2019 Homer and Charles Pace Faculty Award

Jessica A. Magaldi is an Assistant Professor in the Lubin School of Business at Pace University, teaching Business Law and Advanced Business Law, as well as a number of specialty law classes including Cyberlaw, Intellectual Property Law and Employment Law on the undergraduate and graduate levels and in the iPace program. In 2017, Dr. Magaldi was awarded a national Periclean Faculty Leadership grant for developing a business law course for students that champions civil dialogue, civic engagement and social responsibility in the classroom, on the campus and in the community. 

Since 2014, Dr. Magaldi is Director of the Business Honors Program on the New York City campus and Chapter Advisor to the Pace University Chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma. She won in 2016 the Outstanding Chapter Advisor Award for all international BGS chapters and in 2017 the Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award among all student organization faculty advisors on the New York City campus. 

Dr. Magaldi has an active research agenda, which reflects her interest in understanding law and policy through the lens of whether and how business and societal goals are advanced. To this end, she has three areas of substantive focus – the law of emerging technologies, employment-related legal issues, (including at the intersection of social media / technology law and employment law) and finance and tax law, especially as affected by technological innovation. She has an additional interest in related pedagogy, creating case studies that allow her to help students (and other instructors) apply theory to practice. All four of these areas share an important theme as they examine due process considerations, procedures in place to ensure that everyone is treated fairly and systems are transparent. 

Dr. Magaldi is a frequent presenter of her scholarly research at national and international conferences and has been an invited to lecture on her work at colleges and universities in the U.S. Her contributions to research have been recognized by the Midwest Academy of Legal Studies in Business (Best Paper, Honorable Mention, 2018), MBAA International (Best Paper, 2017) and Tri-State Academy of Legal Studies in Business (Best Paper, 2017). 

As well, Dr. Magaldi has a long history of civic engagement and pro bono service outside of the academy, including with direct legal services organizations, her local Community Board and as a volunteer arbitrator for NYC Small Claims Court. 

In addition to her teaching and scholarly pursuits, Dr. Magaldi is a business and legal consultant, specializing in technology and intellectual property law and transactions for emerging and established companies. She advises clients on substantive legal issues and also works with in-house legal departments on business process reengineering and employee training. Dr. Magaldi recently concluded an engagement with NYSE Euronext to manage the company’s Strategic Intellectual Property Initiative. 

Earlier in her career, Dr. Magaldi was a law clerk to the Hon. James B. Zagel, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois and in-house at two internet start-up companies during the internet boom and bust of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Dr. Magaldi started her legal career as an associate in the Strategic Sourcing and Technology Group in the New York office of the international law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP.

Dr. Magaldi received a B.S., magna cum laude, from the State University of New York at Albany and a J.D. from New York University School of Law, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the New York University Review of Law and Social Change.