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Lisa Denig has dedicated much of her career to pioneering Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Initiatives within the New York State Court System. Recently, Lisa started a new position as Principal Settlement Coordinator for the 9th Judicial District within the New York State Unified Court System. “I am tasked with creating and expanding opportunities for ADR in all the courts in the 9th JD,” said Lisa. “Not long ago, settlement or mediation were thought of as secondary to years of discovery, enormous cost outlays, and time spent on trial preparation. That is no longer the case. Today, attorneys come prepared-at the preliminary conference - to discuss alternative ways to resolve their case. Alternative dispute resolution is not the wave of the future, it is the present.”

A dedicated alumna of Haub Law, Lisa is giving back to the law school in another way now: as an adjunct professor teaching Survey of Dispute Resolution Processes. Lisa is also an active member of Haub Law’s advisory board, the Board of Visitors. “Pace gave me the tools I needed to have a successful legal career after law school,” she said.

I am thrilled to remain involved with my alma mater and help set students on their path for ADR success. I loved my time as a law student and love that things have come full circle and I am now teaching at the school.

In 2019, Lisa Denig was appointed Special Counsel for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Initiatives for the NYS Office of Court Administration, overseeing one of the most innovative programs to date in the New York Court system: the creation and implementation of Chief Judge Janet DiFiore’s initiative, the New York State Presumptive ADR Program. The Presumptive ADR Program was to be implemented in all five boroughs in addition to three specialty courts inside New York City. A certified mediator herself, Lisa is a strong advocate for requiring early ADR in civil court cases and strongly believed in and advocated for the initiative long before it came to fruition.

Lisa notes, “In order to implement this program properly, I had to meet with bar associations, ADR groups and other stakeholders to incorporate them into the new program as well as provide the necessary training opportunities for court staff and outside lawyers. I worked with numerous committees to create rules, templates, develop a data tracking system, along with evaluation forms so we could actually see how the newly instituted program was working and report this to the Chief Judge.”

The program was a success, but it was an uphill battle at times. When asked about one of the biggest challenges she faced, Lisa answered: diversity. “I knew that there would be a diversity issue in the pool of mediators, but did not realize how serious it was. On the first day the mediation program was rolled out in New York City Civil Court, we had four cases that were amenable to mediation-all of whom spoke Spanish-and one Spanish interpreter. This brought home the issue of culture and diversity in mediation as well as all the concerns about access to justice that such challenges raise. From there, I made it a point to promote mediation trainings for diverse attorneys, connect with affinity bar associations, and more.”

Due in part to Lisa’s work, ADR plans were created that require litigants to attempt some form of ADR early in the stages of a civil case. The required ADR may include settlement conferences with judges or court staff, mediation, arbitration, or summary jury trials. Statistically speaking, the NYS Presumptive ADR Program is massive; Lisa notes that it deals with “over 1 million civil filings per year and more than 800,000 of those are in New York City alone.” In recent years, in recognition of her work advancing the Presumptive ADR Initiative, Lisa was recognized as one of New York Law Journal’s Attorney Innovators of the Year.

After serving as Special Counsel for ADR Initiatives for two and a half years, in 2021, Lisa accepted a position as Counsel to New York State Chief Judge Janet DiFiore. In this role, Lisa remained the Chief Judge’s liaison to the Presumptive ADR Initiative, which gave her the opportunity to remain active in the programs she spent years building. Previously, Lisa spent nearly eight years at the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office in a variety of roles. Today, Lisa is thrilled to be fully back in the ADR fold. “ADR is where my passion lies and I am excited to make an impact both in the classroom at Haub Law and also as Settlement Coordinator for the 9^th Judicial District.”

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The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is pleased to announce that Erin Gleason Alvarez has joined the faculty as an adjunct professor and Director of the Mediation Practicum, in which students are trained to serve as mediators in small claims disputes. Gleason Alvarez is an arbitrator, mediator, and negotiation consultant. She is a member of the American Arbitration Association Commercial Arbitration Panel, the CPR Institute Panel of Distinguished Neutrals, and Resolute Systems New York and National Mediation Panels. Gleason Alvarez also will conduct mediation trainings for the broader Haub Law community.

Erin Gleason Alvarez is founder of Gleason Alvarez ADR, LLC where she serves as an arbitrator and mediator. In addition, she is the founder and CEO of Take Charge Negotiations, which has helped train over 2,000 people on how to utilize mindfulness in negotiation since launching in 2019. Prior to founding her own companies, Gleason Alvarez served as a litigator and as in-house counsel.

“Haub Law offers numerous ADR-related learning opportunities for students to develop their skills in mediation, arbitration, and negotiation,” said Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Law Operations and Professor of Law, Jill I. Gross. “Our students have much to gain by having Professor Gleason Alvarez, a renowned expert in the alternative dispute resolution field, as a professor.”

