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Flora Curtis, barrister and member of the UK \\u201cLegal Voices for the Future\\u201d initiative.\\xa0 Camila Bustos, Assistant Professor of Law at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law, Pace University (NY), and co-founder of the US body \\u201cLaw Students for Climate Accountability\\u201d.\\xa0 \\xa0

In this special episode we are joined by two guests.\\xa0 Flora Curtis, a London-based barrister specialising in environmental law, and a member of \\u201cLegal Voices for the Future\\u201d (LVF), a learning forum acting as a voice for positive change about climate-related issues for the next generation of lawyers.\\xa0 Professor Camila Bustos teaches on environment and climate justice and co-founded the \\u201cLaw Students for Climate Accountability\\u201d initiative in the US to highlight the role lawyers can play on key environmental issues.
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In this special episode we are joined by two guests. Flora Curtis, a London-based barrister specialising in environmental law, and a member of \\u201cLegal Voices for the Future\\u201d (LVF), a learning forum acting as a voice for positive change about climate-related issues for the next generation of lawyers.\\xa0 Professor Camila Bustos teaches on environment and climate justice and co-founded the \\u201cLaw Students for Climate Accountability\\u201d (LSCA) initiative in the US to highlight the role lawyers can play on key environmental issues.\\xa0

Flora talks about how a barrister\\u2019s work can focus on different aspects of environmental law, and the actual role a barrister can play in cases \\u2013 including understanding important technical areas of environmental law, and discussing scientific findings with expert witnesses.\\xa0 The challenge of the \\u201ccab rank\\u201d rule is considered, where barristers are under an obligation to offer representation to clients to enable access to justice, where climate-related ethical issues may arise from representing certain individuals or organisations.\\xa0 Flora talks about the skills you use in such work, the importance of good research and questioning skills, and the need to have the confidence to challenge senior experts.\\xa0 The work of LVF in running education sessions is highlighted, with topics ranging from climate litigation to \\u201cgreenwashing\\u201d by corporations.

Camila speaks about what led her to be one of the co-founders at Yale Law School of the LSCA initiative, now active across the whole US.\\xa0 The disconnect between the rhetoric of law firms and their actions is explored, including how the group has put together an annual \\u201cScorecard\\u201d to measure the performance of different law firms on climate-related issues \\u2013 and also invites students, law firms and their clients to make a pledge on how they are contributing positively on climate-related issues.\\xa0

Camila discusses the purpose of publishing this information, including the goal of empowering students to consider for which organisations they may like to work, and encourages students to remember what brought them to law in the first place as a field of study \\u2013 remembering to keep their \\u201cWhy?\\u201d and purpose front of mind as they build their careers.\\xa0

Actions and resources for listeners:\\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0\\xa0
Read the UK \\u201cCarbon Circle\\u201d report from the Law Students for Climate Accountability \\u2013 what does this tell you about the Legal Industry\\u2019s ties to the Fossil Fuel Industry?
Also look at the organisation\\u2019s latest \\u201cscorecard\\u201d for how major law firms rank in their activities related to fossil fuels: https://www.ls4ca.org/scorecard.\\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0
Follow the \\u201cLegal Voices for the Future\\u201d LinkedIn page to learn about their work, and recent knowledge sessions they have run. \\xa0

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