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Environmental Law Clinics and Centers
Clinics
Environmental Litigation
Clinic
The Pace Environmental Litigation
Clinic intensively immerses students in an environmental law
practice representing public interest groups, primarily the
Riverkeeper, Inc. The Riverkeeper's mission is to protect the
waters of the Hudson River system from the Adirondacks to Long
Island Sound. The Clinic represents Riverkeeper in federal and
state courts, federal and state administrative proceedings and
occasionally in local proceedings. Clinic students represent
Riverkeeper in all of these proceedings. Their efforts have led to
precedent setting decisions by federal courts under both the Clean
Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
Centers
The Center for Environmental
Legal Studies
Pace's Center for Environmental Legal
Studies offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. candidates an opportunity to work directly with
Pace law professors in advanced environmental law research and law reform. Since 1982, the
Center has developed sustained programs in Energy Law and in International Environmental
Law, as well as undertaking funded research programs in a number of subjects. The Center
is co-directed by Dean Richard L. Ottinger, Professor Nicholas A. Robinson and other
environmental law professors at Pace and coordinates funded research projects. The Center
collaborates with the Pace Environmental Law Review in sponsoring
periodic Colloquia on
Environmental Law. The Center is a member of the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN); Professor Robinson currently serves as the Chair of its
Commission on Environmental Law and Lee Paddock, Director of
Environmental Law Programs, serves as Chair of the Environmental Law's
Specialist Group on Enforcement and Compliance. GreenLaw is a news journal, published biannually by the Center.
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The Pace Energy Project
The Pace Energy Project, founded by Dean Richard L. Ottinger in 1987, is
recognized as a leader in devising legal reforms for promoting economic investments in
energy efficiency and renewable resources, in order to abate acid rain, contain global
warming, reduce urban smog and other environmental damage associated with the production
and delivery of electric energy. The Project leads a broad based public interest coalition
in New York, partners with the Mid-Atlantic Energy Project in New Jersey and Pennsylvania,
and assists local groups in Michigan and Florida in the pursuit of electric utility
regulatory reform. The Project's study, Environmental Costs of Electricity
(Oceana
Publications, 1990) is the seminal work on valuation of environmental costs to society
from electric utility operations and describes ways to incorporate environmental costs in
utility resource acquisition. The Project is hosting a national photovoltaic educational
project under a grant from the Department of Energy. The Project is also working with the
St. Regis Tribe of the Mohawk Nation on a model program to extend the economic and
environmental benefits of conservation and renewable resources to Native American
communities. Through guided research into various Project activities, students make
invaluable contributions to energy policy reform at the local, state, and international
level. Visit the Project's pages on this website at Pace Energy Project.
J.D., LL.M. and S.J.D. candidates may work
in paid or guided research positions in our Energy Project. Students conduct legal
research in all aspects of the Project's work, working with Pace law professors and the
Project's staff attorneys, economists, and consultants.
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International Environmental Law
International Environmental Law is another major specialized
focus for Pace Law School. This focus manifests itself in class
offerings, research opportunities, internships, and regular contact with
international environmental law practitioners.
International Environmental Law classes include the following:
- International Environmental Law
- Comparative Environmental Law (simulcast between Pace and
the University of Singapore)
- Brazilian Comparative Law (includes classes conducted in
Brazil each spring)
Pace Law School also conducts important research on
International Environmental Law. Professor Nicholas Robinson and
Dean Emeritus Richard Ottinger recently completed work as editors
of a new book on international energy law.
Pace Law School's International Law Program places students in
internships throughout the world. Under this program Pace
environmental law students have recently interned in Australia and
with the United Nation's Environment Program in Nairobi, Kenya.
Since 1986, the Center for Environmental Legal
Studies has been a member of the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN-The World Conservation Union). Founded
in 1948, IUCN is comprised of over 62 nations, 95 environmental government ministries, and
500 non-governmental organizations in over 117 countries. The Center contributes legal
research and analysis to IUCN's Commission on Environmental Law chaired by Professor
Robinson. Dean Emeritus Ottinger and Professor Robinson have represented the
Pace Center at
IUCN's global general assembly, The World Conservation Congress, in Costa Rica, Australia,
Argentina, Montreal, Johannesburg and elsewhere. Professor Robinson edited the proceedings of the 1992 United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) for IUCN, and edited AGENDA
21-Earth's Action Plan for publication (Oceana Publications, 1993) for IUCN's imprint.
Professor Robinson was part of the team that drafted the World Charter for Nature, adopted
in 1985 by the United Nations General Assembly.
The Center also works on policy research
and law reform. It works with environmental law centers such as the Fundacion Ambiente y Recursos
Naturales (FARN) in Buenos Aires, in Singapore with the Asia-Pacific Centre for
Environmental Law (APCEL) and the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore,
in Russia with the Moscow Environmental Law Institute, and elsewhere. The Center has
co-sponsored three symposia in Brazil, assisted public interest litigation in St.
Petersburg, Russia, and worked with the Mexico Center for Environmental Law, in Mexico
City, and with the Environmental Law Center in Katmandu, Nepal. J.D. and LL.M. graduates
work at several of these centers.
Pace Law School recently received a U.S. Department of Education
grant to lead a consortium with the University of Texas and two
Brazilian universities to expand student exchanges between the two
countries. Six Brazilian law students are currently enrolled at Pace. In
addition, Pace students fluent in Portuguese or Spanish may qualify for
scholarships for a semester-long study program at one of the
participating Brazilian universities.
Paces' masters and doctorate programs also bring international students to the law school campus. These students,
from around the globe including Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Spain,
Mongolia, Kuwait, Korea, Uganda, Kenya and Kyrgyzstan, interact
regularly with J.D. students, enriching the J.D. students' understanding
of International Environmental Law.
More is on the way. Pace Law School hosted in April 2003 the
organization meeting for IUCN's International Academy of
Environmental Law. The Academy will link universities around the
world that have significant environmental law programs, expanding
student opportunities for research by providing more rapid access
to these university programs. Pace Law School is also the
co-organizer and co-sponsor of the Academy's first symposium, a
conference on Sustainable Energy Law held in Shanghai in
early November 2003.
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Land
Use Law Center
The Land Use Law Center is dedicated to fostering the
development of sustainable communities in New York State.
Through its Community Leadership Alliance Program, the Center
offers citizens and professionals involved in local government a
training program and services that enable them to use all available
legal tools in making decisions about land development and
conservation issues. Pace Law students work as Center
fellows, conducting research on cutting-edge land use practice
topics. More than forty-five student papers have been
produced under this program, many of which have been published in
law reviews and journals. Students contributed significantly
to the Center's most recent publication, Well Grounded: Shaping
the Destiny of the Empire State, a set of three books that provide
a comprehensive guide to land use law.
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