Tulane Law School Clinics

Legislative and Administrative Advocacy

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Legislative and Administrative Advocacy examines how bills become law and how agency rules are promulgated. Each student will research and draft a proposed bill or agency regulation on behalf of a client group, present it in a mock hearing, and write a research paper. Grades are based in equal proportions on the draft of an instrument, mock hearing, and research paper; there is no examination. Class meetings will cover legislative and administrative enactment and promulgation procedures, research methodologies, drafting techniques, constitutional restrictions, and public access to information. This clinical course is open for enrollment by second and third yar students. Professors Marcello and Babst plan to invoke a rule penalizing students for lack of preparation and/or excessive absenteeism. (3 Credits)

Executive Director, The Public Law Center

David A. Marcello

David Marcello's focus on public law arises from his extensive experience with open meetings and public records, governmental ethics, zoning and municipal law, legislative drafting and agency rulemaking.

During the 1970s, he was statewide coordinator for the Conservation Coalition, the first statewide environmental lobby in Louisiana; founded and directed the Louisiana Center for the Public Interest, the state’s first public-interest law firm; and served as executive counsel to New Orleans Mayor Ernest N. “Dutch” Morial, representing city agencies and employees on public bidding, open meetings, public records, zoning and other public sector legal concerns.