Pace Law School Environmental Law Program 2019-20

2019-2020 Leadership Report

Upcoming

2019 - 2020 Calendar of Events

9/9

Climate Justice for Future Generations launch featuring Tony Oposa

9/10

Haub Visiting Scholar Victor Flatt, University of Houston

9/13

Future Environmental Law Professors Workshop

9/26

Annual Kerlin Lecture on Environmental Law by Robert Verchick, Loyola University New Orleans

11/8

Climate Justice Conference with Federal Conservationists of Westchester County

Grizzly bear and her cub in Grand Teton National Park, WY

11/13 Joint Workshop with Columbia Law School, Threats to the

Brazilian Environment and Environmental Policy

TBD

Environmental Law Distinguished Junior Scholar Presentation

2/17

Haub Visiting Scholar James May, Widener University Delaware Law School

2/19

ABA SEER Climate Change Symposium

2/20

Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition

3/16

Haub Visiting Scholar Hope Babcock, Georgetown University Law Center, & Richard Wallsgrove, William S. Richardson School of Law

4/13

Haub Visiting Scholar Deepa Badrinarayana, Chapman University

4/20

Annual Lloyd K. Garrison Lecture by Erika George, University of Utah

4/24

Annual Earth Day Jam

4/27

Haub Visiting Scholar Blake Hudson, University of Houston

TBD

Ceremony presenting the Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy

2019 Riverkeeper Fishermen’s Ball where PEL was honored as the 2019 Hudson Hero (photo credit: Ann Billingsley)

Degree Programs

Joint Degree Programs

JD with Certificate in Environmental Law

JD/MEM with Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

JD with Concentration in Land Use and Real Estate Law LLM in Environmental Law

JD/MS in Environmental Policy with Bard Center for Environmental Policy

LLM, Energy and Climate Change Specialization

JD/LLM in Environmental Law

LLM, Land Use and Sustainable Development Specialization

JD/MBA with Pace University JD/MEP with Pace University

LLM, Global Environmental Law Specialization

JD/MPA with Pace University

SJD in Environmental Law

JD/MA with Sarah Lawrence College

Message

from the Associate Deans of Environmental Law Programs

Pace Environmental Law and the Elisabeth Haub School of Law made headlines this year. Voted on by environmental faculty, we are now the #1 ranked environmental law program in the country (U.S. News and World Report). We were awarded the Hudson Hero Award by Riverkeeper in recognition of over three decades fighting for a protected, healthy Hudson River. We welcomed Smita Narula to the faculty as the Haub Distinguished Professor of International Law just in time to celebrate the realization of one of her long-time goals, adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the Convention on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, which seeks to protect the rights of all rural populations, strengthen food sovereignty, and contribute to the fight against climate change and the conservation of biodiversity. Professor Margot Pollans, founder of the first-in-the-country Pace Food and Beverage Law Clinic, is now also the author of its first food law casebook, Food Law: Cases and Materials (Aspen).

Professor Karl Coplan inspired by biking across the country, demonstrating the possibilities and joys of a low-carbon lifestyle as advocated in his forthcoming book, Live Sustainably Now: A Low-Carbon Vision of the Good Life (Columbia University Press). Alexandra Dunn, former Assistant Dean, was named Assistant Administrator of EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, and student Raquel Parks placed second in the New York State Bar Association’s Williams R. Ginsberg Memorial Essay Contest. And Pace students participated in the first joint Natural Resources Law and Policy course in cooperation with University of Wyoming Haub School of the Environment and School of Law, spending an amazing and highly educational two weeks Grand Teton National Park.

Joy in the accomplishments and thriving of Pace Environmental Law, however, is tempered by deep unease about the planet’s future. Pace Environmental Law enters 2019-2020 more committed than ever to train sophisticated environmental practitioners and advocates to meet the Anthropocene’s existential environmental challenges. Pace’s newest graduates will join forces with its alumni, many of whom helped to define the field of environmental law and shape it today, to confront these challenges, seek justice, and protect the rights of future generations.

Sincerely,

Jason J. Czarnezki

Gilbert & Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law; Associate Dean, Environmental Law Programs & Strategic Initiatives BA & JD, University of Chicago. Specializes in natural resources, environmental regulation, eco-labeling, and green public procurement.

