The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is proud to announce that Achinthi Vithanage, Executive Director of the Environmental Law Program and Professor of Law for Designated Service in Environmental Law at Pace Haub Law, was named to the 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Environmental Lawyers: The Green 500. Professor Vithanage has been recognized on this list five times since the publication of the inaugural Lawdragon 500 Leading Environmental & Energy Lawyers list in 2021.
The prestigious list is comprised of 500 lawyers carefully selected and based on research, nominations, and a variety of environmental expertise. “It is an honor to be recognized among such an accomplished group of environmental law leaders,” said Professor Vithanage. “The challenges facing our planet continue to evolve, and addressing them requires collaboration across research, advocacy, and practice. I am proud to work alongside colleagues at Pace Haub Law and across the environmental law community who are advancing solutions that strengthen environmental governance and promote a more just and sustainable future. I am grateful to Lawdragon for recognizing this work and the collective impact of Pace Haub Law’s environmental leaders and affiliates.”
In addition to teaching International Environmental Law and Environmental Externship seminars, Professor Vithanage is also an Advisory Board Member of Pace Haub Law’s Sustainable Business Law Hub and is the 2025 recipient of the Richard Ottinger Award for Faculty Achievement. Prior to joining Pace Haub Law, Professor Vithanage was a Visiting Associate Professor of Law and the first Environmental and Energy Law Fellow with an international law background at the George Washington University Law School (GW Law). Within the American Bar Association’s Section on Environment, Energy & Resources (SEER) Professor Vithanage heads the Law Student Transition Task Force and is a member of the Sustainability in Legal Education and Climate Change Task Forces, is the founding Co-Chair of the Environmental Law Society Network, and a former Co-Chair of the International Law Committee. She also served on ABA SEER’s Governing Council from 2022 to 2025. Professor Vithanage serves on the Secretariat to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Academy of Environmental Law, is a member of the World Commission on Environmental Law, and co-leads the Climate Change Collaborative Research Network for the Law & Society Association. Most recently, she attended the COP30 and COP28 Climate Change Conferences as the ABA Delegate and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for the Environmental Law Institute’s Environmental Forum publication and the Editorial Board for Oxford Academic’s Yearbook of International Environmental Law.
Congratulations to Professor Vithanage as well as several Pace Haub Law alumni also on the list: Anne Carpenter ’09, Partner, Hogan Lovells, Samuel Brown ‘07, Partner, Hunton Andrews Kurth, Kirstin Etela ’04, Partner, Day Pitney LLP, and James May ’91 (LLM), Richard S. Righter Distinguished Professor of Law, Washburn University School of Law, and former Haub Visiting Scholar and Visiting Professor at Pace Haub Law.
“Pace Haub Law is proud to see our faculty, alumni, and affiliates recognized among the nation’s leading environmental lawyers,” said Katrina Fischer Kuh, Faculty Director of the Environmental Law Program and Haub Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law. “This recognition reflects the strength and breadth of our environmental law community and its ongoing influence on policy, practice, and education. Our students benefit from learning alongside and being mentored by leaders who are shaping the future of environmental and climate law.”
The 2026 Lawdragon Green 500 list also included other Pace Haub Law affiliates, including: 2025 Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Lecturer on Environmental Law, Sam Sankar, Senior Vice President of Programs at Earthjustice; 2016 Lloyd K. Garrison Lecturer on Environmental Law, Michael Gerrard, founder and faculty director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia Law School; and 2011 Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Lecturer on Environmental Law, John Cruden, Principal, Beveridge & Diamond.
