ClientEarth

Climate Change

ClientEarth

Elspeth Jones

Interim Deputy Chief Executive at ClientEarth

Elspeth Jones

Elspeth is a barrister qualified in England and Wales and began her legal career at the commercial bar in London, specialising in commercial contracts, shipping, insurance and construction, regularly appearing in court.

She joined ClientEarth in 2014 to develop its strategic litigation programme which uses litigation to put pressure on governments and business to accelerate the transition to a low carbon future. ClientEarth’s litigation work includes take cases to court to challenge permits for coal power plants, holding governments to account for illegal levels of air pollution and forcing companies to be transparent about their impact on the environment.

Earlier this year Elspeth became Interim Deputy Chief Executive. Her role includes working closely with CEO James Thornton, the Board of Trustees, and senior leadership to set organisational strategy, driving ClientEarth forwards to continue to tackle the twin climate and nature crises.

Prior to her current role at ClientEarth, Elspeth worked as the Executive Director of the climate change and tropical forests charity Size of Wales, and also spent four years as a trustee and then Vice-Chair of the Sumatran Orangutan Society. Her experience of helping to run non-profits and her unwavering commitment to promoting environmentalism using legal expertise is why she is a global leader in her field.

Elspeth is excited about the future for ClientEarth, specifically at the potential for the organisation to bring together unique combinations of law to find powerful new ways to tackle climate change. ClientEarth do not just use traditional environmental laws – they have lawyers who are creative experts in many different fields of law – including corporate law and public finance rules, who work on environmental cases all over the world.

Her vision as Interim Deputy Chief Executive is for these supersharp minds to come together to focus on high leverage issues that will help to trigger transformative impact for our planet.

In her own words: “I am passionate about using the law to tackle global environmental challenges. I love working at ClientEarth – my job gives me the opportunity to work with an incredible team to help bring about positive systemic change for a healthy planet and thriving, inclusive society.”

From starting her legal career straight after university to now helping run a global legal environmental charity, Elspeth is keen to inspire the next generation of environmental lawyers who will continue the work and legacy of ClientEarth.

Elspeth’s advice to young lawyers is to find your passion and follow it: “Shifting the focus of my legal career to be purpose driven – bringing everything I knew to try to make a change in the world that I’m really passionate about – was undoubtedly the best decision I ever made. I took a leap into the unknown when I left my more traditional role at the bar, but I have never looked back.” ■

Thanks to ClientEarth for permission to use these photos.

April Williamson

Lawyer at ClientEarth

April Williamson

April Williamson is a lawyer working at ClientEarth in the Climate Accountability team.

April’s work focuses on corporate and government accountability in respect of climate issues. She has been developing legal intervention strategies that incorporate company & financial law, regulatory complaints, shareholder interventions, human rights interventions and government engagement to ensure that appropriate regulations are in place to protect the planet.

Most recently, April has been working extensively on a project concerning shareholder rights in Europe in relation to climate issues, and has been supporting human rights interventions for climate-impacted and vulnerable communities.

The 2015 Paris Agreement was a landmark global response to combat climate change that commits countries to pursue efforts to keep global heating to “well below” 2 o C. Six years on, as the climate emergency has intensified, the need for governments to not only uphold these commitments, but to strengthen their ambition, has never been more urgent. April and her team ensure climate action is not just said, but done.

The most effective way of doing this is to hold governments and companies to account. April has been a part of putting this into practice and so far has helped engage 100 councils in England regarding the need for their new planning policies to support delivery of the UK’s net zero target. She also worked to launch a campaign against BP for greenwashing consumers with green ad campaigns. She has recently been supporting a human rights complaint brought by landslide victims in Uganda against their government for its failure to act on known landslide risks and implement effective disaster risk management mechanisms.

In her own words: “State and corporate behaviour must change in order to create a safe low carbon future and it is a privilege to work for ClientEarth, where the protection of the environment using the power of law is the driving force behind the organisation.”

Prior to working at ClientEarth, April trained at DLA Piper LLP and went on to work as an environmental associate at White & Case LLP. April also spent time in the chemicals division of the United Nations Environment Programme, with work focused on the implementation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

April’s advice to young aspiring lawyers who want to get into environmental practice is: “Young lawyers interested in the environmental law field should focus on getting as much experience as they can early in their career. Pro bono and volunteering opportunities are a fantastic way to build your skill set and explore how law is used to protect people and the planet. While it takes time to specialise, the journey is incredibly rewarding, as it provides opportunities to have a real-world positive impact for the environment and local communities.” ■

Jamie Sawyer

Lawyer at ClientEarth

Jamie Sawyer

Jamie Sawyer is a lawyer working at ClientEarth in the Climate Finance team.

Jamie’s work focuses on developing and implementing legal strategies to reduce the climate impact of and improving climate risk management in the banking sector.

Climate change is not just an environmental issue. The huge impact of climate change on the foundations of our economies makes it a financial risk too, and so to help combat climate change, the flow of money must stop going into the industries that exacerbate it. Jamie’s work helps compel banks to use their power as a force for good in the fight against climate change, and she uses corporate and financial laws to drive the sector’s transition to net zero.

