Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professors Victoria Nourse and Tanina Rostain

J.D. Practicum 1176 | 4 credit hours

Administrative law tends to be a course on how courts treat administrative agencies, rather than on how those agencies actually work. This new practicum will allow students to see an agency “in action,” rather than from the rear view mirror of a courtroom. Administrative law concepts such as “formal rulemaking,” “informal rulemaking,” as well as the myriad of ways in which agencies act outside the standard model (advisories, letter rulings etc.) will come to life in a course where the students are actually injected into agencies to see how they solve problems and how their actions affect the subjects of regulation (here NGOs). With more than 400 federal agencies and thousands of lawyers practicing in executive and independent agencies, regulatory agencies offer a large and varied landscape for law students to explore. By learning about particular agency problems and solutions, students will also gain insight into some of the larger questions posed by administrative law, such as whether independent agencies are truly independent, and whether deference is in fact owed to agencies based on their expertise.

While class meetings are devoted to the varied ways that different agencies conduct their work, the experiential part of the course will focus on collaborating with regulatory agencies to develop apps that streamline regulatory practice or increase the public’s access to laws and regulation. Working in a platform that requires no coding expertise, students will explore the potential of automated legal guidance systems to enhance the responsiveness and efficiency of agency work. We anticipate projects across a range of agencies, which might include the EEOC, SEC, EPA, OSHA, FCC, FDA, HHS, SSA and CFPB (the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau). (As an alternative to agency placements, student teams may be assigned to working with NGO’s and non-profit organizations to develop regulatory compliance systems. Possible projects could include: assisting transnational NGOs to develop systems to comply with the Patriot Act, or LSC grantees to develop systems to comply with funding regulations.) The course culminates in a design contest: The Georgetown Iron Tech Lawyer Competition.

Students are graded on the quality of their final project and presentation, teamwork, organization and follow-through, and class participation.

Prerequisites: Students must complete the required first-year program prior to enrolling in this course (part-time and interdivisional transfer students may enroll prior to completing Criminal Justice, Property, or their first-year elective) and Administrative Law or one of the following first year electives: Congress and the Administrative State or The Regulatory State.

Students may not concurrently enroll in this practicum course and a clinic (except Street Law) or another practicum course. Students may concurrently enroll in this practicum course and an externship.

Students who wish to receive credit for the Externship Seminar and a practicum course that has the same field placement may do so only if: (1) the practicum course is taken in a semester following the Externship Seminar; and (2) the student receives permission from the Assistant or the Associate Dean for Clinical Programs. To receive such permission, the student must explain in writing how the practicum course field work would serve substantially different learning goals than did their externship field placement.

Note: THIS IS A PRACTICUM COURSE.

This is a 4 credit course. 2 credits will be awarded for the 2-hour weekly seminar and 2 credits will be awarded for approximately 10 hours of supervised work per week, for a minimum of 11 weeks.

Students who enroll in this course will be automatically enrolled in both the seminar and practicum components and may not take either component separately. A student wishing to withdraw from the course will be withdrawn from both the seminar and field work components.

No programming background required.