Administrative Law

Upon completion of coursework in this area, students will be able to demonstrate:

Knowledge and Understanding of Substantive Law (ABA Standard 302(a)(1))

Knowledge and understanding of the constitutional and statutory foundations of the administrative state, including the enactment, interpretation, and implementation of statutes by legislatures, courts, and administrative agencies.
Knowledge and understanding of the basic procedural framework governing agency action, including rulemaking and adjudication under applicable administrative procedure acts at the federal, state, and local levels.
Knowledge and understanding of the doctrines governing judicial review of agency action, including standards of review applicable to agency factual findings, policy determinations, and statutory and legal interpretations.
Knowledge and understanding of how administrative agencies operate within specific substantive fields (such as labor, immigration, environmental, or benefits law), including the particular modes of agency action (rulemaking, adjudication, licensing, enforcement) characteristic of each field.
Knowledge and understanding of the range of institutions before which agency practice occurs, including federal agencies, state and local boards and commissions, and specialized administrative tribunals.

Legal Analysis and Reasoning (ABA Standard 302(a)(2), (3))

The ability to interpret and apply statutes defining an agency's mission and authority, including the ability to construe an agency's statutory mandate creatively and rigorously on behalf of a client.
The ability to develop, marshal, and evaluate factual records in an administrative setting, including assessing the empirical, logical, and legal bases for agency positions.
The ability to apply policy-analytic methods relevant to administrative practice, including assessing data and evaluating the costs and benefits of rival regulatory or policy approaches.
The ability to analyze and evaluate agency decisions from the standpoint of both legal doctrine and practical policy consequences for individuals, firms, and organizations affected by agency action.

Other Professional Skills (ABA Standard 302(a)(4), (b))

The ability to represent clients effectively before administrative decision-makers, including preparing filings, presenting evidence, and advocating in agency adjudicatory or licensing proceedings.
The ability to draft legislatively and policy-oriented documents used in administrative practice, including proposed rules and formal comments responding to agency-proposed rules.
The ability to identify and select appropriate substantive and procedural strategies for practicing before agencies at different levels of government, informed by an understanding of how state and local administrative practice may differ from federal practice.

Required Course Learning Outcomes

Legislation and the Regulatory State (LAW-LW.10925)

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate:

Knowledge and Understanding of Substantive Law (ABA Standard 302(a)(1))

Knowledge and understanding of the legislative lawmaking process, including how Congress enacts statutes and the institutional and procedural context in which legislation is produced.
Knowledge and understanding of the doctrines and tools courts and lawyers use to interpret statutes, including the major theories and canons of statutory interpretation.
Knowledge and understanding of the structure and powers of administrative agencies, including their role in implementing statutes through rulemaking and other administrative procedures.
Knowledge and understanding of the doctrines of administrative law that empower and constrain agencies in interpreting and implementing statutes.
Knowledge and understanding of the role of courts in reviewing agency action at the behest of affected private parties, including the standards governing judicial review.
Knowledge and understanding of the constitutional rules and separation-of-powers principles governing the relationships among Congress, the President, administrative agencies, and the courts.

Legal Analysis and Reasoning (ABA Standard 302(a)(2), (3))

The ability to apply interpretive tools and doctrines to construe the meaning of statutes in the context of specific legal problems.
The ability to analyze and critically assess the processes, purposes, efficacy, and limitations of governance through an administrative regulatory regime, as distinct from criminal enforcement or private law.
The ability to critically evaluate the rules and institutional norms governing the relationships among Congress, the President, agencies, and the courts, including the allocation of lawmaking and interpretive authority among them.
The ability to identify and analyze the legal and policy issues that arise when statutory and regulatory schemes are implemented, interpreted, and enforced by multiple institutional actors.

Other Professional Skills (ABA Standard 302(a)(4), (b))

The ability to work effectively with the materials, concepts, and tools that lawyers require to practice in a legal environment dominated by statutes and regulations, providing a foundation for further study in constitutional law, administrative law, and specialized fields of regulation.
The ability to communicate legal analysis effectively in written and oral form when addressing questions of statutory interpretation and administrative governance.

Multiple-Section Course Learning Outcomes

Advanced Administrative Law (LAW-LW.10090)

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate:

Knowledge and Understanding of Substantive Law (ABA Standard 302(a)(1))

Knowledge and understanding of the sources and scope of administrative agencies' rulemaking authority, including how agency rules acquire the force and effect of law.
Knowledge and understanding of the procedures governing agency rulemaking, including notice-and-comment and other applicable procedural requirements.
Knowledge and understanding of the procedures and doctrines governing agency adjudication, including the processes by which agencies determine individual entitlements and benefits.
Knowledge and understanding of the doctrines governing judicial review of agency action, including the standards courts apply to review the legality, procedural validity, and reasonableness of agency rules and adjudications.
Knowledge and understanding of the constitutional and statutory constraints on agency power, including limits derived from separation-of-powers principles and delegation doctrine.
Knowledge and understanding of the authorities and sources lawyers consult in advising clients on administrative law questions, including relevant statutes, regulations, and case law.

Legal Analysis and Reasoning (ABA Standard 302(a)(2), (3))

The ability to analyze and apply administrative law doctrine to novel fact patterns involving agency rulemaking, adjudication, or enforcement action.
The ability to identify the critical and recurring legal issues in administrative law and to evaluate how courts, agencies, and other institutional actors have resolved them.
The ability to critically assess the factors courts consider in reviewing agency action and to predict the likely outcome of judicial review in a given case.
The ability to build upon and apply foundational concepts of statutory and regulatory interpretation, agency authority, and separation of powers introduced in Legislation and the Regulatory State to more advanced and specialized administrative law problems.

Other Professional Skills (ABA Standard 302(a)(4), (b))

The ability to counsel clients in the public and private spheres on the flow and strategy of administrative decision-making, including how to engage effectively with agencies at the federal, state, and local level.
The ability to identify and pursue strategies to understand and maximize a client's influence with government agencies, whether representing government agencies, regulated entities, public interest groups, or individual members of the public.
The ability to communicate legal analysis and strategic advice effectively in written and oral form when advising clients on administrative law matters.