Leadership Report 2024
What’s up? Spring 2024 Calendar of Events January – May January 12 26 February 2
Haub Visiting Scholar in Residence: Rebecca Bratspies, Professor of Law and Founding Director, Center for Urban Environmental Reform at CUNY School of Law
Land Use Law Center Workshop #5: In-Fill Innovation, Redesigning Urban Futures Land Use Law Center Workshop #6: Integrated Climate Action Plans
Land Use Law Center Workshop #7: Fireproofing Our Forests and Future
16
Land Use Law Center Workshop #8: Turning the Tides, Adapting to Sea Level Rise
22 – 24
The Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition
March 8 22 April 11
Land Use Law Center Workshop #9: Greening the Concrete Jungle, Vegetated Urbanism Land Use Law Center Workshop #10: CRD and Private Sector
Joint Colloquium on Environmental Law with the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
12
Pace Environmental Law Review Symposium: Sustainable Business Law [hybrid] & Earth Day Jam: 10th Anniversary
16
Annual Lloyd K. Garrison Lecture on Environmental Law delivered by Professor Rebecca Bratspies, CUNY School of Law
19 26
Learn more about this list of events and register at law.pace.edu/enviro-events
Annual Environmental Law and Policy Hack Competition Final Round [virtual] Land Use Law Center Workshop #11: Why CRD, Lessons Learned
In this issue New Faces* New Fellows† Alumni Achievements‡ Memories§ & Awards ¶
Since its founding in 1978, Pace | Haub Environmental Law has led the way in training future environmental leaders and advocates, providing an internationally acclaimed environmental legal education. Our dedicated faculty are pioneers in developing and implementing environmental law and continue to serve as national and world leaders in the field. Our alumni work in law firms, government environmental agencies, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and law schools and universities across the country and around the world. Our students have the benefit of learning and receiving mentorship from experts in the fields of water pollution prevention, sustainable development, food policy, renewable energy, human rights, global environmental law, animal law, and corporate environmental social governance. Our students and faculty engage in research through our oncampus Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies, Pace Energy & Climate Center, Land Use Law Center, Pace Food Law Center, and, our latest addition, the Sustainable Business Law Hub. We are again thrilled to have new faces join our program and support our endeavors to solving today’s most pressing environmental challenges, especially climate change and environmental justice.
Message from the Associate Dean & Associate Director of Environmental Law Programs
Jason J. Czarnezki Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law; Associate Dean, Environmental Law Programs & Strategic Initiatives
We are delighted to welcome Camila Bustos as the newest addition to the Pace Haub Environmental Law faculty. Originally from Bogota, Colombia, Professor Bustos shares a passion for human rights law, climate change law, and issues where they intersect, such as the plight of climate displaced persons. At Haub Law, she teaches an International Human Rights Seminar, the Environmental Law Survey course, and the Environmental Law Seminar: Climate Change & Migration. The 2024-2025 Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Law, Paul Rink, joins the Pace | Haub Environmental Law faculty after having been a Global Staff Attorney for the climate law firm, Our Children’s Trust. Teaching Torts and a Comparative Environmental Law seminar, Professor Rink brings with him significant legal and policy expertise along with a dedication to collaborating with faculty and students to develop ideas and strategies for effectively combatting the climate crisis. As much as we celebrate Pace | Haub Environmental Law achieving its #1 ranking for the third consecutive year, we are also cognizant of the great responsibility that comes with it. With each year’s progression comes new environmental calamities; the climate crisis at their source. From never-beforeseen air pollution levels in New York City caused by the ongoing Canadian wildfires to unprecedented loss of life and natural and urban damage from the wildfires in Hawai’i, we are reminded of the responsibility we share in being part of the Pace | Haub Environmental Law community and our ongoing commitment to promoting all three pillars of sustainability—environmental health, social justice, and economic welfare. The planet needs every lawyer to be a sustainability lawyer, a climate lawyer, and a lawyer for environmental justice. In our endeavor to provide a holistic and innovative environmental law education, Pace | Haub Environmental Law centers sustainability within its wider curriculum: a climate change law professor illuminates the role of torts in addressing the climate crisis; an environmental justice scholar transforms outdated concepts of property; an animal law professor teaches the constraints of constitutional law in protecting the environment; a defender of fossil fuel pipeline protesters teaches criminal legal practice; a scholar of sustainable business law explains how to use contracts to produce sustainable development outcomes; and the list goes on. With the
Achinthi C. Vithanage Associate Director, Environmental Law Programs; Adjunct Professor of Law
largest full-time environmental faculty in the country, Pace | Haub Environmental Law is testing ground for the impact of a sustainability-focused legal curriculum. We continue to be grateful to the strong support network that is our Pace | Haub Environmental Law community and their contribution to our delivery of innovative environmental law education. While the environmental and societal crises we face are many, we find resilience in the wider environmental legal community and its tenacity to persist and persevere in the toughest of times and in the toughest of environments. Just as the Lotus flower emerges from the deepest and thickest mud, the field of environmental law is also searching for the light of surface waters. At Pace | Haub Environmental Law, not only do we look forward to what lies ahead for the future of environmental law, but we look forward to forging its path upwards.
* Spotlights on New Faces Paul Rink, Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Law. Experience: Global Staff Attorney, Our Children’s Trust; Fox International Fellow, El Colegio de Mexico; Global Restoration Policy Consultant, Conservation International. Research & Scholarship: Climate and energy law, human rights and climate change, sustainable investment and net zero policy, and administrative costbenefit analysis in the context of the climate crisis. Recent Activity: At Our Children’s Trust, he worked with international partner organizations
Paul Rink | Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Law BS, Michigan; JD, Yale; MEM; Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Specializes in climate law and international environmental law.
bringing youth-based climate change litigation in countries such as India, Mexico, Canada, and Uganda. He also collaborated with the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the International Institute for Child Rights and Development to develop projects that protect the health and rights of young people around the world by promoting science-based climate change standards. At Pace | Haub Environmental Law: He will be teaching courses on torts and comparative environmental law this year.