Katrina Fischer Kuh

Haub Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law; Interim Associate Dean & Executive Director, Environmental Law Programs BA & JD, Yale. Specializes in climate change and sustainability. Co-editor of The Law of Adaptation to Climate Change: United States and International Aspects.

Welcome

to Smita Narula Haub Distinguished Professor of International Law

Professor Narula joined Pace Environmental Law this year as the first Haub Distinguished Professor of International Law. Funding for the Haub Distinguished Professor of International Law was made possible by a generous gift from the Haub family. Professor Narula is an award-winning scholar and practitioner with more than two decades of experience in the field of human rights and public policy. Professor Narula served as an international law expert to facilitate the recent adoption of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. After receiving her law degree with honors from Harvard Law School, Professor Narula served as India Researcher and Senior Researcher for South Asia at Human Rights Watch. In 2000, she co-founded the International Dalit Solidarity Network, a transnational advocacy network that helps advance the right to equality for 260 million people affected by caste-based discrimination worldwide. In 2008, she was appointed legal advisor to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food and served in this capacity for the duration of the Rapporteur’s six-year mandate. From 2003 to 2014 Professor Narula was a faculty member at NYU School of Law where she taught the International Human Rights Clinic and served as Faculty Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice. She then served as Distinguished Lecturer and Interim Director of the Human Rights Program at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College.

Professor Narula stated: “I am honored and thrilled to be joining the Elisabeth Haub School of Law, which has long been at the forefront of developing law and policy to protect the environment and advance social justice. I am deeply inspired by Pace’s faculty, students, alumni, and staff and look forward to contributing to their important work.” Her contributions thus far have been significant, which include giving the Annual Lloyd K. Garrison Lecture on food sovereignty as a path to environmental justice; helping organize this year’s Pace International Law Review Symposium; and becoming Co-Director of the Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies.

Margot Pollans’ Food Law Casebook Professor Margot J. Pollans, Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Pace-NRDC Food Law Initiative, is co-editor of a new casebook, Food Law: Cases and Materials. Surveying the elements of modern food law, it is the first casebook that provides a comprehensive treatment of food law as a unique discipline. The casebook draws together traditional FDA law with modern law governing nutrition, environmental protection, food system structures, and international trade. It focuses on federal law, but covers recent innovations in food law at all levels of government and includes both cases and regulatory materials. Her co-authors are Professor Jacob Gersen (Harvard) and Professor Michael Roberts (UCLA).

Barbara L. Atwell

Associate Professor of Law BA, Smith; JD, Columbia.

Specializes in Bioethics and Medical Malpractice, Health Law, and Public Health Law.

Jessica A. Bacher

Executive Director, Land Use Law Center; Adjunct Professor of Law BS, University of Florida; JD, Pace. Provides assistance to municipalities on land use, distressed property remediation, transit-oriented development, and sea level rise. Specializes in Land Use Law, Advanced Land Use Law, and Sustainable Development Law.

(From left) Ben Boer, Mara Andhov, and Paulo de Bessa Antunes

Haub Visiting Scholars

Pace Environmental Law welcomed three Haub Visiting Scholars in 2019: Ben Boer, Distinguished Professor at the Research Institute of Environmental Law at Wuhan University and Professor Emeritus at Sydney Law School; Mara Andhov, Assistant Professor of the Centre for Enterprise Liability, Faculty of law at University of Copenhagen; and Paulo de Bessa Antunes, Professor at the Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.

The Haub Visiting Scholars greatly enriched Pace’s intellectual community in presentations, during discussions with faculty and students, and by contributing to ongoing Pace Environmental Law initiatives. During his residency, Professor Boer guest lectured during classes, attended meetings of the Pace Energy and Climate Center, participated in a meeting at the United Nations on the Global Pact for the Environment, and presented a paper titled “Greening China’s Belt and Road: Challenges for Environmental Law,” to Pace faculty and students​. During her residency, Professor Andhov cosponsored and led an all-day roundtable on emerging issues in sustainable public procurement, which included researchers and renowned specialists from around the globe discussing recent developments and challenges in the field. She also presented on the mandatory Icelandic equal pay standard at a faculty workshop. During his residency, Professor Antunes co-taught the Comparative Environmental Law-Brazil course and joined Pace faculty and Haub Scholars for a dinner discussion of environmental law developments in Brazil.

