Be part of a new generation of law students
A new generation of law students takes on climate justice
by Angela Sherwood
Can law save the planet? This is a question that cuts to the heart of legal and ethical debates today. As climate breakdown accelerates, touching upon every facet of our lives and human rights, there is little doubt that law—whether through its potential or its limitations—will help determine our collective future.
Traditionally, legal education has given little thought to this question. Law students come to university to study subjects like contract law, criminal law, or land law without much interrogation of how legal principles relate to climate destruction and systems of power. In fact, few law degrees give students the space to ask highly relevant and pressing questions, such as: How can we hold those most responsible for climate harm to account? What does it mean to centre justice for those who lose their homes, lands, and communities to climate destruction? And how can lawyers work alongside social movements to disrupt impunity and demand real change?
For today’s law students, the stakes could not be higher. Climate change is not a niche issue, it is a systemic one. Every lawyer is bound to encounter the effects of climate change in some way, no matter what their focus. Yet, as groups like Law Students for Climate Accountability or Lawyers are Responsible often highlight, legal professionals can be responsible for enabling the very systems that undermine sustainability. From facilitating fossil fuel transactions to helping implement new fossil fuel projects—lawyers can be complicit in pushing us beyond the 1.5°C threshold—the line scientists warn we must not cross to avoid catastrophic climate impacts.
At the same time, lawyers and judges hold immense power in shaping how legal systems will react to those fighting for a liveable future. In a context where domestic laws increasingly criminalise peaceful protest, and courts narrow the defences available to climate defenders, the need for lawyers to rethink and challenge these systems has never been more urgent. Britain, as revealed in a new report last week, now ‘leads the world in cracking down on climate activism.’
At QMUL, we are helping law students tackle these issues head-on. Our new LLB in Law and Climate Justice goes beyond traditional legal education, aiming to equip law students with the skills to confront pressing climate-related issues, challenge entrenched systems of harm, and advocate for a more just and sustainable future. In a new podcast episode, we discuss how this new programme will empower students not just to practice law in any field, but to lead, innovate, and push the boundaries of the legal profession. Especially as the legal profession sharpens its focus on issues of climate change, this degree is for those students ready to think critically and build meaningful careers at the forefront of climate justice.