Jessica Freitas is a law clerk to the Honorable Lawrence VanDyke of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She previously worked as a Senior Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Commerce, advising the General Counsel and the Secretary of Commerce on litigation, congressional investigations, space policy, and environmental permitting reform. Jessica graduated cum laude and Order of the Coif from the Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law, where she served as an assistant editor on the Pepperdine Law Review and received a certificate in business and finance from the Palmer Center for Law and Entrepreneurship. Jessica also graduated magna cum laude from Pepperdine University’s Seaver College with a B.A. in International Studies – Management, a B.A. in Political Science, and a Certificate in Conflict Management from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution.