The GLC coordinates reporting and training for this independent body established by the City of Albany to improve communication between the police and the community.
The GLC, through this accredited provider, grants Continuing Legal Education credits for alumni and other attorneys attending programs at Albany Law School and at other locations.
[3] Professor Sandra Stevenson served as the GLC's director for a few months before J. Langdon Marsh became the first full-time director of the GLC on March 1, 1979[4] The center contracted with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to prepare its first state legal report in 1980, titled "Selected Legal Problems in the Control of Hazardous Wastes."
Under Marsh's direction, the center also focused on issues related to hazardous waste, zoning and planning, environmental quality review, economic development, and local government.
The center's Alumni Leaders in Government Networking Series provided students with an opportunity to interact with notable Albany Law School graduates.
The center also began producing The Government Law & Policy Journal for the New York State Bar Association's Committee on Attorneys in Public Service.
New York State officials such as former Governor David A. Paterson, then Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have participated.
The GLC hosted the inaugural Nancy M. Sills '76 Memorial Lecture, featuring then-Lieutenant Governor Mary O. Donohue, at the 10th Annual Senior Citizen's Law Day in 2003.
In 2004 the GLC, in partnership with public television station WMHT, produced "Inside the Inner Circle," focused on the process of state policymaking, featuring former counsels to five New York governors.
The Clarence D. "Rapp" Rappleyea Government Lawyer in Residence Program was established to recognize the former State Assembly Minority Leader.
[12] In 2005–2007, the GLC took on a number of new projects: a series of procurement law initiatives to help improve New York State's procurement process and identify potential areas of reform in the 1995 Procurement Stewardship Act; providing technical assistance related to consolidations, mergers, dissolutions, cooperative agreements and shared services as part of the Shared Municipal Services Incentive (SMSI) Grant Program, under a contract with the New York State Department of State; establishing a Non-Profit Legal Assistance Program with the assistance of then-U.S.
[15] To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Ethics in Government Act, the GLC convened a symposium in 2007 keynoted by former Fordham Law School Dean John Feerick.
[16] The Government Law Center proceeded to sponsor and co-sponsor numerous conferences in 2008–2009, including a 2009 conference on building in the 21st century, co-sponsored with the American Institute of Architects, New York State and the New York City Bar Association; a symposium on E-FOIL and the impact of technology on accessing records featuring Miriam Nisbet, Director of the Office of Government Information Services, United States National Archives and Records Administration;[17] and a symposium on preserving executive records in 2010, with former Governor of Pennsylvania and United States Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and presidential historian Richard Norton Smith.
In 2010–2011, in conjunction with the Albany Law School's Albany Law Review, the GLC held symposia on education reform with Charles Rose, General Counsel for the United States Department of Education; baseball and the law, featuring John Thorn, Major League Baseball's official Baseball Historian;[18] and on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights, keynoted by Jeh Johnson, general counsel for the United States Department of Defense.
Senator George Mitchell spoke about his experiences negotiating the Good Friday peace agreement at an event presented by the GLC and the Rockefeller Institute of Government.
The GLC held a panel discussion, in conjunction with the New York State Committee on Open Government, on the Freedom of Information Law, its evolution of the past forty years, and what may lie ahead in an age of ubiquitous data.
Former New York governor David Paterson addressed a forum on executive authority and the budget process, co-presented with the Rockefeller Institute of Government.
The GLC commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act by hosting a conference highlighting the civil rights law's history and implementation and examining the challenges ahead.
It presented a series on end-of-life care exploring legal and regulatory questions, as well as medical, ethical, financial, societal, and religious matters.
[20] In 2017, the GLC partnered with Albany Law School's Institute for Financial Market Regulation to host a program on the problem of vacant and abandoned properties, or blight.
In partnership with the University at Albany's Center for Human Services Research, the RLI surveyed attorneys registered in New York's rural counties to better understand that demographic.
[21] In September 2021, retired associate judge of the New York Court of Appeals Leslie Stein became the director of the Government Law Center.
[23] An Advisory Board, composed of the Albany Law School faculty and leaders from the public, private and non-profit sectors, assists the GLC's Director in charting future initiatives.