We are developing innovative digital pedagogical resources to support the mainstreaming of climate considerations in the core law school curriculum.

Becoming a Climate Conscious Lawyer: Climate Change and the Australian Legal System

Edited by Julia Dehm, Nicole Graham and Zoe Nay (La Trobe eBureau, 2024)

As the world grapples with the escalating challenges of climate change, the legal profession finds itself at a crossroads. Becoming a Climate Conscious Lawyer: Climate and the Australian Legal System 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. 

This valuable new resource supports 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 delivers a transformative approach to legal education: equipping law students to become climate-conscious professionals with the confidence and competency to deliver legal solutions to a diverse range of clients, and promote climate justice across diverse communities.

Tranche 1 and 2 includes the following chapters:

• Legal Education in a Changing Climate: Julia Dehm, Nicole Graham and Zoe Nay
• Climate Change and Tort Law: Joanna Kyriakais
• Climate Change and Criminal Law: Steven Tudor and Nicole Rogers
• Climate Change and Administrative Law: Anna Huggins and Ellen Hawkins
• Civil Procedure and Climate Litigation: Asha Keaney
• The Legal Profession and Climate Change: Vivien Holmes and Julian Webb
• Legal Theory and Climate Consciousness: Kathleen Birrell and Margaret Davies
• International Law and Climate Change: Tim Stephens
• Climate-Related Greenwashing and Australian Consumer Law: Christine Parker and Hope Johnson
• Public Interest Litigation for a Warming Planet: Brian Preston

Additional chapters will be published in 2025 including: Indigenous Peoples and the Law, Public Law, Constitutional Law, Company Law, Property Law, Equity and Trusts, Evidence Law, Contract Law, Human Rights Law, Labour Law, Health Law, Intellectual Property and Technology Law, Clinical Legal Education, Tax Law, Strata Title; Migration and Refugee Law.

Becoming a Climate Conscious Lawyer: Educators’ Companion

Edited by Julia Dehm, Kate Galloway, Nicole Graham and Zoe Nay (La Trobe eBureau, forthcoming)

Becoming a Climate Conscious Lawyer: Educators’ Companion is an essential resource for law teachers and subject coordinators. This companion volume offers innovative curriculum design, pedagogies, and classroom activities to enhance law students’ learning experiences. It equips educators with tools to inspire teaching that develops critical climate conscious skills, attributes and competencies. With practical learning activities, case studies and assessment tasks, this guide ensures students master the knowledge needed to be strategic and successful legal professionals in a climate-transformed world.

We are inviting all Australian legal academics to contribute any teaching notes – including curricular strategies, teaching approaches, learning activities and assessment formats – that fit the book’s purpose and structure.

Contributions that are accepted will be included in full as an appendix to the volume, acknowledging authorship. The book will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence. Through a creative commons licence, the lead authors may draw on, adapt, or include excerpts from any contribution to illustrate practice within the text of the book. Any use of contributions will be attributed by link to the relevant contribution. All contributors will be named in the preface of the book. 

To contribute, please submit a teaching note here.