Government Law Center

History

The Government Law Center was founded in 1978, the product of a grant initiated at the federal level and administered by New York State through the New York State Department of State, under the leadership of Mario M. Cuomo as then-Secretary of State. Cuomo worked with Albany Law School Professors Sandra Stevenson and Bernard Harvith to secure a grant through the United States Office of Personnel Management and the United States Civil Service Commission.

Professor Sandra Stevenson served as the GLC's Director for a few months before J. Langdon Marsh became the first full-time director of the GLC on March 1, 1979 The Center contracted with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to prepare its first state legal report in 1980, titled "Selected Legal Problems in the Control of Hazardous Wastes." The Center proceeded to enter into contracts with several New York State agencies, including the New York State Department of Social Services, Adirondack Park Agency, New York State Department of State, New York State Department of Health, and with the New York State Legislature, to produce reports and offer training. Under Marsh's direction, the Center also focused on issues related to hazardous waste, zoning and planning, environmental quality review, economic development, and local government.

Marsh left the Center in July 1983, and for a brief time following, Joseph W. Bellacosa served as the Center's director. He subsequently was appointed by then-New York State Governor Mario M. Cuomo to serve as a Judge on the Court of Claims and Chief Administrative Judge of all State Courts, followed by a fourteen-year term on the New York Court of Appeals. In 1983, Professor Sandra M. Stevenson was re-appointed Associate Dean and Director of the Government Law Center, assuming the position she had held in the first months of the Center's existence. During her tenure, the GLC conducted training programs in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and tying ADR to intellectual property. Under Stevenson's leadership in 1989, Albany Law School and the Government Law Center became the official repository for tapes of oral arguments heard before the New York Court of Appeals. In 1990, Professor George F. Carpinello was appointed Director. Under Carpinello, the Center introduced the Warren M. Anderson Legislative Breakfast Seminar Series, a series focused on topics of interest to legislators and policy makers, named for the former President Pro Tem and Majority Leader of the New York State Senate. The GLC also began producing a newsletter for the County Attorneys Association of New York State (CAASNY), prepared the first edition of Legal Careers in New York State Government (with later editions published by the New York State Bar Association), and placed student interns in the counsel's office of various state agencies.

Patricia E. Salkin, Raymond and Ella Smith Distinguished Professor of Law and Associate Dean of Albany Law School, was appointed Director of the GLC in 1992, and served as the Center's Director until her appointment as dean of the Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center in 2012. In the first years under Salkin's leadership, the GLC began the Edgar and Margaret Sandman Fellowship in Aging and Health Law, and created the Senior Citizen's Law Day, a day-long program providing local seniors with free seminars on important issues related to aging. The Aging Law and Policy Program was established in 1994 to focus on issues related to aging.

In 1994, the GLC also received funding through the United States Department of Education to create the Mediation Assistance Program to train and state-certify law and non-law students as volunteer mediators for New York's Community Dispute Settlement Program, leading to the establishment of the Program on Public Policy Dispute Resolution to focus on issues emerging in this field.

In the years that followed, a number of additional programs were initiated. The Lawrence F. Klepper Legal Assistance Program for Non-Profit Organizations, helping to place law students with attorneys who provide pro bono or very low-cost services to nonprofits, was established at the GLC in 1994 by friends of the former Executive Director of the Legal Aid Society and with the support of Congregation Beth Emeth. The Edwin L. Crawford Memorial Lecture in Municipal Law was launched in 1996 to address issues of state and national importance to municipal officials. In 1998, the GLC's Government Law Network began as a way for people working in or with government to meet key law and policy makers at exclusive "Networking Breakfast" forums. The Center's Alumni Leaders in Government Networking Series provided students with an opportunity to interact with notable Albany Law School graduates.

In 1999, the GLC together with the Albany Law Clinic and Justice Center established the Semester in Government Program, offering students full-time internships in government counsel offices in Albany and Washington, D.C. The Center also began producing The Government Law & Policy Journal for the New York State Bar Association's Committee on Attorneys in Public Service.

In 2000, the GLC started providing services for the City of Albany's newly created Citizen's Police Review Board, established by a law calling upon an academic institution to support the oversight of law enforcement. The GLC moved to its new location on the Albany Law School campus in 2001. The same year, the Center hosted the annual "Saratoga Institute on Racing and Gaming Law" as part of its Program on Racing and Gaming Law. The Center also received funding from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to expand mediation services for area housing communities.

