2014-15 Leadership Report
SEPTEMBER 24: Pace Environmental Law Distinguished Junior Scholar Presentation by Michael Pappas, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
SEPTEMBER 26: Future Environmental Law Professors Workshop at Pace Law School with Keynote Address by Richard Lazarus, Howard and Katherine Aibel Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
OCTOBER 1: 15th Annual Gilbert & Sarah Kerlin Lecture on Environmental Law by Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence Antonio A. Oposa, Jr.
OCTOBER 22: Distinguished Environmental Law Lecture by Ambassador Sun Guoxiang, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in New York
NOVEMBER 3: Distinguished Environmental Law Lecture by Wang Xi, Professor of Law, Associate Dean of the School of Law and Director of the Environment and Resources Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
DECEMBER 5: 13th Annual Land Use & Sustainable Development Law Conference: Transitioning Communities
FEBRUARY 19-21: Jeffrey G. Miller Pace National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition
MARCH 20: Pace Environmental Law Review Symposium: Re-Conceptualizing the Future of Environmental Law
APRIL 1: 20th Annual Lloyd K. Garrison Lecture on Environmental Law by Robin Kundis Craig, William H. Leary Professor of Law, University of Utah College of Law
2014-15 Calendar of Events
View of New York City from nearby Hudson River
Abstract Cartography by Geraldine Lau
Degree Programs
JD with Certificate in Environmental Law
LLM in Environmental Law
LLM in Environmental Law, Climate Change Specialization
LLM in Environmental Law, Land Use and Sustainable Development Specialization
LLM in Environmental Law, Global Specialization
Joint Degree Programs
JD/Master of Environmental Management with Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
JD/Master of Science in Environmental Policy with Bard Center for Environmental Policy
JD/MBA with Pace University
JD/MPA with Pace University
JD/LLM in Environmental Law
For almost four decades, Pace Law School has provid-
ed an internationally acclaimed environmental legal
education. Our dedicated faculty have been pioneers
in developing and implementing environmental law
and continue to serve as national and world leaders in
the field. Our alumni are at work in law firms, govern-
ment agencies, corporations, nonprofit organizations,
law schools, and universities across the country and
around the world.
Our students choose from more than 40 environ-
mental law courses and unparalleled prospects to
develop into highly qualified environmental lawyers.
They research cutting-edge areas of the law through
our on-campus Global Center for Environmental
Legal Studies, Energy & Climate Center, Land Use
Law Center for Sustainable Development, and Brazil
American Institute for Law and Environment. They
cultivate hands-on litigation and advocacy skills in
our Environmental Litigation Clinic and local, national,
and international externships. Our top-ranked envi-
ronmental law program is located in the footprint of
New York City and a short train trip from Washington,
DC, providing our students with easy access to out-
standing networking and practice opportunities.
Jason J. Czarnezki
Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law
Executive Director of Environmental Law Programs
Message from the Executive Director
The award-winning, pioneering Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic incorporates students into a thriving environmental law prac-tice representing public interest groups.
Clinic cases:
• Catskill Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited v. US Environmental Protection Agency (representing 12 NGOs in a battle over the Water Transfers Rule in the Second Circuit).
• Raritan Baykeeper v. City of New York (fighting for environmental justice and public parkland in Brooklyn).
• Gabrielli v. Town of New Paltz (helping New York State munici-palities to protect wetlands).
The Land Use Law Center (LULC) fosters the development of sus-tainable communities through the promotion of innovative land use strategies and dispute resolution techniques.
Center projects and news:
• With Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, created a land use clinic tackling press-ing issues such as regulation of hydraulic fracturing.
• LULC founder Professor John Nolon received Honorary Membership Award for exempla-ry service to local government from The International City/County Management Association, its highest award to a person outside city management.
• ABA’s Section on State and Local Government Law awarded the Jefferson B. Fordham Award to LULC Executive Director Professor Jessica Bacher (JD ’03) for groundbreaking work on distressed property remediation, hydraulic fracturing, renew-able energy, and sea level rise adaptation.
