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Law graduate leading world-first cases on climate change risk
Bachelor of Laws, Class of 2012
Law graduate David Barnden has taken his Southern Cross University law degree and forged a stellar and highly influential legal career currently carrying two world-first cases in the Federal Court of Australia, on climate change risk.
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The most recent case filed in the Federal Court of Australia, is on behalf of a 23 year old student against the Commonwealth for failing to disclose climate risks to sovereign bond investors.
Another concerns a member suing the trustee of his $60 billion Australian superannuation fund in relation to climate risk and compliance. It could impact the US$33 trillion global asset pool for pension funds.
“The case is on track to set a precedent on climate risk for trustees who invest billions of other people’s money,” says David.
With substantial class action litigation experience, Mr Barnden is known as a specialist in complex, novel litigation and corporate investigations. He is the founder and principal lawyer of Equity Generation Lawyers, a firm specialising in finance and climate change issues.
Story by Kim King/SCU media.
Alumni in the spotlight – Cassandra Pickering
Bachelor of Laws (Honours), Class of 2019
During 2019, Bachelor of Laws (Honours) student Cassandra Pickering teamed up with Deputy Head of School (Teaching & Learning) Evgeny Guglyuvatyy and published a joint paper “Negative Impact of Land Clearing and Deforestation on the Great Barrier Reef, Assessing the Effectiveness of Queensland’s Vegetation Management Act 1999 (Qld)”.
Published in 2019 in Carbon and Climate Law Review journal, Lexxion, Berlin, the paper examines the recent amendments to the Vegetation Management Act 1999 (Qld) (VMA) and whether these amendments will interact with the Reef 2050 Plan effectively.
The effectiveness of the VMA is discussed to draw conclusions about potential reforms that should be considered to limit land clearing and deforestation in Australia thus minimising negative impact on the Great Barrier Reef.
