany, and one tour at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Chris returned to civilian life as a contractor to the defense and intelligence communities. He also provided management and training consulting services to non-profit organizations, and was active in the establishment of a small, private, co-ed Christian high school where he both taught and served as director.

Chris has appeared on numerous national TV and radio shows, and has authored dozens of articles. He contributed a chapter on terrorism to Dr. Irwin Redlener’s book “Americans at Risk” (Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 2006). Chris maintains a busy lecture schedule on both government corruption issues and intelligence matters. He served as a Senior Staff Associate of Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Mailman School of Public Health (2005 – 2008).

Chris is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute. He was an adjunct professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia (2013 – 2018). Chris is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers; the Society of Professional Journalists; Investigative Reporters and Editors; the National Military Intelligence Association; and is a constituent member of the State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council. Chris serves as the Judicial Watch main representative to United Nations Headquarters in New York.