Mission and Biographies
Nikolas T. Nikas, Esq.
President and General Counsel
Nikolas T. Nikas, Esq. is President and General Counsel of the Bioethics Defense Fund. Nikas has directed national legal strategy on the issues of abortion, human cloning/embryonic stem cell research, and end-of-life issues since 1992. His areas of expertise include legislation, litigation and public education.
Nikas is a dynamic speaker, having lectured on the full range of bioethics topics at law schools, legal and medical conferences and civic organizations. He has lectured internationally on the issue of health care rights of conscience, including several addresses at the Rome conference of the International Catholic Medical Association and Matercare International.
Nikas impacts legislative strategy by drafting life-protective model legislation and by consulting with legislators in all 50 states and Congress. He also testifies in legislative committees on the constitutionality of bioethics legislation.
Nikas leads bioethics litigation efforts by providing strategic counsel to state attorneys general and by directly litigating federal court challenges to enacted legislation when appointed by state officials. Nikas has served as lead trial counsel in a Missouri challenge to a human cloning ballot initiative, as special assistant attorney general for the state of Arizona in its partial-birth abortion litigation, and as special deputy Maricopa County attorney in the constitutional challenge to Arizona’s abortion clinic regulation law.
In 2000, Nikas organized and participated in the oral argument preparation for Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg in the U.S. Supreme Court partial-birth abortion case, Carhart v. Stenberg, in which Nikas also filed an amicus curiae brief. Nikas consults with members and legal staff of the President’s Council on Bioethics in Washington, D.C., and has testified before the U.S. Senate on abortion and First Amendment rights.
Before dedicating his law practice to bioethics issues, Nikas was associated with two of the largest firms in Arizona, focusing on civil litigation in Arizona federal and state courts.
Nikas received his B.A. (1979) in government and international relations, and his M.A. (1981) in political philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. He received his juris doctor, magna cum laude, in 1986 from Arizona State University College of Law, where he graduated in the top five percent of his class. He was awarded the Order of the Coif and served as an articles editor of the Arizona State Law Journal.
Nikas lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with his wife and their five children.
Dorinda C. Bordlee, Esq.
Vice President, Senior Counsel
Dorinda C. Bordlee, Esq. is Vice President and Senior Counsel of Bioethics Defense Fund, a bioethics law and policy organization that advocates for human rights from beginning to end. She has dedicated her law practice to sanctity of life constitutional issues since 1994.
Dorinda's expertise is in the public policy realm, having drafted legislation and user friendly education pieces for dozens of States on the full range of bioethics issues including human cloning, destructive human embryo research, abortion/women's health and end-of-life.
Bordlee also has wide-ranging litigation and appellate advocacy experience defending the constitutionality of life issue laws in U.S. federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court. Among other cases, Bordlee represented the Louisiana Department of Justice in the 2000 partial birth abortion litigation, and served as co-counsel in Missouri litigation challenging a deceptive human cloning ballot initiative.
Dorinda is the author of a chapter on abortion alternatives in the 2004 book entitled The Cost of Choice, and she has published articles and opinion pieces on the topics of abortion's harmful impact on women, authentic feminism, embryo adoption, and human cloning in national publications including National Review Online, the New York Times, and the Washington Times, and has appeared on major media outlets including CNN, FOX News, MSNBC and C-Span. Her speaking engagements range from university and law schools to national and international legal and medical conferences.
Dorinda received her B.A. in Finance, summa cum laude (1987), and Juris Doctor (1990) from Loyola University, New Orleans. She lives in New Orleans, Louisiana, with her husband and their four children.
Maureen L. Condic, Ph.D.
Science Advisor
Neurobiologist Dr. Maureen L. Condic serves as Bioethics Defense Fund's science advisor. Dr. Condic lends her scientific expertise to BDF counsel in the drafting and review of bioethics legislation and policy. With a strong commitment to public education and science literacy, Dr. Condic has published and presented seminars nationally and internationally on science policy and bioethics. Dr. Condic frequently consults with the media and has become a valuable source for science and opinion writers who are seeking objective information and analysis in the midst of the heated atmosphere surrounding the human embryonic stem cell debate. Her scholarly writing has appeared in a number of scientific journals, as well s in the National Review and First Things.
Dr. Condic is an Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Utah School of Medicine, with an adjunct appointment in the department of Pediatrics. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago, her doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley and postdoctoral training at the University of Minnesota. Since her appointment at the University of Utah in 1997, Dr. Condic's primary research focus has been the development and regeneration of the nervous system. In 1999, she was awarded the Basil O'Connor Young Investigator Award for her studies of peripheral nervous system development. In 2002, she was named a McKnight Neuroscience of Brain Disorders Investigator, in recognition of her research in the field of adult spinal cord regeneration.