In 2002, the GLC and Squire, Sanders and Dempsey began sponsoring the William B. Sanders Law and Public Policy Forum. New York State officials such as former Governor David A. Paterson, then Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have participated. The Government Lawyer in Residence program at the GLC was established in 2002 to give the Center and law students the resources of a former government attorney.

The GLC also produced a new edition of the Manual for Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers published by the New York State Department of Civil Service; a conference on the 30th anniversary of the Adirondack Park; New York's first conference on "smart growth"; a program to mark the 25th anniversary of the State Environmental Quality Review Act; and a symposium on siting new power plants in New York.

The GLC hosted the inaugural Nancy M. Sills '76 Memorial Lecture, featuring then-Lieutenant Governor Mary O. Donohue, at the 10th Annual Senior Citizen's Law Day in 2003. The Summer in Government was also introduced as a way to provide students with internship placements with government lawyers in Albany.

In 2004 the GLC, in partnership with public television station WMHT, produced "Inside the Inner Circle," focused on the process of state policymaking, featuring former counsels to five New York governors. In 2005 the Center introduced Graduate and Post-Graduate Fellowships for law and policy research and a Faculty Affiliate program to augment its research capability. Historian and scholar Paul Finkelman was named Senior Faculty Fellow at the GLC and Albany Law School's President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy. The Clarence D. "Rapp" Rappleyea Government Lawyer in Residence Program was established to recognize the former State Assembly Minority Leader.

In 2005 - 2007, the GLC took on a number of new projects: a series of procurement law initiatives to help improve New York State's procurement process and identify potential areas of reform in the 1995 Procurement Stewardship Act; providing technical assistance related to consolidations, mergers, dissolutions, cooperative agreements and shared services as part of the Shared Municipal Services Incentive (SMSI) Grant Program, under a contract with the New York State Department of State; establishing a Non-Profit Legal Assistance Program with the assistance of then-U.S. Congressman Michael R. McNulty; and the establishment of the Public Authorities Project, to provide research on legal aspects of public policy issues facing public authorities.

The GLC also hosted a number of conferences and programs during 2005 - 2007, including: a Cornell University co-sponsored invitational series on New York State water resources; a national teleconference on the legal aspects of commercializing hydrogen technology; a forum on the siting of wind facilities in New York, in partnership with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA); a national teleconference series on renewable energy, sponsored by the American Council on Renewable Energy; and a symposium on municipal broadband and WiFi policies, in cooperation with the New York State Office for Technology, the New York State Public Service Commission, the New York State Department of State, and the Empire State Development Corporation. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Ethics in Government Act, the GLC convened a symposium in 2007 keynoted by former Fordham Law School Dean John Feerick. The Government Law Center proceeded to sponsor and co-sponsor numerous conferences in 2008 - 2009, including a 2009 conference on building in the 21st century, co-sponsored with the American Institute of Architects, New York State and the New York City Bar Association; a symposium on E-FOIL and the impact of technology on accessing records featuring Miriam Nisbet, Director of the Office of Government Information Services, United States National Archives and Records Administration; and a symposium on preserving executive records in 2010, with former Governor of Pennsylvania and United States Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and presidential historian Richard Norton Smith.

In 2010 - 2011, in conjunction with the Albany Law School's Albany Law Review, the GLC held symposia on education reform with Charles Rose, General Counsel for the United States Department of Education; baseball and the law, featuring John Thorn, Major League Baseball's official Baseball Historian; and on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights, keynoted by Jeh Johnson, General Counsel for the United States Department of Defense.

In 2009, Albany Law School was awarded a four-year, $250,000 incentive by NYSERDA to help create sustainable networks in New York State that support early-stage companies focused on renewable and clean energy product development. In 2010, the GLC received additional funding from NYSERDA to begin providing legal education and early stage business support to New York's cleantech and alternative energy companies, including a web-based resource, Legal Handbook for Early Stage Business.

In 2010, the GLC introduced the nationwide Public Authorities Information Clearinghouse (PAIC), designed to help government officials, public interest groups, and others navigate documents that pertain to the operation of government of public authorities. A blog on public authorities was launched in 2011.

Publications

Government Law Online, a clearinghouse service of the Government Law Center, contains a collection of government law and public policy articles, studies, papers and reports written by faculty, staff, and students of Albany Law School. This site also contains reports, papers, transcripts and materials from GLC programs.

Funding

The Government Law Center is funded by Albany Law School, corporate and foundation support, contracts and grants, and through individual donations.

Government Law Center Advisory Board

An Advisory Board, composed of the Albany Law School faculty and leaders from the public, private and non-profit sectors, assists the GLC's Director in charting future initiatives.