2021 Law and Government Summer Institutes
The Program on Law and Government is pleased to offer two summer institutes focusing on comparative public law, congressional procedure, and congressional investigations.
Comparative Public Law
Law 795PB-001
June 14 - June 25, 2021
10:00AM to 12:00PM EST.
Taught by Oswald Jansen (WCL and Tilburg University), with with Guest Lectures by Francesca Bignami (GW Law), Dominique Custos (University of Caen), Peter Lindseth (U-Conn), Jeffrey Lubbers (WCL), Neysun Mahboubi (Penn law) and Steve Wermiel (WCL).
International legal regimes, treaties, and trade agreements have been challenged by the rise of nationalism in recent years, exacerbated by the COVID19 pandemic and subsequent global recession. Understanding the role of national legal systems and the judicial, administrative and legislative equities across borders is once again an important skill set for lawyers in a global economy. For example, comparison of regulatory regimes is of crucial importance in addressing today’s pressing challenges in international trade law, privacy regulation, climate change, and the rule of law in general.
In interviews important scholars and practitioners on comparative public law explain the relevance and importance of comparative public law. They are Francesca Bignami (GW Law), Armin von Bogdandy (Max Planck Institute Heidelberg), Giacinto della Cananea (U Bocconi), Allan Brewer-Carías (Central University of Venezuela), Fernando Laguarda (Americorps), Peter Lindseth (U-Conn), Giulio Nessi (OECD), Fernanda Nicola (WCL), Neysun Mahboubi (Penn Law), Sacha Prechal (judge at the European Court of Justice), Carter Paret (alumni WCL and attorney at Hourani & Partners, Riyadh), Thomas Perroud (Paris II). Jacques Ziller (U Pavia), Jean-Bernard Auby (Sciences Po Paris), Dominique Custos, and Susan Rose Ackerman (Yale).
Comparative Public Law is a dynamic, new and quite unique summer program designed to guide you through the basics of comparative law, the role of courts, the regulatory and administrative process, and the workings of legislatures across a range of legal systems, including the U.S., E.U., and numerous other countries around the world.
Four classes will offer an introduction in U.S. Constitutional law and U.S. Administrative law as well as Leading Cases. 13 classes will introduce you in both comparative constitutional and comparative administrative law, and will deal with issues such as the constitutional and administrative law systems in China, Europe, Japan and South America, Constitutional and Supreme Courts, Rulemaking in the U.S. and France, Administrative Adjudication in Australia, Europe and the U.S., Types of administrative action, a theoretical framework for comparative analysis of Judicial Review, access to courts and standing, remedies and reviewability and law enforcement.
Whether you are a practitioner already wrestling with these complexities, a lawyer who seeks to build a deeper set of skills, or a law student with an interest in the subject, this summer program is tailored for your interests and needs. This will be a two-credit course that can be taken for a certificate of completion or academic credit.* Classes will be entirely online.
*AUWCL students may only take the courses for academic credit.
Congressional Investigations
Tuesday and Thursdays, June 8 - July 8, 2021
10:00 am - 11:00 am
Taught by Rachit Choksi, Counsel to the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
This graded seminar will explore and analyze the work of Congress as an overseer of the Executive Branch, as well as an investigator of illegal or inappropriate conduct in the private sector. We will examine the scope of Congressional investigative authority, historical and judicial precedents that have shaped that authority, the actual practice of congressional oversight and investigations, and the role that GAO and extra-congressional entities play in this space. Because “oversight” can be construed broadly, we will not be discussing the impeachment power, nominations, the Congressional Review Act, or, generally, congressional review of agency rulemakings. We will also not be covering Congressional oversight of the Judiciary.