Aaron Cummings

Advised Senate Judiciary Chairman on a host of legal and policy issues related to constitutional, civil rights, criminal, and administrative law matters. Organized hearings, drafted legislation, and negotiated high-stakes policy matters with offices in the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives as well as other stake holders from the State of Iowa and elsewhere in the public and private sector. Advised Chairman on public policy matters related to the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Lead Senate Republican negotiator of biggest federal criminal justice reform package in a generation which was signed into law in December 2018 and gained the support of the White House and a bipartisan, bicameral group of cosponsors as well as dozens of groups from across the political spectrum—including law enforcement and civil rights groups—and the editorial boards of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.

Represented corporate and government contractor clients in high-stakes trial and appellate litigation in disputes involving contractual disputes, business torts, trade secrets, administrative law, and employment litigation. Drafted critical motions and briefs; argued key motions; conducted depositions and internal investigations. Won second-largest jury verdict in Virginia in 2015. Recognized as Rising Star by Virginia Super Lawyers, 2016–2017.

Managed transition of $30 million charitable foundation to an organization with assets in excess of $1.3 billion with significant philanthropic investments in national security policy, entrepreneurship, and America’s founding values. Negotiated settlement of pending litigation involving hundreds of millions of dollars. Oversaw foundation staff, investment team, legal team, accounting, IT, and operational budget of more than $60 million. Negotiated and drafted more than $20 million of grant contracts, leases, and vendor agreements. Consulted with board members and senior executives of nonprofits to craft solutions to their fiscal and management crises. Audited and evaluated potential grantees. Led effort to migrate foundation information technology infrastructure to the cloud.

Represented corporate, financial services, government, and nonprofit clients in litigation involving claims based on complex issues in contracts, tax, antitrust, regulatory compliance, government conservatorship, constitutional law, and intellectual property. Helped negotiate settlements amounting to nearly $200 million. Drafted complaints, appellate briefs, motions, opinion letters, comments on regulations, presentations to executives, and memoranda on key legal issues and participated in more than 50 depositions in high-profile litigation involving such entities such as Boeing, Carteret Savings Bank, Duke University, the U.S. government, large nonprofits, and the State of Tennessee. • Designed litigation strategies for clients, including a national litigation strategy following a Supreme Court decision • Created firm’s e-discovery strategy resulting in savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Led firm e-discovery team

Evaluated potential candidates for senior cabinet and White House posts in a potential Romney administration including Attorney-General, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, National Security Advisor, Director of National Intelligence, Director of the CIA, Secretary of Education, Secretary of Energy, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff. Made recommendations to senior staff on the Romney transition team and presidential campaign

• Researched and analyzed a variety of issues in administrative, constitutional, and criminal law • Drafted bench memoranda, speeches, and judicial opinions

• Drafted speeches for the President and First Lady • Vetted Presidential remarks, interacting with senior officials in the White House, the military, nearly every executive agency in the U.S. government, foreign governments, Fortune 500 companies, and NGOs • Reported directly to the President’s top advisors including the Staff Secretary and Chief Speechwriter

• Served as final bastion of customer service for JetBlue before matters were turned over to the legal team • Negotiated settlements with customers over legally related complaints and escalated customer service issues • Pioneered cost-benefit analysis of customer retention efforts • Created decision-making matrix to guide customer retention efforts and trained hundreds of employees in effective customer retention • Created multiple IT solutions resulting in thousands of hours of efficiency gains • Prepared regulatory filings with the Department of Transportation

• Articles editor for BYU Studies, an academic periodical • Research assistant for John Welch, editor-in-chief of BYU Studies and Professor of Law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School