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How much of a disadvantage would I be for govt/PI jobs if I graduate without having taken admin? I'm having a tough time fitting it into my schedule at present and am wondering if it really is as important as it is reputed to be.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 12, 2022 8:35 am

How much of a disadvantage would I be for govt/PI jobs if I graduate without having taken admin? I'm having a tough time fitting it into my schedule at present and am wondering if it really is as important as it is reputed to be.

Depends on what kind of government/PI job. Like a criminal AUSA or public defender won’t need it, but an environmental public interest attorney will. It’s very helpful for federal clerkships.

It's helpful for admin agencies(obviously), clerkships, and more transactional forms of practice where you're working with/adjacent to the government. In my specific area I found it useless and the major ideas are easy enough to grasp in practice.

I just finished clerking in a leading district and I'll be starting in bigfed soon.

I did poorly in admin law and never encountered or needed it as a law clerk.

As a civil litigator at federal agency who has served on a hiring committee, I can tell you that it is unlikely (at least at my agency) that anyone will even know or care whether you took the class, but I am glad I took admin law given that a basic understanding of rule making and the administrative procedure act more generally is really quite helpful in appreciating how federal agencies work. With chevron deference's imminent demise, what I learned about deference to agency interpretations will probably soon be moot, but still.