Jamie also works on ClientEarth’s landmark legal action against the Belgian National Bank. The first piece of climate litigation against a central bank, it challenges on environmental and human rights grounds the implicit subsidy that European central banks provide to the most polluting companies by purchasing their bonds.

In her own words: “We urgently need to decarbonise our economies if we are to save the world from climate breakdown, and the financial sector has a huge part to play in making that happen. It is an honour to work at ClientEarth, using the law to help accelerate the transition to a net zero future.”

Prior to joining ClientEarth, Jamie worked in the financial litigation practice of Simmons & Simmons in London, with a focus on banking disputes and regulatory investigations. She has also previously volunteered with environmental law and advocacy groups in the UK and North America.

Jamie’s advice to young female lawyers who want to get into environmental practice is that all lawyers need to be climate lawyers and this is because climate change will affect everyone, including clients.

In her own words: “You will need to help your clients transition to net zero and help them navigate climate change-related risks will they face along the way. Take opportunities to learn how climate change intersects with the laws you work with and broaden your experience by using your valuable skills pro bono to make a difference.” ■

Katie Nield

Lawyer and Clean Air Lead for UK and Western Europe at ClientEarth

Katie Nield

Katie Nield is an environmental lawyer who has worked in the UK Clean Air team at ClientEarth since 2018 and now leads ClientEarth’s clean air work in the UK and Western Europe.

Katie’s work currently focuses on promoting compliance with legal air quality and emission standards in those regions. Illegal and harmful levels of air pollution across Europe are damaging people’s health, reducing their quality of life and cutting lives short. According to the World Health Organization, 90% of people around the world breathe polluted air.

Katie is among those pushing for more ambitious polices and laws that better protect people’s health, make air pollution a priority for decision-makers, and support people and businesses to shift to cleaner alternatives. Katie’s team leads the Healthy Air Campaign, which is a growing coalition of leading health, transport and environmental experts advocating for cleaner air so that generations to come do not suffer.

Prior to joining ClientEarth Katie practiced as a planning and environmental lawyer at the international law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner (now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner). She came over into the charity sector as she believed it was the most rewarding way to drive positive and long-term change.

In her own words: “ClientEarth is unique in its commitment to instigating change in this way in order to protect the health of people and the environment. I am extremely lucky to have the opportunity to be a part of that, and to work alongside a team of such talented and diverse individuals.”

Katie’s advice to aspiring young lawyers wanting to enter the environmental field is: “Being an environmental lawyer is difficult to define. There are so many different areas of legal practice that have a role to play in tackling the urgent environmental problems that face us today – development control, finance, pensions, human rights. The environment should factor into all legal practice, in some way or another. If you are really interested in using the law to benefit the environment, then to go in to your career with an open mind and a willingness to be creative. Areas of practice that might not seem very “environmental” at all, are in fact critical to providing the solutions that are necessary to turn things around.” ■

Tatiana Lujan

Lawyer – Plastics Lead at ClientEarth

Tatiana Lujan

Tatiana Luján is a Colombian qualified environmental lawyer who oversees ClientEarth’s Plastics work.

Joining ClientEarth in 2018, Tatiana started out in the Wildlife Conservation team, working on protecting species that are integral to the functioning of our planet. Tatiana now leads the Plastics team, using the power of the law to push for an end to plastic pollution. Known as one of most highly carbon-intensive industries, the production of plastics releases climate-harming greenhouse gases. Plastics, especially single-use, create huge amounts of waste. They are also made of chemical substances that are potentially dangerous to health for people and wildlife.

Tatiana leads a team of lawyers who consistently push for new laws that limit the unnecessary use of single-use plastics, advocate for the increase of transparency in plastic supply chains and urge to make plastic producers responsible for the environmental costs of dealing with plastic waste.

So far, Tatiana has helped achieve six new EU laws that have been brought into force to make it harder for companies to produce plastic. Tatiana has also worked with 13 other organisations to block the permit for the first stage of the expansion of petrochemical giant Ineos’s plastics plant in the Port of Antwerp, Belgium. Tatiana and ClientEarth’s partners will continue to challenge the project if and when a new permit is approved to stop unnecessary plastic from flooding the market.

In her own words: “Plastic has polluted every corner of our planet, from the deepest ocean to the Arctic tundra. This pollution worsens climate change and harms wildlife, human health and local economies. That’s why we are using the power of the law to close the tap of needless plastics.”

Before moving to London, Tatiana worked for the chambers of Julio Enrique González Villa, one of Colombia’s most renowned environmental lawyers, on several ground-breaking cases concerning environmental issues.

She added: “Being part of ClientEarth is a great opportunity to use my legal training towards making the world a better place for this generation and many to come.”

Tatiana’s advice to aspiring young lawyers wanting to enter the environmental field is: “Be a voracious consumer of non-legal information. The more you know about the world, the better you will be able to identify the levers that need to be pushed to achieve the system change required to protect the planet.”

For Tatiana, all law is environmental law because the activities that cause the most pollution are regulated by laws, contracts and policies that were decided without thinking of the environment. ■