It is hard to think of an environmental issue that isn't also a legal issue. Whether a battle is over preserving a wetland, developing a shopping centre or handling toxic waste, the law and public regulation play a crucial role in determining the outcome. Ultimately, society is responsible for regulating its own actions, and our laws express our political will and our shared environmental goals. Whenever those laws are written or implemented, we rely on the expertise of environmental lawyers.
Lawyers play multiple roles in the environment.
As legal counsellors, they advise government, industry and environmental organizations on issues such as the legislation of waste management and conservation of natural resources. As advocates for their clients, environmental lawyers could argue both sides of a particular issue and could represent both industry and environmental interest groups in courtrooms or promoting their positions on legal issues in the public arena. Their role here is to represent the interests of clients or employers on environmental matters. Examples would be acting as legal counsellor for environmental advocate groups that want, for example, to save the old-growth forest from being logged. In the end, laws allow us to penalize those who damage or pollute the environment.