Ethics for Environmental Lawyers

Fern Fleischer Daves is currently serving as the General Counsel of the Thermostat Recycling Corporation, a not-for-profit association of manufacturers. TRC’s mission is to collect and properly recycle out of service mercury containing thermostats throughout the US.  

Prior to joining TRC, she was in-house counsel at ITT Corporation headquartered in White Plains, New York, at Asarco Incorporated in New York and Colorado. Fern also practiced environmental law at several firms in New Jersey.

Fern currently serves on the boards of directors of the Westchester/Southern Connecticut Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, and Urban Art Projects. She previously served in leadership positions for the Corporate Environmental Enforcement Council, the American Bar Association Section on Environment, Energy and Resources, and the Auditing Roundtable New York Region.

Fern co-authored the Environmental Chapter in Successful Partnering between Inside and Outside Counsel (ACC/Thompson Reuters, 2015). She has published articles and lectured on a variety of topics including compliance, self-auditing, Brownfields, Superfund, product safety, SEC disclosures, and environmental issues in mergers and acquisitions.

Fern was educated in Washington, D.C. at American University (M.S. in Justice; B.A. in Law and Society), and Georgetown University Law Center (J.D.) where she was a staff member on the Georgetown International Environmental Law Review.

Pamela Esterman has practiced environmental law for over thirty years with the law firm of Sive, Paget & Riesel, P.C. in New York City. Her experience at the firm includes handling the environmental aspects of business and real estate transactions, litigating complex multi-party hazardous waste cases, and obtaining permits and approvals for development projects. Ms. Esterman is an active mediator. She has helped to resolve hundreds of cases including business/commercial, construction, environmental, employment discrimination, personal injury and civil rights matters. She serves on the mediation panels for numerous federal and state courts.

Ms. Esterman is the co-planning chair of the annual ALI CLE Environmental Law Conference in Washington, D.C. Ms. Esterman currently teaches Environmental Law at Hofstra Law School as an Adjunct. She previously served as an Adjunct Professor at Pace University School of Law where she taught Environmental Dispute Resolution. She has authored numerous commentary articles and book chapters on topics relating to environmental law, ethics, and alternative dispute resolution. She is an active member of ABA SEER and currently serves as Chair of the Governance Committee.