Professor Todd Ommen is Executive Director of John Jay Legal Services. He has also been the Managing Attorney for the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic since 2016. PELC is a nationally recognized clinic, which primarily functions as counsel for Riverkeeper, Inc.and other not-for-profit environmental organizations.
Prior to joining the Elisabbeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, Professor Ommen practiced in a wide variety of environmental and non-environmental contexts. He began his career in 1999 in litigation at one of New York City’s most prominent law firms, litigating cases ranging from intellectual property disputes to bankruptcy adversarial proceedings to health care law. In 2007, Professor Ommen moved to the public sector and focused his practice solely on environmental issues, taking a position as an Assistant Attorney General for the New York State Office of the Attorney General in the Environmental Protection Bureau. There, he primarily litigated cost recovery actions, seeking to compel polluting companies to pay for the environmental remediation necessary at their facilities. In addition, as an Assistant Attorney General, Professor Ommen defended the State’s decisions in brownfields cases. After four years in the Office of the Attorney General, he continued his environmental practice at the leading plaintiff-side toxic tort firms, where he successfully obtained recoveries for individuals and municipalities against Fortune 500 companies responsible for environmental releases.
Shortly after beginning his legal practice, Professor Ommen served as a law clerk for the late Honorable David Trager, U.S. District Judge in the Eastern District of New York. He received his JD, magna cum laude, from Villanova University School of Law in 1999. While in law school, he was a research and writing editor on the Villanova Law Review. He was also a member of the academic honor society Order of the Coif, and was awarded Best Oralist at the school-wide moot court competition.
Professor Ommen is admitted to practice in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, as well as the Northern, Eastern and Southern Districts of New York. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, Section on Environment, Energy, and Resources.
