SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES SATURDAY 2ND JULY 2016
STEPHEN TROMANS QC, 39 ESSEX CHAMBERS
Stephen is no stranger to UKELA conferences. In fact he organised the first one, at Durham in 1987. He specialises in environmental law, practising at 39 Essex Chambers. He has also been an academic, at Cambridge, and a solicitor at Simmons & Simmons. He tries to maintain an interest in all aspects of environmental law, though this becomes more difficult with increasing age. Nuclear law is a particular interest and the subject of one of his textbooks. He also has an interest in international investment arbitration and for some years has taught on the faculty of the Singapore International Arbitration Academy at the National University of Singapore. He is the first and only President of the Recyclists, which he deems a huge honour. He is seeking to develop a second career as a landscape artist, and if anyone is interested has an exhibition near Cambridge next weekend (details on request and commissions taken).
JONATHAN KAHN, PARTNER, BLAKE, CASSELS & GRAYDON, LLP
Jonathan Kahn, a senior partner in the Toronto Office of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, is a leading Canadian environmental lawyer. For over 25 years he has provided representation and advice in a broad spectrum of environmental law and related forms of regulatory law.
He represents clients on the purchase, sale, and remediation of contaminated properties; management of natural resources; transportation, handling and disposal of hazardous substances; environmental permitting; air, water and waste regulation; and other environmental matters.Jonathan’s wide-ranging expertise also includes representing accused corporations in significant environmental prosecutions; acting for proponents in major mining, renewable energy and infrastructure projects and providing environmental law advice on significant transactions, across a broad range of industries.
Jonathan is secretary of the American Bar Association's Section of Environment, Energy and Resources Law, the first non-American to serve on that organization’s Executive Committee. He became a member of that Section’s Governing Council in 2012 after serving as Chair of several substantive committees. In 2011 he was the first non-American to chair the American Bar Association’s Annual Conference on Environmental Law. Jonathan is a past chair of the National Environment, Energy and Resources Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association and of the Environmental Law Section of the Ontario Bar Association. Jonathan has also authored several environmental publications.
DOUG BRYDEN, PARTNER, TRAVERS SMITH LLP
Doug specialises in UK, EU and international environment, energy and regulatory law and policy. In addition to dealing with such risks in major projects and transactions, Doug has defended clients in the Crown Court and regularly advises on complex compliance and risk management programmes. Doug has recently worked on a number of high profile mandates, such as advising two large private equity houses on defending UK carbon law enforcement action as well as helping GDF Suez understand and manage environmental and regulatory challenges on one of the UK's first onshore shale gas developments. Doug is particularly recognised for his expertise in EU-wide chemical, GMO, product and producer responsibility regimes. The legal directories all list Doug as one of the UK's leading environmental lawyers. Doug is the General Editor of Commercial Environmental Law & Liability (Sweet & Maxwell) and lectures widely on environmental and other operational regulatory matters.
DR NICHOLAS GARD, EXPONENT INC.
Dr. Nicholas Gard is a Managing Scientist in Exponent’s EcoSciences practice, located in Bellevue, WA. He is an ecotoxicologist with more than 25 years of experience in wildlife ecology, toxicology, natural resource damage assessment (NRDA), and ecological risk assessment. Dr. Gard has worked on approximately 15 major NRDA cases throughout the USA. He has assessed injuries to natural resources from substances such as PCBs, dioxins, mercury, metals, PAHs, and petroleum, and applied equivalency analysis techniques to evaluate and scale restoration alternatives. Currently, he is also providing technical support to an industry group on issues related to the implementation of the Environmental Liability Directive in the EU.
In addition to NRDA experience, Dr. Gard also has extensive expertise conducting ecological risk assessments, environmental impact assessments, and habitat evaluations in a variety of terrestrial, wetland, and estuarine ecosystems both in the United States and internationally, entailing evaluation of environmental effects for a number of industrial activities, including manufacturing facilities, mines, smelters, pulp and paper mills, refineries, pipelines, and agro-chemical operations. Dr. Gard holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from Clemson University, a M.Sc. (Wildlife Ecology) from McGill University, and a B.Sc. (Wildlife Biology) from University of Guelph.
STEPHEN HOCKMAN QC, 6 PUMP COURT
Stephen Hockman QC is a barrister with a broad environmental, health and safety and planning practice. His practice encompasses making and resisting public law challenges to environmental decisions, appearing for claimants/defendants in environmental cases in the common law courts, for example nuisance, and prosecuting and defending in major pollution cases. He has conducted environmental cases as far afield as Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands.
In addition to his client work, Stephen has held a number of international posts including Chairman of the International Court for the Environment (ICE) Coalition where he has campaigned for the establishment of an International Environmental Court. He is also an Advisory Council Member of the Advocates for International Development and a trustee of ClientEarth.
