This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced and self-motivated lawyer with corporate or financial  litigation experience to make a key contribution to the work of ClientEarth’s Accountable Corporations team. The team, which sits within the Financial & Economic System in Europe, uses a range of laws, including corporate and financial, environmental and human rights laws to influence private actors with the objective (among others) of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, reducing deforestation and biodiversity loss and otherwise supporting resilient ecosystems, healthy air and water, and societies that are just, fair and equitable. 

The Accountable Corporations team has particular expertise in using commercial, corporate and financial laws to drive greater integration of climate and other environment-related financial risks into the management decisions of companies and influential actors in the financial sector, in the best interests of those companies, their shareholders and employees, and the planet.  

We would like to invite you to a Q&A session where we will be taking about the role and where you can ask questions about it. We will be holding it at 3pm CSET/ 2pm UK Time on the 26th of June.

Please find the link here: Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

Meet your Manager

In this role, you will be managed by Johnny White. Johnny joined ClientEarth in 2020.  He lives in London with his family and children and enjoys cooking and running in his spare time. Before joining ClientEarth, he worked as a litigation and disputes lawyer at the international law firm Clifford Chance.   He works with the lawyers in the Accountable Corporations team to design and implement ambitious legal strategies focussed on systemic impact.

Main Duties

• Contributing to the strategic direction of work to hold companies to account in Europe and beyond and working with lawyers across the organisation in planning, developing and implementing strategy in line with ClientEarth’s global and regional priorities and ClientEarth’s decision-making procedures. 
• Contributing to the selection, development and management of litigation and other legal interventions and managing cases, including providing high quality legal input eg for Court and regulatory submissions and legal letters . 
• Legal research, analysis and preparation of internal briefings on a wide range of commercial, corporate and financial laws including related to sustainability, directors’ duties, corporate reporting, investor fiduciary duties and stewardship responsibilities, tort/duties of care and consumer protection and, where litigation is underway, dealing with disclosure, preparing witness statements and/evidentiary analysis, dealing with experts and instructing external counsel; 

See the job description (below) for a full list of duties for this role.

Role requirements

• Law degree or equivalent
• Relevant legal professional qualification
• Significant experience in managing litigation in a relevant corporate or financial services environment (claimant or defendant-side, private practice or in-house), with preference for experience working with corporate actors in the UK or EU
• A demonstrated interest and understanding of climate, toxics and/or nature/biodiversity related issues
• Knowledge of formal and informal relationships, working practices etc. which pertain to corporate governance and/or financial markets and transactions 

See the job description (below) for a full list of requirements for this role.

Note to candidates: We know that long lists of criteria can be daunting and that some candidates will not apply for a role unless they feel they are 100% qualified. If you feel you meet at least some of the essential criteria, we still encourage you to apply.

Further Information

Have a question about this job? Please visit our Careers site for advice on applying, FAQs, and more.

Flexible working:  We are proud to be a Flexa accredited Employer. Visit our Flexa Employer page for more information on our approach to flexible working. Our flexible working policy allows our people the choice to decide to work from home/another location in the country where their contract of employment is issued for 80% of their month, with the other 20% of their month being office-based  See our Benefits page for more.

ClientEarth values diversity and inclusion and the benefits this brings. We aim to appoint the most suitable candidate at all times and welcome applications from people from all different backgrounds. 

Please note that ClientEarth is only able to employ those who have the pre-existing legal right to work in tthe UK or Belgium.

ClientEarth is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice or legal services to third parties.