Environmental Law Accreditation

Applicants should demonstrate a high level of knowledge and experience in the area of environmental law.  The application should include evidence the applicant has been engaged in a broad spectrum of work or practice in the environmental law field throughout the five year period under review. 

It is recognised that environmental law covers a wide area and accordingly it is not regarded as appropriate to demand expertise in specific areas. Examples provided in the application should, however, demonstrate expertise at a high level in at least some of the following:

• Waste;
• Water pollution and water quality;
• PPC and other licensing/permissions;
• Contaminated land;
• Climate change and air quality;
• Environmental Impact Assessment;
• Delict/nuisance;
• The Conservation of Nature.

Credit will not be given with respect to examples which provide evidence of expertise only relative to planning law or relative to a transaction which has an environmental driver (such as the construction of a wind turbine) but which does not involve any expertise in environmental law itself.

When considering the strength of the application, the panel will consider the:

• role of the applicant in the work outlined – whether the applicant was the lead or a relatively junior member of a team; and
• the complexity of the work – whether the examples cited involve work that is relatively straightforward, or involved novel or untested points.

The panel will award more credit where the applicant has demonstrated a leading role in a range of complex or novel matters, rather than crediting simple volume of work and/or dealing with fairly straightforward matters.

All applicants should demonstrate the breadth of their work in the field in their application. 

Applicants who have been engaged in the practice of environmental law for the relevant five year period, whether in private practice or in-house, should be able to demonstrate a high level of working knowledge of the practical application of environmental law by highlighting complex or novel cases with which they have been involved.

It is recognised that applicants in practice may focus on contentious or non-contentious aspects of environmental law or a combination of both and credit will be given for both kinds of work. The emphasis should, however, be on complex or novel matters.

Applicants who do not practice in the field should demonstrate a broad and high level of understanding of the practical application of environmental law, for example, through evidence of teaching on the subject and/or writing guidance for practitioners or academic material.

Applicants should highlight any relevant qualifications gained, training received, and courses attended during the five year period. 

Environmental law is a rapidly changing area of law and credit will be given where applicants have been engaged in knowledge sharing for the benefit of their peers. Applicants should therefore provide any available evidence of presenting seminars, teaching, responding to government consultation, and writing materials on environmental law topics.  

The scope and correct application of environmental law is open to interpretation in many areas, the relevant legislation is lengthy and complex and case law can be limited or confusing. Lawyers in practice often face scenarios where the law does not present a clear answer to the question posed. Applicants should demonstrate their expertise by providing examples of matters handled where they have come up with lateral/unusual solutions to problems, perhaps where law is new, untested, or uncertain. 

Applicants who are not in practice should provide evidence of how their thinking and/or research contributes to the development of the field.