Environmental Graduate Research Fellows Programs Pace Environmental Law is pleased to welcome four graduate research fellows to its staff and LLM program in the 2019-20 academic year: Olivia Bonner (Environmental Law Fellow), Miranda Steed (Global Environmental Law Fellow), Violaine Panasci (Food and Agriculture Law Fellow) and Kristin Pelatti (Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Fellow). Each fellow works part-time in one of our programs or centers while earning an LLM in Environmental Law. The fellows 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 2020-21 will open in January 2020. Please keep an eye on our website for more information.

Jonathan Brown

Director, Food and Beverage Clinic; Adjunct Professor of Law BA, UPenn; JD, NYU. Specializes in food and beverage law and agricultural law.

Inga C. Caldwell

Associate Director, Environmental Law Programs; Adjunct Professor of Law BA, Dartmouth; JD, Vermont Law School. Teaches Water Rights Law and Natural Resources Law.

Coalitions

Pace Environmental Law Traveling & Presenting around the World Smita Narula, Haub Distinguished Professor of International Law, addressing the United Nations General Assembly delegates at a Side Event to support the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas.

Transatlantic Roundtable on Sustainable Public Procurement, sponsored by Pace Environmental Law, the Centre for Enterprise Liability Faculty of Law at the University of Copenhagen, and the George Washington University Law School.

Professor Jason Czarnezki teaching Natural Resources Law with Professor Sam Kalen, University of Wyoming School of Law,as a 2-week field course at the AMK Ranch in Grand Teton National Park, WY.

IUCN Academy Colloquium in Malaysia.

NYC Alumni Event

Pace Law Faculty, Staff and Alumni reminiscing at the Albany Environmental Law Alumni event.

Professor Nicholas Robinson delivered a lecture at the Universidad Carlos III Madrid, regarded as the leading public university in Spain, and signed a Protocol establishing the international secretariat for the International Council of Environmental Law. Also pictured is Professor Victor Tafur.

Professor David Cassuto with Pace Environmental Law students in Brazil as part of the Comparative Environmental Law-Brazil course.

David N. Cassuto

Professor of Law; Director, BrazilAmerican Institute for Law & Environment BA, Wesleyan; MA, Indiana University; PhD, Indiana University; JD, Berkeley.

Specializes in animal, water, and comparative law.

Professor Karl Coplan traveling cross-country on bicycle.

DC Alumni Event

Karl S. Coplan

Professor of Law; Co-Director, Environmental Litigation Clinic BA, Middlebury; JD, Columbia.

Expert on constitutional and environmental law. Has litigated many successful public interest environmental lawsuits with the Environmental Litigation Clinic.

Skills The Pace-NRDC Food Law Initiative is a collaboration between Pace’s Environmental Law Program and the Natural Resources Defense Council. It seeks to grow the legal capacity for our regional food system by training lawyers and law students, and by providing direct pro bono legal services.

Highlights • The Food and Beverage Law Clinic represented eighteen clients over the course of the year, including representing a Somali Bantu refugee group on the creation of a community farm, developing a legal guide on farm-to-school procurement for small NY farms, representing a group innovating the use of livestock grazing for vegetation management on solar installations, assisting in the creation of a community impact investment vehicle for black farmers and food entrepreneurs, and assisting several new farms and food enterprises in forming business entities.

Clinics, Centers, and Experiential Learning The Land Use Law Center fosters the development of sustainable communities by promoting innovative land use strategies and dispute resolution techniques.

Projects and news • The Center held its 17th annual Alfred B. DelBello Land Use and Sustainable Development Conference Reimagining the Role of Local Governments on December 6, 2018. The theme of the event focused on using sustainability as a method of achieving economic development, equity, and environmental quality in communities. The day kicked off with a keynote address by Christopher B. Leinberger, the Charles Bendit Distinguished Scholar & Research Professor and Chair of the Center for Real Estate & Urban Analysis at George Washington University School of Business.

• Western Resources Advocates and the Center published Integrating Water Efficiency into Land Use Planning in the Interior West: A Guidebook for Local Planners.

• The Food Law Initiative hosted a CLE on craft beverage law in NYC on November 1, 2018, and co-hosted a CLE on farm conservation law in Kingston on April 11, 2019.

