Brazilian Attorneys Learning Environmental Law at Pace

Leaving home to study law in a White Plains classroom doesn’t exactly seem like a dream summer, but for 11 Brazilian and Portuguese students at Pace University, it’s a sacrifice worth making.

Pace’s Brazil-American Institute for Law and Environment (BAILE) program, founded in 2006 is, in the middle of its second annual two-week course, which runs from July 11-22. The course is only a small part of the school’s center designed to build and foster the relationship between the United States and Brazil in their shared goal of environmental protection.

Many aspiring attorneys grow up dreaming of using their education to give back and fight for the environment. This group of attorneys hopes to follow through on that dream.

“I really like nature, I’ve always liked it since I was a little kid,” said Liza Baggio, who is not exactly in love with White Plains' lack of wildlife. “I was always able to like live close to nature. If you live far away, like in New York, you’ve never seen a cow.”

Baggio, 32, from Recife, is already an attorney back home, as are many of the students enrolled in the program. A number of the students are state attorneys.

"Those types of jobs are very prestigious in Brazil," said Pace Law School Professor David Cassuto, director of BAILE and a former Fulbright scholar in Brazil. "These are some of the best and brightest of the Brazilian legal profession."

And while some of those attorneys, like Baggio, are at Pace because of their love of nature, some are simply here on business.

“I chose environmental law because, actually, my parents told me to,” said Victor Dias, 25, of Para, who will take what he learns back to his job to share with his fellow employees. “My boss only put me here if I came back, told them everything I learned and increased the education of the environmental law.”

Brazil can use all the knowledge on the subject it can get, according to Cassuto; deforestation in Brazil has proven very difficult to control, in part because of the weakness of national legal and regulatory institutions for environmental protection.

“This summer program forms a crucial part of that work,” said Cassuto. “It has already had great success in developing relationships and helping to incubate ideas for environmental cooperation between and within the two nations.”

The non-profit organization is not lacking in volunteers. Instructors in the course include: Pace Law School professors, attorneys from the Environmental Protection Agency, and prominent U.S. and Brazilian academics and attorneys.

On this particular day, the program welcomed Patrick Ayala, a Portuguese attorney who specializes in environmental and animal law. Ayala is also a professor of law at the Federal University of the state of Mato Grosso.

While the class meets at Pace for a scheduled five-and-a-half hours every weekday, the program is not just designated to the classroom. Pace works with a number of Brazilian law schools and universities, and involves students in research and exchange.

On Friday, the program, which is jointly managed with Getuilio Vargas Foundation School of Law—Rio de Janeiro, will be going over case studies and role-playing before taking a field trip to the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn.

Typically more environmentally friendly initiatives are not as cost-effective. Thus, attempting to reduce deforestation and curtail carbon emissions while maintaining growth in any industry is a tall task indeed for the students.

The role-playing will involve the students attempting to do just that: craft a sustainable consumption initiative for their industry while maintaining growth and political appeal. The industries in question just happen to be Brazil’s four largest contributors to deforestation: soy, cattle ranching, forestry and biofuels.

Brazil is beginning to put more importance on this type of law and it might turn into a more lucrative field after all, the students hope.

“It’s a new field in Brazil and people think there are gonna be a lot of demand in that area,” said Dias.

The summer course may end on Friday, however, BAILE is a year-round program. Prospective students can learn more on the school's official website.