This course will examine the unique institutional role of the state AG and challenges and complexities they face in providing legal advice and representation as the state’s top legal officer — including their status within their respective state systems, their relationship to the federal government, their role in both offensive and defensive litigation on behalf of the state, and their ever-increasing role in national and even international public policy issues.
The course will also discuss the role of the state AG in shaping a host of critical legal policy issues — including criminal justice, consumer protection, environmental and other torts, and federalism. Students will become familiar with key statutes, common law theories, and case law; read scholarly and descriptive articles from a variety of sources; and engage with hypotheticals to understand and analyze the nature and function of the Office of State Attorney General.
