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13 October 2023 / Andrew Magowan
Issue: 8044 / Categories: Features , Profession , ESG
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ESG requires bravery—otherwise you’re greenwashing

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Bravery is the key to ensuring you don’t end up daubed in greenwash, says Andrew Magowan
  • Focusing on three key things when evaluating anything from a sustainability perspective helps. These are: prioritising; asking questions; communicating openly & honestly.
  • Purely focusing on rules and regulation can be, at best, a wasted opportunity. But at worst, it’s a dereliction of our duties as lawyers.

Question: what is a lawyer’s natural habitat? Where are they generally most comfortable?

I’m sure there’ll be a range of answers among everyone reading this. But I reckon a fair number will picture lawyers being happy in detail—happy in interpreting, making sense of and applying complicated, technical requirements. After all, isn’t that what all those years of reviewing cases and legislation trained us all to do?

And there is a lot of truth in that. When I see lawyers involved in sustainability, I see them getting bogged down in the ‘detail’ of helping businesses meet ever increasing reporting obligations in each of the jurisdictions they’re operating in. Lawyers then arguing about those obligations for those businesses and

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Private wealth and tax team welcomes cross-border specialist as consultant

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

International hospitality and leisure specialist joins corporate team as partner

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Firm appoints head of intellectual property to drive northern growth

NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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