The Law Society has prepared practitioner guidance which explores the interaction between climate change legal risks and solicitors’ professional duties.

Read our Practitioner Guidance:

• Climate Change Practitioner Guidance - this explores how a solicitor’s professional duty of care to advise, warn and disclose when providing legal advice applies in the context of climate change legal risks. 
• Annexure B: Climate Change Guidance: Advising on Climate Risk

Background

The Law Council of Australia has stated that lawyers should be aware that advice regarding a legal problem should be provided in a manner that meaningfully addresses any identified climate change issues and related consequences, including possible risks, liabilities and reputational damage which may flow from activity that has a negative impact on climate change. See the Law Council of Australia Climate Change Policy.

In recently published guidance, the Law Society of England and Wales discusses the impact of climate change legal risks on solicitors’ professional duties and examines relevant factors including the duty of care, duty to warn, duty to disclose and duty to uphold service and competence levels. See: Practitioner Guidance by the Law Society of England and Wales.

The applicability of this professional duty of care to advise, warn and disclose climate risk while providing legal advice is set to become increasingly relevant and enforceable with increasing awareness and knowledge of climate risk.