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Faculty and Staff
Environmental Law Collaborative Held in Colorado Springs
The fifth meeting of the Environmental Law Collaborative took place in Colorado Springs in July. During the conference, environmental law scholars from around the country met to discuss "Facing the Worst Climate Case: The Role of Law." The Environmental Law Collaborative (ELC) seeks to foster progress toward an adaptive, conscious, and equitable governance of actions that impact local and global ecologies by engaging the contemporary discourse. The ELC facilitates dialogue among thought leaders on sustainable policy priorities, practical implementation strategies, assessment mechanisms, and cooperative analysis of science, economics, and ethics.
The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University was a co-sponsor of the fifth meeting of the ELC. Attending the recent ELC meeting from Haub Law were Professors Katrina Fischer Kuh and Josh Galperin. Professor Kuh is a board member of the ELC.
More from Pace
In the Media
In a recent essay published by Harvard Law School’s Bill of Health, Pace Haub Law Professor Lauren Breslow and co-author Vanessa Smith call for stronger ethical and legal safeguards to protect genomic data from misuse, particularly when children and vulnerable communities contribute DNA for research purposes. The authors highlight recent reporting that pediatric DNA data shared for adolescent brain development research was later exploited to support racist “race science” claims, underscoring how systems built for public-health advancement can be co-opted for harmful and stigmatizing ends. Drawing on the Belmont Report’s core principles of respect, beneficence, and justice — as well as past research transgressions like the Havasupai Tribe case — they argue that genomic research must be governed with heightened oversight and an assumption that bad actors will seek to exploit shared data repositories. “Precisely because so much genetic data is now collected, stored, and shared, the Times account raises the specter of a broader ethical vulnerability in genomic science: data systems built for beneficial research can be exploited for purposes to which volunteers who contributed their DNA did not agree,” write Breslow and Smith.
Press Release
The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is proud to announce that Achinthi Vithanage, Executive Director of the Environmental Law Program and Professor of Law for Designated Service in Environmental Law at Pace Haub Law, was named to the 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Environmental Lawyers: The Green 500. Professor Vithanage has been recognized on this list five times since the publication of the inaugural Lawdragon 500 Leading Environmental & Energy Lawyers list in 2021.
In the Media
Law Professor Bennett Gershman provides expert legal analysis to amNewYork on the distinction between New York City’s corporation counsel and chief counsel. Gershman explains that while the Law Department represents the city in litigation, the chief counsel serves as the mayor’s personal legal adviser, operating under attorney-client privilege on sensitive policy and legal matters— and New York Metropolitan Magazine has the story.