Charter Workstreams
Education
& upskilling
This workstream has focused initially on mapping and collating best-practice climate training for the legal industry. The results can be found in the Climate Change Legal Knowledge Hub – a platform designed in response to the sector’s calls for more integrated climate education, supporting them to remain professionally relevant, ethically sound, and strategically equipped in a warming world.
Firms involved in this workstream are: Clyde & Co (chair), Ashurst, Bates Wells, Charles Russell Speechlys, DWF, Gowling WLG, Pinsent Masons, Simmons & Simmons and Winston Taylor (formerly Taylor Wessing).
Workstream highlight:
The Climate Change Legal Knowledge Hub
Climate education is crucial for law firms, who play a central role in addressing climate change and climate risk through their work at the intersection of law, policy and regulation and the advice that they give clients. To bridge the gap between current competencies and complex challenges, The Climate Change Legal Knowledge Hub has been developed by members of Legal Charter 1.5, in partnership with the LSA and NZLA. The platform collates resources covering a wide range of topics, including climate change science, policy approaches, legal issues, biodiversity and sustainable business practices.
Our approach is rooted in practical, real-world applications, ensuring that everyone can gain valuable insights and skills that can be immediately applied to their careers in the legal profession. This initiative not only enhances individual expertise but also contributes to creating a more resilient and informed legal community.
This mapping exercise has identified where the knowledge gaps are and the group is now focusing on developing resources to plug these gaps working with educational partners including the University of Oxford, and The Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London.
“As Chair of the Education & Upskilling workstream for Legal Charter 1.5, I am both energised and enthused by how the various legal sector industry bodies have come together and collaborated to create the first open-source, Climate Change Legal Knowledge Hub, and made it available to all of our colleagues operating across the entire legal sector, be it individual, in house, in practice or called to the bar.
Without the unwavering support of the members of Legal Charter 1.5, the LSA and the NZLA, coupled with content provided by Practical Law and UKELA, this work would have been impossible. There is undoubtedly more we can do to improve and extend the Climate Change Knowledge Hub as is and we ask you all for feedback on what works well, what not so well and what gaps you would like the next iteration to fill.”
Paddy Linighan, Chief Sustainability Officer, Clyde & Co and Chair of Legal Charter 1.5’s Education & Upskilling workstream
