The 695th Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli 2023-24 Mayoral Theme “Connect to Prosper” celebrates our multiple knowledge miles, showing that the UK is a place where problems come to be solved. The Coffee Colloquies will demonstrate this, bringing together varied voices from in and around the city to talk about how their work supports the achievement of one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Through fast-paced transfer of knowledge, and with a focus on connections and networking, the Coffee Colloquies will invigorate our knowledge miles as the World’s Coffee House.

At this Colloquy, organised by the Law Society, experts will explain the steps their organisations are taking in the fight. Each speaker will share how their initiative supports access to justice and upholding the rule of law in subject specific areas such as climate action and digitalisation, highlighting the synergies between other SDGs as well as underlining the importance of having strong institutions in their delivery.

Agenda

08:45 – 09:15 Arrival and coffee served

09:15 – 09:20 Opening remarks by the Lord Mayor of the City of London

09:20 – 10:00 9 x 4 minute expert presentations

10:00 – 10:30 Open Q&A

10:30 – 11:15 Discussion, Networking, Coffee

11:15 – Close

Chair Q and A

• Ian Jeffery, Chief Executive, The Law Society

Speakers

• Caroline May, Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright, Chair, Law Society Climate Change working group

• Adam Woodhall, CEO and Founder, General Counsel Sustainability Forum

• Sarah Hutchinson, Co-Chair, International Bar Association Rule of Law Forum

• Georgina Beasley (MA, LLB Honours), CEO, Net Zero Lawyers Alliance

• David Hunter, Senior Counsel, Bates Wells and Board Member, Global Alliance of Impact Lawyers

• Kyle Lischak, Head of UK, ClientEarth

• Marina Soars Ingles, Member, Legal Voices for the Future

• Humzah Khan, Programme Manager, The Chancery Lane Project

• FR Dominic Robinson SJ and Collette Joyce, Diocese of Westminster

• Brett Dixon, incoming Deputy Vice President, The Law Society

Biographies

Ian Jeffery, Chief Executive, The Law Society

Ian Jeffery joined the Law Society as chief executive in September 2022. He was previously the Managing Partner and CEO of Lewis Silkin. Ian joined Lewis Silkin in 1990 and qualified as a solicitor in 1992. He has extensive experience in information technology and intellectual property law and rose through the ranks quickly, becoming a Partner in 1998 and eventually Managing Partner at the age of 37 in 2005. He led Lewis Silkin as Managing Partner and CEO for 15 years. During this time, he drove the growth of the firm both domestically and internationally, helping establish a reputation for being one of the most innovative large law firms. Ian has also acted as an independent consultant to law firms, professional services organisations and businesses in the legal tech space. In addition, he has sat on boards across different industry sectors.

Caroline May, Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright, Chair, Law Society Climate Change working group

Caroline co-heads Norton Rose Fulbright’s EMEA ESG practice and is the firm’s Sustainability Partner and a leading environmental lawyer with over 30 years’ experience. She is Chair of the Law Society Working Group on Climate Change and Co-Chair of the Legal Sustainability Alliance. Caroline has extensive experience of both contentious and non-contentious environmental law and has been involved in some of the largest environmental cases in the UK. She is regularly involved in advising on sustainability issues including onsite renewable energy projects, carbon controls and energy performance schemes and corporate reporting. Her work has involved liaison with Government, relevant regulatory authorities, NGO’s and lobby groups. Caroline is recognised as a leading lawyer by Chambers, Legal 500 and the Guide to the World’s Leading Environmental Lawyers. She is described as a “hugely experienced environmental lawyer” and as someone who “combines superb regulatory knowledge with a realistic commercial understanding of its implementation” in Chambers UK Environment and Climate Change 2024.

Adam Woodhall, CEO and Founder, General Counsel Sustainability Forum

Adam Woodhall is an award-winning leader and entrepreneur currently working with 40 GCs and CLOs, including the global GCs of Rolls Royce, Centrica, WPP, Specsavers, National Grid and BUPA. The process of the GCS Forum gives him a unique insight into the world of business, law and sustainability. He founded GCSF in March 2021, which until Sept '23 was known as Lawyers for Net Zero. In March 2023 he was recognised with the LexisNexis "Legal Personality of the Year" award.

