UKELA - UK Environmental Law Association

As 2024 nears its end, we've been looking back and celebrating the past year. We're delighted to bring you UKELA 2024 in numbers - our roundup of all the brilliant activities, events and experiences that this year has brought us. Read at https://lnkd.in/eXa3B-rh. Creating this review provides a moment of reflection and a collective sense of achievement. We never take for granted the continued support and encouragement from you, our members and supporters. Thank you! Please log in and visit the members' past event page at https://lnkd.in/ewwY2Gyx to catch up with our latest videos, including: 🔸Garner Lecture 2024 with Richard Macrory, CBE, Hon KC, speaking about his reflections on the environmental legal profession across his career, and direction on what is needed for the future. The Lecture took place on 14 November. 🔸Water Working Party: Separating environmental protection from economics - topical issues in water infrastructure.  The event took place on 12 November 2024. 🔸Climate change and energy working party: Advisory opinion requests on climate change. The event took place on 23 October 2024. 🔸Natural England's Enforcement position: a talk for members in advance of the upcoming public consultation on their revised strategy. The event took place on 27 November.  Please keep providing feedback so we know what works and how anything can be improved for 2025 at info@ukela.org. If you're not a member, please consider joining us; you can see all membership benefits listed on our membership page at https://lnkd.in/ecNP5y_i #UKELA #EnvironmentalLaw

We hope you have a relaxing festive break and wish you well for the year ahead. The UKELA office is closed from 1pm on Tuesday 24 December and will reopen on Thursday 2 January. The staff team at UKELA would like to wish everyone a relaxing and peaceful Christmas and New Year break. Thank you for your support and we look forward to being in touch in January. #UKELA #EnvironmentalLaw

Please join Junior UKELA for our first event of 2025 on Thursday 9 January (hybrid) at Landmark Chambers for a review of The Aarhus Convention, with speakers: 🔸Alex Shattock 🔸Jacqueline Lean 🔸James Maurici K.C. 🔸Nick Grant The event is part of Junior UKELA's 'The Basics Series', which aims to explain the fundamentals of environmental law to those in the early(ish) years of practice.   See below for details and booking link. 👇

On Friday (13 December 2024) No5 Chambers hosted the semi-finals and finals of the 2024 Environmental Law Moot Competitions. We had a record number of entries making selection of semi-finalists a hard task, so well done to all those who reached the finals stage of this year's competition. We were delighted to welcome a number of people to watch the finals, it was a close run contest and we all benefited from the judges interjections, and final judgement on the case. The finals saw the following winners emerge: 🔸Lord Slynn of Hadley (senior moot) winners - Matteusz Slowik and Oshotse Idaewor, LL.M. from The University of Law 🔸Dame Frances Patterson (junior moot) winners - Joshua Blackaby and Verner Paavola from The University of Law Congratulations to both teams. They win a trophy, cash prizes kindly donated by No5 Chambers and 3 months' subscription kindly donated by The ENDS Report. Our thanks to Odette Chalaby for setting the moot problem, No5 Barristers' Chambers for helping to run and host the event and our particular thanks to Mr Justice Dove for judging the finals and our panel of semi-final judges Howard Leithead (Moot Master), Odette Chalaby and Jessica Allen. #UKELA #EnvironmentalLaw #Moot

Monday (2 December) is the deadline to apply to be our next UKELA student adviser. If you're a UKELA student member who is looking for a CV enhancing opportunity to get involved in UKELA, please apply! Our incumbent Student Advisers, Rhys and Zia, are coming to the end of their two year term and we are looking for new volunteers to help ensure UKELA is as relevant and accessible to student members as possible.  Working together, the two Student Advisers will be responsible for:  🔸Regular Zoom meetings with the UKELA team 🔸Drafting student news page of elaw (distributed bimonthly to members) 🔸Researching, writing and coordinating contents for the termly Student Newsletter 🔸Managing student social media channels (Facebook Group, Instagram, WhatsApp) to promote UKELA activities and in particular student focused events and competitions 🔸Using the UKELA student networking Google group to communicate with wider student membership, as (4) above and responding to enquiries and seeking volunteers as appropriate 🔸Suggesting ways to improve and update the student section of the UKELA website 🔸Helping arrange and attend student careers events is possible Encourage student members to act as UKELA ambassadors in their universities spreading the word of FREE membership offer and hosting Garner watching hubs 🔸Assisting in maintaining database of academic institutions offering Environmental Law and Environmental Science courses to assist with membership recruitment and promotion of Student activities 🔸Working with the UKELA team to develop strategy to improve student membership retention on graduation. Visit our student homepage on our website to see our student activity here: https://lnkd.in/e5xeAF3a Please send your CV and one page covering letter to info@ukela.org by midday Monday 2 December. #UKELA #EnvironmentalLaw

Save the date! The wait is over. We can announce that the UKELA Annual Conference 2025 is taking place on 17 - 18 June online / 20 - 21 June - and will be in BRISTOL. We are very excited to share that our Conference will be held at the University of Bristol. This will be a hybrid event with both in-person and online attendance on 20 and 21 June. The fully online part of conference will take place on 17 and 18 June, and will showcase our working party sessions. Following the success of this year's conference, we will continue to create further networking opportunities, including our Next Gen social event for those arriving in Bristol on the Thursday evening and many more. The conference team headed by Simone Davidson of LexisNexis UK is pulling together an amazing programme. Programme and booking details coming soon. #UKELA2025 #EnvironmentalLaw

Thank you for all the brilliant feedback already recieved for this year’s Annual Garner Lecture that took place last night. Richard Macrory gave an excellent lecture with UKELA vice chair Nina Pindham as our chair - seen here with our executive director, Gareth de Graaff and UKELA chair Warren Percival. Thank you also to Ashurst for hosting us and looking after everyone so well. Whether you joined us in person in London, at our hubs in Bristol at Freeths with Richard Broadbent and Manchester at Addleshaw Goddard LLP with Charlotte Scrivens, or hybrid we hope you enjoyed the evening! #UKELA #EnvironmentalLaw

The deadline is fast approaching for this year's Environmental Moot competition. Skeleton arguments and completed entry forms must be with us by Monday 18 November. Entering the UKELA moots is a great opportunity for those interested in developing their advocacy skills. Participants do not have to be an environmental law expert to enter, but they do need to be an enthusiast for mooting! Prizes 🔸All applicants will be entitled to one year’s free UKELA membership;  🔸A trophy for each winning team;   🔸£150 from No5 Chambers for each winning team; and   🔸3 months free ENDS subscription for the four winners. The semi-finals and finals will be in-person at No5 Chambers on Friday 13 December 2024. We are thrilled to confirm that Mr Justice Dove has kindly agreed to judge the finals. Our thanks also to UKELA Trustee and No5 Chambers Barrister Odette Chalaby for setting the Moot problem, and Howard Leithead for acting as Moot Master. And thank you to our sponsors No5 Barristers' Chambers and The ENDS Report. For further details, visit our student area on the website at https://lnkd.in/eCTMinCp #UKELA #EnvironmentalLaw #Moot

If you're in the Bristol or Manchester area, make sure to book your ticket to see the live stream of this year's Garner Lecture in company on Thursday (14 November). Join Addleshaw Goddard LLP in their offices in Manchester, and Freeths in their offices in Bristol to enjoy this year's lecture by our distinguished speaker, Richard Macrory, CBE, Hon KC, presenting his talk 'Confessions of a Tunneller - Lawyers and the environment'. Both venues offer the chance to meet up with fellow UKELA members in your local area to hear the talk together. Richard is a UKELA patron and is well known to many UKELA members; he was also our very first chair. Richard is one of the leading environmental lawyers of his generation, and has had a significance influence of the development of British environmental law and policy. Richard promises to provide insights from his experiences, and will pose broader questions about the future of environmental law, including: 🔸We have now created a vast body of specialized laws, but are they providing the answers? 🔸Do we need to think about some fundamental principles of law to develop? 🔸And since enforcement is Richard's number one issue, he will address unfinished business on sanctions, and future challenges on enforcement. In person tickets for London are now sold out. We also offer an online ticket option. The lecture will be recorded and sent to all delegates. For details and to book, visit our website at https://lnkd.in/e4Q5pyJZ #UKELA #EnvironmentalLaw

If you're in the Bristol area on Wednesday (30 October), join UKELA South West for a meet up and quiz night! See details below, and book your spot here: https://lnkd.in/eCet_MWy