As the world rapidly approaches the 1.5-degree temperature limit of the Paris Agreement, and the impacts of climate change alter every aspect of our communities and natural world, what does this mean for legal practice and lawyers’ professional responsibilities? What tools are bar associations and legal alliances developing to support lawyers to build climate resilient practices? What more is needed for lawyers – and the broader legal profession – to become true champions of sustainability?

During London Climate Action Week, the International Bar Association (IBA) Bar Issues Commission, Bar Council of England and Wales, Law Society of England and Wales, Brazilian Bar Association, and American Bar Association, with support from the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance and the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association, brought together senior lawyers and bar association leaders to explore these issues. 

Steven Richman, Chair of the IBA Bar Issues Commission, provided opening remarks at the event, and Estelle Dehon KC, Co-Chair of the Bar Council of England and Wales Climate Crisis Working Group, provided a keynote address. This was followed by a panel session featuring expert insights from:

• Nina Pindham (Chair, United Kingdom Environmental Law Association);
• Lara Douvartzidis (Senior Legal Executive, Net Zero Lawyers Alliance; Special Projects Officer, IBA Business Human Rights Committee);
• Letícia Campos Mello (Secretary-General, Foreign Affairs Committee, Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (OAB); Former President, Committee for the Defense of Sustainable Development, OAB); and
• Alasdair Cameron (Climate Change, Planning & Environmental Law Policy Adviser, Law Society of England and Wales).

The event was moderated by Emily Morison (Project Lawyer, IBA Legal Policy & Research Unit). 

What emerged clearly from the discussion is that the climate crisis fundamentally challenges the roles of every member of the legal profession, but no one need take on that challenge alone: a range of tools and networks exist to support solicitors, barristers, law firms, bar associations and every member of the legal profession on the journey. 

In this article, we recap highlights from the discussion and the many tools discussed. Click here to watch a recording.

Bar associations are supporting lawyers to address climate change 

In his opening remarks, Steven Richman reaffirmed the BIC’s commitment to supporting bar associations and law societies in addressing the climate crisis through engagement with their members and at an operational level, and highlighted the recent roundtables on bar association climate initiatives convened by the BIC. 

Climate competence begins with understanding the intersection of law and climate risk

In her keynote address, Estelle Dehon KC offered personal reflections on how climate-related issues came to define her practice as a leading barrister in planning and public law, and how she has used litigation as a tool to mainstream climate considerations in government decision-making.  

Dehon also highlighted the intersections between climate change and legal practice: 

‘The more that as lawyers we understand about the science of climate, the law around it, and how climate can be put across in a sensible legal narrative, the more we start to recognise (a) how climate risks impact our clients and (b) how clients can take advantage of climate-related opportunities.’

Dehon observed what climate change means for the professional roles of barristers:

‘Barristers need to be aware of how climate change intersects with their practice. Otherwise, they will not be able to provide a competent service to clients: we may be asked for advice on which the climate crisis has an impact, but if we do not realise that, we won’t be giving proper advice to our clients, and this entails barristers educating them in this regard.’

Dehon observed that climate also impacts barristers’ duties when advocating before the Courts: 

‘Today, if one was asked by a client to put forward to the Court something that denied the existence of climate change, that would come into conflict with our professional obligations.’

Dehon noted that the Bar Council of England and Wales is preparing ethical guidance to help barristers interpret their professional duties in light of the climate crisis, across a broad array of practice areas. Further, as barrister at Cornerstone Barristers and founder of Cornerstone Climate – a cross-disciplinary centre of excellence for climate litigation and advice – in 2023, she highlighted Cornerstone’s Climate Masterclass: Training and Insights on Climate and the Law and Climate Litigation Lessons from Around the Globe Programme, and noted that Cornerstone will soon launch a free ‘climate glossary’ to help legal professionals understand key climate-related concepts. 

Climate change is impacting what is expected of a competent lawyer

Nina Pindham observed that what is required to fulfil lawyers’ professional duty to provide competent legal advice evolves as circumstances change, including as knowledge about risks associated with the climate crisis become more apparent.  

