Читать книгу The CQ Press Career Guide for Political Science Students - Wendy N. Whitman Cobb - Страница 13

One profession often crosses the boundary between public and private: the law. Not only can you practice in private, lawyers are in demand in the public sector. While being a lawyer in court is what usually comes to mind when you think about the law, there are plenty of other positions for lawyers in the government. Lawyers can be used when crafting and creating legislation, when analyzing legal implications for policy, and for interpreting and implementing legislation.

The most obvious place for lawyers in government is the Department of Justice, which is responsible for investigating and prosecuting federal crimes. However, most bureaucracies have legal departments whose responsibilities include analyzing legislation, writing regulations, ensuring that all laws are being followed, and recommending policy directives. Lawyers also have a role to play in the Department of Defense, as they can provide guidance on the interpretation of international agreements like the Geneva Convention. Similarly, lawyers are instrumental in crafting diplomatic agreements and treaties, centered in the Department of State.

One area of law that is particularly important for the bureaucracy is called administrative law. Administrative law involves the body of law that governs how the government is organized and run. Administrative law includes things like regulations that bureaucracies craft and administer and how those regulations are carried out. The major piece of legislation that governs administrative law is the Administrative Procedures Act of 1946. The APA requires that bureaucracies wishing to publish new regulations must follow certain procedures to not only inform the public of those regulations but to give the public an opportunity to comment on them before they are put into effect. Many challenges to regulations today come out of the APA and the requirements it lays out for making and implementing regulations. In fact, this is so consequential that there is an entire court system, the administrative courts, that hears cases related to administrative law.