Hands-On Learning Environment Clinics, Centers, and Real-World Training
1978Pace Environmental Law Program founded
1980Pace Environmental Law Review founded
●1989Pace National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition inaugurated
●● ●
1988Pace Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies joins International Union for the Conservation of Nature
Pace Environmental Law Program Timeline
The Pace Energy and Climate Center’s mission is to protect the earth’s environment by transform-ing the ways society supplies and consumes energy.
Center projects and news:
• Professor Karl R. Rabago (LLM ’90 ) joined the Center as its named Executive Director, bring-ing over 25 years’ of experience in energy and carbon markets to Pace.
• Secured nearly $500,000 in grant revenue to support its energy policy, clean energy, and climate leadership in New York and the Northeast, including several important grant renew-als from the Energy Foundation for its continued work on energy efficiency, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, re-newable energy, and intelligent energy management systems and policies.
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.
Center projects and publications:
• Pace contingent of faculty, students, and alumni present-ed at the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Colloquium in Tarragona, Spain.
• Dean Emeritus Richard Ottinger, Pian Pian Wang (LLM ’13), and Kristen Motel (JD ’15), Options for Adaptation to Climate Change (forthcoming; presented at the Asia-Pacific Center for Environmental Law Workshop on Adaptation to Climate Change: ASEAN and the Comparative Experiences).
• Professor Nicholas Robinson, Evolved Norms: A Canon for the Anthropocene in RULE OF LAW FOR NATURE (Christina Voigt, ed., Cambridge Univ. Press 2013) (first legal essay on sociobiology and environmental law).
1996Professor Joe Sax (Berkeley) delivers Garrison Lecture
● ●●
1995President’s Council on Sustainable Development designates Land Use Law Center’s Hudson River Advisory Board for Sustainable Development as a national model
David Sive, a founder of environmental law, delivers first annual Lloyd K. Garrison Lecture on Environmental Law
2000Professor Carol Rose (Yale) gives first annual Kerlin Lecture on Environmental Law
The Jeffrey G. Miller Pace National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition is the premier environmental moot court com-petition. It is run by Pace students and draws hundreds of compet-itors and judges to campus each February.
2014 NELMCC updates:
• Over 400 students, advisors, attorneys and judges participat-ed in the 2014 NELMCC, now named in honor of its founder, Professor Jeffrey G. Miller.
• Out of 75 teams, the University of Mississippi emerged vic-torious, edging out finalists Louisiana State University and The University of Utah in a closely-contested final round.
Hands-On Learning Environment Clinics, Centers, and Real-World Training
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 sus-tainable development in the US and Brazil.
Institute projects and news:
• In April, students in the Brazil Comparative Environmental Law course joined BAILE professors in Rio de Janeiro and Ilha Grande to explore water allocation and other environmental challenges in Brazil.
• Will hold one-week training for Brazilian federal judges focusing on environmental criminal law and hazardous waste in May 2015.
• With the Pace Energy and Climate Center, will launch an energy law summer program aimed at Brazilian lawyers, law students, and others who work in the field in July 2015.
2005Pace Environmental Law Program receives the American Bar Association Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy
2006Pace hosts the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Academy of Environmental Law Colloquium
●● ●
2009Dean Emeritus Richard Ottinger receives Environmental Quality Award from US EPA, its highest award presented to the public
Pace Environmental Law Program Timeline
The United Nations Environmental Diplomacy Practicum – a program unique to Pace – places students in internships with Permanent Missions to the United Nations for small island developing states.
Recent practicum highlights:
• Ambassadors Eduardo Ulibarri of Costa Rica and Ronald Jumeau of Seychelles met with Practicum students in May to discuss biodiversity, eco-tour-ism, and climate change.
