Contributors
Rebecca Bratspies
Rebecca Bratspies, Professor, joined the faculty of CUNY Law in 2004. Her teaching and scholarly research focus on environmental and public international law, with a particular emphasis on how legal systems govern the global commons and how law can further sustainable development. She has published widely on the topics of environmental liability, regulatory uncertainty, regulation of international fisheries, and regulation of genetically modified food crops.
Ethan
CUER Fellow Ethan Middlebrooks is in his second year at CUNY Law School. His interest in the environment began at a young age in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, where he would romp about the creeks and woods and clean up garbage. Growing up in Birmingham, a former steeltown, also exposed him to the social and environmental inequities that came with industrial and urban development. Ethan graduated from Cornell University, where he majored in English. While at Cornell, he enjoyed the beautiful Ithaca and Finger Lakes surroundings, and became active with student environmental and sustainability groups. Before starting CUNY Law, he moved to New York City and worked as a litigation and corporate paralegal at a mid-size law firm, and volunteered with Hudson Riverkeeper and NY Cares. He’s interested in water issues, reclamation of damaged lands and sustainable development both in the form of urban renewal and new building. Outside of law school, his interests include running and racing, music, eating new foods, and traveling.
Georgiana Tan
CUER Fellow Georgiana Tan is in her third year at CUNY Law School. She became interested in environmental law and justice when she travelled to Oaxaca, Mexico as a delegate with the Inter-American Law Student Association recognizing water rights for indigenous peoples. She interned for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and attended international environmental law classes at Vermont Law School. As a law student, she has written and/or presented on various topics such as deforestation, locally undesirable land uses, investment agreements on environmental governance, and the law of armed conflict. She is currently a CUER Fellow, research assistant for Professor Rebecca Bratspies, and on the New York City Bar Association Committee for International Environmental Law. Ms. Tan currently lives in her hometown of Queens, New York. When her nose is not in the law books, she loves cooking, watching indie movies, hula hooping at the beach, and strumming her guitar.
Henry Tranes
CUER fellow Henry Tranes is in his third year at CUNY Law School. He spent the 2012 summer interning with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation’s Office of Environmental Justice in Long Island City. He graduated from SUNY Albany (cum laude), receiving a B.A. in Political Science while also minoring in Africana Studies. Both during college and since graduating, he has worked for two New York State Senators and developed an interest in policy work at the local and state levels. As a law student, Henry has become interested in the field of environmental law and environmental justice. To that end, he has written on home rule as a tool for municipalities to ban hydrofracking. Henry grew up in Goshen, New York, in the Hudson Valley, giving him an appreciation for the environment from an early age. Outside of law school, his interests include politics, football, and traveling. Henry has visited seven countries in Europe and hopes to add to that total as often as he can. He currently lives in Manhattan with his girlfriend, Laura, and their Shepherd-Husky rescue dog, “Gorilla”.
Sarah Lamden
Sarah Lamdan is a reference librarian and legal research professor at CUNY School of Law. She graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law in 2005 with an Environmental Law Certificate and received a Master’s Degree in Legal Information Management from Emporia State University’s School of Library and Information Management the same year. She has researched and advocated for environmental justice issues including pesticide safety in city schools, clean energy and waste disposal, and environmentally conscious urban planning in Kansas, Maryland and New York. Sarah was born and raised in Kansas, and now lives on Long Island with her husband, two children, and Kansas the dog. When not wrangling toddlers, Sarah can be found reading, running, or attempting culinary feats (usually of the dessert variety).
CUER Contributors
Rebecca Bratspies, Professor, joined the faculty of CUNY Law in 2004. Her teaching and scholarly research focus on environmental and public international law, with a particular emphasis on how legal systems govern the global commons and how law can further sustainable development. She has published widely on the topics of environmental liability, regulatory uncertainty, regulation of international fisheries, and regulation of genetically modified food crops.