Environmental law is an up-and-coming area of law in an age of concern over the ‘footprint’ humans are leaving on our planet. It covers diverse areas such as climate control, sources of energy, pollution and Corporate Social Responsibility.
As an environmental lawyer, most opportunities are in the corporate area of advising large organisations and businesses as to their risks, responsibilities, regulatory concerns, damage limitation and defending them if litigation ensues. Beyond the corporate world, a very limited (but popular) number of opportunities exist in the area of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as The Friends of the Earth.
Alternatively, there are further opportunities in both Government (for example, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs known as DEFRA), the regulatory bodies such as the Environment Agency and in Local Government.
Depending on your area, clients can vary from large corporate entities to individuals, charities to government, and the areas of law involved can be just as varied. They can include diverse areas such as corporate, criminal, finance and property, so look at those practice areas as well. With many directives issuing from Brussels, EU law has a huge impact on this area.
What does an environmental lawyer do?
When acting for corporate clients, environmental lawyers give advice on the possible environmental consequences of pursuing particular corporate activities. These results could include health and safety implications or increased pollution and carbon emissions for example.
Litigation cases can be very high profile, involve enormous sums of money and may have devastating ramifications for a client, as cases may be pursued through both the criminal and civil courts.
Working for the government sees lawyers advising and drafting legislation and litigation. Whilst working with local government sees lawyers acting for a particular client in an advisory, regulator and litigious capacity.
Those who work for the Environmental Agency in the regulatory field, are responsible for drafting legislation, regulation and prosecution.
What skills are required?
This complex, fast-changing area of the law requires excellent academic results and a genuine interest in the area in order to keep up with the demands of the legislation. Due to this practice area being relatively new, legal precedent may be lacking so lawyers need to be comfortable making their own judgement calls.
A background in science or data analysis could be beneficial as there is large amounts of complex information to deal with. In order to properly tailor advice, a high degree of pragmatism and commercial awareness is required to understand a client’s business.