Climate Litigation Lessons from Australia

The first in our flagship Climate Litigation Lessons from Around the Globe series for 2025 kicks off in Australia. This dynamic and timely series will bring together leading legal experts from multiple jurisdictions to examine key climate litigation cases and the evolving role of courts in addressing climate change.

This session will see our panel exploring key cases such as Sharma and Pabai Pabai, and discussing the evolving role of litigation in Australia’s climate policy landscape.

This session will take place on Thursday 27 March 2025 at the following times:

UK

• Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) 9am – 10am

Australia

• Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT) 8pm – 9pm

Register here

Speakers

Courtney Law (Grata Fund)

Courtney is a Senior Solicitor at Grata Fund, Australia’s first specialist non-profit strategic litigation incubator and funder. Courtney has practised as a human rights lawyer for several years and helps lead Grata’s legal work in developing and supporting strategic litigation across areas of climate justice, human rights and democracy issues, as well as the organisation’s law reform and advocacy work. Courtney previously worked as a civil lawyer and Human Rights Fellow at Legal Aid. She is also a member of the Law Society of New South Wales’ Human Rights Committee and the Australian Climate Accountability Project’s Advisory Group.

Lara Douvartzidis (Net Zero Lawyers Alliance)

Lara Douvartzidis is a Senior Legal Executive at the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance. She has extensive experience in environment and planning law, disputes and business and human rights law, having worked in both private practice and legal policy, including leading the International Bar Association UNFCCC delegation. She serves as an Officer of the IBA Business and Human Rights Committee and is an Associate Fellow of the Centre For International Sustainable Development Law.

Nicole Sommer (Environmental Defenders Office)

Nicole leads EDO’s Healthy Environment & Justice Program, working in human rights and environmental justice. Her team of lawyers work across Australia, connected with communities in eight locations. Nicole has almost 20 years of legal experience, appearing as counsel in Courts and Tribunals, and advising clients on a broad range of environment protection issues. Nicole sits on the Law Council of Australia’s Environment and Planning Law Group, the Board of Disability Voices Tasmania, and holds a Masters of Environmental Management.

Phoebe Roberts (Pollination Law)

Phoebe Roberts is an Executive Director in the Climate & Sustainability Risk Governance team of Pollination Law. Phoebe brings over 10 years’ experience as a corporate lawyer to her practice in climate and nature risk governance, strategy and disclosure. Phoebe specialises in embedding net zero commitments and addressing climate change risks (and opportunities) across commercial contracts and transactions. She is the former Director of Implementation and Co-Lead of APAC with The Chancery Lane Project (‘TCLP’) – a first of its kind global initiative of corporate lawyers to re-wire contracts to deliver net zero. In 2023, Phoebe was awarded Australian Young Environmental Lawyer of the Year by the Law Council of Australia.

Stephanie Brenker (Barrister, Victoria Bar)

Stephanie Brenker is a barrister at the Victorian Bar in Australia, with a broad civil practice. Before coming to the Bar, Stephanie was a judge’s associate at the High Court of Australia, Australia’s apex Court, and practised as a solicitor in London and Tokyo. Stephanie read for the Bachelor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford (Masters degree), and holds a JD and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne. Relevantly to this panel, Stephanie was part of the counsel team in Sharma v Minister for the Environment [2021] FCA 560 and its appeal.