Gleason Alvarez received her Master of Laws from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law, her JD from City University of New York School of Law, and her BA from State University of New York at Albany. She is a sought after speaker at various ADR-related speaking engagements and a published scholar on the topic. Gleason Alvarez has also received recognition in the field as a Higginbotham Fellow with the American Arbitration Association and has been recognized by “Who’s Who Legal: Mediation” as a leading mediator from 2020 to date.

“I am so excited to join Haub Law as an adjunct professor,” said Erin Gleason Alvarez. “I have been continually impressed with the level of depth that Haub Law’s ADR program offers. Students at Haub Law are learning about ADR both in and out of the classroom and I am thrilled to be able to add to that experience through my Mediation Practicum course and with mediation trainings.”

Alternative Dispute Resolution at Haub Law

In 2021, Haub Law received a generous five-year grant to name its Investor Rights Clinic after Fairbridge Asset Management, a leading, technology-driven, alternative investment management firm. The newly named Fairbridge Investor Rights Clinic is recognized across the country as a leader in securities arbitration and mediation, and is considered one of the most unique experiential learning opportunities at Haub Law. Additionally, after a generous donation, in 2020, Haub Law renamed its new Representation in Mediation Clinic in honor of Amelia A. Gould. Students gain practical experience in the Gould Clinic, which receives referrals from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and CLUSTER, a community dispute resolution center serving Westchester and Rockland counties.

Haub Law is also home to the Land Use Law Center, which has developed a nationally recognized dispute resolution program for land use disputes. Through its four-day training program, the Center teaches mediation, facilitation, and community decision-making skills and provides orientations for local leaders regarding the processing of specific development projects. Additionally, the Willem C. Vis Moot, founded by Haub Law, is the world’s premier international commercial law moot court. Held each spring in Vienna, the moot involves an arbitration of a contract of sale between two parties in countries that are parties to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. This moot provides experience in commercial litigation skills and provides an opportunity for students to develop commercial law expertise.

With 4 full-time faculty members and 13 adjuncts who teach courses focused on alternative dispute resolution, Haub Law provides numerous curricular opportunities focused on ADR, along with various extra-curricular experiences and opportunities.

Lubin business student Isaiah Jimenez fell in love with Pace's entrepreneurship program–now, he's running two businesses, even before graduation.

In its third year, SJW commemorates the memory of Danroy “DJ” Henry

Pace University on Monday, October 24 will kick-off Social Justice Week across its three campuses – in lower Manhattan, Pleasantville and White Plains – featuring events that adhere to values of equity and justice while engaging the campus community in learning activities and dialogue centered on the issues of social justice.

In its third year, Social Justice Week runs from October 24 through October 29 and serves as a way of honoring the life of Danroy “DJ” Henry, a Pace student and member of the football team who was shot and killed by a police officer on October 10, 2010. Social Justice Week is held to coincide with DJ’s birthday (October 29) and explores the connections between his story and much broader themes of social injustice in this country.

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“At Pace University, we’re committed to honoring the memory of DJ Henry and to the ongoing work of social and racial justice,” said Pace President Marvin Krislov. “Social Justice Week each year provides an opportunity for our community to explore issues of injustice, social change, and anti-racism. It enables us to introduce new generations of students to DJ and his story, and it allows the Pace community to foster dialogue and take action.”

The week will kick off with a candlelight vigil in New York City hosted by the Black Student Union. It will continue with a fundraiser for the DJ Henry Dream Fund at The Elisabeth Haub School of Law and culminate on Saturday, October 29 with a ceremony retiring DJ’s football jersey at Pace’s football stadium.

Throughout the week, there will also be original programming of more than 35 events focusing on a broad range of topics, such as social justice in sports; a fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Fiona; a discussion of housing stability and tenant protections with New York State Senator Brian Kavanagh; a slavery and resistance walking tour; a film screening of “The True Cost,” a film about the social and environmental costs of fast fashion; a discussion on combating food insecurity; and a presentation on the history of mental health and self-care within the Black community. A full schedule of events is available.

“Social Justice Week is a part of Pace University’s commitment to working towards being an anti-racist institution,” said Todd Smith-Bergollo, senior associate dean for students. “Social Justice Week helps foster education and advocacy for our students, faculty and staff, and the greater community and we are grateful to all those whose hard work makes this week possible and to all who are participating in the programs offered.”

About Pace University

Since 1906, Pace University has educated thinking professionals by providing high quality education for the professions on a firm base of liberal learning amid the advantages of the New York metropolitan area. A private university, Pace has campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York, enrolling nearly 13,000 students in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in its Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Lubin School of Business, College of Health Professions, School of Education, School of Law, and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems.