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Facilitator

Richard W. Parker

Professor Parker teaches and writes in the fields of administrative law and domestic and international environmental law at the University of Connecticut School of Law.  His scholarship focuses on understanding -- and exploring ways to strengthen -- both domestic and trans-national governance in the fields of health, safety and environmental regulation. 

Professor Parker has served as Assistant General Counsel in the Office of the United States Trade Representative and Special Counsel to the Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where his responsibilities included assisting the Deputy Administrator in coordinating the agency’s trade and environment policy.

He has published articles or book chapters on international regulatory harmonization and cooperation; the design of fisheries management regimes; and the use of Impact Assessment in health, safety and environmental regulation.  He also has contributed to expert panels developing recommendations to strengthen regulatory analysis and public participation in US rulemaking.  A expert on negotiated rulemaking, Prof. Parker served in 2012 as convenor and facilitator for a negotiated rulemaking committee which considered revision of energy efficiency standards for distribution transformers.  In 2015, he convened and facilitated a negotiated rulemaking committee for the Department and Transportation which developed and proposed minimum standards for the training of bus and truck drivers nationwide.  Most recently he served as convenor for a Department of Transportation rulemaking to explore cost-effective ways to improve access for the disabled to commercial aircraft.

He is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Administrative Law Section, serving as Vice-Chair of the Section’s Committee on Collaborative Governance.  His most recent research project, supported by the EU Commission, provided a comprehensive comparison of the US and EU legislative and regulatory systems to lay a foundation of understanding for efforts to develop more effective mechanisms of trans-Atlantic regulatory cooperation.      

He holds a B.A. in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and a D.Phil. in Politics (International Relations) from Oxford University, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar.  He lives in Washington, DC, where he consults for clients, pursues his research agenda, and directs a Semester in DC program for students attending UCONN School of Law.