Law Student Group Report Encourages Top Law Firms To Cut Ties With Fossil Fuel Industry
Several top US law firms are handling more deals and litigation for the fossil fuel industry despite growing concerns surrounding the climate crisis. This is according to a law student group that aims to call out law firms for their work on behalf of environmentally damaging companies.
The 2021 scorecard report from Law Students for Climate Accountability gave out more failing grades to Vault Law 100 firms than it did in 2020. The group condemned 36 top law firms based on the litigation, transactions, and lobbying they handled for fossil fuel companies from 2016 and 2020. In their last report, the student group gave failing grades to 26 law firms for their fossil fuel-related work between 2015 and 2019.
In a statement, UC Davis School of Law student Michaela Anang said: “Communities most affected by climate catastrophe have made it clear that critical consciousness and action for environmental justice are imperative and past due.” Anang hopes that the report will encourage law students and professionals to “challenge the continuing complicity of the legal field, and commit ourselves to do better.”
As part of its scorecard report, Law Students for Climate Accountability invites and encourages top law firms to pledge to no longer take on any work that supports the fossil fuel industry and to phase out all current fossil fuel work by 2025. The report also asks law students to pledge not to work for poor-scoring firms if their personal and financial circumstances allow it.
