Ms. Pamela R. Esterman

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

Recognition

Received “AV” rating in Martindale & Hubbell (2000-present)

2013 Top Rated “Women Leaders in the Law” American Lawyer Magazine

2009 Founders Award, Kheel Center for the Resolution of Environmental Disputes

1982 National Summer Scholar, Environmental Law Institute

Community

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