Administrative and Regulatory State Clinic
| LW.11029 / LW.10105 Professor Richard L. Revesz Professor Michael A. Livermore Open to 3L (preferred) and 2L students Maximum of 8 students |
Fall and Spring semesters |
Introduction
The Administrative and Regulatory State (ARS) Clinic is sponsored by the Institute for Policy Integrity at the Law School, which works to improve the quality of government decision-making through advocacy in the fields of administrative law, economics, and public policy. The ARS Clinic will focus on practice before federal administrative agencies to help students develop a set of core administrative lawyering skills. For more information about IPI, please visit www.policyintegrity.org.
Course Description
This course is designed to teach students how to conduct effective advocacy before administrative agencies on a wide range of issues, from environmental protection to regulations governing the Internet. While the substantive areas of administrative law vary greatly, there is a core set of skills, including statutory interpretation, policy analysis, and understanding the political context of regulation, that are required in all administrative law practices. The ability to critique the economic analyses that underlie agency actions is also an increasingly valuable tool for advocacy in the modern regulatory state. Through hands-on participation in regulatory proceedings and a weekly seminar that focuses on the institutional structures and substantive standards of administrative decision-making, students will have the opportunity to cultivate these skills.
Fieldwork
Students in the ARS Clinic will work with the clinic directors and the legal and economics fellows at Policy Integrity on cutting-edge regulatory matters before federal agencies or being litigated in federal courts. Targeted agencies include Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation, Federal Communication Commission, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Clinic will focus on regulations from start to finish—beginning at the stage of pre-regulatory decision-making, through the proposal and finalization of regulation and into litigation challenges. Students will conduct research on pending regulatory matters and will draft petitions for rulemakings and public comments for the informal rulemaking process under the Administrative Procedure Act, as well as briefs and legal memoranda for pending litigation. Fieldwork in the clinic will provide providing rich opportunities for students to gain skills in collaborative problem-solving, effective communication of legal issues and strategies, working with non-legal experts, and relationship building.
Seminar
Students will also participate in a two-hour seminar held once every week on Regulatory Advocacy, taught by the clinic directors. Through readings, class discussions, case studies, workshops, and peer critiques, the seminar will focus on developing theoretical and practical understanding of the regulatory process, bureaucratic decision-making, and executive and judicial review of agency action. The seminar also reviews the agency practice of cost-benefit analysis and will help students build the tools to critique the economic analyses that underlie rules. Using both academic literature and fieldwork as jumping-off points, the seminar will focus on developing a rounded approach to administrative lawyering that includes consideration of the legal, policy, economic, and political issues that shape administrative decisions.
Application Procedure
Students interested in applying for the clinic should submit the standard application, resume, and transcript online through CAMS. To arrange an interview, please use the CAMS system as well. If you have questions regarding the application procedure, please contact Jason Schwartz, jason.schwartz@nyu.edu.
Student Contacts
Bryant Cannon
Lynn Eisenberg
Matthew Gabbard
Subash Iyer
Michael Press
Martha Roberts
Nina Thanawala
Josh Zaharoff
* 5 credits includes 3 clinical (fieldwork) credits and 2 academic seminar credits per semester.
http://www.law.nyu.edu//academics/clinics/semester/ars/index.htm