About Us

Chair's Welcome

Welcome to the Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice! The Section is a gathering place for those of us who live and breathe administrative law—judges, lawyers, government officials, specialists in government relations, and teachers and students of law. It is a place for education, communication, networking, and professional enjoyment. We are administrative law geeks, who proudly pronounce “Administrative Law! Everybody does it!”

Want to get involved? Our various committees put together a wide array of webinars, brown bags, conferences, and various social and other events. Committees also publish a weekly blog, a quarterly journal, a law review, and numerous books about important and trending administrative law topics. We welcome your participation, involvement, and enthusiasm. Please join us. We’d love to have you!

2020-2021 Section Chair, Christopher J. Walker

Section Leadership

View current Section Officers, Council and Liaisons 2020

What is the Section of Administrative Law?

The Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice is an important actual and virtual gathering place for lawyers practicing in every sector and serving in government and academia. Regular participants in the Section’s activities and programs already know that the Section offers a vibrant community of scholars and practitioners who seek to explain and improve the functioning of administrative agencies so that they serve the public well.

If you are examining the Section’s webpage for the first time, or have visited only infrequently, I hope that you will find useful publications on administrative law basics, expert commentary offering diverse perspectives on recent developments in agency actions and court decisions, and materials reflecting efforts to reform the laws that govern agencies and reviewing courts.

The wide range and scope of Section publications and activities include: A Blackletter Statement of Federal Administrative Law (now in its second edition), the quarterly Administrative and Regulatory Law News, publications on topics as varied as lobbying, immigration and veterans issues, Notice & Comment, the Section’s blog published with the Yale Journal on Regulation, the Section’s comment letters on legislative proposals, the signature Fall Conference, the Homeland Security Program, regular brown bag events and teleconferences on emerging topics.

This Section is where the administrative lawyer wants and needs to be.

Why Should You Join?

Does your law practice or professional focus have any connection with the activities, policies, or regulations from federal or state regulatory agencies? If yes, then consider joining the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. Why?

Our section members include leading administrative law professors; Supreme Court Justices; district and circuit court judges; state court judges; federal and state administrative law judges; attorneys working for federal and state agencies; attorneys working with congressional committees and the executive office of the president; associates and partners at major law firms; and general counsels of fortune 500 companies, major industry trade groups, and public interest groups. These are the attorneys you should know and learn from to be successful in your career. As a member, you will learn from and rub elbows with these experts at our annual administrative law conferences and at our numerous brown-bags and teleforums.

Additional benefits include quarterly and annual publications regarding cutting-edge issues in administrative law and regulatory practice, free access to programs on timely topics about our government, free online CLE, and steep discounts on our must-attend annual fall and spring administrative law conferences and our wide-ranging publications. In short, section membership is an essential addition to the tools lawyers use daily.

Join us! Everyone is welcome!

Become a member of the Section of Administrative Law