The Impact of Climate Change on Solicitors - New Law Society Guidance Explored

Introduction

In April 2023 the Law Society issued its guidance on the impact of climate change on solicitors. In this webinar we will explore the guidance itself and what this means for you and your practice.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• Understanding and reducing your client’s and your firm’s climate impact and addressing the climate impact of your client work to include greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, advised emissions, greenwashing and the Green Claims Code
• Climate change risks and climate legal risks - physical risks, transition risks, and liability risks
• The impact of climate change legal risks on solicitors’ professional duties - duty of care, duty to warn, duty to disclose, duty to uphold service and competence levels and actions to take where there are gaps in your competence
• SRA principles in the context of climate change
• The impact of climate change on solicitors practice - how to present to prospective clients and the public, how to approach a new instruction, how to decide whether or not to advise, the scope of the retainer, impact on professional indemnity insurance and in-house lawyers (including public sector and academia)
• Examples of risks and their impact and the Law Society's checklist for climate-conscious legal practice

This webinar was recorded on 30th August 2023