Sarah Hutchinson, Co-Chair, International Bar Association Rule of Law Forum

Sarah is the Co-Chair of the International Bar Association Rule of Law Forum, and she is a former IBA Management Board and IBA Council member. She qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales and practised in London and Manchester. Sarah is a non-executive director of BARBRI Global (and formerly its Managing Director). BARBRI provides professional education and qualifications to law students and lawyers. Sarah is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Association of Cost Lawyers Training Limited. She also chairs the Board of Examiners of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and the Entry and Assessment Steering Group for the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Georgina Beasley (MA, LLB Honours), CEO, Net Zero Lawyers Alliance

Georgina Beasley (MA, LLB (Honours)) is the CEO of the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance, leading its efforts to ensure the law accelerates the transition to net zero emissions. Georgina has worked in environmental law and both domestic and international climate policy and strategy, including as a UNFCCC negotiator for New Zealand and as a private secretary to New Zealand Ministers for Climate Change. Georgina is driven by connection and community, believing that both are critical to solving the climate crisis.

David Hunter, Senior Counsel, Bates Wells and Board Member, Global Alliance of Impact Lawyers

David Hunter is Senior Counsel at Bates Wells, where he works primarily with clients seeking to have positive impact on climate, nature loss and social issues. He is a UK Regional Board member of the Global Alliance of Impact Lawyers, a co-founder of the Legal Charter 1.5 initiative, a member of The Law Society’s Climate Change Working Group and a member of the UK Rights of Nature Network. David writes about the practice of law in uncertain times and is a visiting lecturer at the University of Law on ESG and Sustainability themes. He was identified by The Lawyer as one of its Hot 100 lawyers for 2024, which his daughters find hilarious and slightly disturbing.

Kyle Lischak, Head of UK, ClientEarth

Kyle Lischak is a practising international lawyer and currently the Head of UK at ClientEarth, where he leads on a number of initiatives focusing on environmental advocacy within the United Kingdom. Previous to this, Kyle was Head of Legal at the Met Office, the UK’s national meteorological and climate service, for more than seven years. Before that, he worked as principal solicitor at Natural England. He has also worked in private practice and within the environmental non-profit and public sectors in the United States.

Marina Soars Ingles, Member, Legal Voices for the Future

Marina Soares Ingles is a Stewardship Committee member at Legal Voices for the Future, a collaborative learning forum established by junior practitioners from different fields of law, whose objective is to give voice to a new generation of lawyers. LVF holds monthly knowledge sessions open to everyone - lawyers and non-lawyers alike. In order to bring fresh perspective, innovation and determination to pressing global issues such as climate change, each session is organised and led by a different member of LVF. Marina is a Solicitor at Elborne Mitchell, specialising in commercial disputes in the insurance, financial services and energy sectors.

Humzah Khan, Programme Manager, The Chancery Lane Project

Humzah works at The Chancery Lane Project - a non-profit that collaborates with organisations to change their contracts to meet their climate targets. He's committed to transforming the legal sector to align with climate and nature action using non-contentious processes and the application of systems and design thinking.

FR Dominic Robinson SJ and Collette Joyce, Diocese of Westminster

Brett Dixon, incoming Deputy Vice President, The Law Society

Brett is the legal expert member of the Online Procedure Rule Committee and the Deputy Vice President-Elect of the Law Society of England & Wales. He is an expert on the digitalisation of court systems. As a past member of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee, he was part of the team that built the Online Civil Money Claims system (472,000 claims processed to date), the Official Injuries Compensation system (771,000 claims processed to date), and the Damages Claims Portal (116,000 claims processed to date). He continues to work on these projects and is a member of the advisory board for the European Law Institute Project on Digitalisation of Civil Justice Systems in Europe.

Background

The Law Society

The Law Society is the independent professional body that works globally to support and represent solicitors, promoting the highest professional standards, the public interest and the rule of law.

Peace, justice and strong institutions - United Nations Sustainable Development

Goal 16 is about promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

Lord Mayor's Coffee Colloquy SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions