Obama Czar Cass Sunstein Awarded 2012 Regulatory Innovation Award

NEW YORK, May 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Morrison & Foerster LLP announced Cass Sunstein, Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the White House Office of Management and Budget, as this year’s recipient of the Burton Foundation’s annual Regulatory Innovation Award.  Morrison & Foerster established this award in 2008 through the Burton Foundation to honor an academic or non-elected public official whose innovative ideas have made a significant contribution to the discourse on regulatory reform.  Sunstein was selected by an independent panel of academics, practitioners and financial journalists for his commitment to understanding the nature of regulation and the role of incentives in formulating successful regulations.

As Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Mr. Sunstein oversees the review of every significant piece of new regulation offered by executive branch agencies to ensure the regulation’s benefits outweigh the costs.  Prior to serving as Administrator, Sunstein was the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and he previously served on the faculty of the University of Chicago Law School.  With Richard Thaler, Mr. Sunstein is the author of Nudge, an influential book discussing the relationship between human behavior, decision making, and regulation.

Mr. Sunstein will be honored on June 11 in Washington, D.C., featuring an address from Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens (retired).  Keith C. Wetmore, Chair of the firm, said, “We’re pleased to honor Cass Sunstein with this award.  He is influential in explaining the nature of regulation and championing the use of proper incentives to ensure effective regulations are implemented that take into account costs, benefits and risks.  At a time when cost benefit analysis and innovative regulation is of paramount importance, we are pleased to recognize Cass Sunstein’s significant contributions to both scholarship and action in this area.”