Fossil Free Law
Law students across Scotland are campaigning to uphold their right to a safe climate and end the legal sector’s support for the fossil fuel industry.
Overview
ERCS is working with law students across Scotland to challenge the acceptability of law firms working on behalf of the fossil fuel industry.
Law firms provide a range of services to oil, gas and mining companies, enabling transactions that finance future fossil fuel development, litigation against climate accountability, and fossil fuel lobbying. These business activities are not compatible with a safe climate, and violate our right to a healthy environment.
Our aims
We call on lawyers to refuse to work for the fossil fuel industry, and will hold law firms accountable through public scrutiny of their client base and climate change policies. We will advocate the Law Society of Scotland to follow the Law Society of England & Wales in supporting solicitors and advocates to decline to advise on matters that are incompatible with the Paris Agreement limits.
Updates
Using the law in an era of climate breakdown – speaker event and panel discussion
After a summer of extreme heat and devastating wildfires, and amid intense debate about new North Sea oil, ERCS and the University of Glasgow will be hosting a speaker event to explore how Scotland’s legal profession can respond to our escalating climate crisis …
Student campaigners meet with the Law Society of Scotland to push for bolder climate action
Law students from ERCS’s Fossil Free Law campaign have met with Ben Kemp, Chief Executive Officer at the Law Society of Scotland to push for new climate change guidance for solicitors …
Fossil Free Law: A new generation of lawyers ready to confront the climate emergency
Behind every climate disaster, there is fossil fuel. And behind every fossil fuel project, there is a lawyer representing the interests of a fossil fuel company …
Fossil Free Law student gathering
Join us at our inaugural Fossil Free Law student gathering. This one-day event is an opportunity for law students to network, gain campaigning skills, and plan together how we can collectively challenge ties between Scotland’s legal sector and the fossil fuel industry …
Guest blog: Climate conscious lawyering and a just transition in legal learning
As world governments meet in Brazil for the COP30 climate conference, citizens around the world are taking action into their own hands and demanding change …
Campaign toolkit published
ERCS has worked with law students in the Fossil Free Law steering group to develop a campaign toolkit for organising on university campuses …
Get involved
The Fossil Free Law campaign is a collaboration between ERCS and law students at the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Strathclyde, and Dundee. If you would like to get involved, please complete the form below.