Camila Bustos, Assistant Professor of Law. Experience: Visiting Assistant Professor of Human Rights, Trinity College; Clinical Supervisor in Human Rights Practice, University Network for Human Rights; Law Clerk to Justice Steven D. Ecker, Connecticut Supreme Court; Consultant, International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP); Co-chair, Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project and the Women of Color Collective at Yale. Research & Scholarship: Human rights, climate law, climate ethics, climate displacement, environmental justice. Recent Activity: During law school, she co-founded Law Students for Climate Accountability, a national law student-led movement pushing the legal industry to phase out fossil fuel representation and support a just, livable future. Now she serves on the Advisory Board of the organization. At Pace | Haub Environmental Law: She will be teaching courses on international human rights and environmental law this year. She will also join Joshua Galperin as a CoFaculty Advisor to the New Directions in Environmental Law Conference.
Barbara L. Atwell Associate Professor of Law | BA, Smith; JD, Columbia. Specializes in Bioethics and Medical Malpractice, Health Law, and Public Health Law.
Elyse Diamond Director, Public Service Careers, PILC/CCPD; Environmental Law Programs Career Specialist; Adjunct Professor of Law JD, Fordham. Specializes in public sector career and professional development. Camila Bustos | Assistant Professor of Law; Co-Faculty Advisor to the New Directions in Environmental Law Conference | BA, Brown; JD, Yale. Specializes in climate displacement, human rights, climate law, climate ethics, and environmental justice.
David N. Dorfman Professor of Law | IBA, CUNY Queens; MA, Chicago; JD, Chicago-Kent. Specializes in criminal law and public interest law. Defender of fossil fuel pipeline protesters.
† Spotlight on Graduate Research Fellows Our fellows work part-time in one of our programs while earning an LLM or SJD in Environmental Law, with opportunities to work with our faculty and staff on innovative projects throughout the year. Past fellows have gone on to work at Riverkeeper, NRDC, AIG, Connecticut Fund for the Environment, the IUCN, and law firms. Applications for 2024-25 open in January 2024. Keep an eye on our website for more information. This year, the Pace | Haub Environmental Law program welcomes: Gabriella Mickel, Environmental Law Fellow. Education: JD with a Certificate in Environmental Law/LLM Candidate, Pace | Haub Law; MEM Candidate, Yale School of the Environment; B.S. Theoretical Mathematics (Major), Statistics, Environmental Science, and Computer Science (Minors) and B.A. History at Ohio State University. Experience: Research Fellow, Yale Center on Climate Change and Health; Summer Associate, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP; Legal Intern, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, and Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund; Judicial Intern, U.S. District Court. Recent Scholarship: Note, Using Land Use Authority to Combat Displacement, 51 Urb. Law. 477 (2022); ESG and Regulated Disclosure, in The Sustainable Corporation (Am. Bar Ass’n., 2023); Managed Retreat – Funding Difficult Conversations and Initial Steps at the Local Level, 41 UCLA J. Env’t L. & Pol’y (2023). Recent Activity: She co-founded the Environmental Law Society Network of ABA’s Section on Environment, Energy & Resources and served as its inaugural Co-Chair. She was also Editor-In-Chief of the Pace Environmental Law Review, a former President of Pace | Haub Law’s Environmental Law Society, and a Board Vice Chair organizing the 2021-2022 Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition. Interests: In her spare time, Gabriella enjoys playing Cosmic Encounter.
Barbara Ballan, Sustainable Business Law Hub Fellow. Education: SJD Candidate, Haub Law; LLM (Specialization in Global Environmental Law), Pace Haub Law; LLB & Post-Graduate Diploma in Environmental Studies, University of Buenos Aires. Experience: Legal Intern; Costa Rica Mission to the United Nations; Advisor, Curve; Legal Advisor, Ministry of National Culture, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Administrative Assistant, Attorney’s General Office, Buenos Aires. Recent Scholarship: Her article titled “Applying the Triple Bottom Line Approach at the Bottom of the Ocean” was published by the Climate Change, Sustainable Development, and Ecosystems Committee of ABA’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources. She has a forthcoming article on greenwashing litigation which she co-authored with Professor Jason Czarnezki. Recent Activity: Barbara’s Postgraduate studies focused on sustainable development, while simultaneously gaining experience in the FinTech industry. This culminated in her developing an interest in Sustainable Business Law. Interests: Barbara is looking forward to developing her professional skills in the Sustainable Business Law and International Environmental Law fields to tackle future challenges. In her SJD research, she focuses on the analysis of policy coherence and coordination in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosure implementation. Her primary aim is to research how ESG can promote social environmental and economic welfare as a regulatory tool by identifying the existing gaps in ESG and aligning its implementation at different scales of governance.
