Lawyers and Regulation: The Politics of the Administrative Process

This book is a close study of lawyers who practise occupational safety and health law in the United States, using detailed interview and survey data to explore the roles that lawyers have as representatives of companies, unions, and OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration). Placed in the context of evolving understandings of regulatory politics as a problem of public-private interaction and negotiation, the book argues that lawyers adapt to multiple roles in what prove to be highly complex settings. The core chapters examine stages of the administrative process where various groups attempt to shape the immediate outcomes and the development of OSHA law. These stages include administrative rulemaking, post-rulemaking litigation of government standards, regulatory enforcement, and compliance counseling by lawyers.