NSI Next Gen Alumni Network Career Forum: Career Pathways in National Security Law

Date: Thursday, February 19, 2026
Time: 6:00 – 8:30 PM
Location:
Fuse Building, Room 1311 A (Program)

The National Security Institute (NSI) is pleased to host the NSI NextGen Alumni Career Forum, an evening program designed to connect current Antonin Scalia Law School students with alumni and practitioners working across key national security–related legal career pathways. This event emphasizes practical career insight, candid conversation, and meaningful interaction with experienced practitioners.

Rather than a traditional panel, the forum will feature structured, rotating small-group discussions with practitioners representing distinct employer and practice types. All attendees will rotate through each discussion group, ensuring exposure to a range of career paths and perspectives.

Each discussion session will be 20 minutes in length and informal in style, focusing on:

• Career trajectories and decision points

• Early- and mid-career realities

• Hiring considerations and professional development

• Lessons learned from practice

The program will conclude with a networking reception, providing additional opportunities for conversation and connection.

Career pathways represented:

• Federal Government

• In-House / Industry

• Big Law / Investigations & Regulatory Practice

• Capitol Hill / Public Sector Policy

Event Details 

Date: Thursday, February 19, 2026
Time: 6:00 – 8:30 PM
Location: Fuse Building on Mason Square, Room 1311 and Atrium

Register Here

Speakers: 

Kelli Andrews

Kelli Andrews is Senior Director for Cybersecurity and Lawful Access Policy at Microsoft, where she is responsible for advancing Microsoft’s public policy initiatives in the areas of cybersecurity, cybercrime, lawful access, and encryption in the executive and legislative branches.  Prior to joining Microsoft, Kelli spent almost a decade at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she most recently served as Chief of Staff and Senior Counsel in the National Security Division.  In that role, her portfolio consisted of litigation, policy and legislative matters spanning national security issues including cybersecurity, surveillance technology, counterterrorism and CFIUS.  While at the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, Kelli served in several other roles, including as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General and Deputy Chief of the Counterterrorism Section.  Prior to DOJ, Kelli spent several years at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security where she served as Deputy Chief of the National Security Law Division.  In addition to her prosecutorial experience, Kelli also has extensive experience on Capitol Hill having worked as Majority Counsel for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce for almost five years and as Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Kelli also spent time in private practice at D.C. law firms and began her career as an Assistant State Attorney in Miami, Florida.  She earned a J.D. from Cornell Law School and a B.A. from Bucknell University.

Alice Fisher

Alice Fisher is a partner in Latham & Watkins’ Washington, D.C. office and is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. She focuses her practice on white collar criminal investigations, internal investigations, and advises clients on a range of criminal matters, including:

• • • International criminal matters relating to alleged bribery under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other anti-corruption laws, economic and export sanctions, and other cross border investigations
• Criminal and civil fraud matters such as healthcare fraud, accounting and securities fraud, and procurement fraud
• Government enforcement inquiries and investigations in front of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Consumer Fraud Protection Bureau, and Congress

Ms. Fisher focuses her practice on corporate investigations and enforcement matters and provides strategic counsel to corporations on managing the legal risks of operating in a global economy.

From 2005-2008, Ms. Fisher served as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division of the US DOJ. As Assistant Attorney General, Ms. Fisher led more than 750 attorneys and staff responsible for federal criminal enforcement policy as well as handling criminal matters in federal courts across the country in all areas of federal criminal law enforcement. Under her leadership, the Criminal Division pursued a broad array of federal criminal investigations and prosecutions, with particular focus on corporate fraud matters, including securities fraud, procurement fraud, financial institution fraud, anti-money laundering, healthcare fraud, computer hacking and cyber security, national security, as well as US-domestic and international corruption.

Ms. Fisher also chaired the National Procurement Fraud Task Force, supervised the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, and served as a member of the President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force. She handled various transnational and multi-national law enforcement operations and policies, including bilateral agreements and treaties involving information sharing and global criminal enforcement initiatives. Representing the DOJ in front of Congress, Ms. Fisher testified on criminal enforcement policies and served on the Federal Criminal Rules Committee.

As a litigation partner at Latham from 2003-2005 and prior to 2001, Ms. Fisher represented both individual and corporate clients in grand jury, agency, and congressional inquiries involving allegations of securities and bank fraud, healthcare fraud, the FCPA, criminal antitrust matters, OFAC sanctions, and procurement fraud. She has also represented clients in a number of complex civil and regulatory litigations. Ms. Fisher previously held other positions in government, including Deputy Special Counsel to a US Senate Special Committee.

Ms. Fisher has published articles and spoken on criminal law topics such as the criminalization of corporate conduct, the FCPA, healthcare and procurement fraud, the False Claims Act, the US criminal enforcement environment, public corruption and the honest services statute, financial crime in the financial services industry, securities fraud, identity theft, cybercrime, and national security.

Jamil N. Jaffer

Jamil N. Jaffer is the Founder and Executive Director of the National Security Institute (NSI) at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, where he teaches courses on counterterrorism, cybersecurity, intelligence, surveillance, and national security law, including a summer program abroad with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch.  Jamil is also affiliated with Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and was previously a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

Jamil is also a Venture Partner at Paladin Capital Group, focusing on dual-use national security technologies, and serves on the boards of directors or advisory boards of a range of companies and other organizations.   Jamil serves on the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society’s International Law and National Security Practice Group.

Jamil previously served as a senior executive at an early-stage cyber defense startup helping scale it through raising over $100M in venture funding and an IPO on the NYSE.  Jamil also served on the leadership teams of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the National Security Division of the Department of Justice as well as the on senior staff of the House Intelligence Committee, and as an Associate Counsel to President George W. Bush. 

Prior and between his various stints in national security, among other things, Jamil served as a law clerk for Judge Edith H. Jones on the Fifth Circuit, then-Judge Neil Gorsuch on the Tenth Circuit, and Justice Gorsuch on the U.S. Supreme Court.  Jamil holds degrees from UCLA, the University of Chicago Law School, and the U.S. Naval War College.

Additional speakers to be confirmed!