The attorneys of the Administrative Law Division of the Office of General Counsel provide the Commissioners, and the agency's Bureaus and Offices, with legal advice on a broad range of communications and general administrative law issues. They also provide the public with legal information on such matters.
The Division reviews all draft Commission decisions for legal sufficiency. Division staff provide legal advice to the Commission concerning a wide array of statutes, regulations, and procedures, including, for example, the Communications Act of 1934, as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Administrative Procedure Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, the Regulatory Flexibility Act, the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Government in the Sunshine Act, the Congressional Review Act of 1996, negotiated rulemaking and alternative dispute resolution, the Commission's procedural rules, procurement issues, the agency's ex parte and ethics rules (including receipt of gifts by the Commission and its employees, reimbursed travel expenses, and lobbying disclosure). The Division staff is available to answer inquiries from the public concerning these matters.
The Division also drafts all Commission decisions involving matters on review from Administrative Law Judges, Freedom of Information Act applications for review, and regulatory and filing fee applications for review.
Chin Yoo is Associate General Counsel and Division Chief. David Konczal and Erika Olsen are the Deputy Associate General Counsels for Agenda Review. Michael Janson and Karen Schroeder are Deputy Associate General Counsels for General Law. Susan Aaron, Laurence Atlas, Douglas Klein, Marcus Maher, Richard Mallen, and Jeffrey Steinberg are Assistant General Counsels, and Kathleen Fulp is the Assistant General Counsel for Ethics.