Leading Lawyers in the UK Refuse to Prosecute and Charge Climate Activists
Edited by Lianne Lee
Supporters of Climate Activism protesting against prison sentences for peaceful protestors. Photograph from the Guardian, taken by Daniel Liel
This week, over a hundred practising lawyers in the UK have signed a pledge to “withhold [their] services in respect of supporting new fossil fuel projects and action against climate protesters exercising their right of peaceful protest”, meaning that they will refuse to prosecute peaceful climate protestors, as well as refuse to advocate for companies developing fossil fuel projects.
By signing the pledge, practising barristers risk breaking the “Cab-Rank Rule”, which is a rule in English Law (and in some countries that have adopted English Law, including Hong Kong.) that requires barristers to accept any work in a field that they are competent in taking regardless of the length, difficulty, and nature of the case, and as barristers who have signed the pledge risk defying this, they may be subject to fines, losing promotions, and potentially even place their career in jeopardy.
Six of the signatories are members of the King’s Counsel.
The King’s Counsels (KC) (previously known as the Queen’s Counsel under the reign of Queen Elizabeth II)is a title held by barristers or solicitor advocates who have been recognized for their excellence in advocacy and has been bestowed annually since 1952, with 95 new barristers being appointed by King’s Charles III.
Jolyon Maugham, a practising barrister, among one of the six members of the King’s Counsel and Founder of The Good Law Project, a non-profit organization based in the United Kingdom, stated his opinion via an article in the Guardian, “Like big tobacco, the fossil fuel industry has known for decades what its activities mean. They mean the loss of human life and property – which the civil law should prevent but does not.”
“The scientific evidence is that global heating, the natural and inevitable consequence of its actions, will cause the deaths of huge numbers of people. Criminal law should punish this but it does not. Nor does the law recognise a crime of ecocide to deter the destruction of the planet. The law works for the fossil fuel industry – but it does not work for us.”
Links:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65067321
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cab-rank_rule
https://kcappointments.org/2022-competition/
https://goodlawproject.org/the-daily-mail-dont-like-it-when-we-stand-up-for-our-planet/