• Ambassador Narinder Kakar, Representative to the United Nations for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (the oldest and largest international environmental organization), co-taught the practicum seminar alongside Professor Ann Powers and now oversees the practicum with Victor Tafur (Pace SJD).
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 program placements:
• Washington: Animal Welfare Institute; Beveridge & Diamond, PC; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Sierra Club; US Department of Justice (Environment and Natural Resources Division); US EPA (various offices); and the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
• New York: Earthjustice; Environmental Defense Fund; US EPA (Region 2); New York Environmental Law & Justice Project; New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; and Super Law Group.
2011Leslie Carothers, former president of the Environmental Law Institute, joins Pace as Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence
●
2010US EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson delivers Pace commencement address
● ●
2013Pace’s National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition receives the American Bar Association Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy
Environmental Law Faculty
NADIA B. AHMAD Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
BA, UC, Berkeley; JD, University of Florida, Levin College of Law; LLM, University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. Energy and natural resources attorney with professional experience in Florida and Colorado. Will teach the oil and gas portions of Natural Resources Law and a seminar on energy law and the environment.
JESSICA A. BACHER Executive Director, Land Use Law Center for Sustainable Development; Adjunct Professor of Law
BS, University of Florida; JD, Pace Law School. Provides strategic assistance to local municipalities relating to land use practice, distressed property remediation, transit-oriented development, and sea level rise. Teaches Land Use Law, Advanced Land Use Law, and Sustainable Development Law.
DAVID N. CASSUTO Professor of Law; Director, Brazil-American Institute for Law & Environment
BA, Wesleyan University; MA, Indiana University; PhD, Indiana University; JD, UC, Berkeley. Former professor of English literature. Specializes in animal law, water law, and comparative law. Visiting professor of environmental law at the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil and Williams College.
KARL S. COPLAN Professor of Law; Co-Director, Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic
BA, Middlebury College; JD, Columbia Law School. Expert on constitutional and environmental law. Clerked for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Warren E. Burger. Has litigated many successful public interest environmental lawsuits with the Clinic.
JASON J. CZARNEZKI Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Law; Executive Director of Environmental Programs
BA, University of Chicago; JD, University of Chicago. Specializes in natural resources, environmental regulation, and food law. Previously director of US-China Partnership for Environmental Law, Fulbright Scholar in China, and Visiting Fellow in Sweden.
DANIEL E. ESTRIN Supervising Attorney, Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic; Adjunct Professor of Law
BA, SUNY Plattsburgh; JD, Pace Law School. Previously Special Counsel to Kennedy & Madonna, LLP, focusing on representing public interest groups in suits against operators of factory farms.
SHELBY D. GREEN Associate Professor of Law
BS, Towson State University; JD, Georgetown University Law Center. Specializes in real estate and property law. Previously worked at what is now Nixon Peabody. Teaches Historic Preservation Law. Sits on the board of the Jay Heritage Center – an important historic preservation site in New York.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR. Professor of Law; Co-Director, Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic
AB, Harvard University; JD, University of Virginia School of Law; LLM, Pace Law School. Chairman of the Board of Waterkeeper Alliance. Serves as Chief Prosecuting Attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper Fund and Senior Attorney for NRDC’s Estuary Enforcement Project.
JEFFREY G. MILLER Emeritus Professor of Law
BA, Princeton University; LLB, Harvard Law School. Joined the faculty in 1987 after heading the US EPA’s national enforcement program and beginning the agency’s hazardous waste enforcement program.
JOHN R. NOLON Professor of Law; Founder, Counsel, Land Use Law Center for Sustainable Development
BA, University of Nebraska; JD, University of Michigan Law School. Expert on land use, property, and sustainable development law. Co-author of “Land Use and Sustainable Development Law: Cases and Materials” among other texts.
RICHARD L. OTTINGER Dean Emeritus; Co-Director, Pace Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies; Founder, Faculty Supervisor, Pace Energy and Climate Center
BA, Cornell University; LLB, Harvard Law School. Sixteen years in the US Congress chairing Energy Conservation & Power Subcommittee; a founding staff member of the Peace Corps. Chairs the Energy and Climate Group, IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law.