• On May 2, 2019, the Center held its Third Annual Housing Summit entitled Hudson Valley Housing and Development-Update, Innovations, and Opportunities. Presenters examined Opportunity Zones, faith-based housing, and various policy and legal approaches to creating affordable housing.

• The Food Law Initiative presented legal training workshops for farmers at the Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture’s Entrepreneurship Intensive for Farmers, the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York’s Winter Conference, and Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Agriculture, Food & Environmental Systems In-Service Training.

• Professor John Nolon delivered the 15th Annual Norman Williams Distinguished Lecture in Land Use Planning and the Law at Vermont Law School on April 4, 2019. His lecture, Calming Troubled Waters: Local Solutions focused on troubles with regulating water quality under the federal system of law and ideas for building a coherent framework involving all levels of government.

@pacefoodlaw

@LandUseLC

E. Melanie DuPuis

Chair and Professor of Environmental Studies & Science BA, Radcliffe; PhD, Cornell.

Joined Pace from UC Santa Cruz to chair of Department of Environmental Studies and Science. Specializes in food systems and agriculture.

Shelby D. Green

Associate Professor of Law BS, Towson; JD, Georgetown.

Specializes in real estate, historic preservation, and property law.

The Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, hosted

by Pace Law and run by its students, draws hundreds of competitors and judges to this premier environmental moot court each year.

2019 Highlights • In February, over 300 students, advisors, attorneys and judges participated in the 31st Annual Competition, which addressed whether the Trail Smelter Principle under the international Law of Nations is displaced by greenhouse gas regulation under the Clean Air Act and whether there is a Due Process-based public trust right to governmental protection from atmospheric climate change.

• Judge John K. Bush, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Judge Dennis Jacobs, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Judge Kermit V. Lipez, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and Judge Malachy E. Mannion, U.S. District Court Middle District of Pennsylvania, served as the final round judges.

• Of 56 participating teams, UC Berkeley School of Law took first place, edging out finalists from University of Alabama School of Law and Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert College of Law.

@PaceLawNELMCC

The Energy and Climate Center’s mission is to protect the earth’s environment by transforming the ways society supplies and consumes energy.

Projects and news • Celebrating its 30th year, Pace Energy and Climate Center served as an expert consultant and witness in utility transformation proceedings in several jurisdictions and filed more than 1,350 pages of comments, testimony, and white papers.

• The Center was selected in a competitive solicitation to serve as administrator of the U.S. Department of Energy’s New York/New Jersey Combined Heat and Power regional Technical Assistance Project. Work will focus on developing CHP and micro grid markets in NY and NJ and on providing subject-matter expert support to planners and project developers throughout New England.

• The Center prioritizes issues relating to energy justice–affordability, access to clean and sustainable energy, and reductions in pollution in low-income communities and communities of color. On behalf of Boston Community Capital, a not-for-profit developer of solar energy projects for low-income customers, the Center developed and proposed an innovative electricity tariff design for low-income community solar projects.

The Center supported the Energy Efficiency for All coalition in New York and provided regulatory training and advice to advocates for energy justice throughout New York State.

@Paceenergy

Alexander K. A. Greenawalt Professor of Law

BA, Princeton; MA, Yale; JD, Columbia. Teaches international and administrative law.

Researches international humanitarian law.

Jill Gross

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs; Professor of Law AB, Cornell; JD, Harvard.

Specializes in dispute resolution, ethics, and securities law.

A member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies engages in innovative projects addressing global environmental challenges.

News

Students represent public interest groups as part of our award-winning, pioneering Environmental Litigation Clinic.

Notable events • The Clinic successfully prosecuted numerous stormwater cases over the past year on behalf of Riverkeeper. Many industrial sites along the Hudson River and its tributaries do not have the proper stormwater permit or protections in place to prevent polluted stormwater from leaving their sites and discharging into surface waters. The Clinic noticed multiple lawsuits over the past year, resulting in four newly permitted sites and significant improvement on protecting the local waterways from this contamination.

• Clinic faculty, students and alumni joined together to celebrate Pace Environmental Law’s receipt of the 2019 Hudson Hero Award, recognizing the Clinic’s decades of work to protect the Hudson River.

