Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University Professor Nicholas A. Robinson was honored with Pace University’s prestigious Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his dedication to teaching, service, and scholarship, and his significant contributions to and impact on the University community.

The Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes Professor Robinson’s extraordinary career and his unwavering dedication to excellence in the field of environmental law and the indelible impact he has had on Pace University as a whole.

Professor Robinson has been a distinguished member of the faculty at Pace Haub Law since 1978. The award was presented during the 2025 Faculty Recognition Ceremony, held in the company of esteemed colleagues and peers.

This honor is among many that reflect Professor Robinson’s extraordinary legacy. In 2009, Pace University conferred the prestigious position of University Professor for the Environment on Professor Robinson for his significant contribution to scholarship in the field of environmental law, both in the U.S. and abroad. He also holds the title of inaugural Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law Emeritus.

Professor Robinson is widely recognized in the U.S. and globally as a pioneer of modern environmental law. He began developing environmental law in 1969, when he was named to the Legal Advisory Committee of the President’s Council on Environmental Quality. Professor Robinson is Chair Emeritus of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Environment Law, serving from 1996 to 2004, and is responsible for many innovations, including the launch of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law. He engaged in drafting treaties and counseling different countries on preparation of environmental laws.

During his tenure at the Law School, Professor Robinson helped establish its environmental law programs, founded the environmental law review, launched the Pace Environmental Law Clinic, secured Pace’s membership in the IUCN, and pioneered the first United Nation’s Environmental Diplomacy Practicum. His work and influence can be attributed to advancing the Law School’s premiere BY JESSICA DUBUSS Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University Professor Nicholas A. Robinson Honored With Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award WESTCHESTER LAWYER | SEPTEMBER 2025 | 19 Jessica Dubuss is Executive Director of Communications at Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace. University. reputation as the top ranked environmental law program in the nation and across the globe.

Professor Robinson is a prolific legal scholar with hundreds of books, chapters, law review and scholarly journal articles and citations to his credit on pressing topics including conservation, historic preservation, climate change, sustainable development, zoonosis, human rights, international environmental law and more. A collection of his work is preserved in the Nicholas A. Robinson Seminar Space dedicated at the Law School in 2024.

During his career, he drafted New York’s wetlands and wild bird laws and was inaugurated as the first chairman of both the statutory Freshwater Wetlands Appeals Board and Greenway Heritage Conservancy for the Hudson River Valley. He edited the proceedings of the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

He served on numerous editorial boards for global publications, including Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law (since 1998), the Macquarie Journal of International and Comparative Environmental Law (since 2004) and the Journal of the Global Pandemic Network (since 2021).

Professor Robinson contributed greatly to public service at the local, state and international level, serving on dozens of boards and committees throughout his career. Most notably, he was appointed to serve on the environmental transitional teams and advisory boards for three New York State governors, George E. Pataki (1994-95), Mario M. Cuomo (1985–1994), and Hugh Carey (1974).

Demonstrating his impact in the field of environmental law, Professor Robinson has been honored with numerous awards and accolades, including designation as the  James D. Hopkins Professor of Law (1990–1992), and he was a recipient of the Elisabeth Haub Prize in Environmental Law (1992), the Federated Conservationists of Westchester County Award (2003), the Scenic Hudson “Friend of the Hudson” Award (2004), and the American Bar Association’s Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy Award (2018), among many others.

Two awards have also been created in his honor to celebrate outstanding achievement in the field of environmental law: the Nicholas Robinson Award for Distinguished Environmental Achievement, established at Pace Haub Law in 2005, and the Nicholas Robinson Award for Excellence in Environmental Law, created by the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law in 2021.

Professor Robinson is a graduate of Brown University and Columbia Law School.

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