5. Final Round Judges Bios

FINAL ROUND JUDGES

The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is proud to welcome the following distinguished members of the bench as Final Round Judges in this year’s Competition.

The Honorable Aaron P. Avila Environmental Appeals Judge U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Judge Avila has substantial litigation and management experience in matters arising under federal pollution control and natural resource statutes. Prior to joining the Environmental Appeals Board, Judge Avila served first as a staff attorney and then as an Assistant Section Chief in the Appellate Section, Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice. During his tenure in the Appellate Section, Judge Avila litigated and supervised civil and criminal appellate matters involving major federal environmental and pollution control statutes before the courts of appeals and the Supreme Court on behalf of the United States and its agencies (primarily EPA, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense). Judge Avila presented oral argument in more than 30 appeals. Prior to joining the Justice Department, Judge Avila was an associate at Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco, California and before that he served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Robert D. Sack of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Judge Avila’s work has garnered him numerous awards and recognitions, including the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Excellence and EPA's Silver Medal for Superior Service Award.

Judge Avila earned his Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from New York University School of Law, and his Bachelor of Arts and Science degree (Political Science and Civil Engineering) from Stanford University.

Alexandra Dapolito Dunn, Esq. Baker Botts, LLP

On February 8, 2021, Alexandra Dapolito Dunn joined the global law firm of Baker Botts LLP as a partner in the environment, safety, and incident response practice group in the Litigation Department in the Washington DC office. Through January 20, 2021, she was unanimously confirmed by the Senate Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (19-21). Previously she was Regional Administrator for the Agency’s New England Region (18-20).

She served as Executive Director and General Counsel of the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), the national non-profit, non-partisan association of U.S. state and territorial environmental commissioners from 2014-2018.

She has over 26 years of experience in environmental law and policy, with work in air, energy, water, waste, agriculture, and chemicals. She is a published author, and speaks regularly, on environmental policy, sustainability, and environmental justice. In 2015 elected to the American College of Environmental Lawyers. Admitted in DC, MD, NY, the U.S. Supreme Court, and federal courts. Counsel to parties, intervenors, and amicus in 25+ reported cases.

She is a Past Chair of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources; and led SEER's World Justice Task Force; served on ABA’s Task Force on Sustainable Development (11-14). She Served on the Executive Committee of the Board of the Environmental Law Institute, Circle of Champions of the U.S. Water Alliance, Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Lecturer in Law, Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America (CUA) (Advanced Environmental Law); Adjunct Associate Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law (Environmental Justice), faculty advisor to CUA Environmental Law Society.

Prior, Dunn was Executive Director & General Counsel of the Association of Clean Water Administrators; Dean of Environmental Law Programs and Adjunct Professor of Law (Environmental Justice, Human Rights & Environment) at Pace Law School; General Counsel of National Association of Clean Water Agencies; Counsel to the American Chemistry Council; and in private practice.

J.D., magna cum laude, Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America (DC). Editor-inChief of the Law Review. B.A., cum laude, in Political Science & French, James Madison University, VA.

The Honorable Malachy E. Mannion, US District Court, Middle District of PA

Judge Mannion is a 1972 graduate of the Scranton Preparatory School; a1976 graduate of the University of Scranton with a B.S. in Psychology; and a 1979 graduate of Pace University School of Law with a Juris Doctorate. His legal career began in White Plains, NY in 1979, where he was an associate with the law firm of Bartels, Pykett & Aronwald, Esqs. From 1980-1986 he served as an Assistant District Attorney in Nassau County, NY where, as a senior trial attorney, he investigated and tried numerous cases ranging from homicide to organized crime, burglary to narcotics, rape to armed robbery. Healso served as the trial supervisor responsible for instructing and supervising 41assistant district attorneys in trial practice and procedure.

Judge Mannion was an Assistant United States Attorney and Chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) in the Middle District of Pennsylvania from 1986-1993 and 1997-2001. During that time he was also the District’s Security Manager, possessing a top secret United States Government security clearance. He was, and still is, a regular speaker, instructor and judge at the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center in Columbia, SC. Judge Mannion was also a member of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Evaluation and Review Staff 8

(EARS) charged with critically evaluating the performance and procedures used in the 94 United States Attorney’s offices across the country.

Judge Mannion was a partner in the Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, Pa. regional civil litigation firm of Hourigan, Kluger, Spohrer & Quinn, PC. from 1993-1997. In that time he handled and tried numerous civil matters, with a focus on medical malpractice, negligence and commercial litigation, in both federal and state courts.

In 2001, Judge Mannion was appointed to the federal bench for an 8 year term as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He was reappointed to a second 8 year term in 2009. In 2011 he became the Chief United States Magistrate Judge in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. In 2012, Judge Mannion was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as a United States District Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The United States Senate confirmed his nomination on December 21, 2012. Judge Mannion was sworn in as a United States District Judge on December 28, 2012.

