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During the Fall 2012 semester, the College of Law is offering a course on Administrative Agency Rulemaking (Instructor: Trubatch). Students are encouraged to consider taking the Rulemaking course together with Administrative Law in order to obtain more of a pratice-oriented understanding of the field.

Administrative law is the law governing how administrative agencies conduct their business and how you as an attorney can represent the interestes of your client in their proceedings. Most federal regulation in the U.S. is done by administrative agencies acting pursuant to a statute. This includes regulation of the environmental by the EPA and the Department of Interior, securities by the SEC, communications by the FCC, health and safety by the FDA, OSHA and the Department of Health and Human Services, education by the Department of Education, commerce by the Department of Commerce, mining by the Bureau of Mines, national security by the NSA, FBI and CIA, and the list goes on and on. In short, to work in any field that is regulated (which includes most fields of law), you will have to know the rules governing how agencies work.

The Administrative Law course starts with a short unit on separation of powers locating agencies in ou three-branch federal structure. The course covers procedures governing agency actions - primaril rulemakings and adjudications - and the standards for judicial review of these actions. Upon what basis can you challenge an agency's action in court? When is an agency action arbitrary? When can an agency argue that a court must defer to its interpretation of law and regulations? Finally, the course covers the many doctrines that govern the plaintiff's ability to go to court to challenge an agency action such as standing, the "zone of interest" test and ripeness.

While the course concentrates on federal administrative law, the administrative law in most states is fairly similar and thus this course also provides a foundation fo the practice of state administrative law.

Funk, Shapiro and Weaver, Administrative Procedure and Practice: Problems and Cases (4th Edition 2010), ISBN: 978-0-314-19426-8

Lecture and discussion

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Mostly, if not exclusively, essay

The final exam will be the primary basis for students' grades, but class participation may also be taken into account.