Roundtable: Climate Change Litigation in Practice
Distinguished Professor Lesley Hughes
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Integrity & Development), Macquarie University; Councilor with the Climate Council of Australia and former Federal Climate Commissioner
Lesley Hughes is Distinguished Professor of Biology and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Integrity & Development) at Macquarie University.
Her principal research interest has been the impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems and the implications for conservation. She is a former Lead Author in the IPCC’s 4th and 5th Assessment Report, a former federal Climate Commissioner and now a Councillor with the Climate Council of Australia.
She is also a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a Director of WWF-Australia and climate change science advisor for Pollination.
Ms Ellie Mulholland
Director, Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative; Senior Associate, MinterEllison; Management team, Oxford Sustainable Law Programme
Director, Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative; Senior Associate, MinterEllison; Management team, Oxford Sustainable Law Programme
Ellie Mulholland is Director of the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI), where she leads a collaboration between partner organisations across the globe, including Oxford University, environmental law charity ClientEarth and commercial law firm MinterEllison.
Since its launch by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales in 2015, the CCLI has been at the forefront of legal research and stakeholder engagement on the intersection of nature-related financial risk and existing companies and securities laws. As an Australian-qualified lawyer, Ellie is a Senior Associate at Asia Pacific commercial law firm MinterEllison, where she advises government entities and corporations across a diverse range of sectors on climate change liability risk management, governance, and disclosure.
Ellie is on the Steering Committee of The Chancery Lane Project, a global initiative to re-wire contracts and laws for climate action, and the management team for the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme.
Mr David Barnden
Principal Lawyer, Equity Generation Lawyers, and Adjunct Fellow, Faculty of Business, Law and Arts, Southern Cross University
David represents Katta O’Donnell in a unique Federal Court of Australia claim about climate change risks to sovereign bonds. He also represents eight students from around Australia bringing a class action against the Federal Environment Minister to protect young people from the climate change impacts of the proposed Vickery Extension Coal Project.
Prior to establishing Equity Generation Lawyers in 2019 David was a principal lawyer at Environmental Justice Australia where he represented Guy and Kim Abrahams in Federal Court proceedings against CBA, Australia’s largest bank, for failing to disclose climate change risks to investors.
David is experienced in litigating complex class actions. At Maurice Blackburn he represented group members in proceedings against Gunns, Nufarm, Treasury Wine Estates and Cash Converters International.
He holds degrees in Law and Applied Science (Coastal Management)
Ms Brynn O’Brien
Executive Director
Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility
Brynn is ACCR's Executive Director.
Brynn has fifteen years’ experience as a lawyer and strategist. Prior to joining ACCR in January 2017, she worked as a consultant and advisor on business and human rights projects and practised as a corporations and international lawyer.
Brynn is an expert in corporate governance, active ownership, environmental, social and governance (ESG) materiality and international law.
Brynn has degrees in Medical Science and Law from the University of Technology
Sydney and a Master of Laws from Columbia University. She is a director of
Diplomacy Training Program Ltd, an independent, Australian NGO committed to
advancing human rights and empowering civil society in the Asia Pacific region.
Mr Martijn Wilder AM
Founding Partner, Pollination; President of WWF- Australia; Chair of NSW Climate Change Council
Martijn is a Founding Partner of Pollination and a leading expert in climate law, policy and finance and carbon transactions and investments.
Martijn was head of Baker & McKenzie’s global climate law and finance practice and has played a key role with Australia’s clean energy finance institutions. He has been Chair of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and a former founding Director of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. He helped establish and later Chair the Federal Government’s Low Carbon Australia finance body.
He is currently President of WWF-Australia and Chair of NSW Climate Change Council. He is Adjunct Professor of International Climate Change Law at Australian National University, and a Director of the Climate Council. Martijn was a Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholar and awarded an Australian Honour (AM) for his contribution to climate change law and the environment, and was winner of the 2018 Financial Times Asia Pacific Legal Innovator of the Year.
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