New Director Takes Helm of Public Citizen Litigation Group
July 10, 2009
New Director Takes Helm of Public Citizen Litigation Group
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This month, Public Citizen senior attorney Allison Zieve took on the role of director of the Public Citizen Litigation Group, the arm of Public Citizen dedicated to fighting for public interest causes within the legal system. Founded in 1972 by Alan Morrison and Ralph Nader, the Public Citizen Litigation Group specializes in cases involving health and safety regulation, consumer rights, open government, and the First Amendment. Its attorneys litigate cases at all levels of the federal and state judiciaries, and have argued 54 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
A Public Citizen attorney since 1994, Zieve’s practice has focused on administrative law, health and safety, federal pre-emption, open government, due process issues and the First Amendment. She has argued four cases before the Supreme Court, including two recent preemption cases – Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc., 128 S. Ct. 999 (2008), and Warner-Lambert v. Kent, 128 S. Ct. 1168 (2008) – and has spoken and published articles on the pre-emption of state-law damages actions, tobacco regulation and the Freedom of Information Act. She also has taught courses as an adjunct professor at American University’s Washington College of Law. Zieve now also directs Public Citizen’s Alan Morrison Supreme Court Assistance Project, which offers assistance to attorneys litigating public interest issues in the Supreme Court. She received her undergraduate degree from Brown University and her law degree from Yale Law School.
Zieve replaces Brian Wolfman, who had been with the group for 19 years, five of them as its director. Wolfman has joined the faculty of Georgetown University Law Center, where he will be co-director of the Institute for Public Representation, a position recently vacated by another former director of Public Citizen’s Litigation Group, David Vladeck, who has become the new head of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
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