Washington, D.C., July 18, 2024—The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) is soliciting public input on strategies for expanding assistance and representation for members of the public who engage with federal administrative programs and participate in federal agency proceedings.

The request is available on ACUS’s website at https://www.acus.gov/document/nonlawyer-assistance-and-representation-request-comments and was published in the Federal Register (89 Fed. Reg. 55913) on July 8.

Comments should be submitted by 10:00 a.m. ET on August 31, 2024, to info@acus.gov (with “Nonlawyer Assistance and Representation” in the subject line of the message). 

The request is part of an ongoing project to learn more about the extent to which nonlawyers represent parties in administrative adjudication, the forms of assistance other than representation that participants receive from nonlawyers, and agency policies and practices governing assistance and representation by nonlawyers. 

ACUS has engaged Professor Amy Widman (Rutgers Law School) to prepare a research report as part of the project.

The project builds on a recommendation adopted by ACUS in December, which identified ways agencies can “increase the availability of assistance for members of the public interacting with their programs,” as well as a 1986 recommendation on nonlawyer assistance and representation.

To learn more about the project, visit https://www.acus.gov/projects/nonlawyer-assistance-and-representation.

About ACUS 

The Administrative Conference of the United States is an independent, non-partisan federal agency within the executive branch dedicated to improving administrative law and federal regulatory processes. It conducts applied research, and provides expert recommendations and other advice, to improve federal agency procedures. Its membership is composed of senior federal officials, academics, and other experts from the private sector. Since 1968, ACUS has issued hundreds of recommendations, published reports and reference guides, and organized forums to improve the efficiency, adequacy, and fairness of administrative processes such as rulemaking and adjudication. Many have resulted in reforms by federal agencies, the President, Congress, and the Judicial Conference of the United States. Learn more at www.acus.gov. 

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