Earlier this month leading lawyers protested outside Inner London Crown Court when climate activists received contempt of court prison sentences for trying to explain their motivation to the jury. Judge Silas Reid had ruled they mustn’t mention the climate crisis, fuel poverty or home insulation, in relation to their Insulate Britain protest – sitting in the road to disrupt business as usual in the City of London.
From that small beginning, a larger movement has quickly taken hold in the legal profession, and this afternoon, several lawyers attended the official launch of a ‘Declaration of Conscience‘ outside the Royal Courts of Justice. More than 140 have already signed the document, pledging to withhold their legal services with respect to new fossil fuel projects, and refusing to act against peaceful climate protesters. In a further act of conscience, several walked together today to the Bar Standard Board and handed in self-referral letters.
A new campaign film was projected last night on the front of the Royal Courts, featuring statements from leading lawyers. The film revealed, based on figures from the Carbon Tracker Initiative, that during the past five years, the global legal sector supported more than 1.6 trillion dollars of fossil fuel transactions, and the City of London accounts for 15% of this.