‘The standard of competence by which professionals are judged to be reasonable evolves as knowledge evolves. And the knowledge is certainly there now to arguably make the case that lawyers have a duty to take account of climate risk when advising.’

Pindham detailed the various types of climate-related risks – physical, transition and litigation (or liability) risks – and important implications for litigation risk of corporations flowing from the recent Luciano Lliuya v RWE AG decision in Germany. 

‘As lawyers we aim for not just the reasonable standard – we aim for an excellent standard. It’s in our client’s best interests that we are aware of reality and advise in the context of that reality so far as relevant to the legal advice which we have been asked to provide.’

Pindham warned that lawyers should also be wary of potential litigation risks to themselves, amid growing scrutiny of the roles of lawyers and professional service providers in the transition (it is worth noting that a new Grantham Research Institute global climate litigation trends report suggests that 2025 could see more litigation against professional service providers). 

Climate regulations challenge lawyers to look beyond their national jurisdictions 

Letícia Campos Mello underlined the shifting realities of legal practice in Brazil in response to climate and sustainability regulations with extra-territorial effect, such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive: 

‘As a lawyer, you can no longer only look at national laws. You must consider how EU supply chain regulations will impact our companies in Brazil.’

Mello emphasised that climate issues are no longer the exclusive domain of environmental lawyers, and the need to diversify conversations around climate change, and the OAB’s pioneering work to issue a recommendation urging its regional chapters to challenge laws that undermine efforts to reduce climate mitigation and adaptation efforts; and encouraging lawyers to inform their clients of the risks and legal responsibilities that may arise from actions or omissions that contribute negatively to the climate crisis where appropriate. 

Property lawyers are at the forefront of advising on climate-related legal risks 

Alasdair Cameron highlighted the profound intersections between climate change and real estate and infrastructure legal practice, as climate change places an increasing number of properties at risk of flooding in the UK.

‘Around 115,000 properties in England and Wales have been built in flood zones […] A lawyer will have been involved in every single one of those developments or transactions in some way.’

Cameron highlighted the Law Society of England and Wales’s new climate change and property practice note (available in the IBA Climate Registry, along with the Law Society’s 2023 general guidance on climate change for solicitors), designed to help solicitors to address climate risks relevant to property transactions. The note outlines relevant physical, transition and liability risks, and guides lawyers on how to advise on the legal implications of potential climate-related liability or legal risks in a particular transaction. The guidance also warns solicitors that advising on physical risks may not be covered by professional indemnity insurance.

Cameron highlighted that as the impacts of climate change intensify, clients will increasingly need to be informed by their lawyers about climate risks in property transactions: 

‘Getting on top of your understanding of these risks early is going to put you in a better position to advise on these transactions in future.’

Practical tools abound for climate-aligned lawyering for lawyers and law firms 

Lara Douvartzidis outlined the range of tools that the NZLA and others have developed to help legal professionals navigate these intersections, including the Framework for Net Zero Alignment, which provides a practical roadmap for commercial law firms to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions, manage firm climate-related risks and unlock opportunities to facilitate the global transition to net zero; the Law and Climate Atlas, which maps intersections between climate change and different fields of law; the NZLA’s Explainer on Carbon Markets and the Paris Agreement; the Climate Change Legal Knowledge Hub and more (see a list of other NZLA resources here). 

‘If you are a lawyer who would love to see your firm do more […] or you don’t know where to start, you can start with us.

Douvartzidis urged all lawyers to challenge themselves to consider how climate change intersects with their practice area:

‘Almost every legal problem has a climate dimension […] I challenge you to think about climate in everything that you do.’

The legal profession must support a just transition for all 

Participants highlighted that just as climate change disproportionately impacts vulnerable or marginalised communities, so too can some of the solutions introduced to address it. 

This challenges lawyers not to think about climate-risks in a narrow way, but instead to consider how they link with other aspects including human rights and nature. It is only by understanding and engaging with these complexities that lawyers can support legal solutions to climate change that are truly just for all members of the community. 

The convening organisations thank Cornerstone Barristers for generously hosting this event. 

To access similar events and resources, visit the IBA Climate page.