Federal Agencies Tap Three GU Law Professors

Three Georgetown University Law Center professors have been appointed by President Barack Obama to posts in his administration, bringing the number of officials in the administration who have taught at Georgetown Law to nine.

Professors Chai Feldblum, David Koplow and Howard Shelanski have been tapped to join the Obama administration, though Feldblum’s nomination is pending confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

Obama nominated Feldblum, who is currently director of the Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic at the Law Center, to be a commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday. If confirmed, she will serve a five-year term as one of five commissioners.

Feldblum, who could not be reached for comment, helped to draft the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 while working for the American Civil Liberties Union. She has been a prominent advocate for gay rights: She worked for the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ rights lobby, and helped to draft the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Koplow was appointed to serve as a special counsel for arms control to the general counsel of the Department of Defense.

“I am working in the Pentagon on a wide array of pressing and complex arms control issues, including the negotiation of a follow-on treaty to replace the soon-to-expire START [Global Change System for Analysis, Research and Training] agreement between the United States and Russia on nuclear weapons, the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention and possible future initiatives regarding outer space and cyber issues,” Koplow said.

Koplow has worked at Georgetown since 1981 and directs the Center for Applied Legal Studies. This is Koplow’s second tour with the Defense Department, having served as deputy general counsel for international affairs from 1997 to 1999. Koplow served as a special assistant and attorney adviser to the director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency from 1978 to 1981.

“In all of this, I hope to be able to bring a combination of practical and academic experience, derived from my previous government service and my teaching and writing in the field,” he said. “I absolutely will be returning to Georgetown Law, where I anticipate again teaching courses in the field of international law and national security.”

Shelanski’s new position is deputy director of antitrust for the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics.

Before coming to Georgetown, Shelanski served twice in government: from 1998 to 1999 as the senior economist for President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers and from 1999 to 2000 as the chief economist at the Federal Communications Commission.

“I am trained as both a lawyer and an economist,” Shelanski said. “My teaching and research in the areas of antitrust law and policy will help me in my role as the economist in charge of the antitrust portfolio here at the FTC. I hope that my experience connecting the economics to the law will be of particular help to the agency.”

“I will be focusing on all areas of competition law, both helping to design long-term policy as well as making enforcement decisions in specific cases,” Shelanski added.

Shelanski said he hopes to teach a seminar at the Law Center once he has settled in at the Federal Trade Commission.