Protecting Children by Empowering Parents

Will began his legal career working for HSLDA in January 2004 as a legal assistant to HSLDA Senior Counsel Scott Woodruff. After graduating from Oak Brook College of Law and Government Policy with his Juris Doctor in 2006, he moved on to direct HSLDA’s Federal Relations department and serve as HSLDA’s federal lobbyist. He testified before Congress, drafted federal legislation to protect homeschool freedom, and met with Members of Congress, Cabinet Secretaries, and senior officials from federal agencies and the Executive Branch. He also advised families facing CPS investigations as a staff attorney with HSLDA.

In addition to working for HSLDA, Will also lobbied for ParentalRights.org as the organization’s director of government relations. He was chosen by the board of ParentalRights.org as the organization’s Secretary in January 2017.

In 2018, Will’s career changed, when he left the private sector to take a position as a career federal employee in the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Will worked to enforce federal laws protecting conscience and religious freedom, civil rights, and anti-discrimination in the area of health and human services. Will served through two presidential administrations, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, where the Office for Civil Rights’ work was central in the federal government’s response to the pandemic.

In November of 2021, Will resigned from the federal government, and was selected by the Board of ParentalRights.org to serve as the first full-time president of ParentalRights.org and the Parental Rights Foundation.

Will is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court bar, the California bar, and the District of Columbia bar. He has served on the board of Life Raft International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping refugees in Thailand, and he also served a two-year term as the Chairman of the Board of Good Samaritan Advocates, a nonprofit pro bono legal services organization in the greater Washington, D.C., area. Will and his wife, Rachel, have two sons, Dominic and Merrick, and live in Northern Virginia.

Rick Green is a former Texas State Representative, national speaker, author, and radio host.

Rick travels the nation speaking for David Barton’s WallBuilders organization and Rick and David co-host the national daily radio program, WallBuilders Live!

Rick is the author and executive producer of Constitution Alive!, America’s most engaging and entertaining study of the U.S. Constitution.

Rick is the founder and president of Patriot Academy, which trains young leaders in founding principles as they participate in mock legislative sessions held in state capitols across the nation.

He and his wife, Kara, have 4 kids. They can be seen in Chasing American Legends, a new TV show that follows their family as they investigate America’s heroes, legends, and legacies.

Michael Farris is a constitutional appellate litigator and long-standing leader of Christian organizations. He was the founding president of the Home School Legal Defense Association in 1983. He led HSLDA until 2017 and remains chairman of its board of directors.

Mike also was the Founding President of Patrick Henry College. At PHC he served as president, then chancellor, professor of government, and coach of PHC’s moot court team. In his 17 years of coaching, his teams won 11 national championships and one world championship.

In 2017, Mike became the president, CEO, and general counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom, the world’s largest Christian legal organization. During his time at the helm, ADF served as counsel in nine cases in the United States Supreme Court, winning eight victories.

In 2022, Mike retired from ADF and returned to Convention of States, an organization he co-founded in 2013 where serves as a Senior Advisor. Farris also currently serves as the General Counsel of the National Religious Broadcasters.

Mike has written 15 books, numerous law review articles, and countless articles in the popular press.

Mike and Vickie Farris have 10 children, many grandchildren and are awaiting their first great-grandchild, expected to be born around Christmas.

Mike also serves as an elder of Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia.

J. Michael Smith is the President of Home School Legal Defense Association, an organization which he co-founded with Michael Farris in 1983 to protect the right of parents who choose home education as their way to satisfy the compulsory attendance law in the various states and Canada. HSLDA now represents over 80,000 member families. Smith has been speaking to homeschool audiences for 23 years. His columns on home education appear regularly in the Washington Times, and he has been a guest on numerous television and radio programs, including Focus on the Family with Jim Dobson, and Hannity and Colmes on Fox News.

Smith is an attorney licensed to practice in California, the District of Columbia, and Virginia. After serving two years as a Deputy City Attorney assigned to the Criminal Division in San Diego, he went into private practice specializing in personal injury and criminal defense. After he and his wife, Elizabeth, decided to home school their children, Smith became involved in defending the rights of homeschoolers in California. It became glaringly apparent that home educators could not afford attorneys, and as a result, HSLDA was established to defend and advance the constitutional rights of parents to direct the education of their children and protect family freedom. Smith received his undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas and his Juris Doctorate from the University of San Diego. He and Elizabeth have four children.