CATHERINE WELLER, HEAD OF BIODIVERSITY, CLIENTEARTH
Catherine is Head of the Biodiversity Programme at ClientEarth, a public interest environmental law organisation. She qualified as a solicitor in 2008 and joined ClientEarth in 2011, where she has worked on a number of projects. For the last 2 years she has been focussing on various aspects of the implementation of the EU Habitats and Birds Directives, especially in the UK marine environment. Catherine has also closely followed the European Commission’s fitness check process which could lead to a revision of these Directives. Most recently she has been involved in the legal complaint to the Commission to prevent intensive logging in the Bialowieza Forest, a Natura 2000 site in Poland. Prior to joining ClientEarth she was an associate in the environmental law team at Allen & Overy in London.
HEATHER HAMILTON, FISHERIES LAWYER IN THE BODIVERSITY TEAM, CLIENTEARTH
Heather has been a Fisheries Lawyer in the Biodiversity Team at ClientEarth since September 2014. Her work focuses on the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy, as well as its interaction with EU Environmental legislation such as the Birds and Habitats Directives and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Prior to joining ClientEarth, Heather was a solicitor at Richard Buxton Environmental and Public Law, working on judicial review and nuisance cases. She qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2013 and holds a degree in law from the University of Oxford (MA Oxon). In 2010 Heather completed an LLM in Environmental Law and Policy at University College London, during which she completed a dissertation looking at the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. She also organises events as part of the Young UKELA team.
JAMES MAURICI QC, LANDMARK CHAMBERS
James Maurici Q.C. was called to the Bar of England & Wales in 1996. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2013. He practices in planning; environmental law; and public law. His practice regularly encompasses EU and international law. He was a member of the Attorney-General’s London Panels of Junior Counsel to the Crown from 1999-2013. James has appeared in numerous cases before the European Court of Justice and the General Court (formerly the Court of First Instance) and has appeared a number of times before the UNECE Aarhus Compliance Committee in Geneva. James' environmental law practice is wide-ranging, covering matters such as habitats and species protection, contaminated land, air quality, waste, access to environmental information, statutory and common law nuisance and all aspects of environment impact assessment, strategic environmental assessment and environmental permitting.
He has particular expertise on climate change issues, including emissions trading. He has also been involved in a number of cases concerning marine environmental issues. He regularly advises and is involved in cases concerning access to environmental information. His recent cases include Case C-71-14 East Sussex County Council v Information Commissioner [2014] Q.B. 521. He is acting for the Department of Transport in relation to the response to the Airports Commission final report. James has been on the Council of UKELA for 8 years. He is also currently on the Executive Committee of UKELA.
PETER J HARVEY, THOMSON REUTERS (PRACTICAL LAW)
Before joining Practical Law in 2007, Peter was an environmental lawyer in private practice for many years. He has extensive experience of advising commercial, public sector and institutional clients (FTSE100 companies, local authorities, government departments and agencies), including on litigation in the civil and criminal courts. Peter has a Masters in Environmental Law and, before qualifying as a solicitor, he worked for a local authority planning department. He is a co-founder and trustee of a leading community energy organisation, as well as a convenor of the UKELA Waste Working Party.
NIGEL TOPPING, CEO, WE MEAN BUSINESS
Nigel serves as the CEO of We Mean Business - acoalition of organisations working on climate change with thousands of the world’s most influential businesses and investors. He serves on the Energy Transitions Commission and on the board of the Grantham Institute. Previously, Nigel was Executive Director of CDP(formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project). Nigel has 18 years’ experience in the private sector,consulting for and running manufacturing businesses. He holds a BA in Mathematics from Cambridge University and an MSc in Holistic Science from Schumacher College.
PAMELA E BARKER, LEWIS RICE, LLC AND CHAIR OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION ENVIRONMENTAL AN SUSTAINABILITY GROUP
Pam Barker has practiced environmental law for more than 25 years. She is a Member of the law firm Lewis Rice LLC in St. Louis, Missouri. Prior to joining Lewis Rice LLC, Pam served as Chief Environmental and Regulatory Counsel at Appvion, Inc., a specialty paper manufacturer in Appleton, Wisconsin. Pam currently serves as the Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy and Recourses and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, an honorary organization of lawyers, judges and legal scholars whose careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of their communities and to the highest principles of the legal profession. Ms. Barker is a frequent lecturer on environmental issues that are sponsored by the American Bar Association, State Bar of Wisconsin and the National Brownsfields Conference sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Pam received her law degree from UW-Madison and her B.A. from Beloit College.
TERRY A’HEARN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SEPA
Terry has over twenty years’ experience in the environment profession, having held senior roles in Melbourne with the Environment Protection Authority in the Australian state of Victoria, in London with the global consulting firm WSP and, most recently, in Belfast as Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency before he joined SEPA. In all this work, Terry has strongly focussed on bringing environmental and economic aims together, supporting business and social innovation and getting tougher with the worst environmental performers. Terry is a Senior Associate at the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership, a member of the Advisory Board of the Global Footprint Network and a Fellow of the UK Institute of Directors.