Blackstone - Legal Fellowship - An Alliance Defense Fund Ministry

Alan E. Sears

President, CEO, and General Counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund

Alan Sears serves as president, CEO, and general counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. He leads the strategy, training, funding, and litigation efforts of ADF that have resulted in various roles in 35 victories at the U.S. Supreme Court and wins in more than three out of four cases litigated to conclusion. Under his leadership, ADF has funded more than 2,000 grants and legal projects for allied lawyers and organizations, and ADF attorneys have successfully defended marriage as the union between one man and one woman in more than 35 cases nationwide.

Since the launch of ADF in 1994, Sears has provided strategic leadership in the training of more than 1,300 lawyers through the ADF one-of-a-kind National Litigation Academy, which is designed to equip attorneys to more effectively defend religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and marriage and the family. These attorneys have reported more than $100 million in pro-bono/dedicated time. Sears’ visionary efforts have also resulted in the graduation of more than 800 outstanding law students—representing more than 130 law schools—from the unique ADF Blackstone Legal Fellowship program. This in-depth summer internship program helps equip these students to assume leadership positions to shape the future of American law.

Sears earned his Juris Doctor from Louis D. Brandeis School of Law. While serving in numerous positions within the U.S. Government, he worked for the Department of Justice under Attorneys General William French Smith and Edwin Meese III, including service as an assistant U.S. Attorney and chief of the Criminal Section. Sears was also appointed as the director of the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography and served as associate solicitor with the Department of the Interior under Secretary Donald Hodel. A graduate of the University of Kentucky, Sears has continued his education with professional instruction at Stanford University, Harvard Law School, Harvard Business School, and Pepperdine University.

Practicing law for three decades, Sears is a member in good standing with the American, Arizona, California, District of Columbia (inactive), and Kentucky bar associations. He has helped fashion the language for numerous state and federal laws and has testified before committees of the U.S. House and Senate, state legislatures, and many local governments and commissions. Legislators in 20 states have adopted his legislative recommendations. Sears has assisted legislators and law enforcement officials from many countries and has spoken before committees of the British Parliament.

Sears’ numerous media appearances include television interviews and features on The Today Show, Nightline, CNN, Fox News, C-SPAN, The O’Reilly Factor, Oprah, CNN, and The Lou Dobbs Show. He has also been a radio guest on various programs, including The Laura Ingraham Show, National Public Radio, and The Dennis Prager Radio Show. Sears has been extensively covered in national print media, including the Washington Post, the Associated Press, the Washington Times, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Arizona Republic, and the National Catholic Register. He is a regular opinion contributor to Townhall.com and has co-authored several books, including The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today (2003) and The ACLU vs. America (2005), both with Craig Osten. His most recent book is In Justice (2009).
 

Jeffery J. Ventrella

Senior Vice President

Jeffery Ventrella regularly lectures in churches, campuses, and conferences throughout the United States and has lectured in Europe, South Africa, Ethiopia, South Korea, and Hong Kong. After graduating first in his high school class, he received the B.M.E. degree (magna cum laude) from the University of Northern Colorado where he specialized in trumpet performance. He then attended law school, and after serving as the Production Editor for the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, he received the Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

Serving ADF on the Advisory Cabinet and as the Senior Vice-President of the Office of Strategic Training, Mr. Ventrella oversees the design and implementation of the Blackstone Legal Fellowship and National Litigation Academy programs.  He also engages the culture through formal debate, media interviews, and serves as an “approved speaker” for The Federalist Society. Prior to joining the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) in 2000, Mr. Ventrella litigated for nearly 15 years, concentrating his work in complex commercial and insurance litigation, financial litigation, environmental and natural resource litigation, and appellate advocacy. He has presented numerous seminars for a number of organizations, including the Idaho State Bar, regarding a host of topics including motion practice, discovery practice, boundary law, legal reasoning and appellate advocacy. He is a member of the Idaho State Bar and is also admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Bar of the United States Supreme Court. 

Mr. Ventrella has testified before a Senate subcommittee concerning the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment and his professional writings have appeared in legal journals, law reviews, and periodicals, such as For the Defense as well as Christian publications such as Citizen Magazine, Penpoint, Christian Culture, Creation Answers, and New Horizons. He is a contributing author to several books, including: The Idaho Appellate Handbook (3rd Ed.); The Standard Bearer (2001); Thine is the Kingdom (2003); Backbone of the Bible (2004); and Speaking the Truth in Love: The Theology of John M. Frame (2009).  In 2006, he served as an expert commentator for a two-part History Channel program exploring the role of the Ten Commandments in culture and law.  His book, The Cathedral Builder: Pursuing Cultural Beauty (2007) is part of ADF’s Blackstone Core Curriculum Project, which he also edits.

As an adjunct instructor, Mr. Ventrella taught Ethics and Apologetics at the graduate seminary level.  He has held formal ordinations in the CRC, NA and the OPC and currently serves as a Research Fellow and on an ad hoc graduate thesis committee for the Department of Philosophy and Constitutional Law for the University of the Free State, South Africa. Mr. Ventrella is also a Distinguished Fellow of Law and Culture for the Center for Cultural Leadership. His martial arts training achieved the rank of 2nd degree black belt, Tae Kwon-do.