Syllabus
The Role of the State Attorney General
James E. Tierney has been teaching a seminar on the role of the state attorney general since 2000 when it was first offered at Columbia Law School. The current iteration of the course, taught with with former Maine Solicitor General Peter Brann, has been offered at Harvard Law School since 2010. The course is now offered in over twenty law schools.
At Harvard, the course uses an innovative open casebook created on Harvard Law School’s H2O Casebook platform — a web-based platform designed to help law faculty create, share, and remix digital casebooks and other educational materials.
Fall 2024 | Course Intro (excerpt)
Syllabus: The Role of the State Attorney General
The role of state attorneys general has dramatically expanded as these elected officials and their staff have become increasingly important actors in American jurisprudence. They continue to make their mark in consumer protection, antitrust, civil rights, education, immigration, labor law, political corruption and environmental protection even as they tender daily legal advice that impacts the workings of state government. Working alone or in combination with or opposed to the federal government, their colleagues in other states or with businesses, unions and interest groups, the attorneys general are now major players in American jurisprudence.
This two credit course examines the core duties of attorneys general and reviews and critiques their authority and performance. The class will examine the means utilized by attorneys general in carrying out their responsibilities including their ethical responsibilities. It will also discuss the implications for federalism and separation of powers by exploring state relations with state and federal agencies that have parallel jurisdiction. Finally, the course will discuss the impact that interest groups and the media have on the office of attorney general. Attorneys general and their staff regularly visit the class.
“When we talk about the office of the state attorney general, we’re talking about the big cases of our time … Students need to understand what’s going on the state level. Attorney general offices are bringing these cases, and how they bring them, how they think about them, how they staff them, how they conceptualize them … that’s what I teach.”
Clea Simon, “New law school casebook for teaching about state attorneys general,” Harvard Law Today, June 21, 2022.