‡ Spotlight on Alumni A selection of Pace | Haub Environmental Law alums who are rising young stars in environmental NGOs: Maria Antonia Tigre (LLM’14; SJD’22) Director, Global Climate Litigation, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School Emily Lively (JD’22) Legal Fellow, Foundation to Support Animal Protection Jessica Roberts (JD’22) Staff Attorney, Save the Sound Anthony Mazza (JD’21) Manager, Policy and Research, Society of American Foresters Anxhela Mile (JD/LLM’20) Staff Attorney, Conservation Law Foundation Tala DiBenedetto (JD’20) Litigation Counsel, PETA Foundation Conor Strong (JD/LLM’18) Policy Officer, Permanent Observer Mission of International Union for Conservation of Nature to the United Nations Casandia Bellevue (JD’18) Associate Attorney, Earth Justice Molly Masterton (JD’16) Director, U.S. Fisheries and Staff Attorney, Oceans Division, Nature Program, Natural Resources Defense Council Andrea L. Rodricks (JD/MBA’16) Pro Bono Managing Attorney, Animal Legal Defense Fund Drew Gamils (JD’16) Staff Attorney, Riverkeeper Jennifer Huang (JD’12; LLM’15) Associate Director of International Strategies, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) Sophia Ressler (JD’14) Staff Attorney, Center for Biological Diversity Samuel C. Bergsohn (JD’13) Staff Attorney, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley
Clinics / Centers / Experiential Learning The Pace Food Law Center supports legal services and advocacy, faculty scholarship, and student learning in the field of food law. Highlights: Over the course of the year the Food Margot and Farm Business Law Clinic represented 46 clients Pollans consisting of small farm businesses, artisan food Professor manufacturers, craft beverage entrepreneurs, and of Law; related nonprofit organizations. Most frequently the Clinic Faculty assisted clients in securing long-term access to land Director, and establishing limited liability companies, nonprofit Pace Food organizations, and cooperatives. / The Clinic hosted 18 Law Center; student interns over summer and fall 2022, and spring Shamik and Adrienne 2023. / In collaboration with American Farmland Trust, Trivedi Faculty Scholar the Clinic created an online resource – NY Farm Transition BA, Columbia; Advisors Directory – to connect NY farmers, farmland JD, NYU; LLM, owners, and agricultural service professionals. / Along Georgetown. Focuses on with Pace | Haub Environmental Law’s Land Use Law environmental, food, and Center, the Clinic collaborated with American Farmland administrative law. Trust on a USDA-funded opportunity assessment for growing the landscape for urban agriculture in New York’s Oneida County. / Several Pace Food Law Center Faculty, including Professors Jonathan Brown, Josh Galperin, and Margot Pollans, contributed to the Farm Bill Law Enterprise’s 2023 Farm Bill Reports. Numerous Pace Law students also worked on this project. / Under Professor Joshua Galperin’s direction, a coalition of students from Haub Law, Yale Law, Yale School of the Environment, the Harvard Law School Food Law Policy Clinic, and the National Food Law Student Network, co-hosted the joint New Directions in Environmental Law Conference (NDEL) & Food Law Student Leadership Summit, seamlessly tying together agriculture, food, climate, and environmental law and policy in one joint event. @pacefoodlaw
Students represent public interest groups as part of our award-winning, pioneering Environmental Litigation Clinic.
Todd Ommen Managing Attorney, Environmental Litigation Clinic; Professor of Law BA, Tulane; JD, Villanova. Joined Pace in 2016 after serving as Assistant Attorney General for New York State.
Notable Cases: New York’s Environmental Right Amendment: The Clinic brought a landmark action under New York State’s recently adopted “Green Amendment” on behalf of residents surrounding a hazardous waste incinerator. The incinerator has a decades-long history of noncompliance with its permits, and in 2022 New York State sued the operator in an attempt to obtain compliance. The Clinic successfully intervened on behalf of affected residents, arguing both that the incinerator is a nuisance and that New York’s continued failure to bring it into compliance violates the residents’ constitutional right to clean air and a healthful environment. / Environmental Review: On behalf of the Somers Land Trust, the Clinic challenged the approval of an expansion of a gun club. The Trust documented piles of lead shot accumulating in and around wetlands and creeks on the Trust property, yet the town refused to conduct an environmental assessment under the State Environmental Quality Review Act before approving the expansion, finding that the club did not pose any threat of significant environmental harm. The Clinic challenged this failure under New York’s Article 78, arguing that the decision was arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law. / Noise Pollution: The Clinic filed a lawsuit against MetroNorth and MTA on behalf of residents of Ossining. MTA operates a trainyard at Croton Harmon, where dozens of diesel engines often idle throughout the night, making it impossible to sleep in nearby
Ossining. Despite having moved the trainyard south due to this exact noise problem, MTA denies that the noise is coming from the trainyard and refuses to take any steps to reduce the burden. The Clinic’s suit sounds in negligence and nuisance. @PaceEnvClinic
The Land Use Law Center fosters the development of sustainable communities by promoting innovative land use strategies and dispute resolution techniques. Projects & News: The 21st Annual Alfred B. DelBello Land Use and Sustainable Jessica A. Bacher Development Conference Land Use Under Siege: Revisiting Well Grounded, was Executive Director, dedicated to the prolific body of work of Professor John Nolon who championed the Land Use Law use of innovative land use laws to further environmental protection, sustainable Center; Adjunct development, and the revitalization of cities and urban villages. Keynote Professor of addresses were delivered by Professor John Nolon and Professor Patricia E. Law | BS, Salkin, Senior VP for Academic Affairs and Florida; JD, Provost for the Graduate and Professional Pace | Haub. Divisions of Touro College, who reflected Specializes Jennie Nolon on the contributions of Professor Nolon in Land Use Blanchard in a Nutshell. The conference, which drew Law, Advanced Senior Staff over 100 participants, also featured Land Use Law, Attorney, LULC student scholars on panels, and Sustainable Land Use presenting their research and Development Law. Law Center; scholarship. / Following the Adjunct IPCC’s recognition of the role of Professor of Tiffany Zezula Deputy land use law in implementing Law | BS, Cornell; JD, Director, Land Use Law Climate Resilient Development Pace | Haub; MEM, Yale. Center; Adjunct Professor (CRD) in the AR6 SPM report Focuses on the growth of Law | BS, Tulane; JD, of Working Group II, of urban centers and Pace | Haub. Land Use student volunteers at the addressing obstacles Law Center’s trainer of local LULC spent the summer and fall to redevelopment officials, environmentalists, semesters creating a framework and sustainability. and planners. Coordinates the for CRD based on its analysis of national Land Use Leadership dozens of exemplary settlementAlliance Training Program. shaping local land use laws Shelby D. Green and policies. They subsequently Associate Professor launched a special GreenLawBlog of Law; Co-Councel, series of concise online articles documenting Land Use Law Center legal strategies that, when aggregated, demonstrate BS, Towson; JD, a plan of action for municipal governments in the US Georgetown. Specializes to consider. / in real estate, historic The 6th Annual preservation, and Hudson Valley Thomas G. property law. Affordable Housing Bourgeois Summit on the theme ‘Compacts and Crises - Practical plans to address the Housing Shortage,’ explored practical strategies for addressing the housing crisis in the region, through Transit Oriented Development (TOD), Auxiliary Dwelling Units (ADUs) and collaborative local strategies for identifying sites and developing housing. / Keep on top of the Center’s work through the LULC’s social media platforms: LinkedIn, Instagram, X [formerly Twitter]. @LandUseLC
Director for Policy Research Land Use Law Center MA Regional Planning, North Carolina Chapel Hill. Specializes in energy market conditions, microgrids, CHP, distributed generation, demand response, and renewable energy.
