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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowMatthew A. Brown, deputy director of operations at the State Personnel Department, has been selected to serve as the first director of the new Office of Administrative Law Proceedings. He will start in his new role Sept. 1.
The office, which will be within the State Personnel Department, was created by HEA 1223 to provide oversight and ensure impartiality to administrative law proceedings in Indiana. Currently, administrative law judges are employed by the agencies involved in the legal matters over which they are presiding. Lawyers say this arrangement often makes clients skeptical of whether the judge will be objective and give a fair hearing.
Once the new law takes effect July 1, 2020, a majority of the ALJs will be under the supervision of the Office of Administrative Law Proceedings. HEA 1223 was authored by Rep. Greg Steuerwald, R-Avon.
As director, Brown will be responsible for managing the office, hiring the administrative law judges and assigning the judges to proceedings.
Brown had been serving as deputy director of operations at the State Personnel Department when he was tapped by Gov. Eric Holcomb for this position. He is well-known at SPD, having served in a variety of roles from 2006 to 2012 and, after a stint in private practice, returning in 2014.
Brown earned a bachelor’s degree in public affairs from Indiana University and a J.D. degree from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.
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