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Cultivating Change: Professor Margot Pollans on Food Law, Power, and Policy

Professor Margot Pollans joined the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at ��򽴫ý faculty in 2015. She is the Faculty Director of the Pace Food Law Center, the Joseph P. D��򽴫ý�Alessandro Faculty Scholar, and also served as the James D. Hopkins Professor of Law for the 2023��򽴫ý�2025 academic years. Previously, she served as the Shamik and Adrienne Trivedi Faculty Scholar from 2020��򽴫ý�2022. During her time at the Law School, she has been a leader in building the national reputation of the Pace Food Law Center. Professor Pollans is an accomplished scholar whose primary research interests lie in the areas of food and agriculture law, environmental law, administrative law, and social justice and her academic work has appeared in a variety of prestigious journals.

Can you tell us a bit about your background leading up to law school?

I have been interested in agriculture and environmental issues since I was in high school. I did a summer program after 9th grade in downtown Boston where I had an internship with a community gardening organization. Looking back, it was such a logical start for me, but I remember being disappointed at the time because I wanted a different placement. I returned to the issue as an undergrad. I studied environmental history, with a focus on agriculture. I was interested in the interplay of cities and rural areas. In college, I had the opportunity to spend a semester at Biosphere 2 outside of Tucson, Arizona. At the time, Columbia University ran an earth systems science semester field course there. After college, I became a high school teacher. The plan was to do it for one year while I applied to grad school, but I stayed for three because I loved teaching. I was also the cross-country coach. That was a fun gig.

Did you always intend to or want to work in academia?

Not at all. In fact, as an undergrad, I decided not to apply for history PhD programs, because I didn��򽴫ý�t want to be a researcher. I went to law school planning to pursue a joint degree in public policy and to go into urban environmental policy. But I loved law school, and I was drawn into the kinds of research and analysis that legal academia makes possible. I also looked around at the law professors that I knew and saw a lot of people doing really cool stuff��򽴫ý�launching research centers and clinics, lobbying congress, pivoting into public sector jobs, engaging in pro bono representation. It felt like a path that would let me carve out my own space.

Your research interests and areas of expertise include Administrative Law, Food and Agriculture Law, Environmental Law, Social Justice, and more ��򽴫ý� what is it about those areas that hold your interest?

When I first started out, I was interested in questions related to how to make the world a better place��򽴫ý�where did the law fall short and how might it be reformed? These were policy questions. My research has evolved in recent years to focus more on using the law as a lens to understand structures of power. For instance, how does food regulation reflect social hierarchy and how does it reinforce social hierarchy? Food is a life-long obsession for me, but as an academic pursuit it is just one possible access point to understanding power.

My research has evolved in recent years to focus more on using the law as a lens to understand structures of power. For instance, how does food regulation reflect social hierarchy and how does it reinforce social hierarchy? Food is a life-long obsession for me, but as an academic pursuit it is just one possible access point to understanding power.

You are Faculty Director of the Pace Food Law Center ��򽴫ý� can you talk a bit about the importance of the work of the Center?

The Center is the home for Pace��򽴫ý�s Food and Farm Business Law Clinic. The Clinic, run by Professor Jon Brown, provides transactional legal services to farms and food businesses in New York. The kinds of businesses the Clinic works with are essential for rural economic development and food system resiliency, but they often struggle to access the legal services they need to remain viable. The Clinic plays a really important role here. A little-known fact about Pace Haub Law is that we have one of the largest food law faculties in the country. We use the Center to build our research capacity, to support students interested in careers in this area, and to engage with other law schools working on food law advocacy. For instance, we are part of the Farm Bill Law Enterprise, a consortium of law schools, headed by the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, that conducts research and advocacy on the farm bill.

You teach several classes at Pace Haub Law ��򽴫ý� do you have a favorite to teach and if so, why?

Right now, my favorite class to teach is Property. It is a really fascinating subject. Property law lies at the heart of our economic system. I try to teach students to unpack the normative assumptions embedded in property doctrine. Much of property law rests on the assumptions that property should be put to productive use and that private ownership merits robust protection. Why? It��򽴫ý�s fun to invite students to question assumptions they have lived with their entire lives.

What are some of your current research interests and projects?

Right now, I am working on several interrelated projects examining patterns in regulation across a variety of different areas��򽴫ý�food, toxic exposure, gun violence. We are currently in a moment of regulatory decline, at least at the federal level. The regulatory state is being decimated. I am trying to deepen my understanding of why it is so unpopular.

What general advice do you have for law students?

Read a lot. Use AI, but only as a thinking partner. When in doubt, make your sentences shorter. Spend some time reflecting not just on what subject of law you want to practice but also on how you want to spend your time. Do you want to be in court? Do you want to be reading and writing? Do you want to be out talking to people and organizing? Do you thrive if your day is full of meetings? Or do you thrive if you��򽴫ý�re left alone all day to get your work done?

How do you spend your spare time?

I used to spend an enormous amount of time baking. I got into wedding cakes for a while, and, very briefly, had a cooking blog. These days my small kids take up every second of free time, but they are getting old enough to participate. They bake with me, and I am trying to get them into gardening with me. That��򽴫ý�s a new hobby. We��򽴫ý�ll see if it takes (for me or for them).