The NAW Legal Policy Center (LPC) serves as the voice of the wholesale distribution industry in precedent-setting litigation in courts across the country to defend the free enterprise system. The LPC also serves as a key legal resource for NAW members, helping them navigate the regulations and laws that impact their business.

  • Serves as a key legal resource for NAW members
  • Fights to defend free enterprise
  • Challenges federal and state regulatory actions that impact the wholesale distribution community
  • Drafts amicus briefs in precedent-setting cases

Our ability to effectively represent wholesaler-distributors in the regulatory and judicial arenas depends on the strength of the NAW Legal Policy Center. Your contributions make it possible for us to continue this vital work. By donating to the NAW Legal Policy Center, you are directly supporting the efforts to protect and advance our industry.

The power of the judiciary in policymaking has never been greater; a court’s decision can dramatically impact businesses of all sizes. The Legal Policy Center is a powerful tool that allows NAW to fight for employers and challenge an out-of-control bureaucracy.

Brian Wild, NAW Chief Government Relations Officer

Karen Harned

Karen Harned serves as the Director of Litigation and Legal Policy overseeing NAWs activity in the courts defending the wholesale distribution industry from aggressive regulation and harmful legal issues impacting NAW’s members. Karen has over 35 years of experience in legal policy advocacy, including serving more than 20 years as Executive Director of the National Federation of Independent Business’ (NFIB) Small Business Legal Center which she built from the ground up. Karen has successfully pursued and won two historic, precedent-setting cases before the United States Supreme Court and is a respected legal mind on a wide range of business issues, appearing on Fox News, CNN, CNBS and MSNBC. Ms. Harned has testified before Congress on the small business impact of regulation and the civil justice system and conducted numerous webinars and legal compliance seminars for business owners across the country on issues relating to employment law, including unionization and immigration.

Ms. Harned received her BA from the University of Oklahoma and her JD from The George Washington University National Law Center in 1995. She is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.


Meet the Litigation and Legal Policy Advisory Board Members

Megan Brown – Wiley

Megan is Co-chair of firm’s Privacy, Cyber & Data Governance practice. She also has a strong background in federal contracting, advising clients on cyber security obligations, supply chain, and software security. Megan also has a strong background helping businesses with enforcement and investigations, including investigations by the Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, Department of Commerce, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. She clerked for the Honorable E. Grady Jolly on the U.S. Court of Appeals of the 5th Circuit.


Michael Connolly – Consovoy & McCarthy

Mike is an experienced litigator, specializing in constitutional and administrative law. He most recently won Corner Post Inc. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System -a 2024 Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the statute of limitations on a challenge to a regulation begins when plaintiff suffers injury. Corner Post will be instrumental in challenging older unconstitutional federal regulations. Mike is also Director of the Free Speech Clinic at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where his clinic defends the First Amendment rights of individuals and organizations. He clerked for Jerome A. Holmes on the U.S. Court of Appeals 10th Circuit.


Andrew Grossman – BakerHostetler

Andrew serves as BakerHostetler’s Appellate and Major Motions team co-leader. He argued Moore v. United States at the U.S Supreme Court, a constitutional challenge to a tax on shareholders of certain foreign corporations. He also was on the team that prevailed before the Supreme Court in West Virginia v. EPA, which applied the “major questions doctrine” to reject EPA’s regulation of carbon emissions by existing power plants. He clerked for Judge Edith H. Jones on the U.S. Cort of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.


Allyson Ho – Gibson Dunn

Allyson co-chairs the firm’s nationwide Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group. She has presented over one hundred oral arguments in federal and state courts nationwide. She has argued significant business cases before the U.S. Supreme Court in the areas of bankruptcy, patents, ERISA, employment, and administrative law. Allyson clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Judge Jaques Wiener on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.


Jim Paretti – Littler Mendelson

Jim is an experienced management-side employment and labor relations attorney experienced in labor, pension, healthcare, and employment law, regulations, and legislation. He served as an advisor to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Chairmen of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Prior to joining Littler, Jim was chief of staff and senior counsel to the acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He is part of the legal team representing NAW in its legal challenge to the Department of Labor Overtime Rule (Texas v. Department of Labor).


Gordon Todd – Sidley & Austin

Co-leads the firm’s Regulatory Litigation practice, which handles government-facing civil litigation, disputes relating to rulemaking, and commercial litigation in highly-regulated industries. He was lead counsel representing plaintiff trade association in successful challenge to the unlawful exclusion of many homebuilders from the Paycheck Protection Program (National Association of Home Builders et al v. United States Small Business Administration (E.D. Mich.). He also served as lead counsel in Ford v. United States (USCIT), in which he represented an automotive manufacturer in litigation relating to tariff classification of vehicles imported from Europe. Gordon served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and U.S. Court of Appeals Judge C. Arlen Beam on the 8th Circuit.


Questions?

Contact us at [email protected]