Sunstein is a big thinker in the administrative law world

Interview Name: Barrie Jones Age: 24 Nickname: None Home town: Ferndale, Wales Professional record: W16 (7 by KO), L3, D0 Total 19 fights. Achievement: Fought for the British WelterweightChampionship. The Welsh prospect Barrie Jones was a late replacement for BarryMorrison who Withdrew due to a viral infection.. The Harvard Law School professor will lead the White HouseOffice of Information and Regulatory Affairs, an agencyexpected to assume a big role in Washington following recentfinancial scandals and turmoil on Wall Street.

"Confirmed," Sunstein wrote Reuters by e-mail when asked ifhe had agreed to the job, which includes oversight ofgovernment agencies ranging from the Environmental ProtectionAgency to the Occupational Safety and HealthAdministration. Sunstein, 54, an informal adviser to DemocraticPresident-elect Barack Obama and longtime friend, is a pioneerin the field of law and behavioral economics, which seeks toshape regulatory policy around the way people behave Obama, who takes office on Jan. 20, has said regulatoryreform would be one of his earliest initiatives and he wouldrelease a detailed plan for regulatory changes. Like Obama, Sunstein is a graduate of the Harvard LawSchool and is well known in intellectual circles in Chicago. Hetaught at the University of Chicago Law School for 27 yearsbefore moving to his post at Harvard last year. "Expect transparency to be a central theme in any Obamaadministration as a check on government and the private sectoralike," Sunstein wrote in the Huffington Post last March. Sunstein, also expressed concern that advisers to Obamamight be "too deferential, too unwilling to question" hisdecisions because "so many people are treating him as anear-messiah." "But I believe that his humility, and his intense desire toseek out dissenting views, will prove crucial safeguards," headded in the March article.

'BIG THINKER' Obama promised last month to strengthen financialregulatory agencies and to crack down on runaway "greed andscheming" in a bid to restore stability to a reeling U.Seconomic system. He has already named veteran regulator Mary Schapiro aschairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission theU.S. markets watchdog criticized for recent failures involvinginvestment banks and Bernard Madoff's alleged $50 billion fraudscheme and Gary Gensler to head the Commodity FuturesTrading Commission. "Sunstein is a big thinker in the administrative law world.He and Schapiro are both absolutely first rate," said JamesPost, who teaches corporate governance and business ethics atthe Boston University School of Management "There are some big challenges. The agency Sunstein will lead is part of the Office ofManagement and Budget, which reviews draft regulations andoversees implementation of policies intended to make federalagencies more efficient, according to its mission statement. A congressional report on Thursday highlighted the need for"significant reforms," saying financial authorities had failedto limit systemic risks and urging swift action to fixweaknesses in U.S regulation (Editing by Peter Cooney) Regulatory News Bonds.