Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG): 'Why and How Should We Care if Judges Care about the Environment?'

Speaker: Dr. Steven Vaughan, Associate Professor of Environmental Law, University College London.

This work-in-progress paper asks questions about judicial values, interests, and preferences. Situated in the wider work on diversity in the judiciary, on judicial independence, on judicial politics, and on judicial bias, I want to explore when and how we should be bothered (and in what ways) if judges seem to care about the environment (and that care is expressed in the decisions they make). The paper will compare and contrast how Lady Hale, President of the UK Supreme Court, talks about her approach to judgecraft with that of Michael Kirby (the former Chief Justice of High Court in Australia who recently married his long term male partner), and that of Lord Carnwath (a Justice of the UK Supreme Court and former planning lawyer). The paper will look at a recent decision of Brian J Preston (Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales) when he dismissed an appeal relating to an NSW coal mine, citing climate change as one of the reasons on which he based his decision.

Dr Steven Vaughan is an Associate Professor of Environmental Law at University College London. His career began in the City as a solicitor specialising in environmental law (first at Freshfields, then at Latham & Waktins), before moving into academia. His research interests lie in the regulation and governance of three fields: environmental law; the legal profession; and corporate finance. Between 2013 and 2016, Dr Vaughan was an ESRC ‘Future Research Leader’ completing an empirical project exploring the relationships between lawyers in large law firms and their clients. Away from the Faculty, he sits on the Policy Committee of the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Research Strategy Group of the Legal Services Board.

Dr Vaughan has published a monograph on EU chemicals regulation and new governance, an edited collection on legal education and the legal profession, various reports for public bodies, and a number of articles in international journals. Keen that his work engages with an audience beyond the academy, Dr Vaughan has spoken at the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts and written for a number of media outlets (including The Times, The Guardian and The Lawyer). He has also undertaken Visiting Fellowships at Stanford University, the University of Melbourne and the Frank J. Kelley Institute of Ethics (at Michigan State University).

Coffee and biscuits will be available shortly after the talk.