Pamela
Esterman
Principal
Pamela
Esterman
Principal
Pamela has over 30 years of experience practicing environmental law. Her diverse experience includes compliance counseling; litigating multi-party allocation proceedings; representing project sponsors in obtaining permits for residential and industrial development projects, and climate change planning. Additionally, she has assisted clients with corporate and real estate transactions, due diligence investigations, environmental audits and brownfields site redevelopment. Pamela also regularly advises clients concerning ethics and professional conduct matters.
Pamela is an experienced mediator. She serves as a court appointed mediator for the United States District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts and the Supreme Court of New York, Commercial Division, as well as the District of New Jersey. She has successfully mediated hundreds of disputes including environmental, land use, FLSA, ADA, real property, contracts, insurance coverage, construction defects and delays, professional malpractice, business/commercial transactions, personal injury, employment discrimination, civil rights, and toxic tort claims. She is also a trained arbitrator. Pamela has also designed dispute resolution procedures in numerous cases and also served as a discovery master. She regularly provides training on effective dispute resolution skills at various forums including the New York City Bar Association and the American Bar Association.
Since 1997, Pamela has served as co-planning chair for the annual American Law Institute (ALI CLE) Environmental Law Conference in Washington, D.C. She writes and speaks regularly on topics related to environmental law, ethics and alternative dispute resolution. She has served on the faculty of numerous institutions including the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the New Jersey Bar Association, Practicing Law Institute, and Lawline. Pamela currently serves as an adjunct professor at Hofstra Law School, where she teaches Environmental Law. She formerly served as an adjunct professor at the Elizabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University where she taught Environmental Dispute Resolution.
Representative Experience:
- Successfully mediated numerous Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims including one with over 100 plaintiffs,
- Successfully mediated multiple oil spill cases involving claims for personal injury and property damage,
- Successfully mediated a multi-party benzene toxic tort case,
- Successfully mediated numerous employment discrimination matters including matters based on sexual harassment, national origin, pregnancy, and age claims,
- Successfully mediated numerous cases brought under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA),
- Successfully mediated numerous construction defect and/or delay cases,
- Successfully mediated over 50 Superstorm Sandy insurance coverage cases,
- Arbitrated a multi-million construction defect/construction delay claim,
- Represented defendant manufacturer in a toxic tort litigation involving the alleged discharge of heavy metals,
- Represented several potentially responsible parties in a cost recovery action where the total estimated claim was over $400 million,
- Served as liaison counsel for a group of transporter defendants in a contribution action,
- Advised purchaser of a waste transport business regarding acquisition of waste transfer facilities,
- Assisted a private land developer with a range of permitting issues concerning a multi-use large scale redevelopment project,
- Served as the “at-large trustee” for the Anadarko Litigation Trust in the $5.15 Billion settlement of the Tronox, Inc. bankruptcy proceeding,
- Assisted in successfully permitting an 80 MW electric power co-generation facility in upstate New York,
- Counsel to the developer of a hazardous waste landfill project in upstate New York,
- Assisted in environmental impact analysis and permitting of multiple high-rise buildings in New York City
“Working with Other Professionals and Their Codes of Professionalism,” Co-author
For: ABA SEER
“Legal Ethics in the Environmental Law Context,”
For: The Practical Real Estate Lawyer
“Ethical Considerations for Environmental Lawyers,”
For: ALI CLE
“Clean Water Act Course”
For: Panelist, American Law Institute
“Ethical Issues in Environmental Law”
For: ALI-ABA
“Annual Environmental Law Course”
For: Co-chair and panelist, American Law Institute-American Bar Association
“Ethical Considerations for Environmental Lawyers”
For: American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education - Environmental Law 2017
“Annual ABA Conference on Environmental Law”
For: Co-planning Chair and Moderator
“Recovery and Rebuilding After Superstorm Sandy: Legal Perspectives in What We Know and Where We Go”
For: Panelist and Co-planning Chair, NY/NJ Bar Association
“Recovery and Rebuilding After Superstorm Sandy: Legal Changes Required to Implement the NYS 2100 Comm. Policy Recommendations,” co-author
“Ethics for Land Use Lawyers”
For: Speaker, Pace Law School
“Climate Change Adaptation: Fostering Progress Through Law and Regulation,” co-author
For: New York University Environmental Law Journal, Vol. 18
“Effective Representation of Clients in Environmental Dispute Resolution,” co-author
For: 27 Pace Environmental Law Review, Vol. 61
“The Resolution of Environmental Interest Disputes”
For: Panelist, ABA Dispute Resolution Section Annual Meeting
“Changing Times-Changing Practice: Effective Legal Strategies to Resolve New Environmental Disputes”
For: Co-planning Chair and Moderator, Pace Law School
“Annual Conference on Environmental Law”
For: Moderator, Ethics Panel
“Ethical Considerations for the Environmental Lawyer,” The Practical Real Estate Lawyer
For: The Practical Real Estate Lawyer
Article Title: Ethical Considerations for the Environmental Lawyer
“The Resolution of Environmental Interest Disputes”
For: Co-chair, City Bar Association
“Women in Negotiation”
For: Co-chair, City Bar Association
“Legal Ethics in New York”
For: Presenter, Lorman
“Ethics in Mediation and Settlement Negotiation”
For: Co-chair, City Bar Association
“New Solutions to Environmental Problems in Business and Real Estate Deals”
For: Panelist, Practicing Law Institute
“Real Estate and the Environment: NY’s New Brownfields Law”
For: Panelist, NYSBA
“Reporting Obligations and Ethical Issues Confronting Environmental Lawyers”
For: Practicing Law Institute
“The Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Land Use Cases”
For: The Center for American and International Law
“Ethical Issues in Environmental and Land Use Matters”
For: The American Law Institute and the American Bar Association
“Book Chapter on Administrative Agency Relationships in New York Environmental Law and Regulations”
For: West and Supplements
“Retail Property Development: Current Trends and Practice”
For: Panelist, Practicing Law Institute
“The Role of Mediation in Local Land Use Disputes”
For: The New York State Association of Towns Annual Meeting, Presenter
“Managing Environmental Issues in Property Acquisitions,” co-author
For: The Practical Real Estate Lawyer, Vol. 15 and Practicing Law Institute
“‘Fold or Fight’ the Changing Settlement Calculus in CERCLA Enforcement Actions,” co-author
For: Vol. lX Fordham 469
“Book Chapter 11-C- Alternative Dispute Resolution,” co-author Matthew Bender
For: Environmental Law Practice Guide
Syracuse University College of Law, J.D., 1983
State University of New York, M.S., 1983
University of New Hampshire, B.S., 1979
New York
New Jersey
Adjunct Professor of Law, Hofstra Law School, (2018- present)
Acting Village Justice, Village of Ocean Beach (2006-present)
Certified court mediator, EDNY, SDNY, Commercial Division (New York and Westchester Counties), District of New Jersey (1989-present)
American Bar Association, Section on Environment, Energy, and Resources
Co-Chair, Committee on State Bar Cooperation
Vice-Chair, Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution
NYSBA Dispute Resolution Committee, Chair, ADR in Government Committee
City Bar, Environmental Law Committee (2008-2011); Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee (2003-2008)
Chair, Ethics Committee, Village of Ocean Beach, NY
Co-Chair of Advisory Board, Kheel Center for the Resolution of Environmental Disputes
Adjunct Professor, Pace Law School (2009-10)
Member, NYSBA Climate Change Initiative Task Force
Co-planning Chair, Annual ALI CLE Environmental Law Course
AAA Mediator, Post-Sandy Mediations