@PaceEnvClinic

• Professor Katy Kuh coached one of our Haub Scholars, who participated in the Fifth Tony Oposa Intergenerational Moot Court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on August 7, 2019. The Moot Court was premised on a hypothetical UN General Assembly resolution requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on constructing an artificial island in the Arctic to support oil exploration and extraction.

• Faculty and students presented papers at the 17th Annual IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Colloquium hosted by Universiti Teknologi MARA Centre for Environmental Law, Governance and Policy in Malaysia. The Colloquium explored law as part of the solution for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

• Pace was well-represented at the annual meeting of the US National Committee of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Washington, D.C. in June 2019. Dean Emeritus Richard Ottinger gave an impassioned argument urging support for a resolution he proposed on the impact of fossil fuel energy on biodiversity; Professor Emerita Ann Powers presented a report and moderated a discussion on the work of one of the subcommittees. They were accompanied by current students and recent graduates who served as rapporteurs during the proceedings.

• Pace students and faculty submitted three forum proposals and twelve proposed resolutions addressing everything from reducing fossil fuel dependence to improving transboundary environmental impact assessment in Asia in preparation for the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2020.

• In July 2019, Professor Smita Narula took part in a Knowledge Dialogue on Nature Governance, Peace and Sustainable Development, where she addressed U.N. delegates and other attendees on the need to protect environmental human rights defenders and ensure land rights for indigenous peoples and rural communities. The dialogue was organized

by IUCN, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Government of France as a Side Event to the U.N. High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

@GlobalCELS

Deborah Heller

Environmental Law Librarian BS, Pace University; MA, John Jay College of Criminal Justice; JD, Pace Law; MLS, St. John’s University. Specializes in environmental legal research.

Michelle Land

Clinical Associate Professor, Dyson College of Arts & Sciences BS, University of Guelph; JD, Pace.

Specializes in environmental law and policy, wildlife biology, interdisciplinary education, and campus sustainability. Leads the Environmental Consortium of Colleges & Universities.

Housed jointly at Pace 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 • In Spring 2019, Professor David Cassuto and Professor Romulo Sampaio’s Comparative Environmental Law–Brazil course afforded students the opportunity to learn from Brazilian legal scholars on issues of environmental justice and water law, as well as network with local Brazilian lawyers and hike in protected areas.

Professor Paulo de Bessa Antunes, a Haub Visiting Scholar and one of the foremost environmental scholars in Brazil, guest lectured during the course.

• Pace Law signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UNIVALI Law School in Santa Catarina, Brazil, creating various collaborative opportunities between the two schools.

The United Nations Environmental Diplomacy Practicum – a program unique to Pace Law – places students in internships with Permanent Missions to the United Nations.

Recent highlights • The Practicum placed student interns at the UN Missions of Sri Lanka and Costa Rica, as well as with the Permanent Observer Mission of IUCN. During the seminar component, students discussed the key issues and negotiations taking place at the UN Headquarters in New York and at the UN Compound in Nairobi, where the UN Environment Programme’s main office is located. In particular, the work of the U.N. General Assembly Open-Ended Working Group “Towards a Global Pact for the Environment” for strengthening the implementation of international environmental law, and the processes and outcomes of the Fourth UN Environment Assembly were considered.

Professor Victor Tafur participated in the Nairobi meetings and consultations on behalf of the International Council of Environmental Law.

@PaceBAILE

Jeffrey G. Miller

Professor Emeritus of Law BA, Princeton; LLB, Harvard.

Joined the faculty in 1987 after heading the US EPA’s national enforcement program and beginning the agency’s hazardous waste enforcement program.

Smita Narula

Haub Distinguished Professor of International Law BA, Brown; MA, Brown; JD, Harvard. Specializes in international human rights, right to food, environmental justice.

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.

Recent placements • Washington: U.S. Department of Justice (Land Acquisitions Unit; Environment and Natural Resources Division); U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (various offices); U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Department of Energy; D.C. Department of Energy and Environment; and Sierra Club.

• 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; and NRDC.

Future Environmental Law Professors Workshop Held every fall, the Future Environmental Law Professors Workshop brings visiting assistant professors, fellows, researchers, law clerks, practitioners and others 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 the field 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.