ANN POWERS Emerita Professor of Law
BA, Indiana University; JD, Georgetown University Law Center. Specializes in oceans and coastal law and international environmental law. Prior to entering academia, was vice president and general counsel at Chesapeake Bay Foundation and a senior trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental Enforcement Section.
KARL R. RÁBAGO Professor of Law; Executive Director, Pace Energy and Climate Center
BS, Texas A&M University; JD, University of Texas Law School; LLM, US Army Judge Advocate General’s School; LLM, Pace Law School. Has decades of experience in energy and climate policy markets. Held important roles at the Texas Public Utility Commission; US Department of Energy; Austin Energy; AES Corp.; and the Rocky Mountain Inst.
NICHOLAS A. ROBINSON University Professor for the Environment; Co-Director, Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies
BA, Brown University; JD, Columbia Law School. Has developed the field of environmental law since 1969, having 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.
TARYN L. RUCINSKI Environmental Law Librarian; Adjunct Professor of Law
BA, The College of New Jersey; JD, Pace Law School; MLIS, St. John’s University. Legal research specialty areas include environmental, cultural heritage law, and legal history. Teaches Advanced Legal Research: Environmental Law. Has authored over a dozen articles, books and guides related to environmental law.
2013-14 Events
14th Annual Gilbert & Sarah Kerlin Lecture on Environmental Law: “New York City Rules! Regulatory Tools and the Environment” by Professor Jason J. Czarnezki
Pace Environmental Law Distinguished Junior Scholar Presentation: “Banning Lawns”
by Professor Sarah Schindler
12th Annual Land Use & Sustainable Development Law Conference: Leading Communities Toward a Resilient Future
26th Annual Jeffrey G. Miller Pace National Environmental Law
Moot Court Competition
19th Annual Lloyd K. Garrison Lecture on Environmental Law: “In Defense of Ecosystem Services” by Professor J.B. Ruhl
John Jay Lecture: “Stewardship of New York’s Cultural & Natural History” by Rose Harvey,
Commissioner of NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
Who Owns the Waterfront? A panel discussion with Professor Jason Czarnezki, Daniel Estrin, Robert LaValva, Roland Lewis, and Tom McKnight
Administrative Law
Advanced Land Use and Sustainable Development Law: Practice
Advanced Land Use and Sustainable Development Law: Theory
Advanced Research Skills for Environmental Law
Animal Law
Clean Air Act Seminar
Climate Adaptive Management
Climate Change and Corporate Practice
Climate Change and Insurance Law
Climate Change Law
Comparative Environmental Law
Comparative Environmental Law—Brazil (field course)
Conservation Easements and Land Trusts
Conservation Law
Current Challenges in Environmental Law Seminar
Disaster Law and Emergency Preparedness
Eco-Markets and Trading
Energy Law
Environmental and Toxic Torts
Environmental Commercial Transactions
Environmental Dispute Resolution Seminar
Environmental Justice
Environmental Law Compliance and Enforcement
Environmental Litigation Clinic
Environmental Litigation Seminar
Environmental Skills and Practice (Clean Water Act)
Environmental Survey
Externship - DC Environmental Law
Externship - Environmental Law
Guided Research
Hazardous Waste
Historic Preservation Seminar
Human Rights and Environment
International Environmental Law
Land Use Law
Legal Management of Urban Environments
Mass Torts
Natural Resources Law
NEPA-SEQRA Seminar
Nonprofit Organizations
Ocean and Coastal Law Seminar
Pace Environmental Law Review Editorship
Science for Environmental Lawyers
State and Regional Climate Initiatives
Sustainable Development in the Practice of Real Estate Law
Sustainable Development Law Survey
United Nations Environmental Diplomacy Practicum
Water Resources Law
Environmental Law Curriculum
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