Agency Practice Act

5 U.S.C. § 500 (2012), originally enacted November 8, 1965, by Pub. L. No. 89 332, 79 Stat. 1281; incorporated into the U.S. Code by Pub. L. No. 9083, 81 Stat. 195 (September 11, 1967) (with minor stylistic changes); amended by Pub. L. No. 106-113, Div. B, § 1000(a)(9) [Title IV, § 4732(b)(2)], Nov. 29, 1999, 113 Stat. 1536, 1501A-583. Overview: The Agency Practice Act provides that an attorney in good standing in any state may represent persons before federal agencies. An agency may require an attorney to file a written declaration of current qualification and to state that he is authorized to represent the particular person before the agency. Similarly, a duly qualified certified public accountant may represent persons before the Internal Revenue Service. The Act was intended to prohibit agency established admission requirements for licensed attorneys and special enrollment requirements for CPAs. (Note: The Patent and Trademark Office is exempted from the Act. ) The Act expressly neither grants nor denies other persons the right to practice before an agency, nor does it authorize or limit an agency’s right to discipline or disbar persons practicing before it.

In 1982, the Administrative Conference adopted a statement on discipline of attorneys practicing before federal agencies. After studying agency concerns and existing disciplinary procedures,4 the Conference concluded that any current problems concerning attorney discipline before federal agencies were not of such magnitude or so widespread as to require legislative action or the adoption of uniform federal standards.

