Harnessing the law to protect the planet – the case for an International Court for the Environment: How does the legal system ne

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC

Helena is one of Britain’s most distinguished lawyers and an expert in human rights law, civil liberties and constitutional issues. Helena has spent her professional life giving voice to those who have least power within the system, championing civil liberties and promoting human rights. She has used many public platforms – including the House of Lords, to which she was elevated in 1997 – to argue with passion, wit and humanity for social justice. She has also written and broadcast on a wide range of issues, from medical negligence to terrorism to the rights of women and children.

She is a member of the House of Lords and chair of Justice, the British arm of the International Commission of Jurists. She is a bencher of Gray’s Inn and president of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She was the chair of Charter 88 from 1992 to 1997, the Human Genetics Commission from 1998 to 2007 and the British Council from 1998 to 2004. She also chaired the Power Inquiry, which reported on the state of British democracy and produced the Power Report in 2006. She has received honours for her work on human rights from the governments of France and Italy and has been awarded more than 30 honorary doctorates.

Kristin Casper

For more than a decade, Kristin Casper has been Greenpeace International's lead attorney in developing and implementing cutting-edge legal strategies to hold governments and corporations accountable for the climate emergency. As Senior Strategic Litigation Counsel, Kirstin has been a part of many successful efforts demanding urgent and ambitious climate action, the rapid transition to renewable energy, and the protection of the right to a healthy environment. Today, she serves as Interim General Counsel for Greenpeace International, recognized globally as a leader in the fight for climate justice. In her current role, Kristin leads a team of specialised lawyers that provide independent legal advice to Greenpeace International and the global network of independent national and regional Greenpeace organisations. Kristin is a registered attorney in the U.S. state of Colorado. Currently, she is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Climate Justice Fund, a one of a kind financial facility to support the development and use of legal avenues towards achieving global climate justice. She graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2009 with a Juris Doctor degree and a certificate in natural resources and environmental law. She received the Hon. Pete Domenici Award for Excellence in Environmental Law and served as a student editor for the Natural Resources Journal.

David Estrin

David Estrin is a certified environmental law specialist whose career has uniquely combined litigation, teaching, research and writing at national and international levels. He is the founding editor of the Canadian Environmental Law Reports, chaired the IBA Environment Committee (2014-2016); co-chairs the IBA Task Force on Climate Change Justice and Human Rights; and co-chaired the IBA expert working group that guided drafting of the 2020 “IBA Model Statute for Proceedings Challenging Government Failure to Act on Climate Change”. At Osgoode Hall Law School (Toronto) he co-founded the Environmental Justice and Sustainability Clinical Program, and lectures in International Environmental Law. In 2020 he co-founded a unique law school Climate Litigation and Policy Clinical Program at UWindsor, Faculty of Law.

Stephen Hockman QC

Stephen Hockman is Chairman of the ICE Coalition. He qualified as a barrister in 1971 and has practised ever since from Chambers in Pump Court, Temple. He became a QC in 1990.He is a leader of exceptionally high standing who has a broad environmental, health and safety, and planning practice encompassing judicial review, inquiries, arbitration, civil claims, and criminal prosecution and defence work. He is recognised as one of the leading practitioners in the fields of health and safety law, and environmental law. In recent years he has been nominated as Health and Safety Silk of the Year, and Environment/Planning Silk of the Year, at the Chambers UK Bar Awards; and Real Estate, Environment and Planning Silk of the Year at The Legal 500 UK Bar Awards. He is also listed in Who's Who Legal: UK Bar as a leading barrister in environmental law. He was chairman of the General Council of the Bar in 2006, and treasurer of Middle Temple in 2015.

Maya Steinitz

Prof. Steinitz is a professor at the University of Iowa College of Law. She is one of the world’s leading scholars of litigation and law firm finance. Her other areas of research are mass torts, class actions, and international arbitration, and she has served as an arbitrator in dozens of cases. Prior to joining academia Prof. Steinitz worked as a litigator at Latham & Watkins and Flemming, Zulack & Williamson and clerked for the Hon. Esther Hayut, currently the Chief Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court (1998-1999). Her book, “The Case for an International Court of Civil Justice” was published by Cambridge University Press.