Haub Law Names Inaugural LLM Sustainable Business Law Fellow and Faculty Director of Newly Launched Sustainable Business Law Hub

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The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is proud to announce that Barbara Ballan has been named the inaugural LLM Sustainable Business Law Fellow of Haub Law’s newly launched Sustainable Business Law Hub. Additionally, Professor Jason Czarnezki was named as the inaugural Faculty Director of the Sustainable Business Law Hub.

The Sustainable Business Law Hub serves as an incubator space, student-training program, research endeavor, and think tank devoted to addressing global sustainability challenges through policy and research projects, relationships with the business community, and capacity building in private environmental governance.

“I am thrilled at the opportunity to be involved with the Sustainable Business Law Hub,” said Ballan. "My research will focus on the need for coordination and coherence in environmental policies at international, national and local scales and their intersection with private environmental governance.” Ballan received her LLB and Post-Graduate Diploma in Environmental Studies from the University of Buenos Aires. She began her legal career specializing in criminal law and worked as an administrative assistant at the Attorney’s General Office in Buenos Aires and also served as a government legal advisor at the Argentinean Ministry of Culture. Ballan’s postgraduate studies focused on sustainable development, while she simultaneously gained experience in the financial technology industry, resulting in a focus on and interest in Sustainable Business Law.

Securing an LLM Graduate Research fellow who will work on scholarly research in the field of sustainability has been an integral component of the Sustainable Business Law Hub and made possible through the support of a grant from Haub Law’s Innovation Fund. The Haub Innovation Fund is part of the generous naming gift to the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, which was made by the Haub Family, tireless environmental advocates and philanthropists. “We are so grateful that with the resources of the Innovation Fund we were able to retain Barbara Ballan’s innovative thinking in sustainability. Barbara will be an integral part of the Sustainable Business Law Hub,” said Hub Advisory Board Member and Associate Director of Environmental Law Programs, Professor Achinthi Vithanage.

The support of the Innovation Fund has assisted with a number of additional important components of the Hub, such as staffing the Hub with an accomplished faculty director focused on sustainability activities and hosting a kick-off event. The continued funding will support other impactful events, including workshops and an annual conference, which is open to members of the academic, business and legal community in the sustainability space. “We now have the support necessary to build the infrastructure needed to create a lasting impact, training future sustainability leaders and amplifying and disseminating best sustainability practices in the business community and the larger world,” said Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law, Associate Dean for Environmental Law Programs and Strategic Initiatives, Professor Jason Czarnezki.

An expert in sustainable business law, Professor Czarnezki was named as the inaugural Faculty Director of the Sustainable Business Law Hub. Czarnezki joined the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University faculty in 2013. He specializes in environmental and natural resources law and policy, and sustainable business strategies, with a particular expertise in sustainable procurement, ESG criteria, eco-labeling, and life cycle assessment and costing. He has written extensively in the field, including his recent article, Sustainable Business Law? The Key Role of Corporate Governance and Finance. “Haub Law’s Sustainable Business Law Hub is already creating the first generation of ESG lawyers,” said Professor Czarnezki. “As the top ranked environmental law program in the nation, we are consistently at the forefront of innovation in the field, and the Hub is another example of that. I am honored to be the inaugural faculty director of such an important and timely program.”

As faculty director of the Hub, Professor Czarnezki’s expertise was integral in the successful launch of the Hub and he continues to focus on its continued and future success. “Program staff now have the time and resources to get the program running and build philanthropic partnerships to ensure the long-term continuation of the Hub long into the future as a comprehensive, impactful, and enduring center of excellence, which is made possible with support from the Innovation Fund.”

The Sustainable Business Law Hub is implementing a rigorous curriculum for students in the program with courses related to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) and sustainable development, and opportunities for practical experience through internships and externships. Within these settings, the students will work in in-house sustainability and legal departments handling environmental compliance issues, ESG, and assisting with sustainability strategies and policies. Students will then have the opportunity to take the best practices learned through their work with highly developed corporations and sustainability law practices and share that learning with partners in the small business and the nonprofit community, facilitating knowledge transfer and capacity-building in organizations that would otherwise lack the resources to take a sophisticated approach to sustainability efforts.