A member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies (GCELS) engages in innovative projects addressing global environmental challenges.
David N. Cassuto Professor of Law; Director, Brazil-American Institute for Law & Environment BA, Wesleyan; MA, Indiana; PhD, Indiana; JD, Berkeley. Specializes in animal, water, and comparative law.
News: GCELS supported and advanced the “I am Climate Justice Campaign,” which helped push the U.N. General Assembly to seek a formal advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice. / GCELS also lent support to the development of the UN International Law Commission’s Draft Principles of International Law on the Protection of the Environment in times of Armed Conflict. / GCELS Co-Director, Prof. Richard Ottinger was appointed to the newly created IUCN Climate Crisis Commission. / Founder of GCELS, Prof. Nicholas Robinson participated in: the UN “Stockholm +50” Smita Conference in Sweden, 50 years after having attended the Narula first Stockholm conference on the Human Environment Haub in 1972, where UNEP was founded; the Environment & DistinSocial Advisory Committee (ESAC) of the European Bank guished for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London; Professor and presented alongside indigenous Lenape leaders at the of InterUN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, at the UN. national / A strong contingent from Pace | Haub Environmental Law; Co-Director, Law participated in the IUCN Academy of Environmental Global Center for Law’s 2023 Colloquium in Joensuu, Finland. Alum, Michael Environmental Legal Hammersky (LLM’23) presented on The Metals Company Studies | BA, Case Study: Unraveling Environmental Implications of Deep Brown; MA, Brown; JD, Seabed Mining; Sustainable Business Law Hub student Harvard. Specializes scholar, Joshua Briggs (JD’24), presented on A Problem of in international human Ideology: A Comprehensive Exploration of Environmental rights, right to food, Law within the ISA Framework; student Michael O’Hora environmental justice. (JD’24) presented on Guiding Principles from Indigenous Land Management, while also collaborating with Prof. Achinthi Vithanage to co-present their forthcoming work titled Compliance through Collaboration: Developing Climate Justice Partnerships to Reinforce International Climate Change Law. Prof Achinthi Vithanage, as part of the Joint Secretariat for the IUCN Academy, presented during the Collegium and attended the Annual Board Meeting. @GlobalCELS
Housed jointly at Pace | Haub Environmental Law and the Getulio Vargas Foundation School of Law in Rio de Janeiro, the Brazil American Institute for Law and Environment (BAILE) advances environmental protection and sustainable development in the US and Brazil.
News: For the first time since the pandemic, BAILE hosted the Brazil Comparative Environmental Law course in Spring 2023 with 14 students traveling to Brazil under Prof. Cassuto’s supervision. This course allows Haub Law students to learn and compare Brazil and U.S. environmental law through an immersive experience in Brazil. Students visit one of the many unique environmental regions of Brazil and attend legal meetings in Rio de Janeiro and other parts of the nation, experiencing the environmental issues they have studied in the classroom first hand. This year’s trip included a visit to FGV Direito and networking with Brazilian lawyers and doctoral students. / BAILE partnered with Beyond, an NGO incorporated in Rio, to enable BAILE to work more effectively in Brazil. This includes launching capacity building classes on climate change law and other environmentally urgent issues (water law, etc.) in fall 2022, both remotely and in person. Pace | Haub Environmental Law Professor David N. Cassuto will be the new Director of International Relations for Beyond. @PaceBAILE
The Pace Energy and Climate Center (PECC) is dedicated to protecting the earth’s environment by transforming the ways society supplies and consumes energy. The Center continues to focus on advancing New York State’s decarbonization goals, as well as working nationally and internationally on promoting clean energy.
Craig Hart Director, Pace Energy and Climate Center; Adjunct Professor of Law BA, UC Berkeley; JD, UC Berkeley; MS, NYU; PhD, MIT. Specializes in energy infrastructure finance and implementing decarbonization technologies.