In addition to her scientific research, Dr. Condic teaches both graduate and medical students. Her teaching focuses primarily on embryonic development, and she directed the University of Utah School of Medicine's course in Human Embryology. Dr. Condic currently resides in Salt Lake City with her husband and four children.
Rev. Thomas V. Berg, Ph.D.
Ethics & Moral Philosophy Advisor
Fr. Thomas Berg is a priest serving in the Archdiocese of New York, and is Executive Director of the Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he received his doctorate in Philosophy from Rome's Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in 1999. He specializes in natural law theory, personhood theory, and biomedical issues dealing with the beginning of life.
For the past four years he has coordinated a working-group of moral theologians, philosophers and scientists in an on-going study of the moral status of the human embryo and the viability of proposed alternatives to embryo-destructive stem cell research. He has published and been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Crisis Magazine, and The National Catholic Register. He is co-editor of Human Embryo Adoption: Biotechnology, Marriage, and the Right to Life. He is also a member of the Ethics Committee of New York's Empire State Stem Cell Board.
Fr. Berg is a frequent speaker on a range of topics in the area of moral theology and bioethics, especially those dealing with the moral status of the human embryo, alternatives to embryo-destructive stem cell research, and emerging biotechnologies. He has appeared on The World Over with Raymond Arroyo, on the PBS program "Nova Science Now" and on the Fox News Channel's Geraldo at Large.
He is also a guest lecturer on these topics, including engagements in 2008 at Ave Maria School of Law and Notre Dame Law School.
James Hirsen, Esq.
Of Counsel and New Media Advisor
James Hirsen is a New York Times best selling author, commentator, news analyst and law professor.
Sought after for his expertise on current events and cultural matters, and most recently his experience in bioethics policy involving California’s Prop 71, Hirsen has appeared on the O’Reilly Factor, Weekend Live with Tony Snow, Scarborough Country, CNN’s People in the News, Fox and Friends, Hardball with Chris Matthews, the BBC, ABC’s Politically Incorrect, CNN's Inside Politics with Judy Woodruff and numerous other television programs.
Hirsen’s ideas have been quoted in major publications including the Washington Times, the Weekly Standard, the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. In addition, he hosts his own radio program on the Cable Radio Network, which reaches millions of households via cable television systems, PAX-TV, satellite users, Internet broadcasting and the Langer Broadcasting Network, a 100-station radio network headquartered in Boston.
Hirsen is a pundit for NewsMax.com and author of the popular weekly column, “The Left Coast Report,” where he takes a humorous poke at the politics of Hollywood. He is the author of the New York Times best-selling book, Tales from the Left Coast: True Stories of Hollywood Stars and Their Outrageous Politics.
Hirsen teaches law at both Trinity Law School and Biola University in Southern California. He is admitted to practice in the California and Washington, D.C. Bar Associations, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of International Trade.
Before setting his sights on the legal, communications and publishing worlds, Hirsen worked as a professional musician. He participated in numerous studio recordings, film scores and performance events, and for a number of years was keyboardist for one of the most legendary groups of all times, the Temptations.
James Hirsen and his wife currently reside in Newport Beach, California.
Cindy M. Northon, Esq.
Legal Counsel
Cindy M. Northon, Esq. serves as Legal Counsel and Media Specialist. Prior to joining the Bioethics Defense Fund, Cindy worked as a publicist in New York City, New York and Nashville, Tennessee.
While in law school, Cindy served as Vice President of the Moot Court Board, Publicist for Lex Vitae and Secretary of the Women's Law Association. Cindy competed as part of the Michigan Moot Court Championship team in 2003, and was awarded the St. Catherine of Alexandria Award for excellence in oral advocacy. She was on the Law School Dean's List and was a recipient of a Dean's Scholarship.
Ms. Northon worked as an extern with the in-house counsel of IMG Sports Management, Cleveland, Ohio and as a summer associate with the law firm of Miller, Johnson, Snell and Cummisky, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Cindy is a graduate of Boston College (B.S. 1995) and of Ave Maria School of Law (J.D 2004). She lives in Canton, Michigan with her husband and son.
Monique Colon Toso
Administrative Assistant/Elementary Education Director
 Monique Colon Toso is development assistant, and is a manager of the public relations and education efforts of Bioethics Defense Fund. Monique also assists in event planning as BDF's liason with public policy organizations, legislators and civic groups seeking bioethics policy advice and briefing seminars.
An educator by training, Monique has led a successful educational effort called "Proudly Pro-Life Week" in over two dozen New Orleans elementary schools that has been exported to schools around the nation. The educational program is a project of "Parents for Life," which Monique directs for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Monique lives in New Orleans, Louisiana with her husband and two daughters.
BDF Board of Directors*
Anthony J. Bordlee
State Farm Insurance
Kevin "Seamus" Hasson, Esq.
The Becket Fund
David J. Lukinovich, Esq.
Lukinovich Law
*Board members are in their individual capacity - business/organization names for identification only.
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