WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Pace Law School will host its 25^th Anniversary Alumni Leadership Awards Dinner at the Rye Town Hilton in Rye Brook, New York on November 8th. The Distinguished Service Award will be presented to three outstanding alumni/ae: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. ’87, the Honorable Terry Jane Ruderman ’80, and Peter John Sacripanti ’84. Proceeds from the Dinner will help establish scholarships in memory of Pace Law alumni/ae who perished in the World Trade Center tragedy.

The three honorees have excelled in different areas of law and have greatly contributed to the legal community. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. serves as Senior Attorney for the National Resources Defense Council; Chief Prosecuting Attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper; and President of the Water Keeper Alliance. He is also the Co-Director, along with Professor Karl Coplan, of the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic at Pace Law School. Kennedy is a graduate of Harvard University and has studied at the London School of Economics. He received a J.D. from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, and earned a Masters Degree in Environmental Law at Pace Law School in 1987.

Terry Jane Ruderman is currently on the bench for the Court of Claims of the State of New York and is based in White Plains. Judge Ruderman graduated cum laude from Pace Law School in 1980, where she was articles editor for the Pace Law Review. She also has earned a Ph.D. in History from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and masters degrees from City College and Cornell University.

Peter John Sacripanti is partner-in-charge for the New York office of McDermott Will & Emery. As a trial lawyer, he has specialized in complex litigation, including toxic tort actions, general commercial disputes, securities actions, and class action litigation. His clients include ExxonMobil, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Honeywell, Citigroup, American Home Products, Atofina, and Northville Industries.   Sacripanti received his B.A. from Fordham University, summa cum laude, and was a ranking scholar at Pace Law School.   He is also the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.  

Founded in 1976, Pace Law School is located in White Plains, N.Y., 20 miles north of New York City. The School offers the J.D. program for full-time, and part-time day and evening students. Its post-graduate program includes the LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees in environmental Law and the LL.M. in Comparative Legal Studies. Pace has one of the nation's top-rated environmental law programs and its Clinical Education Program also is nationally ranked, offering clinics in domestic violence prosecution, securities arbitration.