We have begun the development of panels for the 2025 ABA Administrative Law Conference, which will be held virtually again on November 20-21, 2025. This is a great way to share your research and expertise with around 1,000 regulatory lawyers and scholars.

We expect to have twenty panels on various topics. In particular, we would like to include panels on the following topics: (1) the state of deference after Loper Bright / Relentless; (2) the latest on major questions and non-delegation doctrines; (3) the Trump Administration’s deregulatory initiatives including the role of DOGE and related litigation; (4) the presumption of regularity in modern practice; (5) Congress’ power of the purse and executive branch impoundments; (6) trends in the use of acting officials; (7) the unitary executive theory; (8) the future of the civil service; (9) contempt in administrative law proceedings; (10) nationwide/universal injunctions; (11) removal of officers and the future of Humphrey’s Executor; and (12) artificial intelligence in regulations or adjudication; and (13) post-Jarkesy developments.

We invite you to submit a panel proposal on any of the above topics. In addition, below, we include suggested topics from last year’s attendees and a list of ideas and themes to inspire you, although we invite you to develop your own ideas as well. Finally, we will have four ‘101’ panels, two ethics panels, and our hugely popular Developments panels, for a total of 24 CLE panels. 

We generally receive more proposals than we can accommodate. When making our final selections, preference will be given to complete panel proposals with topics that are of general administrative law interest (rather than those of narrower substantive fields). Successful panel proposals will include speakers from both the private and public sectors and offer balanced points of view. Further, they will identify the CLE material to be provided to attendees (including at least 20 pages of original, substantive PowerPoint slides or their equivalent). Panel participants receive complimentary admission to conference proceedings on the day of their presentation.

To organize a panel, please complete the panel proposal form. To be considered, a form with all information, should be submitted by 5:00 PM June 30, 2024. Please submit your panel proposal(s) to Anne Kiefer (Anne.Kiefer@americanbar.org). You are welcome to email any of the co-chairs to discuss a possible panel idea.  We very much appreciate your time and look forward to your panel proposal.

Bridget C.E. Dooling

Assistant Professor of Law, The Ohio State University, Michael E. Moritz College of Law

Andrew Emery
President, The Regulatory Group, and Executive Chair, DocketScope, Inc.

Christopher J. Walker
Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School

Ideas and themes that may inspire your panel topics for the 2025 Administrative Law Fall CLE Conference

The following list is not meant to be exclusive, but to help brainstorm potential panel topics. Feel free to suggest other topics!

1. Changes to administrative law and regulatory practice under the Trump Administration
2. Current events in administrative law, including hot topics in regulatory fields such as financial regulation, immigration, IP, and environmental regulation
3. Future of Administrative Law – The APA – Where are we Going?  Challenges to and the future of the professional civil service, ALJ/AJ issues such as adjudicator independence; ALJ adjudication; admin law updates; appointments; and removal of officers and ALJ’s
4. Agency adjudication procedures; or an ALJ panel on practice in a post-pandemic world
5. Practice oriented guidance for government and/or private sector attorneys covering issues such as OMB review, preemption, copyright, the importance of the regulatory impact analysis, developing the administrative record, and pursuing enforcement cases, separation of powers, Major Questions Doctrine, interplay between the 3 branches, the role of courts in the administrative state, etc.
6. Judicial deference doctrine, non-delegation doctrine, reviewability, and remedies (such as nationwide injunctions, and remands without vacatur)
7. Futures of independent agencies and related appointments clause issues
8. Ethics in government (or related professional responsibility topics such as the role of the federal agency attorney)
9. Agency guidance and related sub-regulatory activities and internal administrative law
10. Compliance with specific procedural statues including Paperwork Reduction Act (overview panel or best practice for agency attorneys); Freedom of Information Act; Privacy Act and Regulatory Flexibility Act
11. Ex Parte communications
12. Technology to help government and private sector attorneys: E-discovery, E-rulemaking, data management, generative AI, large language models, etc.
13. Current administrative law litigation, major decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court, DC Circuit, and other federal courts of appeals
14. Role of Congress in the administrative state, including substantive legislation, appropriations, and oversight
15. Role of OIRA/OMB: cost-benefit analysis, centralized regulatory review, regulatory impact analysis, etc.
16. Developments in state administrative law
17. Regulation – discussion of Agency and Academic perspectives
18. Federal appropriations law and the budget
19. Intersection of administrative law with federal sector employment law
20. A comparative law discussion of how administrative law is handled in other countries    
21. Energy law, e.g., permitting issues relating to energy development activities
22. Regulation of emerging technologies, e.g., Drones, autonomous vehicles
23. Cyber security, National security
24. Government transparency, FOIA, etc.