Students’ Legal Research Paper Named Finalist at ALSB Conference

A legal research paper co-written by two Babson College students was named a finalist in the Student Paper Competition at the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) conference this summer in Providence.

Constance Lo ’25 and Kunal Kothari ’26 were recognized for their paper, “Who Should Hold the Reins? The Executive Branch or the Courts, in Administrative Environmental Governance.” The students were accompanied at the conference by their advisor, Professor Adam Sulkowski, and Associate Professor of Practice Nancy Aiken from Babson’s Accounting and Law Division.

“As a Babson student preparing for law school, having the chance to write, conduct legal research, edit, and ultimately present our work to an audience of experts and academics was an unprecedented experience,” Kothari said. “Moreover, through our research, I was able to connect themes that are personally meaningful to me: investing, environmentalism, and litigation.”

The students’ paper, according to Kothari, examines Marin Audubon Society v. FAA and related cases, alongside the current administration’s 2025 rollback of the Council on Environmental Quality authority. The paper examines the increasing shift in environmental regulatory power away from agencies and toward the judicial and executive branch, raising questions about the National Environmental Policy Act’s future and its impact on green industries.

The Gerri Randlett Got Your Fund Back, which provides support for students’ unexpected needs, assisted Lo with funds to travel to Providence from Hong Kong, where she currently is in law school.

“I’m grateful to Professor Sulkowski for introducing us to this wonderful opportunity and to Professor Aiken for guiding our research journey,” Lo said. “Babson’s support of my participation, even as a recent alumna, made this experience both possible and especially meaningful.”

Last year, two student teams also were finalists in the Student Paper Competition, and Sulkowski was a finalist for the Nancy Kubasek Award for Best Environmental Law & Sustainability Paper. His research was supported by the Babson Faculty Research Fund.

Posted in Babson Briefs

Tagged Class of 2025, Class of 2026, Faculty, Research, Undergraduate

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