Professor Nina A. Mendelson, the Joseph L. Sax Collegiate Professor of Law, teaches and conducts research in the areas of administrative law, environmental law, statutory interpretation, and the legislative process.

Mendelson's work has been cited by U.S. Supreme Court justices (in dissent). She won the American Bar Association's Award for Scholarship in Administrative Law for the best article published in the preceding year for her 2010 article, "Disclosing Political Oversight of Agency Decision Making." She is a senior fellow of the Administrative Conference of the United States. She has served as one of three U.S. special legal advisers to the North American Free Trade Agreement Commission on Environmental Cooperation and is a member scholar at the Center for Progressive Reform.

Prior to joining the Michigan Law faculty in 1999, Mendelson served for several years as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division, litigating and advising other federal agencies on legislative and policy matters. She also participated extensively in federal legislative negotiations. She has worked for the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and practiced law with Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe of Seattle.