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Chris Rizzo is a Partner with Carter Ledyard and Milburn LLP and Director of the Environmental Practice at the firm. From the moment he decided he wanted to attend law school, Chris knew that he was specifically going to focus on environmental law. From participating in the environmental litigation clinic, to environmental law review, and ultimately graduating with an environmental law certificate, Pace provided the environmental legal education he sought out.

When did you decide that you wanted to be a lawyer?

That was probably in my sophomore year of college. I was studying political science and biology. I had a biology professor, and I expressed to him my deep interest in biology, particularly environmental biology. And he said to me something like “no, no, no, no, Chris, do not become a scientist or biologist. You should become a lawyer, an environmental lawyer. Lawyers get everything done.” He didn't say this with kindness. He said it with resentment. But he was very clear with me that he thought I should go towards law school. I took it to heart, and I never looked back.

And from there, how did you choose Haub Law?

Well, I knew that I specifically was going to law school to focus on environmental law. So I sought out a law school where I could specifically focus on that area with the intention of practicing in that area.

I received a full academic scholarship to come to Haub Law, which was a huge motivation for me. I was very leery about taking on any student debt, and worried about what that would do to my professional flexibility in the future. I was admitted to a number of other law schools and while the full scholarship was a motivating factor, it was not the only one. At the time, a few other schools I looked at did not have the robust environmental law program that I was seeking and I thought they were not of any use to me. I wanted to be an environmental lawyer. Why would I go to a law school with two course offerings and an underdeveloped environmental law program? Haub Law had the environmental law program that I was looking for and combined with the scholarship it was an easy choice.

What were some of the more impactful experiences you had while at Haub Law?

The environmental litigation clinic is a very transfor­mative program. Part of that was the oversight of Karl Coplan. When I had him, Professor Coplan was a very demanding and very good professor. The envi­ronmental litigation clinic really, really helped refine my legal skills. I also made a number of connections outside of Pace as well working on those matters, and I still find them valuable today.

You were an articles editor on the Pace Environmental Law review, and you graduated with the environmental law certificate. Would you recommend those experiences?

Yes. I had to write a note for the law review and that was a very useful process. It wasn’t so much what I wrote, but the process of writing such a complex law journal is incredibly helpful. I think anybody that participates in a law review winds up being a better lawyer because you're forced to learn how to write, research and edit.

I also think the certificate program is useful. I think exposing law students to topics, concepts, and legal acronyms is helpful and gives you a running start in your career as an environmental lawyer. I think it's really invaluable and that's one of the reasons I came to Haub Law. All of the robust environmental course offerings really gave me a foundation in various areas of law, which was helpful later.

You are a partner with Carter Ledyard and Milburn LLP and director of the Environmental Practice—how did your career start out and how has it evolved?

My career definitely morphed over time. When I first started practicing law, I did a lot more traditional environmental work than I'm doing these days. I worked with RCRA and CERCLA, which are two federal hazardous waste laws. I worked heavily with NEPA and SEQRA. I worked on a lot of historic pres­ervation matters involving federal, state, and city preservation laws. I also worked on some brownfield matters, the Clean Water Act, and more. The past few years I've started doing a lot more real estate related work. That’s because my practice is very fo­cused on New York City and this is a real estate town. Helping clients resolve their land use, construction, and real estate problems has become a big driver of my work.

What advice do you have for law students who want to work in the field of environmental law at a law firm upon graduating?

I find that Haub Law students are pretty good about aggressively seeking out internships and experiences and opportunities in the areas that are meaningful to them. Whenever I see a Haub Law resume I'm always impressed, there are intern­ships at the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Environmental Litigation Clinic, and all sorts of things. It is important to fill your resume with meaningful experiences in the area you want to practice in, but also networking in those areas. And this is true, not just for environmental law, it's true for any subject matter you want to practice. It is really about networking, meeting as many people as you possibly can who might become future employers. To that end, you should become a student member of the New York State Bar Association or the New York City Bar Association. You can sit on committees as students, and I would do that aggressively and participate. You must prioritize making connections outside the law school even more than making con­nections inside the law school.

That is very good advice. Outside of the law, tell us a bit about yourself and your hobbies.

Well, I have 3 young kids, so that takes up a lot of time. So aside from my family, I also love exploring New York City and New York State. My family and I love national, state and city parks—we travel all over the place to visit them. I am also a big fitness enthusiast—I run 5ks and bike to work and do whatever I can to stay fit. I think prioritizing your personal life, physical fitness and mental health is very important. There is no ques­tion that I am a better lawyer because I dedicate time to these things. You need to have a healthy balance and if you don’t have that balance you wind up being less of a professional.

