Professor Peter L. Strauss Honored in Administrative Law Review
Richard J. Pierce Jr., a Professor at George Washington University, Pays Tribute to Strauss' Career as a Teacher, Scholar, and 'Ambassador at Large'
New York, September 18, 2015—Earlier this year, students, scholars, and alumni gathered at the Harold Leventhal Memorial Symposium to honor the work of Columbia Law School Professor Peter L. Strauss, a giant in the field of administrative law whose career in legal education has spanned nearly a half century.
Now, another tribute has been paid. George Washington University Law School Professor Richard J. Pierce Jr., writing in the Administrative Law Review, honors Strauss for his roles as teacher, scholar, and “ambassador at large.”
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Columbia Law School Professor Peter L. Strauss has "influenced the thinking of government officials, lawyers, and scholars in scores of countries," says a colleague. |
In the classroom and through his casebooks, Strauss has taught tens of thousands of students at law schools across the country, Pierce writes. But his work has influenced many outside academia and the United States as well.
“Professor Strauss’s teachings have also had major effects beyond the borders of the United States,” Pierce writes. “The papers and speeches he has presented overseas have influenced the thinking of government officials, lawyers, and scholars in scores of countries.”
Pierce goes on in the piece to examine seven of Strauss’ articles that illustrate “the many ways in which Professor Strauss has contributed to our understanding of the U.S. public law system.”
In an afterword to the piece, Washington University School of Law Professor Ronald M. Levin recognizes Strauss’ service to the American Bar Association Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. Strauss served as chair of the section, council member, and chair or member of many section committees over the years. Levin draws attention to Strauss’ contributions to the ABA’s consideration of statutes including the Congressional Review Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. Within the section, Strauss wielded considerable influence, Levin wrote. After helping broker a compromise on one resolution, Levin recalled, one council member called Strauss “Peter James Madison Strauss.”
Columbia Law School honored Strauss at the Harold Leventhal Memorial Symposium on the occasion of his 75th birthday. The Betts Professor of Law has been a member of the Columbia Law School faculty since 1971. In addition to teaching courses on administrative law, legal methods, and legislation, he has published extensively on issues including rulemaking, separation of powers, and statutory interpretation. Strauss is a longtime editor of the leading casebook on administrative law his mentor Walter Gellhorn established, Gellhorn and Byse's Administrative Law: Cases and Comments.
A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, Strauss served as the first general counsel of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission and has lectured widely around the world on U.S. administrative law.