Several foundational courses are important to virtually all aspects of government practice. Constitutional Law provides a structure for understanding constitutionally-guaranteed individual rights and the relationship of the units of government within our federal system. Administrative Law teaches students about the important regulatory processes of administrative agencies, both the quasi-legislative process of adopting rules and regulations and the quasi-judicial process of applying rules in individual cases, plus the judicial review of both of these agency functions. The Legislation course covers the process of statutory development and methods of statutory interpretation. Courses such as Environmental Law, Health Law, Employment Discrimination, Disability Law, Immigration Law, Race and American Law, Anti-Discrimination Law, and Issues in Sex Discrimination Law & Practice and Civil Rights explore statutory (and often constitutional) developments and interpretation in depth within concrete policy contexts, and offer useful tools and understanding that are generally applicable beyond these particular fields. Similar considerations apply to seminars such as Social Welfare Law & Policy, Tax Policy, Law & Urban Problems, Election and Political Campaign Law, Current Issues in Civil Rights Litigation, and Law, Politics and Democracy.

Students who wish to work for (or against) the federal government should of course maximize their exposure to courses about federal litigation and administrative procedure, and also about the substantive areas they might be interested in, such as Environmental Law, Health Law, Social Security Law, Foreign Relations and National Security, International Criminal Law, and offerings in the area of international human rights.

For students who anticipate working for state or local governments, or handling matters before or against such public bodies, several courses may be useful. State Constitutional Law examines the various charters for subnational governments, insofar as they regulate the functions among the three traditional branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial) and confer rights on citizens of the various states. Local Government Law concerns the delegation of state power to county, municipal and other local public entities, and the exercise of those powers by those respective offices. Civil Rights and the seminar Current Issues in Civil Rights Litigation examine constitutional claims against local government actors and the statutory defenses to constitutional liability. Given the importance of land use issues at the local level, future municipal practitioners also can benefit from the study of zoning law in the Regulation of Land Use.

Future government lawyers and their private-sector counterparts who intend to practice law in New Jersey should learn about New Jersey=s unique constitutional framework and expansive notions of individual rights in New Jersey State Constitutional Law. Such students also can obtain a detailed understanding of New Jersey=s system and rules of civil procedure in New Jersey Administrative Law and New Jersey Practice. The substantial legal work in New Jersey concerning its many casinos in Atlantic City also makes Casino Law a worthwhile offering.

Students who aspire to serve the government in policymaking roles, or who expect to represent private clients on regulatory matters, are encouraged to obtain a deeper exposure to the art of lawmaking in the courses and seminars focusing on particular statutory areas such as the environment, health care, and immigration noted above, in the course on Law and Economics and the seminar on Legislative Process and, when available, the courses on Lawyers and Lobbying and Law, Justice, & Society.

The enforcement of governmental regulations and the resolution of disputes with government agencies often entails substantial civil litigation. Accordingly, courses recommended within the Litigation specialization are likewise helpful to the future government practitioner, including Evidence, Pretrial Advocacy, Trial Advocacy, and Alternative Dispute Resolution, as well Federal Courts, Federal Practice and Procedure, and, when available, Class Actions.

Students interested in public policy might also consider two of our joint degree programs: one with the Eagleton Institute of Public Policy at Rutgers-New Brunswick, the other with the Graduate Program in Public Policy at Rutgers-Camden. Finally, students seeking practical legal experience in government practice are encouraged to participate in one of the many Externships regularly offered in a variety of federal, state and local government and public interest agencies in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area.

Civil Rights Practice

ACivil rights@ typically refers to fundamental individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution and civil rights statutes, such as freedom from discrimination on grounds of race, sex, nationality, disability, and other factors; freedom of speech, free exercise of religion, privacy and personal autonomy, voting, and due process of law (e.g. freedom from police brutality).

Private legal practice of this sort on behalf of plaintiffs is financed by damages in cases of employment and other kinds of discrimination, tort recoveries against police and other government actors, and attorneys= fees available to prevailing parties under many civil rights statutes. The civil rights defense bar is paid predominantly on a salaried basis by government defendants, and on a fee basis by employers and other private defendants. Some government agencies, such as the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and state-level analogues, also pursue cases in the interest of beneficiaries of civil rights. Finally, there are a small but active number of non-profit entities, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, the NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund, and the Women=s Law Project of Philadelphia, that undertake litigation and other forms of work in this area of the law, usually using a combination of salaried and volunteer attorneys.

Virtually everything said about course selection with respect to government practice also applies to civil rights practice. Litigation skills are clearly needed, so courses involving litigation doctrine and skills are quite helpful. In addition to taking courses relevant to government practice generally, students interested in civil rights should be particularly interested in such courses and seminars as Employment Discrimination, Disability Law, Immigration Law, Race and American Law, Issues in Sex Discrimination Law & Practice, Anti-Discrimination Law, Social Welfare Law & Policy, Citizenship, Civil Rights, Current Issues in Civil Rights Litigation, and First Amendment, Contemporary Constitutional Law: The Religion and State in a Cross-National Perspective.

Public Interest Practice

APublic interest practice@ is even less clear than Agovernment@ or Acivil rights@ practice, but it generally refers to advocacy on behalf of a widely-diffused group and/or those who are politically or financially disenfranchised. Classic examples of widely diffused groups are consumers, and Apeople who benefit from a clean environment.@ Widely-diffused interests may be large in the aggregate, but no one individual or easily-organized group of individuals will be able to monopolize the benefits of litigation and/or political action, thereby insuring a large number of Afree riders@ (people who will benefit from the action but who have not contributed to its costs) and discouraging anyone from undertaking it. APublic interest law@ seeks to overcome this problem through: support from foundations and/or individuals with an unusual commitment to the values at stake (e.g. the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Public Interest Research Groups [PIRGs]), through government agencies that themselves are supposed to pursue Athe public interest@ (e.g. the Environmental Protection Agency, and state attorney generals who are litigating against and/or attempting to settle with the tobacco industry), and class action and other enhanced recoveries that encourage private litigants to act as Aprivate attorney generals,@ i.e. to pursue private remedies that will also have systemic effects.

Examples of those who are politically or financially disenfranchised include children, women, persons with disabilities, and the poor. Public interest lawyering gives members of these groups an opportunity to be heard and to effectuate necessary changes in the legal and political systems.

Courses relevant to public interest practice include many of all the courses recommended with respect to government practice and civil rights practice. In addition, students interested in public interest lawyering should consider taking courses in administrative law and courses involving litigation doctrine and skills. Students interested in this area of the law would also find participation in the Civil Practice Clinic or the Externship program beneficial. Courses such as Social Welfare Law & Policy, Poverty Law, Anti-Discrimination Law are also generally relevant.

Those interested in advocating on behalf of widely-diffused groups may find helpful courses and seminars such as Environmental Law, Health Law, Law and Biomedical Ethics, Hazardous Waste, Toxic Torts, & Environmental Justice, Disability Law, Law & Economics.

Students considering a career in public interest lawyering may also find particularly courses such as Disability Law, Immigration Law, Women and the Law in the 20th Century, Domestic Violence Law, Domestic Violence Practice and Procedure, Domestic Violence Reform, and the seminar in Juvenile Justice particularly relevant.