Environmental Law - The Future

An environmental lawyer works to represent clients in legal issues such as in clean technology, water law, climate change law and the management of land subject to native title and other public land. Other areas of focus include environmental rights, international environmental law, law of the sea and international resources law. Environmental lawyers also work in the areas of climate change, sustainability and renewable energies, a growing area of enterprise globally. Environment laws are a large and complex speciality within the practice of law. The successful environmental lawyer should be able to communicate effectively both orally and in written documents. The ability to persuade others to a specific point of view helps to win court cases, but the attorney also must be able to prepare and consolidate an abundance of details into an effective case. The purpose of an Environmental Lawyer is to work with environmental case law and legislation and to represent various environmental interests. Environmental laws regulate and define the activities of humans upon the geological and biological systems that are affected by contact. Issues such as ecology, sustainability, responsibility, and stewardship are often the cause of legal actions. Environmental lawyers can represent clients in environmental matters advocate for development in environmental policy and law as well as write academically on environmental law. Environmental lawyers work withing a branch of law called environmental case law and legislation or regulatory law. Capable of understanding highly technical material such as raw data, scientific literature and precedent cases, they use the information to interpret current legal situations that affect the environment in some manner. Environmental lawyers have a set of responsibilities which vary significantly from case to case, but the list here includes typical job duties that are expected : a. Analyse and interpret data obtained from literature reviews, case law, criminal, civil and regulatory research and sample findings. b. Interview scientists to interpret data throughout the court process, to testify, inform and give expert opinion. c. Assess damages from a particular event, suggest or assign punitive monetary values or remedial actions to various internal and external stakeholders. d. Use persuasion and carefully constructed logical arguments to convince jury and judge of legal culpability. e. Determine if there is sufficient evidence contrary to the environmental regulation in question in order to proceed with prosecution. f. Decide if prosecution of environmental offenders is in the public's best interest g. Participate in pre-trial negotiations and discovery sessions, often representing a corporation, government or other business entity h. Decide upon both parties' rights, obligations, and duties as they apply to environmental regulation. i. Explain and illustrate how the environmental event or trend in question might impact the earth or a specific region of earth, as well as human or animal populations. j. Counsel clients, their organisations about their rights under current regulation as well as their obligations k. Analyse and extrapolate from existing data, case laws, and precedents. l. Use model data to interpret information about current situations and potential resolutions. m. Communicate during court proceedings and with stakeholders on tightly focused environmental incidents or broad environmental trends. n. Act as both advisers and legal advocates in the protection the environmental and natural resources. o. Draft Correspondence , develop cases and present them at trial. These are just a short overview of the many responsibilities that an environmental lawyer is expected to handle . It is a burgeoning field with lots of potential which provides both monetary and social satisfaction for those involved in it. With climate change becoming a major global concern and all governments gearing up to deal with it, Environmental law for sure will become the norm of the law in the days to come.