We are excited to share the publication of a new open access book, Becoming a Climate Conscious Lawyer: Climate Change and the Australian Legal System, edited by Julia Dehm (La Trobe Law School, La Trobe University), Nicole Graham (The University of Sydney Law School), and Zoe Nay (Melbourne Law School), and published by La Trobe University eBureau.
The book is available through the La Trobe eBureau website here.
As the world grapples with the escalating challenges of climate change, the legal profession finds itself at a cross roads. This book provides an original, innovative, and accessible analysis of the impact of climate change on legal doctrines and principles. It offers an overview of cutting-edge developments and how the transition to a low-carbon society is reshaping a wide range of laws, from corporate to criminal law, and beyond. It aims to support legal professionals, law students, and legal educators to understand current legal challenges – providing the know-how to strategically navigate, and positively influence, the development of law to respond to a climate changed world.
The book will include 24 confirmed chapters, by 41 authors from 14 law schools across Australia as well as practitioners at the Environmental Defenders Office, and the Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court of NSW. The chapters will address all compulsory law subjects, as well as numerous popular electives.
The book will be published in three tranches. The first tranche is now published and includes the following chapters:
➡ Chapter 1: Legal Education in a Changing Climate: Julia Dehm, Nicole Graham, and Zoe Nay
➡ Chapter 2: Climate Change and Administrative Law: Anna Huggins and Ellen Hawkins
➡ Chapter 3: Climate Change and Criminal Law: Steven Tudor and Nicole Rogers
It also includes a foreword to the book from the Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court of NSW, Justice Brian Preston.
The second tranche will be published in February 2025 and will include: Indigenous People and the Law; Property Law; Torts Law; Equity and Trusts; Ethics and Professional Responsibilities; Company Law; Public Law; Evidence Law; Civil Procedure; Constitutional Law; Contract Law.
The third tranche will be published in April 2025 and will include: Human Rights Law; Migration and Refugee Law; Labour Law; Health Law; Intellectual Property and Technology Law; Consumer Law; International law; Clinical Legal Education; Legal Theory; Tax Law; Strategic Litigation.
For more information about the book and resources about our broader work to mainstream climate change in legal education please see our website (https://climateconsciouslawyers.com/).
We believe this book will be a valuable resource for law schools across Australia. We invite you to share the book at your institutions.