Inaugurated on March 1, 2004, the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School is a legal research, education-and-policy center that examines the implications of the jurisprudence of state attorneys general.   Working closely with attorneys general, their staff, students, academics and other members of the legal community, the Program is active in the development and dissemination of legal information that state prosecutors are able to use in the carrying out of their civil and criminal responsibilities. 

 

Under the leadership of Ellen Chapnick (Dean of Social Justice Initiatives at CLS), Director James E. Tierney (former Attorney General of Maine), and Deputy Director Tam Ormiston (current Chief Deputy Attorney General of Iowa), the AG Program is a cornerstone of Columbia's commitment to educating and developing its students and others to be innovators and leaders in government service. The Program offers courses on Multistate Litigation and the Role of Attorneys General, and oversees Public Advocacy Externships with the New York State Attorney General’s office. Additionally, the program hosts educational debates and speaker events at the Law School for the benefit of students and faculty.

 

Since its inception, the Program has focused its energies on several pointed, policy-driven projects in underdeveloped, emerging areas of jurisdiction for Attorneys General, including Charities Regulation, Pharmaceuticals, Environmental Policy, Labor, and Disaster Planning. Through these projects, the Program has produced original research, developed web-resources, and hosted several conferences and summits that have led to important breakthroughs in AG offices across the country.

 

During these multi-day, invitation only conferences, participants have included Attorneys General and key deputies, lawyers from federal agencies, federal judges, academics, students from Columbia and other law schools, and prominent lawyers from the private and public interest bars.  Columbia faculty and students have been panelists and papers written by Columbia students have been featured, many of which have gone on to be published in prominent law reviews and legal journals, and are relied on by Attorneys General throughout the nation. 

Deputy Director, National State Attorneys General Program Chief Deputy Attorney General of Iowa. 

 

Administrative Coordinator, National State Attorneys General Program

 

Board of Advisors:
Richard Blumenthal, Attorney General of Connecticut
Richard Briffault, Vice Dean and Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation, Columbia Law School, Director of the Legislative Drafting Research Fund
John C. Coffee, Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
Roy Cooper, Attorney General of North Carolina

Lee Fisher, Lieutenant Governor of Ohio
Mike Fisher, Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Terry Goddard, Attorney General of Arizona
Harvey Goldschmid, Dwight Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
Robert Henry, Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Bill Lockyer, Treasurer, State of California 
Patrick C. Lynch, Attorney General of Rhode Island
Rob McKenna, Attorney General of Washington

Tom Miller, Attorney General of Iowa 
Gillian Metzger, Associate Professor of Law, Columbia Law School

Gerald J. Pappert, Former Attorney General of Pennsylvania 
William H. Simon, Arthur Levitt Professor of Law, Columbia Law School 
William H. Sorrell, Attorney General of Vermont, NAAG President-Elect
Susan P.Sturm, George M. Jaffin Professor of Law & Social Responsibility, Columbia Law School
Lawrence Wasden, Attorney General of Idaho