Who we are

Our Leadership

Lawyers for Climate Action Board

We have a small team of three full-time staff, supported by the Lawyers for Climate Action board. Our Board is elected each year by the members of Lawyers for Climate Action NZ Inc. Our Board members are leading lawyers, academics and practitioners in Aotearoa New Zealand, committed to using the law to drive climate action.

  • Co-Founder & President

    Jenny founded Lawyers for Climate Action alongside James in 2019. She has been President for most of the last five years. Jenny is a highly regarded commercial litigator at Shortland Chambers in Auckland. She represented LCANZI in our judicial review of the Climate Change Commission alongside James and Martin, and is involved in our other litigation projects.

  • Co-Founder & Board Member

    James is one of New Zealand's pre-eminent commercial and climate litigators, based out of Stout Street Chambers in Wellington. He was formerly a litigation partner at Russell McVeagh, and chair of the national litigation team. He has an LLM from Harvard Law School and a DPhil from Oxford University. James is acting for LCANZI in all of our ongoing litigation at the moment.

  • Board Secretary

    Sophie has been a board member and board secretary at LCANZI since 2021. Sophie lives in Christchurch where she is Senior Legal Counsel at Selwyn District Council and is also an ILANZ Committee Member. She has previously worked as Senior Legal Counsel at the Christchurch City Council, as a litigation associate at Wynn Williams and Simpson Grierson, and as an in-house medico legal lawyers at the New Zealand Nurses Organisation.

  • Board Member

    Sally joined the Board in August 2024. Previously, she was an in-house lawyer for the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand from 2010-2019. Sally has acted in several significant environmental proceedings, including representing Movement in its ongoing challenge to the Regional Land Transport Plan, and successfully acting for Forest and Bird in its challenge in the Supreme Court on the East West Link in 2024.

  • Board Member

    Bjørn-Oliver joined the LCANZI Board in 2023. Bjørn-Oliver is a senior lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington’s Faculty of Law and Vice-Dean (International). Bjørn-Oliver specialises in international law, particularly focusing on the law of freshwater resources, climate change and the marine environment. Bjørn-Oliver is chair of LCANZI’s international issues subcommittee.

  • Board Member

    Debra joined the LCANZI Board in 2023. She is a sustainability consultant and a property lawyer currently working in-house at Kāinga Ora. Previously, she ran her own law firm specialising in property law. Debra has also been instrumental in our ongoing work with New Zealand Law Society to implement a resolution on climate change and guidance on climate-conscious legal practice.  

  • Treasurer

    Martin joined the Board in 2024, but he has been giving his time to LCANZI litigation for years. Martin is a partner at specialist Auckland litigation and dispute resolution firm, Gilbert Walker. Martin acted pro bono alongside Jenny and James on our Climate Change Commission judicial review, as well as in our judicial review of ETS settings.

  • Board Member

    Majka joined the LCANZI Committee in 2024. Majka was born and raised in Northland and is of Ngati Hine and Ukrainian descent. She is currently an associate at Tukau Law working in disputes resolution, including acting in the Waitangi Tribunal Kaupapa Inquiry into climate change. Outside her legal mahi, Majka is a mama and co-chairperson on the Board of the Kohanga which her tamariki attend.

  • Board Member

    Bryce joined the LCANZI Board in 2024. Bryce is a barrister based in Titirangi, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. He has expertise in public law and human rights issues, currently representing parties in the Waitangi Tribunal, and te Kōti Whenua Māori, the High Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court.

  • Board Member

    Frankie has been an LCANZI Board member since 2022. He is a former corporate lawyer from Russell McVeagh turned sustainability consultant. He now runs Près, a sustainability consultancy helping businesses transition to an inclusive, zero-carbon, circular and regenerative future. Frankie is the chair of LCANZI’s Corporate Governance Subcommittee.

  • Board Member

    Nicola recently moved home after living and working in the US on sustainability, most recently working as Deputy Director with the City & County of Honolulu's Office of Climate Change, Sustainability & Resiliency. She worked with NGOs for ten years at a philanthropic foundation, the San Diego Foundation, and worked as a climate advisor for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a leading environmental advocacy organisation that uses strategic litigation in the US.

Lawyers for Climate Action staff

  • Executive Director

    Jessica was a proud member of Lawyers for Climate Action for several years before starting as Executive Director in late 2023. She is a lawyer and has a Masters in Law from New York University specialising in international climate change litigation, for which she was awarded the Jerome Lipper Award for Distinction. She has also worked as an International Human Rights Law Fellow at the United Nations in New York, as a junior barrister at Shortland Chambers, and as a judges’ clerk at the Auckland High Court. 

  • Solicitor

    Molly is Lawyers for Climate Action’s first in-house solicitor. She joined Lawyers for Climate Action in December 2024.

    Prior to this, Molly practised in environmental and public law in Tāhuna | Queenstown at Wynn Williams. This included assisting Lawyers for Climate Action in its greenwashing proceeding against Z Energy. Molly is also the New Zealand Rapporteur for Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.

  • Senior Lawyer, Energy and Climate Transition

    Laura leads our programme of work focused on developing and pursuing legal pathways to accelerate New Zealand's transition to clean energy and reduce our long-term reliance on fossil fuels. She has previously worked as a lawyer for the Crown Law Office and Bell Gully, and most recently for the Sustainability Legal Team at Deloitte Netherlands. She was a Fulbright Scholar and has a Masters in Law from Columbia University specialising in international environmental law and human rights. 

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