Legislative History: In 1957 the Department of Justice recommended discontinuing the practice of many agencies that required attorneys to apply for agency acceptance as practitioners. Several bills were introduced in the early 1960s to abolish agency admission requirements. By 1965, few agencies retained admission requirements, and only the Treasury Department and the Patent Office objected to discontinuing them. (See House Judiciary Committee Report, cited below.) Pub. L. No. 89-32 was enacted in 1965 with the passage of S. 1758. In 1999, the Act was amended to substitute “Patent and Trademark Office” for “Patent Office.” Source Note: The House report on S. 1758 is reprinted in U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News. Professor Michael Cox’s 1982 report to the Administrative Conference discusses federal agency attorney discipline and contains an extensive bibliography. See also the statement of the Administrative Conference cited in footnote 3 of this chapter and the reports of the Administrative Conference and American Bar Association committees cited below. Also relevant is section 9 (“Use of Nonattorneys”) of the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act (see Chapter 5). Bibliography: I. Legislative History 1. Report to Accompany S. 1758, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, S. Rep. No. 755, 89th Cong., 1st Sess. (1965). 2. Report to Accompany S.1758, House Committee on the Judiciary, H.R. Rep. No. 1141, 89th Cong., 1st Sess. (1965), reprinted in 1965 U.S. Code Cong. & Admin. News, 89th Cong., 1st Sess. at 4170. II. Other Government Documents 1. Administrative Conference Committee on Governmental Processes, Report Concerning Discipline of Attorneys Practicing Before Federal Agencies, 1982 ACUS (Vol. II) 488. 2. Administrative Conference of the U.S., Recommendation 79-7, Appropriate Restrictions on Participation by a Former Agency Official in Matters Involving the Agency, 45 Fed. Reg. 2,309 (Jan. 11, 1980). 3. Administrative Conference of the U.S., Recommendation 86-1, Nonlawyer Assistance and Representation, 51 Fed. Reg. 25,641 (July 16, 1986). 4. Administrative Conference of the U.S., Statement on Discipline of Attorneys Practicing Before Federal Agencies, 47 Fed. Reg. 58,210 (Dec. 30, 1982). III. Books and Articles 1. Craig H. Allen, Attorney Ethics and Agency Practice: Representing Clients in Coast Guard Marine Casualty Investigations, 22 J. Mar. L. & Com. 225 (1991). 2. American Bar Association, Report to the House of Delegates on Federal Agency Attorney Discipline (August 1982). 3. Michael P. Cox, Regulation of Attorneys Practicing Before Federal Agencies, Report to the Administrative Conference of the U.S., 1982 ACUS (Vol. II) 491, reprinted in 34 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 173 (1984). 4. Roberta S. Karmel, Rule 2(e)—A Reprise, 210 N.Y .L.J. 3 (1993). 5. Melanie B. Leslie, Government Officials as Attorneys and Clients: Why Privilege the Privileged?, 77 Ind. L.J. 469 (2002). 6. Nicholas M. Wenner, Comment, Determining Secondary Liability under Securities Laws: Attorney Beware!, 11 Hamline L. Rev. 61 (1988). Agency Regulations: Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 C.F.R. § 1.26 Commodity Futures Trading Commission . . 17 C.F.R. § 10.11, Part 14 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau . . . . . . . . . . 12 C.F.R. § 1081.107 Consumer Product Safety Commission . . . . . . . 16 C.F.R. §§ 1025.61-.68 Drug Enforcement Administration (Justice) . . . 21 C.F.R. §§ 1316.50-.51 Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 C.F.R. § 1003.3 Environmental Protection Agency . . . . . . . . . . 40 C.F.R. §§ 22.10, 305.10 Farm Credit Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 C.F.R. § 622.3, Part 623 Federal Aviation Administration (Transportation) . . . . . 14 C.F.R. § 13.33 Federal Communications Commission . . . . . . . . . . . 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.22-.24 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 C.F.R. § 308.6 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission . . . 18 C.F.R. §§ 385.2101-.2103 Federal Housing Finance Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 C.F.R. § 1209.70-75 Federal Maritime Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 C.F.R. §§ 502.21-.32 Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission 29 C.F.R. §§ 2700.3, 2700.80 Federal Reserve Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 C.F.R. § 263.6 Federal Trade Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 C.F.R. § 4.1 Food and Drug Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 C.F.R. § 12.40 General Services Administration (Board of Contract Appeals) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 C.F.R. § 6101.5 Homeland Security (Immigration cases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 C.F.R. Part 292 Housing and Urban Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 C.F.R. §§ 26.7-.8 Interior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 C.F.R. Part 1 Internal Revenue Service . . . . . . . . .26 C.F.R. 601.502; 31 C.F.R. Part 10 Justice (Immigration cases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 C.F.R. § 68.33(c) Labor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 C.F.R. §§ 18.22, 417.8 Benefits Review Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 C.F.R. § 802.202 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board . . . . . . . . . . . 20 C.F.R. § 501.9 Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 C.F.R. § 921.10 Maritime Administration (Transportation) . . . . . 46 C.F.R. §§ 201.15-.26 Merit Systems Protection Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 C.F.R. § 1201.31 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Transportation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 C.F.R. § 511.71-.76 National Labor Relations Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 C.F.R. § 102.177 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Commerce) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 C.F.R. § 904.5 National Science Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 C.F.R. § 672.6 National Transportation Safety Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 C.F.R. § 821.6 Navy (JAG cases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 C.F.R. Part 776 Nuclear Regulatory Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 C.F.R. § 2.314 Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 C.F.R. §§ 2200.22-.23 Postal Rate Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 C.F.R. § 3001.6 Postal Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 C.F.R. Part 951 Securities and Exchange Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 C.F.R. § 201.102; 17 C.F.R. Part 205 Small Business Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 C.F.R. § 134.208 Social Security Administration . . . . . . . . . . 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1700-.1799 Surface Transportation Board (Transportation) . . . . . . 49 C.F.R. Part 1103 Transportation, Office of the Secretary (Aviation proceedings) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 C.F.R. § 302.416 Treasury (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 C.F.R. Part 8 United States International Trade Commission . . . . . . 19 C.F.R. § 201.15 Veterans Affairs (Board of Veterans’ Appeals) . . . . . . . . . 38 C.F.R. Part 14

Appendix: 1. Agency Practice Act, 5 U.S.C. § 500 (2012).