Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

 

Here is the lawyer's answer:  Administrative law refers to the branch of law governing the creation and operation of administrative agencies within the executive branch of the government. The powers granted to administrative agencies, the substantive rules that such agencies make, and the legal relationships between agencies, other government bodies, and the public at large are critically important to a well-functioning and democratic society.

 

While that is exciting to me, it may sound boring to you.  By the end of class, I hope you will also find it exciting, and appreciate that, at its core, administrative law is about the capacity of law to shape human behavior.  Administrative law covers the means by which the executive branch, through its administrative agencies can use their powers, and the remedies that people may use if injured by an agency.  

 

The class takes a non-traditional, practical, jobs focused orientation.  

 

The foundation of the class are the traditional administrative law and associated constitutional principles that you would find in law school.  

 

We also focus specific substantive areas of administrative law like employment law, immigration law, environmental law, etc.   In the first class, the students help choose these specific areas we will focus on.  We use these specific substantive areas as practical, real world examples of how administrative law is used.   

 

 

A core theme in class is about how to get a job in an administrative agency.  This could be a paralegal job, but you will learn how the skills you are learning in the PCC Paralegal Program can also apply to non-legal jobs with the government.  We have traditionally had a guest speaker from the Oregon government explain how to apply and interview for state agency jobs, and a former PCC administrative law student working in an administrative agency talk about the interesting and engaging government jobs that use paralegal skills.

 

 

Finally, we try to tie the class to the real world.  Now is the one of the most interesting times in the field of administrative law as the federal Supreme Court is radically reshaping American constitutional and administrative law.  We will read news articles, and you will learn how what you read about in the news is actually really about administrative law.  

 

Some recent examples:

 

• The biggest climate change and environmental law case in recent history occurred recently term when the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA narrowed the breadth of powers the Environmental Protection Agency has to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act.  This case was all about administrative law.

 

• The Supreme Court blocked President Biden's student loan forgiveness program.  You should leave the class understanding the underlying administrative and constitutional legal principles behind this and other similar decisions.

 

• A Federal Judge eliminated the Center for Disease Control's public transportation mask mandate.  Why?  Because of administrative law principles.  

 

• The Supreme Court stopped the Biden administration from enforcing a requirement that employees at large businesses be vaccinated against Covid-19 or undergo weekly testing and wear a mask on the job.  Why?  Because of administrative law.

 

• The Supreme Court ruled that the President can fire at will the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  Why?  If you guessed administrative law, then you would be right.

 

• And the list goes on.  

 

We will be using the book Administrative Law (Concepts and Insights) 3rd Edition by Richard Pierce Jr. which should be available in the Bookstore, Aspen Publishing (the publisher) and Amazon.  The book is a high level mini-treatise written for lawyers that discusses and analyzes principal concepts of administrative law and process using summaries of the key legal cases. 

 

 

1. Understand the basic principles of administrative law.

2. Understand basic constitutional principles related to administrative law, including federalism, separation of powers, due process, searches and seizures.

3. Familiarity with the history of and reasons for administrative agencies.

4. Understand the rulemaking process, agency investigations and information gathering, administrative hearings, informal proceedings, agency discretion, and judicial review of agency decisions and rules.

5. Familiarity with numerous administrative agencies and areas of law. Administrative agencies studied will be diverse.  The students will select certain administrative agencies, subject to instructor approval.  Areas of law may include immigration, civil rights, employment, energy and public utility, environmental, and others selected by the students. 

6. Familiarity with and learn how to search for job opportunities available in administrative agencies.

7. Learn legal research skills unique to administrative law.

 

 

1. Preparation of agency pleadings.

2. Use of agency websites for legal research.

3. Research agencies to identify jobs paralegals are qualified for.

4. Use of the Federal Register for legal research.

5. Knowledge of how to work with and obtain information from administrative agencies.

6. Knowledge of paralegal ethics applicable to administrative agencies, including confidentiality and unauthorized practice of law.

 

 

1. Prepare legal case briefs, including unique aspects of administrative orders.

2. Use the Federal Register to search for and summarize proposed rules, including substantive policies, procedural requirements, comment dates and the method of submitting comments.

3. How to draft agency pleadings, including the drafting of an application for reconsideration of an agency order.

4. Review and analyze agency orders and administrative rules.

5. Understand how to search for jobs at an administrative agency.

 

And if this does not inspire you to take the class, here are some former students:

 

• Very thoughtful structuring of classes incorporating a variety of learning methods and gradual folding in of concepts learned into new material. Each assignment had a purpose and was useful not only for learning in class but for a future job. Emphasis on expanding the possibility of jobs available to those with paralegal training was great. The class was time-consuming and the instructor demanded a lot. But he also gave a lot, so it was worth it. I also feel like I learned a LOT in a meaningful way. Thank you!

 

• I thought the class was great. Challenging but also rewarding. The instructor was engaging and eager to help the students learn as much about administrative law as possible

 

• I don’t think I’ll ever forget what Federalism and the Supremacy clause means after this term! I would highly recommend Irion as a professor to other students. While this class was extremely tough for me, I learned a lot about this area of law, as well as about myself. Thank you for countless lessons & a great term, Irion!

 

• I am an older student with a BA from long ago and this instructor was absolutely inspiring. His demeanor had the effect of bringing the best out in students!! Exactly the kind of intellectual exercise PCC should aspire to!

 

• This was hands down the best class I've taken in the program. It was challenging subject matter the instructor presented it in a way that really made you want to be successful and put in the time. I really appreciated that the instructor allowed us to submit drafts of the homework assignments and provided insightful feedback. I would say the feedback we received on assignments is the best I've had in this program.

 

“The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but cannot do, at all, or cannot, so well do, for themselves—in their separate, and individual capacities.”  Abraham Lincoln