ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

The body of administrative law essentially depends upon an analysis of the limits of the powers delegated to administrative agencies by legislatures. The first independent federal administrative agency was the Interstate Commerce Commission, created by the United States Congress in the nineteenth century to place rules upon the rates charged for shipping freight and to regulate the routes served by each railroad company. As the "public interest" created new demands, new agencies were created. The Securities and Exchange Commission, for example, was formed following the stock market crash of 1929.

Similarly, state legislatures, including that of Montana, have created various administrative agencies to regulate or oversee various commercial enterprises and divisions of government. Practice of law before these agencies depends not only upon a working knowledge of state law, but upon some familiarity with the administrative regulations propounded by that particular agency. Most of these are gathered into the multi-volume work entitled the Administrative Regulations of Montana (ARM). Because each agency may have rules unique to that body, inadequate presentations before some of these agencies can lead to disastrous consequences and surprising results. It is these sometimes illogical results which give rise to the negative attitude often expressed toward administrative agencies in describing them as the "red tape" of government.

Administrative law does not fit neatly into the traditional three divisions of government: the legislative, the administrative, and the judicial divisions. Instead, administrative law tends to overlap into all three divisions. That is a major difference between administrative law and traditional courtroom litigation. Attorneys at Moulton Bellingham have extensive experience in representation before many state and federal agencies -- agencies as diverse as the Federal Communications Commission and the Montana Oil and Gas Commission. And even if complete legal representation before an agency is not required in the preliminary proceedings, those same attorneys are available for providing occasional advice as the necessity arises.