Leading domestic and international experts in environmental law will address key issues affecting climate and environmental justice, including:

• the Planning and Development Bill 2023

• biodiversity and the climate crisis

• ethics and climate conscious lawyering, and

• climate litigation. 

Registration is required and attendees will receive 3 General CPD points by group study.

• View the conference brochure
• View the conference programme
• RSVP to attend the conference

Meet the speakers

Expert speakers include:

• President Matej Accetto, President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia (Keynote Speaker): Dr M D Accetto lectures at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana and the Católica University in Lisbon and has participated in numerous national and international research projects on fundamental rights, (constitutional) adjudication, and citizenship.

• Rachel Minch SC, Partner at Philip Lee LLP, Chair of Law Society Environmental and Planning Law Committee: Rachel Minch SC is a partner in the Environment and Planning Group and an experienced litigator with particular expertise in planning, environmental and public law and the judicial review of administrative decisions.

• Brian MacSharry, Head of Group of Biodiversity at the European Environment Agency, Copenhagen: With over two decades of experience, Brian has dedicated his career to conservation efforts, working at various levels from the Irish Government to international platforms.

• Danielle Conaghan, Partner and Head of the Environment and Planning Group, Arthur Cox: Danielle has specialist expertise in advising on matters such as decision-making processes from pre-consultation and application stages through to oral hearing, construction and operational stages and securing and assessing the risk of providing project-financing.

• Gerry Liston, Senior Lawyer, Global Legal Action Network (GLAN): Gerry leads GLAN’s work on climate change litigation which includes the ‘Youth4ClimateJustice’ (a.k.a. Duarte Agostinho) climate case brought by six Portuguese young people against 33 States which was heard by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in September 2023.

• Catherine Higham, Grantham Research Institute, LSE: Catherine is a Policy Fellow who coordinates the Climate Change Laws of the World project, the most comprehensive global resource on climate legislation and policy and has spent many years working in the field of human rights.

• Andrew Jackson, Environmental and Planning Lawyer, UCD Sutherland School of Law: Andrew has been involved in public interest environmental and planning litigation for many years, including before the Irish, English and EU courts. He is also a consultant solicitor with O'Connell & Clarke and in this capacity acted for Friends of the Irish Environment before the High Court and Supreme Court in 'Climate Case Ireland'.

Panelists and Chair

• Justice Niamh Hyland (Chairperson): Ms. Justice Hyland was appointed as a judge of the High Court in December 2019 and subsequently as a Law Reform Commissioner in May 2021. She has practised in diverse areas of the law, including EU regulatory law, public procurement, competition law, constitutional law, administrative law, healthcare law and commercial law.

• Alasdair Cameron, Policy Adviser in Climate Change and Planning and Environmental Law, Law Society of England and Wales: Alasdair led the publication of guidance for solicitors in England and Wales as to how climate change impacts solicitor's ethics and professional duties. He is now working on guidance on how climate change impacts different practice areas of the law, including real estate transactions and commercial law.

Book your place

Registration for this important conference is now open with limited availability.

• RSVP for the conference

If you have any queries, please contact the Secretary of the Law Society Environmental and Planning Law Committee Clare Tarpey.