Projects & News: Continued its work on district geothermal, including 9 projects throughout the state supported by NYSERDA, and convening with NYSERDA the New York State Thermal Energy Network Charrette to support NYS municipal officials in their journey to shift away from fossil fuels for building heating and to decarbonize their municipalities. / Completed second and third reports on agrivoltaics that explored the socio-economic impacts of solar farming in upstate New York. The reports conclude that solar on working farms brings investment into NY rural communities in the order of 150 to 180 million over the life of each projects, stabilizes small family farms that otherwise are at risk of farm failure and stems the continuing trend of consolidation and helps promote more sustainable farm practices and food security. / Continued to advise Erie County on Emma Lagle establishing its community solar energy program - the Staff Attorney, Regional Affairs Erie County Low Income Program for Sustainable Energy Manager and Legal Policy (ECLIPSE) - to provide integrated energy services for Advisor, Pace Energy & Climate Low- to Moderate-Income (LMI) households. It finalized Center | BA, SUNY New Paltz; two reports on energy burden in Erie County, and a JD & LLM, Pace | Haub; MEM, Yale. feasibility and design study for the ECLIPSE program. Promotes clean energy among the Center’s This work is to be followed by a how-to manual for advocacy networks. community solar in New York State. @Paceenergy
The Sustainable Business Law Hub is an incubator space, student-training program, research endeavor, and think tank devoted to addressing global sustainability challenges through policy and research projects, relationships and ESG consulting with the business community, and capacity building in private environmental governance and sustainability strategies.
Joshua Galperin Assistant Professor of Law, Advisory Board Member, Sustainable Business Law Hub; Co-Faculty Advisor to the New Directions in Environmental Law Conference BA, University of Delaware; MEM, Yale; JD, Vermont. Specializes in environmental law, administrative law, food and agriculture law, and private environmental governance.
News: The Sustainable Business Law Hub (Hub) held a successful kick-off event: The Sustainable Business Law Hub’s Networking Event; and co-sponsored the Profit & Purpose Conference with the Westchester County Association on Sustainable Business at Haub Law. / The Advisory Board of the Hub welcomed three new members: Darryl Carbonaro (General Counsel at Generate Capital and Haub Law alum), Edward Ip (Founder & CEO, POS.com, and Member of the Board of Trustees of the Queens Botanical Gardens), and Donna Lanzetta (CEO of Manna Fish Farms Inc. and Manna Seafood Blockchain, Inc., and Haub Law alum). / The Sustainable Business Law curriculum continues to grow with new courses in private equity funds and benefit corporations being added. In its first semester being offered, Prof. Jason Czarnezki’s Sustainable Business Law class (covering topics like sustainable business terms; the role of corporate boards, lawyers and consulting firms; sustainability reporting and risk; ESG investing and ratings) filled in 30 seconds! / The Hub provided 3 Haub Law students the opportunity to be ESG interns with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023. / A second cohort of 5 Haub Law students were selected to the Sustainable Business Law Hub Scholars “Hub Scholars” program, a curricular, scholarship, and mentorship program for students pursuing careers in sustainable business law. / Advisory Board Member, Prof. Josh Galperin, organized with Vanderbilt Law, the first academic workshop on sustainable business law with law professors on the east coast to discuss ESG and private environmental law scholarship.
The Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, hosted by Pace | Haub Environmental Law and run by its students, draws as many as 350 law students and attorney judges to this premier environmental moot court each year, making it the largest interschool moot court competition in the world. 2023 Highlights: Pace | Haub Environmental Law again provided the 35th annual competition virtually on account of pandemic considerations. / Over 300 students representing 52 schools, and over 100 judges and brief graders participated. / The final round was presided by four judges: The Honorable Kenneth F. Ripple, US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; The Honorable Malachy E. Mannion, US District Court, Middle District of PA; The Honorable Wendy L. Blake, U.S. EPA, Jeffrey G. Miller Environmental Appeals Board and The Honorable Professor of Glen Bruening, New York State, Court of Claims. / Law Emeritus Of the 52 participating teams, Columbia Law School BA, Princeton; took first place, edging out finalists Tulane Law LLB, Harvard. School and Wayne State University School of Law. Joined the faculty in 1987 Pace | Haub Environmental Law is thrilled to after heading the US announce that in February 2024, NELMCC will be EPA’s national enforcement once again in person and held on campus at the program and beginning the Elisabeth Haub School of Law. agency’s hazardous waste enforcement program. @PaceLawNELMCC
E. Melanie DuPuis Professor of Environmental Studies & Science BA, Radcliffe; PhD, Cornell. Specializes in food systems and agriculture.
Alexander K. A. Greenawalt Professor of Law; Stevens Family Faculty Scholar AB, Princeton; MA, Yale; JD, Columbia. Teaches international and administrative law. Researches international humanitarian law.
The United Nations Environmental Diplomacy Practicum – a program unique to Pace | Haub Environmental Law – places students in internships with Permanent Missions to the United Nations. Highlights: The Practicum placed 14 student interns at the UN Mission of Costa Rica, as well as with the Permanent Observer Mission of IUCN. / The UN experience offered opportunities to engage on various negotiations and consultations, including adoption of the UN General Assembly Resolution requesting an advisory opinion on: (a) the obligations of States under international law to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases for States and for present and future generations; and (b) the legal consequences under these obligations for States. / Student interns also worked on matters relating to the implementation of the UNGA Resolution recognizing a universal human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, the UN Global Biodiversity Framework, the new legal instrument for Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) in the High Seas, the International Law Commission’s principles for the protection of the environment in relation to armed conflict, as well as various other resolutions discussed in the Second, Third and Sixth Committees and sustainable development forums in ECOSOC. / During the seminar component, students discussed the issues, negotiations, and paradigm shifts that unfolded throughout their interactions with the UN through the perspectives of their respective Missions. / Practicum students also attended the UN Water Forum and the Harmony with Nature dialogues at the UN, including a preparatory meeting at Pace University in NYC 1 on April 23, 2023.
