The ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice has selected Nicholas R. Parrillo, the William K. Townsend Professor of Law and Professor of History at Yale Law School, as the winner of its 2026 Annual Scholarship Award. The award recognizes the best work published in administrative law during 2025. It goes to his article, Administrative Law as a Choice of Business Strategy: Comparing the Industries Who Have Routinely Sued Their Regulators with the Industries Who Rarely Have, 93 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1031 (2025).

The article takes up a phenomenon that administrative lawyers have all observed but understand poorly: why some industries routinely sue their regulators while others rarely do. Professor Parrillo built a large dataset, paid careful attention to the regulatory context of each sector, and added interviews with leading industry lawyers to the empirical work. The result is a nuanced account that moves beyond the familiar picture of self-interested corporations on one side and overzealous government on the other. Its insights bear on judicial review, agency design, capture, and compliance, and they are useful across the political spectrum.

The award committee also valued that, at a moment when so much scholarship is prescriptive, the article adds to our understanding of how the players in administrative law actually relate to one another. We expect it to be a springboard for future work.

Professor Parrillo joins a distinguished list of recipients, including last year’s winners, Ashraf Ahmed, Lev Menand, and Noah Rosenblum. The full list is on the Section’s website.

Congratulations, Nick!

Linda Jellum is Interim Dean at Gonzaga University School of Law, Chair of the ABA Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice Section, and Chair of the Section’s Scholarship Committee.