Jessica Dubuss is Executive Director of Communications at Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace. University.

Professor Imre Szalai will teach courses on contracts, commercial arbitration, civil procedure, and legal ethics. He has served as a commercial arbitrator in numerous cases, and he has written books, book chapters, and dozens of articles about arbitration. He is particularly interested in the historical development of arbitration practices and arbitration law. Working together with his students, he has written several amicus briefs regarding arbitration matters, and his work has been cited by courts of all levels and during Congressional hearings.

Most recently, Professor Szalai was the Jones Walker Distinguished Professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. Prior to that, Professor Szalai practiced antitrust law in New York City, and he then handled complex commercial disputes with a law firm in Miami, Florida, representing clients in connection with court proceedings and arbitration matters across various jurisdictions.

“Professor Szalai’s unique interest in the historical development of arbitration will complement Haub Law’s strong alternative dispute resolution curriculum, which has become an area of prestige at the Law School,” said Dean Horace E. Anderson, Jr. “His impactful scholarship and experience will bolster the student experience and provide additional opportunities for students to explore and develop skills in alternative dispute resolution processes. We look forward to Professor Szalai joining the Haub Law community.” In the most recent U.S. News and World Report  rankings of specialty programs, Haub Law was ranked #18 for Dispute Resolution.

“New York is the birthplace and the center of commercial arbitration in the United States – Haub Law’s location and history of excellence in the field of arbitration and alternative dispute resolution is unbeatable,” said Professor Szalai. “The level of student achievement and faculty scholarship at Haub Law is extremely impressive. I look forward to joining the active scholarly community, sharing my passion with students, and helping students explore and engage with the many professional opportunities related to arbitration that the region affords.”

Professor Szalai graduated from Yale University, double majoring in Economics and Classical Civilizations, and he received his law degree from Columbia University, where he was named a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He is frequently interviewed and quoted in various media outlets, including the New York Times, the Economist, USA Today, the LA Times, NPR’s Marketplace, Forbes, CNN, Money, Time, and many others. Professor Szalai also maintains a blog about arbitration.

Pace Energy and Climate Center Leader

In addition to leading the Pace Energy and Climate Center, Professor Michael Hamersky will teach Natural Resources Law at the Law School. Over nearly four decades, the Center has established itself as a national leader working at the intersection of energy and the environment.

Prior to this role, Professor Hamersky served as the Climate Change and Land Use Policy Fellow at Haub Law, where he developed policy solutions related to climate change mitigation, clean energy deployment, sustainable development, and renewable energy incentive structures. He has also produced scholarship related to conservation in Indigenous communities and ocean governance.

“During his time at the Law School, first as an LLM student, and more recently as a Climate Change and Land Use Policy Fellow, Michael has established himself as a forward-thinking leader in the field of environmental law,” said Dean Horace E. Anderson Jr. “Our Pace Energy and Climate Center has established itself as a trusted Center and thought-leader, frequently engaging government decision makers and key stakeholders with objective research and analysis in law and policy. I am confident that with Michael serving as the Executive Director of the Center, our Center will continue to serve as a model and leader in the field.”

“I am beyond excited to join Haub Law in this new capacity,” said Professor Hamersky. “I look forward to using this new platform to highlight the incredible work of the number one environmental law program in the nation’s talented students and to prioritize the Pace Energy and Climate Center’s work on the clean energy transition and the impact such transition will have on vulnerable communities.”

Prior to joining the Haub Law community, Professor Hamersky practiced corporate restructuring litigation for over fifteen years in New York City, and was an adjunct professor at the Fordham University School of Law. He received his JD from Fordham University School of Law and his LLM in Environmental Studies from Haub Law, with a focus on Energy Law and Climate Change.

Over time, the Pace Energy and Climate Center has grown from its initial focus on energy regulatory law and policies, expanding its focus to encompass transportation and fuels as well as climate change mitigation and resilience. Through the analysis and advancement of critical policies engineered to improve energy efficiency, accelerate renewable energy and distributed generation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and make our communities more resilient in the face of climate change impacts, the Center has continually reconfirmed its position at the leading edge of finding solutions to our energy and climate challenges on the local, state, regional, national, and international levels.

The Pace Energy and Climate Center was founded in 1987 as the Pace Energy Project by Dean Emeritus Richard L. Ottinger upon his retirement from the US Congress. Dean Ottinger recognized early on the significant environmental impacts of our supply and use of energy in the United States. From the very beginning, under Dean Ottinger’s leadership, the Center provided cutting-edge research and analysis of energy production alternatives’ social and environmental costs and benefits. Through careful and consistent engagement across communities, the Center was among the first organizations to highlight the benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energy as alternatives to conventional electricity generation.

Haub Law also recently announced the expansion of its faculty with the additions of Professor Lauren Roth, a health law and business law scholar,  Professor Kate Skolnick, a seasoned public defender and criminal law scholar, and Professor Gregory Antill, a criminal law and philosophy scholar. Haub Law is proud to have more than 130 legal experts as members of its full-time and adjunct faculty. Faculty members are lawyers with outstanding academic credentials and extensive legal experience. They are student-centered educators who bring their diverse practice experience to the classroom. Through either prior or ongoing active careers as attorneys—whether as litigators, counselors, regulators, legal reformers, policymakers, judges, clerks, or counselors—our faculty have unique perspectives informed by their work in multiple fields of law in the private and public sectors.