FCC Names New Administrative Law Judge

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced Thursday that Jane Hinckley Halprin will serve as the agency’s administrative law judge. She succeeds Judge Richard Sippel, who retired on Dec. 1.

“Jane has done tremendous work at the FCC, and I congratulate her on this new role,” Pai said. “The good judgment she displayed working on ethics issues at the agency for over a decade will serve her well as our administrative law judge. I’d also like to thank Judge Sippel for his 32 years of service as an administrative law judge at the FCC.  He served this agency with honor and distinction, and I wish him well in retirement.”

According to TVNewsCheck, Halprin joined the FCC in 1987 as a staff attorney in the former Common Carrier Bureau and has occupied positions in the former Mass Media Bureau, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and the Office of General Counsel.

For the past 14 years, she has served in the Office of General Counsel as an ethics counsel and for the past year has led the agency’s ethics team as assistant general counsel for ethics.

The Office of Administrative Law Judges is responsible for conducting the hearings ordered by the commission. An administrative law judge acts on interlocutory requests filed in the proceedings such as contested discovery requests. Administrative Law Judges are appointed by a vote of all commissioners.