Haub Law at Pace Hosts Impressive Environmental Court Competition

A three-student team from the Florida State University College of Law bested more than 50 other teams on Saturday to win this year’s Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition (NELMCC) at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University.

The team of Ashley Englund, Steven Kahn, and Alexander Purpuro took home the top team prize at the three-day event—the largest inter-school moot court competition of its kind. More than 150 students from 54 law schools across the country turned out. Several other individual and team prizes were also awarded.

“We are incredibly proud of all of the students who competed, and of all the students who helped organize and run the moot,” said Dean Horace Anderson. “Competitions such as NELMCC are critically important to developing tomorrow's environmental leaders, and to have such a great turnout from across the United States here on the Haub Law campus is very gratifying.”

Not only did this year’s competition attract some of the finest law students from across the country, but it included an impressive panel of judges. The final round of NELMCC was judged by the Honorable Lisa Margaret Smith, a United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of New York, Judge Kathie A. Stein, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Appeals Judge, and the Honorable Jane Branstetter Stranch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

The Florida State University team was joined in the final round of competition by the University of Kansas School of Law’s oralists, Hannah Lustman and Diana Stanley, and the American University Washington College of Law’s oralists, William Dove, Jenna Ruddock, and Eric Sell. Also winning awards were Elly Legatt, of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, who won Best Oralist and Nathaniel Broadhurst of the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, who won Honorable Mention. There was a two-way tie for Overall Best Brief between the American University Washington College of Law and the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. Drake Law School won the Best Brief for New Union Oystercatchers, Inc.

Instituted in 1989, NELMCC regularly attracts hundreds of competitors from law schools all over the nation, along with 150 attorneys who serve as judges for the three-day competition. Highly competitive with tremendous educational value, NELMCC has established a national standard of excellence in moot court competitions.

Each year a “problem” presented to the teams focuses on timely issues of national importance to the practice of environmental law. This year, AlterEcho, a leading national environmental consulting firm, sponsored the competition with a $10,000 donation, marking the first time that the Virginia-based firm has sponsored such a legal and academic competition.

The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is home to the #1 ranked Environmental Law Program in the country according to US News and World Report and NELMCC is a central part of the program.

Pace University’s Elisabeth Haub School of Law offers J.D. and Masters of Law 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 over 8,500 alumni around the world. The school maintains a unique philosophy and approach to legal education that strikes an important balance between practice and theory. For more information, visit law.pace.edu.

About the Environmental Law Program

The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University launched its environmental law program in 1978, which has long been ranked among the world’s leading university programs. Pace’s doctoral graduates teach environmental law at universities around the world. Pace’s J.D. alumni are prominent in environmental law firms, agencies and non-profit organizations across the U.S. and abroad. Pace’s multiple environmental law programs with Brazil are the most extensive of any U.S. university.

About AlterEcho

AlterEcho is part of TechLaw Consultants, Inc., with headquarters in Chantilly, Va., and offices in 13 locations nationwide. The team includes attorneys, engineers, chemists, hydrogeologists and environmental scientists with more than three decades of experience working with federal and state environmental agencies, non-profits, law firms, and companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 firms. For more information, visit www.alterecho.com