About
What are you doing now?
I serve as Counsel to the Chair at the United States Sentencing Commission. I am also an Administrative Law Fellow with the American Bar Association.
What have you done before?
I previously taught at Cornell and Yale Law Schools, and helped build a local agency dedicated to community control of the police. I’ve also worked in the White House, a plaintiff’s-side law firm, and the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
Where were you educated?
I graduated from Yale Law School and the University of Rochester. I also clerked for the Honorable Carlton W. Reeves of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.
Works
What are you writing about now?
In general, I study administrative and regulatory practices within judiciary to understand how courts and agencies can promote democratic principles of participation, pluralism, and transparency.
Right now, I’m writing along two lines of research. The first examines how federal trial courts have served as sites of administrative governance, as they have in overseeing prison conditions, regulating air pollution, and managing judicial personnel and procedures. The second looks to uncover the neglected past and potential of the only independent regulatory agency within the judicial branch: the United States Sentencing Commission.
What have you written about before?
I have written about the role federal courts have played in regulating prison conditions, the democratic trend in the Commission’s current work, the need to democratize problem-solving courts, how ordinary people can regulate complex risks like air pollution, the history of racist land use laws in upstate New York, the role of power in tort law, and hope in the face of climate catastrophe.
Where can I read your works?
My academic work has appeared (or is forthcoming) in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Judicature, and the Federal Sentencing Reporter. My CV has links to it all.
Contact
What can I get in touch about?
Anything. If you’re looking for legal advice, want to talk about things I’m working on, or want to pitch me on co-authoring, shoot me an email.
How can I get in touch?
In general, you can email me at: con [at] conreynolds.com. If you want to speak with me in my capacity at the Commission, email me at: creynolds [at] ussc.gov.
Con Reynolds 