Yesterday, the newly formed group Law Students for Climate Accountability released a report on how much the top 100 law firms contribute to climate change, and found the law firms — shocker! — worked far more for fossil fuel companies than they do the clean energy industry or environmentalists. These firms worked on 286 cases that would exacerbate climate change, compared to just 27 that would address it, a tenfold difference. They also lobbied five times more for fossil fuel companies than renewables.
There was a pretty wide disparity between the best and worst actors. Paul, Weiss worked on as many anti-climate cases as 62 of the other firms combined and Hogan Lovells lobbied more for the fossil fuel industry than 92 of the other top 100 firms combined (though Akin Gump is right behind them, and Squire Patton Boggs not trailing too far in third.)
Only 4 of the 100 firms got an A grade, while 14 got a B, 15 a C, 41 a D and 26 an F. Overall, “law firms constitute an indispensable pillar of support for the fossil fuel industry,” the report says, writing contracts for new infrastructure and handling financial transactions, lobbying public officials on regulations, getting tax breaks, and of course, serving to defend the industry in accountability lawsuits.
And while yes, every person accused of a crime has a right to an attorney, these companies are far from indigent defendants. The report addresses the issue in a section on the law, ethics and climate, writing that “the aims of this report are not in conflict with the concept of right to counsel.” Instead, “while millions of Americans are forced to navigate the courts without a lawyer, law firms are providing yet more legal firepower to multi-billion dollar corporations with their own legal departments. In doing so, they further tip the playing field toward high-paying climate destroyers and away from a livable future.”
After all, these are all the top firms, it’s not like they’re struggling for money and don’t have a choice about who they serve. And criticism is certainly warranted where, as the report describes, firms “claim to support racial justice, but at the same time they represent the fossil fuel industry that pollutes communities of color and drives a climate crisis that disproportionately impacts communities of color.”
That’s why one of the aims of this student-led organization is to make it clear to these firms that this makes them unappealing workplaces, and puts the lie to these firm’s claimed commitments to equity and social responsibility. Co-founder of the group Camila Bustos, a student at Yale Law, told Law.com that “many of the prestigious law firms that recruit at law schools across the country are not the socially responsible actors they present themselves to be,” and instead of living up to their professed ideals, “they are helping destroy our generation’s chance at a livable future.”
So sure, everyone deserves a defense. But if your firm is looking to recruit the best new lawyers by claiming to be woke, you should think about who you’re asking those young guns to represent. And making sure clients aren’t actively trying to destroy the planet’s ability to sustain life is an easy test; a pretty low bar (exam) to clear…
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