by Jeff Sovern
A post inspired by a question I heard Kathleen Engel ask: every year second-year students ask professors for suggestions for topics to write about for law reviews. Law professors and other lawyers also cast about for article topics. Meanwhile, administrative agencies often confront questions about what the law is or how it should develop, questions that might benefit from some thought from outsiders. It might serve all these groups–as well as the public and the development of the law–if the CFPB, FTC, and other agencies posted on their web sites a list of possible topics about which law students, law professors, and other lawyers could fruitfully write about. The ANPR process already entails something similar, but this is somewhat different in that it isn't limited to rule-making and could simply be a list which is revised from time to time.