This year’s ABA Administrative Law Conference was already going to be an amazing event — an absolute must-attend conference for adlaw nerds, scholars, and practitioners. But with the election surprise and change in presidential administration (plus a Congress controlled by the same party as the President-Elect), the topics being covered at the conference take on added and distinct significance. Here’s a sampling of the panel topics (with some quick commentary of my own in parentheses):

• Beyond OIRA: Working with OMB on Budget, Management, and Everything Else [CJW Note: White House review of significant agency regulatory activity is an even more interesting topic when the OMB and OIRA regulatory czars will be appointed by a Republican President for the first time in nearly a decade.]
• The Past and Future of Judicial Deference: A Scholarly Examination [CJW Note: There has been a lot of terrific scholarship produced exploring the empirical and theoretical aspects of administrative law’s deference doctrines, perhaps motivated in part by calls from the right on the Supreme Court. With Justice Scalia’s passing, the likelihood of eliminating Auer deference and narrowing/eliminating Chevron deference seemed to have faded. But with the new administration, both judicial and congressional reform efforts seem back in play, so this discussion becomes all the more important.]
• Administrative Law in China: Recent Developments and Implications for Chinese Law & Governance
• The Future the of Cost-Benefit State [CJW Note: Same as OIRA/OMB, but it’s also worth noting that pending legislation like the Financial Choice Act, which in Section 612 would impose cost-benefit analysis on the SEC, have a decent shot of actually being enacted in a Republican-controlled Congress with a Republican President.]
• Evolving Justiciability: Discretionary Standing and Practical Finality? [CJW Note: It’s going to be fascinating to see where the Court goes on standing to challenge federal agency action in light of the changed landscape in the political branches.]
• Mind the Gap: Bridging the US-EU Regulatory Divide in a Digital World
• Legal, Policy and Political Challenges in the Presidential Transition [CJW Note: I bet the panelists here are going to present something very different than when they originally planned this panel.]
• New Concerns About Rulemaking Capture: Are They Valid and If So What Can Be Done? [CJW Note: It will be fascinating to follow how agency capture arguments shift, if at all, in light of the change in presidential administration.]
• Has International Investor Arbitration Become Another Forum for Review of Administrative Agency Action?
• Diversity and Inclusion in Federal Agencies
• Your Agency Is Not That Special: The Decline of Administrative Law Exceptionalism [CJW Note: This is a panel I’ve organized, and it’s going to be a ton of fun with leading experts in immigration, patent law, and tax joining us, along with a senior appellate litigator from the Justice Department.]
• Rethinking Administrative Adjudication [CJW Note: This is another panel I have helped plan. Reform to agency adjudication is one area where I hope we’ll see bipartisan support in the new administration.]
• A Legal Primer on Public-Private Partnerships
• Does State Securities Regulation Matter Anymore? How Federal Securities Regulation Continues to Encroach on the States
• Ethical Red Flags for Public Lawyers
• Top 10 Agenda Items for President Clintrump’s FDA: Whoever Wins has a Full Plate! [CJW Note: Again, no doubt the panelists have been reworking their presentations.]
• From Deference to Constitutional Scrutiny: The Continuum of Judicial Review in the Realm of Administrative Law
• Ethics and Professional Responsibility in a Presidential Transition [CJW Note: Same comment as above about the other transition panel.]

Definitely come join us for the two-day conference December 8-9, 2016, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, in Washington, DC. As an added bonus, you can get all your CLE in (12.5 credits, including 1.5 ethics credits) for the year. You can register and check out the full program here.