The Nominations Committee of the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice is seeking nominations, including self-nominations, to fill leadership positions on the Section’s governing council. We will start considering nominations on March 6, 2023, but we will continue to consider additional nominations on a rolling basis through the middle of March. A simple sentence or paragraph nomination is sufficient.

The ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice pre-dates the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 (APA). Louis Caldwell was the Section’s first chair, back in 1933 when the Section was called the Special Committee on Administrative Law. The Section played a critical role in the APA’s adoption and in virtually every significant regulatory reform since. The Section has benefited from tremendous leadership over the decades, including past chairs like Judy Boggs, Ernest Gelhorn, Linda Jellum, Sally Katzen, Renée Landers, Jeff Rosen, Antonin Scalia, and Anna Shavers—just to name a few.

This year we anticipate nominating five leaders to join the Section’s governing council:

Vice Chair (1): The Vice Chair, by operation of the bylaws, will serve as Section Chair in the third year. This is a four-year commitment: Vice Chair (2023–24), Chair-Elect (2024–25), Chair (2025–26), and Immediate Past Chair (2026–27). During those four years, this individual serves on the executive leadership team and the governing council. Historically, this person has almost always served on the governing council first as a council member (sometimes many years before) or has otherwise been deeply involved in the Section.

Council Members (4): Council members serve three-year terms (September 2023–August 2026) on the governing council of the Section. This includes a commitment to attend quarterly council meetings, two of which are usually in person in Washington, DC, one of which is usually held where the ABA annual meeting takes place, and the fourth is usually held virtually. These meetings are held on Saturdays, usually from early morning through mid-afternoon, with an optional dinner the night before or day of. It is an expectation that council members attend all four meetings each year, and the Section reimburses most of the travel expenses for those. Council members also take on a variety of tasks to help run the Section, based on their interests and expertise and Section needs. Those could include assisting with the annual conferences or regular webinars; weighing in on ABA resolutions and other regulatory reform proposals; serving on scholarly publications and awards committees; and assisting with outreach, membership recruiting, and fundraising. Outside of the quarterly meetings, the time commitment is flexible and tailored to the particular council member’s strengths and interests. We seek council members from a great diversity of backgrounds and career paths in administrative law and regulatory practices—academics, private and public interest practitioners, and government lawyers. Some council members have extensive experience in the Section, and others much less so. Some are based on DC, and others not. All must have been a member of the ABA and the Section for at least the last year. (If you’re unsure of whether the person you’re nominating qualifies from a membership perspective, nominate them anyway, and we will follow up. At the very least this helps us identify potential Section leaders for future years.)

The Nominations Committee this year consists of Bernard Bell, Connor Raso, and Chris Walker. We will begin our nominations process on March 6, 2023, so if you could send along nominations before then, that would be ideal. But we’ll also consider additional nominations through the middle of March on a rolling basis. Self-nominations are highly encouraged as well. A sentence or paragraph nomination is completely fine, but obviously send whatever you think would be most helpful. Just email the Nominations Committee Chair at chris.j.walker@umich.edu. We are, of course, also happy to answer any questions you may have about the open positions or the process.