The Washington, DC and New York Environmental Externship Programs give students the chance to gain crucial skills and knowledge while studying with experienced, dedicated practicing professors.
Past Placements / Washington: U.S. Department of Justice (Land Acquisitions Unit; Environment and Natural Resources Division); U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Office of Enforcement Compliance and Assurance, Environmental Appeals Board, Office of Civil Enforcement); U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Department of Energy; Federal Emergency Management Agency; D.C. Department of Energy & Environment; Animal Welfare Institute; Chesapeake Bay Foundation; Sierra Club; Center for Biological Diversity; and the International Bar Association. New York: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Region 2); NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission; NYC Department of Environmental Protection; New York Environmental Law & Justice Project; New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (Region 2); Super Law Group; Waterkeeper Alliance; Earthjustice; NRDC; and Indian Country Grassroots Support.
In 2020, the Pace | Haub Environmental Law Program launched the Environmental Law & Policy Hack Competition, an annual, inter-law school problem-solving competition, designed to orient students toward the development of practicable environmental policy. Highlights: In its third year, the 2022 Environmental Law & Policy Hack Competition challenged teams to propose an innovative private environmental governance intervention with the potential to spur meaningful on-the-ground environmental progress. / The Hack finalist teams proposed a diverse and innovative array of private environmental governance initiatives. A team from the Vanderbilt University School of Law prepared a detailed proposal for how to develop decarbonization plans for healthcare centers. A team from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law pitched a fashion company grading app to address the environmental impacts from fast fashion. Students from the Yale School of the Environment and the Yale School of Management joined forces to imagine open-source solutions to promote supply chain transparency. / The winning team, from the University of Miami School of Law coached by Jessie Owley, proposed the formation of an International Seabed Stewardship Council, a Non-Governmental Organization responsible for setting applicable standards of business practice in the deep sea mining industry via a Seabed Extraction Assessment System, an assessment system focused on interactions between deep sea mining suppliers and their corporate buyers. They received $2,000 to bring their proposal to life. / The final virtual round of the Hack Competition was judged by María José Gutiérrez Murray, Senior Director of International Programs for Tradewater and Founder and Director of RE Consultoria; Roger Martella, Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer for the General Electric Company; and Maram Salaheldin, Attorney at Law, Clark Hill’s Environmental & Natural Resources and International Trade practice groups.
Future Environmental Law Professors Workshop: Every fall, the Future Environmental Law Professors Workshop brings visiting assistant professors, fellows, researchers, law clerks, and practitioners together to learn about the environmental law teaching market. The Workshop covers a wide array of subtopics within the field (from animal law to energy law), as well as the history and development of environmental law. It is designed to give advice, inside perspectives, and feedback on the environmental law hiring process, as well as provide opportunities for mock interviews and job talk presentations. Participants have gone on to secure tenure track teaching positions around the country. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, this year’s workshop returned to its in-person format and showcased a panel of professors providing insight on the timely topic “Navigating the Environmental Law Professor Job Market Post Pandemic.”
Jill Gross Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Law Operations; Professor of Law AB, Cornell; JD, Harvard. Specializes in dispute resolution, ethics, and securities law.
Michelle Land Clinical Associate Professor, Dyson College of Arts & Sciences BS, Guelph; JD, Pace Haub. Specializes in environmental law and policy, wildlife biology, interdisciplinary education, and campus sustainability. Leads the Environmental Consortium of Colleges & Universities.
§ 411. Recap of 2022–2023 Events (a) General Counsel at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Jeffrey Prieto, delivered the Gilbert & Sarah Kerlin Lecture on Environmental Law in Spring 2023 on “Addressing the Triple Environmental Challenges of Climate Change, Environmental Injustice, and Pollution: An EPA Perspective.” (b) The final round of the Environmental Law & Policy Hack Competition featured judges: María José Gutiérrez Murray (Tradewater and RE Consultoria); Roger Martella (General Electric Company); and Maram Salaheldin (Clark Hill) assessing student teams on their proposals for an innovative private environmental governance intervention with the potential to spur meaningful on-the-ground environmental progress. The team from Miami Law won the competition for their proposal for a private solution to deep-seabed mining. (c) Prof. Rose Liza Eisma-Osorio and her students from the University of Cebu Law School, Philippines, join a Pace-Maryland Alliance reunion at the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law’s 2023 Colloquium in Joensuu, Finland. (d) In keeping with Pace | Haub Environmental Law’s tradition of faculty and students devoting academic attention to the environmental law provisions of the New York State Constitution, Professors Katrina Fischer Kuh, Todd Ommen and Nicholas Robinson, in cooperation with Prof. Deborah Heller, Director of the Haub Law School Law Library, worked with Haub Law students to design and launch the first on-line repository – New York’s Environmental Rights Repository – on the judicial decisions and litigation pleadings, related to the New York Bill of Rights Article I, Section 19 on Environmental Rights. (e) The 9th Annual Future Environmental Law Professors Workshop takes place virtually covering the teaching job market in a pandemic era. (f) Haub Student Scholars pay a visit to NYC with Haub Visiting Scholar, Blake Hudson, and other Haub Law faculty. (g) Professor Sharmila L. Murthy, currently serving as Senior Counsel at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, delivered the Annual Lloyd K. Garrison Lecture on Environmental Law on “Advancing Environmental Justice.” (h) Six Pace | Haub Environmental Law students travel to Maryland Law in Baltimore to present at the Pace-Maryland Colloquium. (i) The Sustainable Business Law Hub co-hosted the Westchester County Association Sustainable Business Conference which included a panel on Mandatory Climate Risk and ESG featuring Pace | Haub Environmental Law faculty and alums discussing recent developments in the regulatory field. (j) Professor David Cassuto and Associate Director Achinthi Vithanage were invited to present during Environmental Law Month at Pace | Haub Environmental Law’s partner university, Universidad Científica del Sur in Peru. Prof. Vithanage had some close encounters with llamas and alpacas while Prof. Cassuto took in the Nazca Lines from up above! (k) 35th Annual Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition featuring the Final Round Judges and the finalist teams. (l) Haub Visting Scholar Professor and Pace | Haub Environmental Law alum, James May, not only taught and guest lectured on environmental rights at Haub Law in Spring 2023, but he also played the guitar in Haub Law’s student-faculty band The Recess Appointments during the Earth Day Jam!
