This study argues that public agencies face a multitude of legal issues directly related to the administration of public programs and the delivery of public goods and services. Despite this fact, the vast majority of public administration programs continue to offer traditional administrative law courses that only indirectly deal with public sector risk management. The article also argues that public administration programs should consider offering courses on public administration’s legal environment, focusing more heavily upon public sector risk management issues in order to help prepare graduates of public administration programs to effectively manage and reduce the potential legal liability of their organizations and themselves. The article does not argue that public administration programs should abandon the teaching of administrative law. It does argue that courses on the legal environment of public administration should be restructured to include subjects such as the management of government ethics, public contracts, and public employment law.
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