Fink, Richard R.

Bar and Court Admissions: Admitted to the New York Bar in 2007 and to the District of Columbia Bar in 2010. Licensed to practice before the United States Court of Federal Claims.

Education: Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy and International Affairs, Princeton University (A.B., cum laude, 1993). Northern Studies Program, University Alaska Fairbanks (graduate coursework, 1997-98). Cornell Law School (J.D., cum laude, 2007) (CALI Awards in Federal Indian Law and Theories of Property) (Editor, Cornell Law Review). Historic Preservation Program, Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University (2012).

Employment: Since joining the Nordhaus Law Firm in July 2009, Ms. Pensley has assisted Ms. Grant on a wide variety of tribal environmental matters (affecting soil, water, air, minerals, hazardous substances, and waste).  Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Pensley clerked for the Honorable Victor J. Wolski of the United States Court of Federal Claims (Washington, D.C.), where she gained expertise in takings claims against the federal government, and class actions under federal pay statutes and regulations. She maintains a leadership role on the Native American Law Resources Committee with the Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, American Bar Association.

During law school, Ms. Pensley pursued her interests in property rights, land use law, and litigation against the sovereign by interning with the Legal Defense Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (Washington, D.C.), the Fairbanks North Star Borough Law Department (Fairbanks, Alaska), and the Court of Claims Section with the Tax Division, United States Department of Justice (Washington, D.C.). She also worked as a research assistant for Cornell Law Professor Gregory Alexander on his recent book, The Global Debate over Constitutional Property (University of Chicago Press), and clerked at the Law and Policy Section with the Environmental and Natural Resources Division, United States Department of Justice (Washington, D.C.).

Prior to law school, Ms. Pensley worked as a Volunteer in Service to America with Housing Hope, a non-profit provider of housing and social services in Everett, Washington. She then adventured North, achieving success as a grant writer and fundraiser with Fairbanks Neighborhood Housing Services, a non-profit housing developer and neighborhood organization in Fairbanks, Alaska. Ms. Pensley subsequently founded Borealis Community Land Trust, the first community land trust in Alaska. By the time she left the organization, it had broken ground on its first subdivision with all construction financing in place, and had further secured $1M from Alaska Housing Finance Corporation as first mortgage money to lend at below-market rates (but attached to resale restrictions to ensure second-generation affordability). Recognition for Ms. Pensley has included a Public Service Fellowship from the Echoing Green Foundation (1997-2001), a Hesselbein Community Innovation Fellowship from the Drucker Foundation for Non-Profit Management (1997-98), and Friend of Housing Award from the Washington State Housing Finance Commission (1995). She remains involved with the Echoing Green Foundation as a member of its selection committee, focusing on sustainable development initiatives (energy, agriculture, housing) in the United States and abroad.

Publications and Presentations: Existence and Persistence: Preserving Subsistence in Cordova, Alaska, Environmental Law Reporter (forthcoming 2012).  The Legalities of Stream Interventions: Accretive Changes to New York State Doctrine Ahead?, 25 Pace Environmental Law Review (2008) (Honorable Mention, Smith-Babcock-Williams Writing Competition, American Planning Association 2006). Real Cities, Ideal Cities: Proposing a Test of Intrinsic Fairness for Contested Development Exactions, 91 Cornell Law Review (2006) (David Marcus Memorial Prize, outstanding comment 2006) (First Prize, Program for Judicial Awareness Writing Competition, Pacific Legal Foundation 2005). The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1990): Where the Native Voice Is Missing, 20 Wicazo Sa Review (2005). Drafting a Ground Lease with Community Input, Who Owns America? IV (2004) (conference organized by the Land Tenure Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison). The Socialist City? A Critical Analysis of Neubaugebiet Hellersdorf, 24 Journal of Urban History (1998). City Planning and State Policy in the GDR: The Example of Neubaugebiet Hellersdorf, 19 International Journal of Urban and Regional Planning (1995). Co-author, The Gap Between Regulation and Reality: Victims of Rape and Abuse by Civilians with the United States Army Europe (1989) (Army Community Services, USAEUR).