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Nicholas A. Robinson Professor of Law; University Professor on the Environment; Gilbert & Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law Emeritus | BA, Brown; JD, Columbia. Developed the field of environmental law since 1969. Served as legal advisor, White House Council on Environmental Quality; general counsel, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation; and legal advisor and chairman, Commission on Environmental Law, IUCN.
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Katrina Fischer Kuh Haub Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law | BA & JD, Yale. Specializes in climate change, sustainability, and environmental rights.
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Deborah Heller Director, Pace Law Library; Adjunct Professor of Law | BS, Pace; MA, John Jay College; JD, Pace | Haub; MLS, St. John’s. Specializes in environmental legal research.
¶ Distinction Awards & Achievements #1 Environmental Law Program: Pace | Haub Environmental Law is once again ranked number one in the country for Environmental Law by the latest U.S. News and World Report rankings, released in May. This is the third year in a row, and the fourth time in five years, that Haub Law has received the number one ranking in Environmental Law, marking the latest major success for Pace | Haub Environmental Law. The continued Number 1 ranking reflects the program’s impressive depth and breadth, its unmatched focus on scholarship, innovation, and advocacy for the environment, and its continued commitment to solving today’s most pressing environmental challenges.
Karl S. Coplan Director, Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic and Professor of Law Emeritus | BA, Middlebury; JD, Columbia. Expert on constitutional and environmental law. Litigated many successful public interest environmental lawsuits.
Professor John Nolon Receives Founder’s Award: At the Founder’s Award Reception of the 21st annual Alfred B. DelBello Land Use and Sustainable Development Conference, Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus and Co-Counsel of the Land Use Law Center, John R. Nolon, Esq. was honored with the Founder’s Award in recognition of his lifetime career of working collaboratively to develop sustainable communities through the promotion of innovative land use strategies and dispute resolution techniques. Taylor M. Palmer ‘12, a partner with Cuddy & Feder LLP and a Haub Law alumnus, received the Distinguished Young Attorney Award, for his ongoing close work with the Land Use Law Center and continued commitment to land use law while Haub Law student Bailey Andree (JD’23) received the inaugural John R. Nolon Professor of Law Professor John R. Nolon Emeritus; Founder, Land Use Student Achievement Award for Law Center | BA, Nebraska; JD, her dedication and commitment University of Michigan. Expert on to excellence in fulfilling the land use, property, and sustainable mission of the Land Use Law development law. Center.
Faculty and Alumni Recognized in the 2023 Lawdragon 500 List for Environmental Law: Pace | Haub Environmental Law faculty, alums, and visiting professors were recognized in the 2023 Lawdragon list of top 500 leaders in Environmental Law. The list includes Professor Emeritus Karl Coplan, Associate Director of Environmental Law Programs Achinthi Vithanage, Adjunct Professor Steve Solow, and former Dean of Pace | Haub Environmental Law Alexandra Dapolito Dunn, as well as alums, Haub Visiting Scholar Professor James R. May, Samuel L. Brown, and Anne Carpenter.
Ottinger Award for Faculty Achievement: Professor Jonathan Brown was selected to receive the Ottinger Award for Faculty Achievement in recognition of service to the law school. The Richard Ottinger Faculty Achievement Award is awarded annually by the Faculty Development Richard L. Ottinger Dean Committee in recognition of a Emeritus; Co-Director, Global full-time professor’s outstanding Center for Environ-mental service to the law school, the Legal Studies; Founder & legal profession, or both. Prof. Brown Faculty Supervisor, Pace was recognized for his incredible work Energy & Climate Center | BA, in bringing new funding for the Food Cornell; LLB, Harvard. Previously and Farm Business Law Clinic, raising a US Congressman (chaired Energy the profile of the clinic across the state, Conservation & Power Subcommittee) allowed the clinic to retain a new staff and a Peace Corps founder. Chairs attorney and an additional hire to assist the Energy and Climate Group, IUCN with the administrative and programmatic Commission on Environmental Law. work of the clinic.
Jonathan Brown Director, Food and Beverage Law Clinic; Professor of Law | BA, UPenn; JD, NYU. Specializes in food and agricultural law and business law.
Rankings in the 2023 Energy & Environment Power 100: The “2023 Energy & Environment Power 100” list published by City & State New York magazine features Professor Jason J. Czarnezki, Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law and Associate Dean of Environmental Law Programs and Strategic Initiatives at Pace | Haub Environmental Law (ranked #85), Haub Law alumnus Basil Seggos ’01, Commissioner, State Department of Environmental Conservation, (ranked #3), former Haub Law Visiting Scholar Judith Enck, Founder and President of Beyond Plastics and former EPA Region 2 Administrator (ranked #36) as well as former Pace Energy & Climate Center’s Executive Director, Fred Zalcman (ranked #2).