Heading into its sixth year, the Workshop has hosted some of the country’s most accomplished environmental law scholars as panelists and keynote speakers, including: Professor Richard Lazarus (Harvard) (“Environmental Law Scholarship: Challenges and Opportunities”); Professor Douglas Kysar (Yale) (“Making a Contribution in Environmental Law.”); Professor Pat Parenteau (Vermont) (“Nature Deficit Disorder: A Reply to the EcoPragmatists”); Dean Hari Osofsky (Penn State) (“Pathways Forward for Cross-Cutting Environmental Law Scholarship”); Professor Katrina M. Wyman (NYU) (“The Return of the City”). We look forward to another insightful Workshop with panelists Nadia Ahmad (Barry), Victor Flatt (Houston), Jonathan Rosenbloom (Vermont), and a keynote address by Professor Sarah Krakoff (Colorado) this coming year.​

Jennie Nolon Blanchard

Senior Staff Attorney, Land Use Law Center; Adjunct Professor of Law BS, Cornell; JD/MEM, Pace/ Yale. Focuses on the growth of urban centers, working closely with cities to address obstacles to redevelopment and sustainability.

John R. Nolon

Professor of Law; Founder, Land Use Law Center BA, University of Nebraska; JD, University of Michigan.

Expert on land use, property, and sustainable development law.

Awards

ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resources 2018 Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law

Professor Nicholas A. Robinson, University Professor on the Environment and Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law Emeritus received the ABA’s Section of Environment, Energy and Resources Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law for his leadership in environmental policy. Professor Robinson is widely recognized in the U.S. and globally as a pioneer of modern environmental law, which he began developing in 1969 when he was named to the Legal Advisory Committee of the President’s Council on Environmental Quality.

During his career, he drafted New York’s wetlands and wild bird laws and was inaugurated as the first chairman of both the statutory Freshwater Wetlands Appeals Board and Greenway Heritage Conservancy for the Hudson River Valley. He also edited the proceedings of the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Professor Robinson has engaged in drafting treaties and counseling different countries on preparation of environmental laws.

The award recognizes individuals or organizations who have distinguished themselves in environmental law and policy, contributing significant leadership in improving the substance, process or understanding of environmental protection and sustainable development in the U.S. Hudson Hero Award Pace Environmental Law received the 2019 Hudson Hero Award from Riverkeeper for fostering the next generation of environmental leaders committed to using the law to guarantee a safe, clean, and healthy natural world.

Professor Jason J. Czarnezki and Professor Karl Coplan accepted the award on behalf of Pace Environmental Law. (Photo credit: Ann Billingsley)

2019 GreenPace Award Pace Environmental Law received the GreenPace Award for the Program’s sustainability efforts on the Law School’s campus, including helping to ban plastic straws and plastic to-go containers on campus. The GreenPace Award recognizes Pace University faculty, staff, and students who develop innovative programs and services that help Pace meet its commitment to sustainable practices.

Todd Ommen

Supervising Attorney, Environmental Litigation Clinic; Adjunct Professor of Law BA, Tulane; JD, Villanova.

Joined Pace in 2016 after serving as Assistant Attorney General for New York State.

Richard L. Ottinger

Dean Emeritus; Co-Director, Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies; Founder, Faculty Supervisor, Energy & Climate Center BA, Cornell; LLB, Harvard. Previously a US Congressman (chaired Energy Conservation & Power Subcommittee) and a Peace Corps founder. Chairs the Energy and Climate Group, IUCN Commission on Environmental Law.

Nicholas A. Robinson Award for Distinguished Environmental Achievement The Pace Environmental Law Alumni Association awarded the 2019 Nicholas A. Robinson Award for Distinguished Environmental Achievement to Janice Dean, Deputy General Counsel at NYSERDA. Janice exemplifies Professor Robinson’s legacy and continues to maintain strong connections with the Law School faculty, staff, and students.

The Nicholas A. Robinson Award is awarded each year to an alumna/us of Pace Law School who has made significant contributions to our natural environment. The award is given in honor of Nicholas A. Robinson, University Professor on the Environment and Gilbert, Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law Emeritus, and founder of the Environmental Law Programs, whose commitment to and achievements in the field of environmental law are a source of inspiration for those dedicated to the betterment of our environment.

Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy Christiana Figueres was honored this past year as the 2016 Laureate for the Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy in recognition of her remarkable diplomatic achievements as the architect of the Paris Climate Accords.

