Centers & Institutes: Center For Public Interest Law

Created in 1980, the Center for Public Interest Law (CPIL) is an academic center of research, teaching, and advocacy in public interest and administrative law. CPIL focuses its efforts on the study of an extremely powerful-yet often overlooked-level of government: state regulatory agencies. These agencies and their federal counterparts regulate all aspects of business (including banking, corporations, insurance, and real estate), professions (including attorneys, physicians, accountants, engineers, and architects), trades (including contractors, barbers, and cosmetologists), and the environment (air and water quality, pesticide use, forestry, coastal resources, and waste management). An understanding of these agencies-how they work, the procedures they follow, their authority and jurisdiction, and the limitations on their powers-is an indispensable weapon in the arsenal of most attorneys, especially public interest attorneys.