A full house in room 274 while Thomas Barnico presents

Thomas A. Barnico, Esq., adjunct professor at Boston College Law School and longtime Massachusetts assistant attorney general, visited on November 4 to address students and an online audience on the differences between state and federal attorneys general.

Sponsored by the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership & Public Service, the lecture was part of the Alison Curelop Series in Ethics, Professionalism & Civility.

“Warren Rudman’s service as attorney general of New Hampshire makes this a particularly fitting venue for today’s discussions,” said Mr. Barnico. “So, in that way our topic honors his memory.”

Mr. Barnico noted that while each attorney general, state and federal, is the chief law officer of their respective governments, state and federal attorneys general differ in a crucial respect. “Most state AGs are elected by the people of their states, and so possess a degree of independence not enjoyed by their federal counterparts, who serve at the pleasure of the president. The degree, limits, and consequences of the independence of attorneys general are among our topics today.”

About Thomas Barnico

Thomas Barnico presenting in 274

Mr. Barnico, adjunct professor at Boston College Law School, teaches Administrative Law, the Attorney General Clinical Program, and the Administrative Law Externship Seminar. He has directed the Attorney General Clinical Program there since 1989.

From 1981 to 2010, he served as an assistant attorney general for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He has argued three cases in the United States Supreme Court, 18 cases in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and 72 cases in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Boston College Law School.

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