The Orange County Federalist Society is pleased to host Professor Donald J. Kochan, Executive Director of the Law & Economics Center at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, for a timely address marking America’s 250th anniversary: “The Declaration at 250: The Role of the Declaration of Independence in an Originalist Constitutional Interpretation.”
In his characteristically rigorous and accessible style, Professor Kochan will explore how the Declaration of Independence informs constitutional meaning, what that history implies for modern governance, and where law-and-economics insights illuminate the founding era’s design. Drawing on current debates and longstanding principles, his talk will examine:
- How the Declaration’s text and structure guide an originalist approach to constitutional interpretation
- The relationship between founding-era political economy and limited government
- Practical implications for courts, legislatures, and the separation of powers today
Join us for this lively and wide-ranging conversation about the legal and civic foundations of the American experiment—and what lawyers, students, and citizens can do to preserve a constitutional order worthy of 1776.
When: Thursday, October 9, 2025, 11:45 a.m. (registration), 12:00 Noon (lunch and program)
Where: Second Floor Conference Room, 2040 Main Street, 2nd Floor, Irvine, CA
(If applicable: Please validate your parking ticket in the lobby before or after entering the venue.)
Cost: $30/members, $35/non-members, $20/students. Includes lunch and 1 hour of MCLE credit (The Federalist Society is a California State Bar–approved MCLE provider).
RSVP and Pay: To RSVP and pay by credit card, please visit the Federalist Society event page here.
To pay by cash or check at the door, please RSVP to Tim Kowal at OCFedSocPresident@gmail.com
and make checks payable to “The Federalist Society.”
Donald Kochan is Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Law & Economics Center (LEC). Before joining the Antonin Scalia Law School faculty, he was the Parker S. Kennedy Professor in Law at Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law from 2004 to 2020. From 2003 to 2004, Professor Kochan was an Olin Fellow at the University of Virginia School of Law. During 2002-2003, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at George Mason’s Scalia Law School.
Professor Kochan’s scholarship focuses on areas of property law, constitutional law, administrative law, natural resources and environmental law, tort law, and law & economics. He has published more than 40 scholarly articles and essays in well-regarded law journals, and his work has been cited in dozens of books and in hundreds of published law review articles. Professor Kochan is an elected member of the American Law Institute (ALI); and, he was appointed by ALI in July 2016 to serve as an Adviser to the Restatement of the Law Fourth, Property project. Professor Kochan is a Nonresident Scholar at the Center for the Constitution at Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a Visiting Scholar in residence during Fall 2018.
Professor Kochan received his JD from Cornell Law School, where he was a John M. Olin Scholar in Law and Economics and managing editor of the Cornell International Law Journal. During law school, he also served as editor and executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy symposium issues in 1997 and 1998. He received his BA from Western Michigan University, magna cum laude, with majors in both political science and philosophy, where he studied as the John W. Gill Medallion Scholar and was honored as the Presidential Scholar (awarded to the top graduate in the political science department). After graduating from law school, Professor Kochan was a law clerk to The Honorable Richard F. Suhrheinrich of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Following his clerkship, Professor Kochan was an associate with the firm of Crowell & Moring LLP in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in natural resources & environmental law as well as tort, products, and consumer civil litigation & legislative affairs.