Cloudonix - Pace Entrepreneurship Studio Startup

Eric Klein '90, '97, co-founder and COO
Nir Simionovich, CEO and founder

Interview with Lubin and Seidenberg alumnus Eric Klein

Tell us about your startup.

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Cloudonix revolutionizes business communication with its Software Defined Voice and Text platform. Enterprises can streamline their operations and enhance customer service by integrating voice and data for a comprehensive service experience. With Cloudonix, companies can route voice and text communications from any digital source (websites, mobile apps, ads, emails, bus stops, or devices) directly to their call center, making it easier to capture leads and provide top-notch customer support. Cloudonix also enables remote teams to access cloud capabilities for their on-premise call center with added security, privacy, and cost-effectiveness.

How did you come up with the idea for your company?

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Cloudonix's beginnings were not as traditional as you might imagine—considering its industry. Prior to Cloudonix, Nir and I were working together in Greenfield Technologies, a telecom-focused consulting and development company that Nir founded in 2007. Starting in 2013, multiple companies came to us that were looking for a high-performance VoIP developer SDK that was optimized for mobile devices. At the time, the offerings were just too bloated and didn't fit the mobile device properly. We set out to build that SDK, and did so. Originally, we didn't plan to build a SaaS platform; however, following an incident involving Nir's wife and his old SUV, the idea behind Cloudonix was born in August 2015.

The incident occurred on a Saturday night, where Nir's wife took his car and drove to a mall with two of her friends. Roughly at midnight, she called Nir, who had stayed at home with their girls, saying: "The car stopped in the middle of the road and there is a smell of gas in the car.” Nir tried to get her to call the insurance company and get a tow truck, but she was unable to do so, mostly due to the duress she was under at the time. So, at around midnight, Nir got a babysitter and drove the family's second car to get his wife. On the way, he tried calling their insurance company—a far from ideal experience. Key in your ID, key in your policy number, select your issue ... the list just goes on and on. He tried using the company's mobile app, and there were forms, upon forms, upon forms to complete. Why does it have to be so complex? So, Nir had an epiphany—why is it so stressful to call the insurance company for assistance? He realized that much of it was related to the method they use to gather data—it feels like an inquisition. When you use the app it goes to the dialer and knows nothing about you (at best it knows to tie your phone number to your account). This means you need to answer lots of questions for the agent to have the context to help you.

But why? The mobile app has already been authenticated; it has the policy number and it can get your location. Heck, it can even be paired with the car's computer to get the status of the car. The app has the context; we can help preserve it and make the experience less painful. The next day, we started working on building the platform that is now known as Cloudonix.

As an alumni entrepreneur, how did your classes at Pace University prepare you to start your business?

As a double alumnus from Pace, I am constantly surprised. I earned my first degree from Lubin—a BBA in Management Information Systems. This not only gave me a strong basis in programming (not that I do that anymore), but I keep using what I learned in my marketing and accounting classes. For example, accounting helps with the budget planning and forecasting. Almost everything you do in a startup is in some way related to marketing and sales, even if you never talk to a prospect. So having these as a basis really helped shape my career and daily life in our startup.

Being on campus, or in an accelerator, comes with a level of energy and people to consult that is missing when you are in your own office. Finding people to help you and to work with you becomes much harder once you pass outside of a university setting.

What is a challenge you've had to overcome as an alumni entrepreneur?

Being on campus, or in an accelerator, comes with a level of energy and people to consult that is missing when you are in your own office. Finding people to help you and to work with you becomes much harder once you pass outside of a university setting.

Do you have any words of advice for a student looking to kickstart their own business?

Keep talking with advisors and potential customers; learn what the pain points are and what customers would pay to solve them. Too many startups are a solution looking for a problem, and that tends to mean that you have no path to revenue, let alone success. Find out if pain potential customers are already regularly spending money on due to their use of difficult or multiple tools. Once you find a way to streamline or consolidate their pain, you will have a winner. Otherwise, at best, you are a nice feature to be acquired by another company.

Connect with Cloudonix:

Twitter:

• @cloudonix
• @NirSimionovich
• @EricLKlein
• @therealguss

Linkedin:

• cloudonix-io
• nir-simionovich
• ericlklein
• odedarbel