2023 Wunderkinds Award goes to Pace Food Law Attorney: Pace | Haub Environmental Law’s Adjunct Professor and Staff Attorney at the Pace Food Law Center, Jack Hornickel, was awarded a 2023 Wunderkinds Award by Westchester Magazine’s 914INC in recognition of his impact in supporting farmers in the Hudson Valley. He was selected as one of 24 rising stars under the age of 35 changing the business and cultural landscapes of Westchester County. He has provided countless hours of pro bono legal services with the Food and Farm Business Law Clinic, including transactional legal services to small farms, food and beverage entrepreneurs, and nonprofit organizations seeking to improve the food system.
Jack Hornickel Staff Attorney, Food and Beverage Law Clinic | JD & MA Environmental Law and Policy, Vermont. Represents small farm and food businesses. Expertise in farm succession, conservation, land access, directmarket business practices and agricultural real estate.
Elisabeth Haub Awards for Environmental Law and Diplomacy: On November 8, 2022, Haub Law virtually conferred the 2021-2022 Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy on Professor Paulo de Bessa Antunes, an environmental scholar and leading professor of environmental law at Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, and head of the Environmental Practice of Campos Mello Advogados (Brazil). The award highlighted the Amazonian crisis and the rule of law in Brazil and its conferral on Professor Antunes came at a critical moment when deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil was advancing notwithstanding the impacts of climate change challenging human and environmental resilience. The event included a timely discussion with the laureate, led by Professor David Cassuto, Director of the Brazil-American Institute for Law and Environment (BAILE) at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. A recording of the ceremony can found on YouTube @HaubLawatPace.
This year, the international jury tasked with selecting the 2022-2023 Laureate for the Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy chose to jointly award Ambassador Marja Lehto of Finland and former Ambassador Marie Jacobsson of Sweden for their pivotal roles in advancing environmental law and policy to protect the environment in times of armed conflicts. While Members of the UN International Law Commission (ILC), both served successively as Special Rapporteur for the topic of the “Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflict.” In this role they worked tirelessly for a decade to develop the Draft Principles of International Law to Protect the Environment in Times of Armed Conflicts and then skillfully led the adoption of the draft principles by the ILC and their acceptance by the United Nations General Assembly in 2022. The principles lay out the urgent need and common objectives to reinforce and advance the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of the environment for present and future generations, specifically with respect to the protection of the environment before, during or after an armed conflict, including in situations of occupation.
Ann Powers Professor of Law Emerita | BA, Indiana University; JD, Georgetown. Specializes in ocean and coastal law and international environmental law.
The Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy was established in 1997 to honor the legacy of Elisabeth Haub (1899-1977), a noted philanthropist and advocate for strong laws for the conservation of nature. The Award was established to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the United Nations Stockholm Conference and the 5th anniversary of the United Nations Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit. Through this award, Pace | Haub Environmental Law has recognized the diplomats, policy makers, lawyers and activists who have sought to protect our environment through the rule of law, the cooperation of world governments and advocacy efforts across the globe.
Curriculum:
Administrative Law Advanced International Environmental Law Advanced Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Advanced Research Skills for Environmental Law Agriculture Law and the Environment Animal Law Bioethics and Medical Malpractice
Jason J. Czarnezki Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law; Associate Dean, Environmental Law Programs & Strategic Initiatives BA, Chicago; JD, Chicago. Specializes in natural resources, environmental regulation, eco-labeling, sustainable business, and green public procurement. Achinthi C. Vithanage Associate Director, Environmental Law Programs; Adjunct Professor of Law LLB/BInst, UNSW, Sydney Australia; LLM, Pace Haub. Former Visiting Associate Professor at GW Law. Specializes in International Environmental Law, Energy Justice, Sustainable Development, High Seas Biodiversity Law.
Legislative and Regulatory Process Natural Resources Law Ocean and Coastal Law Pace Environmental Law Review Editorship Public Health Law Renewable Energy Law Science for Environmental Lawyers
Climate Adaptation and the Law
Sustainable Business and the Environment
Climate Change Law
Sustainable Development Law Survey
Comparative Environmental Law
United Nations Environmental Diplomacy Practicum
Comparative Environmental Law – Brazil Field Course Conservation Law Current Challenges in Environment Law Disaster Law and Emergency Preparedness Energy Law Environmental Litigation and Toxic Torts Environmental Law in Commercial Transactions Environmental Dispute Resolution Environmental Justice Environmental Litigation Clinic Environmental Skills and Practice: Clean Water Act Environmental Law Survey Externship – D.C. Environmental Law Externship – NYS Environmental Law
Water Rights Law
Degree Programs:
JD with Certificate in Environmental Law JD with Concentration in Land Use & Real Estate Law LLM in Environmental Law LLM, Energy & Climate Change Specialization LLM, Land Use & Sustainable Development Specialization LLM, Global Environmental Law Specialization SJD in Environmental Law
Joint Degree Programs:
JD/Master of Environmental Management with Yale School of the Environment
Externship – Corporate (ESG)
JD/MS in Environmental Policy with Bard Center for Environmental Policy
Externship – Social Justice (EJ)
JD/LLM in Environmental Law
Food and Beverage Law Clinic
JD/MBA with Lubin School of Business
Food and Beverage Law Seminar
JD/MEP with Pace University
Food Systems Law
JD/MPA with Pace University
Guided Research
JD/MA with Sarah Lawrence College
Hazardous Waste Health and the Environment Historic Preservation Human Rights and the Environment International Environmental Law Land Use Law
N.B. New additions
Pace is committed to a sustainable campus. See our sustainability policy at www.law.pace.edu/sustainability
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