He has written and lectured nationally in the areas of trial practice, e-discovery, federal rules, money laundering, the fourth amendment, federal trial &motion practice, official corruption, ethics, legal writing, and discovery. He is involved with numerous charitable organizations.

The Honorable Chad Readler, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

Judge Readler was confirmed to serve as a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in March 2019. He earned his BA from the University of Michigan and his JD, cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School. After graduating, he served as a law clerk for The Honorable Judge Alan Norris of the Sixth Circuit. Judge Readler then began work in the Columbus, Ohio office of Jones Day, going on to spend ten years as a partner in the Issues and Appeals Group. While at Jones Day, Judge Readler appeared in state and federal trial and appellate courts around the country, most frequently the Supreme Court of Ohio and the Sixth Circuit. Judge Readler also successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court in McQuiggin v. Perkins on behalf of a pro bono client claiming actual innocence. His other pro bono representations include representing capital defendants before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the Supreme Court of Ohio, and representing defendants sentenced to life in prison before the Sixth Circuit. From 2017-2019, Judge Readler served as Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice. In that role, Judge Readler lead and supervised the Department’s largest litigating division and briefed and argued several cases on behalf of the United States in federal courts across the country, including high-profile cases significant to the Administration and the Department.  He has previously served as a volunteer with Lawyers Without Borders, helping to train Kenyan lawyers in Nairobi, and he is a prior recipient of the American Marshall Memorial Fellowship awarded by the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

The Honorable Lisa M. Smith, Federal Magistrate Judge, Ret.

The Honorable Lisa Margaret Smith is a United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of New York. She sits in the Charles L. Brieant Federal Building and United States Courthouse in White Plains. She was originally appointed in 1995 and she is currently serving her third term as a Magistrate Judge. From 2006 to 2008 she served as Chief Magistrate Judge for the Southern District. The Honorable Lisa Margaret Smith is a United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of New York. She sits in the Charles L. Brieant Federal Building and United States Courthouse in White Plains. She was originally appointed in 1995 and she is currently serving her third term as a Magistrate Judge. From 2006 to 2008 she served as Chief Magistrate Judge for the Southern District. From 2013 to 2015 she served on the Committee on the Budget, a committee of the Judicial Conference of the

Prior to being appointed to the bench, Judge Smith was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (1987-1995). Before becoming an AUSA she served as a Kings County (NY) Assistant District Attorney from 1980 until 1985, rising to Supervising Senior ADA in the Appeals Bureau, following service in several other bureaus. From 1985 until 1986 Judge Smith was an Assistant Attorney General in the Appeals and Opinions Division of the New York State Department of Law, located in Albany. She represented the State of New York on appeals in state and federal courts throughout New York, and she co-authored an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the National Association of State Attorneys General filed in the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1986 Judge Smith re-joined the Kings County District Attorney’s Office as a

Supervising Senior ADA. She remained there until 1987, when she became an AUSA for the Southern District of New York.

Judge Smith earned her BA degree, with honors in political science, from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana in 1977, and her JD degree from Duke University School of Law in Durham, North Carolina in 1980, where she was a member of the Moot Court Board. She is a member of the Boards of Editors of the Federal Courts Law Review, an on-line and print journal of the Federal Magistrate Judges Association, and of the Federal Bar Council Quarterly. Judge Smith has served in various positions on the Board of the Westchester Women's Bar Association, and currently serves as a Vice President and member of the Executive Committee. She is active in the Federal Magistrate Judges Association, the Federal Bar Council, the Federal Bar Association, for which she has served as a Circuit Vice President, and JALBCA. In 2014 Judge Smith was honored to receive the Judith S. Kaye Access to Justice Award from the Women's Bar Association of the State of New York.

Judge Smith has been an Adjunct Professor at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University (formerly Pace Law School) since 2006, where she has taught Evidence and Federal Courts, and co-taught

Civil Procedure with Professor Michael B. Mushlin. Judge Smith frequently lectures at CLE and Bar Association programs, with a particular focus on e-discovery and evidence. She is a regular participant in events which educate children about the courts, including Take Your Children To Work Day, an annual program of the Westchester Women's Bar Association, as well as visits to the Courthouse by school and scout groups.

Judge Smith published an article, co-authored with Professor Mushlin, entitled "The Professor and the Judge: Introducing First-Year Students to the Law in Context." The article appears in the Journal of Legal Education, Volume 63, number 3 (February 2014). Judge Smith also wrote an article entitled "Top Ten Things You Probably Never Knew About Magistrate Judges," published in The Federal Lawyer in May, 2014. She has also contributed numerous articles to the Federal Bar Council Quarterly.