Ms. Figueres is the Former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (20102016) and Founding Partner of Global Optimism.

This prestigious Award was established in 1997 by the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, in cooperation with the Haub Family, 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.

Margot Pollans

Assistant Professor of Law; Faculty Director, Pace-NRDC Food Law Initiative BA, Columbia; JD, NYU; LLM, Georgetown.

Focuses on environmental, food, and administrative law.

Ann Powers

Professor Emerita of Law BA, Indiana University; JD, Georgetown. Specializes in ocean and coastal law and international environmental law.

Recap

2018-2019 Events 19th Annual Gilbert & Sarah Kerlin Lecture on Environmental Law: “Change in Antarctica: What Does it Mean to Us?”

by Dr. Robin E. Bell, Research Professor at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University

Student interns from the Food and Beverage Law Clinic visiting clients at Soul Fire Farm in Petersburg, NY

IUCN Meetings at the National Zoological Park in Washington, DC.

31st Annual Jeffrey G. Miller Pace National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition

3rd Annual Hudson Valley Affordable Housing Summit, co-sponsored by the Land Use Law Center

24th Annual Lloyd K. Garrison Lecture on Environmental Law: “Food Sovereignty as a Path to Environmental Justice,” by Haub Distinguished Professor of International Law Smita Narula

Jessica Bacher’s Book on Vacant and Problem Properties In May, the American Bar Association Section of State and Local Government Law released a new book co-edited by Executive Director Jessica Bacher, Vacant and Problem Properties. The book provides an assessment of the problems of vacant and distressed properties, the many actions that can be taken to bring these deteriorating assets back into use, and how to write defensible and effective local ordinances and regulations.

As part of the book launch, Jessica presented at the ABA Land Use Institute in Baltimore and the American Planning Association National Conference Bettman Symposium in San Francisco.

Karl R. Rábago

Professor of Law; Executive Director, Energy & Climate Center BS, Texas A&M; JD, University of Texas; LLM, US Army Judge Advocate General’s School; LLM, Pace. Specializes in energy and climate policy markets.

Nicholas A. Robinson

University Professor for the Environment; Co-Director, Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies BA, Brown; JD, Columbia. Has 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.

Curriculum Administrative Law Advanced International Environmental Law Advanced Land Use and Sustainable Development Law: Practice Advanced Land Use and Sustainable Development Law: Theory Advanced Research Skills for Environmental Law Agriculture Law and the Environment Animal Law Clean Air Act Climate Adaptation and the Law Climate Change Law Comparative Environmental Law Comparative Environmental Law – Brazil Field Course Conservation Law Current Challenges in Environmental Law Disaster Law and Emergency Preparedness Energy Law Environmental and Toxic Torts Environmental Law in Commercial Transactions Environmental Dispute Resolution Environmental Justice Environmental Litigation Clinic Environmental Litigation Seminar

Darren Rosenblum Professor of Law

BA, UPenn; JD, UPenn; MIA, Columbia. Directs the international law programs at Pace. Teaches and researches in the areas of corporate, international, and comparative law.

Internationally Acclaimed Legal Education

Environmental Skills and Practice: Clean Water Act Environmental Survey Externship – D.C. Environmental Law Externship – NYS Environmental Law Food and Beverage Law Clinic Food and Beverage Law Seminar Food Systems Law Guided Research Hazardous Waste Historic Preservation Human Rights and the Environment International Environmental Law Land Use Law Legislative and Regulatory Process Mass Torts Natural Resources Law Nonprofit Organizations Ocean and Coastal Law Pace Environmental Law Review Editorship Public Health Law Science for Environmental Lawyers Sustainable Business and the Environment Sustainable Development Law Survey United Nations Environmental Diplomacy Practicum Water Rights Law

Tiffany Zezula

Deputy Director, Land Use Law Center; Adjunct Professor of Law BS, Tulane; JD, Pace Law. Primary trainer of local officials, environmentalists, and planners for the Center.

Coordinates the national Land Use Leadership Alliance Training Program.

Pace is committed to a sustainable campus.

See our sustainability policy at www.law.pace.edu/sustainability

The original document was printed on FSCcertified paper — using Green-e certified renewable energy.

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@PaceEnviroLaw @HaubEnviroLaw

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Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University 78 North Broadway White Plains, NY 10603