Aude Epstein
Visiting Associate Professor of Legal Studies
Affiliation: NYU Abu Dhabi
Education: BA Sorbonne University ; MA Sciences Po Paris; PhD University of Nice Côte d'Azur
Research Websites: Read More about The Ecologization of Business Law
Research Areas: Environmental law and Justice ; Business Law; Animal Welfare; Constitutional Litigation
Aude-Solveig Epstein is an Associate Professor of Law at Paris Nanterre University and a Visiting Associate Professor at NYU Abu Dhabi. Her research focuses on the intersections of environmental law, animal law, and economic law.
She has extensively explored the foundations, methods, and implications of the growing involvement of private actors in the creation and enforcement of environmental standards, addressing topics such as corporate social responsibility, ESG investment, private environmental litigation, and the public’s rights to environmental information and participation. Her book, Environmental Governance through Corporate Disclosure: A Legal Analysis (L.G.D.J., 2015), critically examines the emergence of a new form of environmental governance that primarily relies on the production and dissemination of data regarding corporate environmental impacts.
She founded and led the TEDE research project on the ecological transformation of business law, commissioned by the French Environmental Protection Agency (ADEME) and the French Ministry of Justice. Running from 2021 to 2024, the project critically examined the integration of sustainability objectives into the expansive framework of business law and economic regulations. In this context, Aude-Solveig Epstein co-edited The Ecological Turn of Economic Law : Actors and Methods (Mare & Martin, 2023) and Economic Law as a Catalyst for Ecological Transition (Bruylant, 2022). She additionally coordinated and served as the lead author of the forthcoming book The Ecological Transformation of Economic Law, scheduled for publication in 2025.
Her work has also introduced innovative perspectives on the interplay and boundaries between animal law and economic law. She notably co-edited Animal Protection in the EU: The Untapped Potential of Economic Law, to be published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2025.
Her current research investigates how the law can steer the development of technology and data to foster sustainable outcomes (e.g. "Environmental Law and Technology: A Research Roadmap," in J. van Zeben & C. Hilson (eds.), Research Agenda for Environmental Law, E. Elgar, 2024).
Aude-Solveig Epstein serves on the board of the International Association of Economic Law (A.I.D.E.), is a member of the Steering Committee of the Sustainable Market Actors Research (SMART) Network, is a member of the Executive Board of the Association of Environmental Law Lecturers in Middle East and North African Universities (ASSELLMU), and a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law.
Aude-Solveig Epstein earned a master's degree in Economic Law from Sciences Po Law School and a PhD from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis under the supervision of the founder of private environmental law in France, Gilles J. Martin. She was honoured with a grant from ADEME and the Louis Joinet Prize in the category of "Private Law: fundamental concepts and comparative law."