The Practical Utility of Public Choice Economics

Listen in to a new episode of The Marketplace of Ideas to hear a view from the Department of Justice with Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark.

In today’s episode, Deputy Executive Director of the Law & Economics Center, Donald Kochan, sits down with Jeffrey Bossert Clark to discuss the role that law and economics, including public choice, has had in his role at the Department of Justice and across his career.

Jeffrey Bossert Clark began serving as Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division on September 5, 2020.  Mr. Clark also is the Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), a position to which he was confirmed in October 2018. Prior to his confirmation as Assistant Attorney General, Mr. Clark was a partner with the international law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP in its Washington, DC office. During his time at the firm, he practiced in diverse areas of law, ranging from environmental to antitrust.  

From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Clark served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General within ENRD.  In that role, he oversaw ENRD’s Appellate Section and the Indian Resources Section, where he reviewed, edited, and contributed to virtually every brief that ENRD filed in the Courts of Appeals, including several cases of exceptional significance that he personally briefed and argued. During his time in ENRD, Mr. Clark also worked on all environmental or natural resource cases argued in front of the Supreme Court.

Mr. Clark received his bachelor’s degree in economics and history from Harvard University and earned a master’s degree in urban affairs and public policy from the University of Delaware.  He obtained his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was an editor for the Georgetown Law Journal.  Mr. Clark has taught classes as an adjunct professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School. From 2012 to 2015, he served as an elected member of the Governing Council of the American Bar Association’s Administrative Law Section.

For additional information, see:

(1) "Using Supplemental Environmental Projects (“SEPs”) in Settlements with State and Local Governments," Memorandum from Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Assistant Attorney General, to ENRD Deputy Assistant Attorney Generals and Chiefs of the Environmental Enforcement, Environmental Defense, Environmental Crimes, Natural Resources, and Wildlife & Marine Resources Sections, Aug. 19, 2019, available at https://www.justice.gov/enrd/page/file/1197056/download.

(2) "Supplemental Environmental Projects ("SEPs") in Civil Settlements with Private Defendants," Memorandum from Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Assistant Attorney General, to ENRD Deputy Assistant Attorney Generals and Section Chiefs, March 12, 2020, available at https://www.justice.gov/enrd/page/file/1257901/download.