Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University Honors Seven Distinguished Retiring Faculty Members
Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University honored the achievement of seven distinguished retiring faculty members at a celebration held at the law school on Wednesday, April 27, 2022. The honorees, including Karl S. Coplan, Linda C. Fentiman, Margaret M. Flint, Marie Stefanini Newman, John R. Nolon, Audrey Rogers, Merril Sobie, retired over the past three years. Fellow faculty, alumni, students and colleagues gathered together for the first time since the pandemic to thank them for their years of teaching, scholarship and service to the law school.
“These professors and scholars have contributed so much to our law school over the years,” said Haub Law Dean Horace Anderson. “Each of these professors have led at the law school, as directors of centers and clinics, leaders in their academic fields, and more. They have also been teachers and mentors to generations of students and faculty. The role each of these individuals have played over the years in helping those that they are working with and those that they are teaching to accomplish their goals is among their most important contribution they have made to our community and the legal community at large.”
The entire Haub Law community celebrates the legacy of the following seven faculty members and congratulates them on the next chapter in their lives. They have all be awarded titles as Emeriti Professors and many will continue to teach, conduct research or be involved at the law school.
Karl Coplan, Professor of Law and director of Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, joined Haub Law in 1994. Professor Coplan is best known for teaching the Environmental Skills course and writing the problem for the Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, one of the nation’s largest interschool moot court competitions. Professor Coplan recently published his book "Live Sustainably Now - A Low-Carbon Vision of the Good Life." He is now going to sail around the world!
Linda Fentiman became a Professor at Haub Law in 1996. She specializes in health law and criminal law, and has written extensively about bioethics, health care access, and mental disability, addressing the insanity defense, competency to stand trial, fetal protection, physician advocacy, organ transplantation, death and dying, telemedicine and Internet pharmacies. Her more recent work focused on women and addiction. She is the author of the book “Blaming Mothers - American Law and the Risks to Children’s Health.”
Margaret (Gretchen) Flint joined Haub Law in 1999 and retired in 2019 as Executive Director of John Jay Legal Services and faculty supervisor of the Equal Justice America Disability Rights/Health Law Clinic. She has taught Elder Law and the Legal Services/Public Interest/Health Law Externship seminar.
Marie Stefanini Newman was the associate director of the Haub Law Library from 1993 until 1998, when she became the acting director, and she was appointed the director of the Law Library in 1999. During her time at Haub Law, she was instrumental in designing and implementing innovative uses of technology to enhance library services. Professor Newman serves as the Database Editor for Pace’s award-winning database on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).
John Nolon supervises student research and publications regarding land use, sustainable development, climate change, housing insecurity, racial inequity, and the COVID-19 viral pandemic. He is Counsel to the Law School's Land Use Law Center which he founded in 1993. Professor Nolon is co-author of the nation's oldest casebook on land use law "Land Use and Sustainable Development Law: Cases and Materials." In 2014, Professor Nolon was named a Distinguished Professor by Pace University, the highest honor the University can bestow upon a faculty member.
Audrey Rogers, who has been on the faculty since 1988, taught in the areas of Criminal Law, Family Law, and Cyber-Crime. She has written a number of articles, with a particular focus on crimes against children such a child pornography and cyber-bullying, leading the conversation in an area of the law rapidly growing in the digital age.
Merril Sobie joined the Haub Law faculty in 1978. He specializes in family and children’s law. Professor Sobie taught Jurisprudence, Children and the Law, Advanced Family Law, and Comparative Family Law. He has authored two books, “New York Family Court Practice” and “The Creation of Juvenile Justice: A History of Children’s Law,” has published the official McKinney’s Commentaries to the Family Court Act and the Domestic Relations Law, and has authored numerous articles concerning children’s laws. Professor Sobie was recently honored by the New York State Bar Association with a special lifetime achievement award for decades of contribution to family law and children’s law.
At Haub Law, these professors have taken pride on excelling in teaching, scholarship, and services. Students have benefit from their knowledge and experience in all three parts of their roles as full-time faculty members. They have been mentors to decade of graduates, providing practical advice, career guidance and opportunities to collaborate on research and advocacy projects that have enabled Haub Law Alumni to thrive in their careers.
Pace University President Marvin Krislov, who spoke at the event via video, said these professors have been integral in making the Elisabeth Haub School of Law what it is today. “Whether in seminars or lecture halls, running law clinics or a law library, helping build our top ranked environmental law program, or supervising ground-breaking environmental research, [they] have helped us build our reputation, educate generations of attorneys, and advocate for positive change in our region and our world,” said President Krislov.
VIEW PHOTOS FROM THE FACULTY RETIREMENT CELEBRATION
About Elisabeth Haub School of Law
Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University offers JD and Masters of Law (LLM) degrees in both Environmental and International Law, as well as a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) in Environmental Law. The School, housed on the University’s campus in White Plains, NY, opened its doors in 1976 and has more than 9,000 alumni around the world. The School maintains a unique philosophy and approach to legal education that strikes an important balance between practice and theory. Haub Law launched its Environmental Law Program in 1978, and it has long been ranked among the world’s leading university programs, with a current #1 ranking by U.S. News & World Report. For more information about Haub Law, visit https://law.pace.edu
