In his article, The 'Realness' Key to Compelled Passcode Production, published in the Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology (Vol. 115, 2025), Pace Haub Law Visiting Assistant Professor Gabriel Pell offers a novel framework for applying the Fifth Amendment’s Foregone Conclusion exception to compelled passcode entry. At the heart of the article is a key question: when the government forces someone to unlock a phone, are they permissibly being compelled to produce real evidence that exists outside of their mind—or are they revealing the contents of their mind in violation of their privilege against self-incrimination?

Drawing on the “act of production” doctrine, Professor Pell argues that where the average user experiences their passcode as something that exists outside of their mind, courts can conceptualize the passcode stored within a given device or the unlocked device itself as the 'real' evidence produced through compelled passcode entry. This conceptual shift can resolve a national split in authority among courts while protecting targets from compelled revelation of mere memorized information.

“[T]he government need not demonstrate pre-production knowledge of the contents of a locked device to satisfy the Foregone Conclusion exception,” Professor Pell writes, challenging assumptions some courts have made about the application of this paper-based doctrine to passcodes in the digital era.

• Read The 'Realness' Key to Compelled Passcode Production, Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology (Vol. 115, 2025)

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The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is pleased to announce that Michael Hamersky was appointed to serve as the Executive Director of the Pace Energy and Climate Center. In addition to leading the Center, he will teach Natural Resources Law at the Law School. Over nearly four decades, the Pace Energy and Climate Center has established itself as a national leader working at the intersection of energy and the environment.

Prior to this role, Michael served as the Climate Change and Land Use Policy Fellow at Pace Haub Law where he developed policy solutions related to climate change mitigation, clean energy deployment, sustainable development, and renewable energy incentive structures. Michael 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 Pace Haub Law in this new capacity,” stated Michael. “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, Michael 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 the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, 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.

In addition to being a force for legal and policy change, the Center also trains the next generation of smart energy leaders. Students from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University are actively involved in the Center’s projects. Haub Law student interns contribute directly to the creation and development of work products for both domestic and international projects, building important professional skills in policy analysis, legal writing, administrative practice related to electric utility law, and other areas related to energy law.

Students who participate in the Center’s work have gone on to careers at institutions central to the energy discussion, such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Foundation, the California Independent System Operator, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the New York Power Authority, the New York Public Service Commission, and the New York Independent System Operator, to name a handful.

Prior to Michael’s appointment, Elisabeth Haub School of Law Adjunct Professor Joseph Siegel served as interim Executive Director of the Pace Energy and Climate Center. Previously, Joe worked for 38 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, office in New York where he was a Senior Attorney, co-chaired the Region 2 Climate Change Workgroup and the Office of Regional Counsel’s Climate Change Workgroup, managed the Region 2 Environmental Collaboration and Conflict Resolution program, and served on the Steering Committee of the Mid-Atlantic Federal Climate Partners.