A band of lawyers are putting their heads together to help the world's least developed countries understand the impact of UN talks. Sofia Lind reports

In early December 2011 representatives from almost 200 countries converged on the South African city of Durban as part of the United Nation's (UN's) ongoing attempts to deal with the impact of climate change and cut worldwide carbon emissions. After several years of faltering talks, the two-week Durban UN Climate Change Conference is seen to have delivered a breakthrough, with a decision to adopt a legal agreement on climate change no later than 2015.

Meanwhile, on a smaller scale back in London, a group of City lawyers were also contributing to the cause, working around the clock to give free legal advice to less developed countries on a pro bono basis. Working from Simmons & Simmons' London headquarters, both in-house counsel and lawyers from a range of City firms came together to help under-represented developing countries and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with key legal advice to make use of during negotiations. Dubbed the Legal Response Initiative (LRI), during the Durban talks the group set up a situation room to act as "a type of citizen's advice bureau for less developed countries".

lri-nick-flynnChaired by Nick Flynn (pictured), environmental counsel at Weil Gotshal & Manges, the LRI is run by five directors, including Flynn, Simmons projects partner Richard Dyton, Oxfam general counsel Joss Saunders, Matrix Chambers' Kate Cook QC and WWF UK's programmes legal adviser, Niall Watson.

Dyton explains: "Climate change has become a priority for organisations such as Oxfam and WWF because global warming affects the poorest people. The LRI aims to help countries that are unfairly outnumbered by some other big-hitting delegations. We try to redress the balance.

"It is about thinking of how you can use law for good. If we can help in bringing a better outcome in these talks, then that will be for the greater good."

With many of the larger and more influential countries at the talks bringing their own legal advisers, the LRI assists the chair of the UN group of 48 least developed countries (LDCs) as well as specific LDC delegations at the negotiations. It also assists over 30 NGOs that support the LDCs, including WWF, Oxfam, Greenpeace, the Union of Concerned Scientists as well as the Climate Action Network, a network of over 700 environmental NGOs who speak at the negotiations.

"There is some rather complicated legal terminology in the Durban protocol which is open to interpretation and is a key to the outcome of the negotiations. A lot of it is quite political, for example, on what basis should responsibility for carbon levels in the atmosphere be apportioned between developed and developing countries, or how climate change finance should be structured and governed. These are things that lawyers can get their teeth into," Flynn says.

The pro bono initiative was set up in mid-2009, borne out of an idea developed while Simmons and Weil Gotshal were doing similar work for legal advisory charity A4ID.

The concept sees the LRI placing a number of lawyers on the ground at the conference acting as liaison officers. Delegates can then approach the officers with a query if they are unsure of the legal implications on their country of any given suggestion, which is quickly transmitted to the London situation room if it requires analysis. In addition to environmental and climate change law, the group advises across a range of areas including human rights, trade law and maritime law, as well as broader advice related to the drafting and reviewing of text drawn up by parties or NGOs for submission into the negotiating process.

The initiative has access to more than 150 lawyers from around 40 different organisations, including law firms, barristers' chambers, academic institutions and NGOs, based in 10 jurisdictions around the world.

The LRI was first trialled during the Barcelona negotiating session of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations (UNFCCC) in November 2009 before being rolled out at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference later that year. In October 2010 it became a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and is currently seeking charitable status.

The next major gathering will take place in the Arab state of Qatar towards the end of this year and the LRI is currently on the lookout for volunteers to support the meeting. The group is keen to stress that helpers can come from backgrounds other than environmental practice – it is also looking for volunteers in areas such as financing, structuring and commercial law.

Flynn says: "For me personally, as an environmental lawyer, climate change is an obvious issue to be passionate about. The developing countries are likely to be most badly affected by changing weather patterns, which are likely to disrupt crop cycles and cause more drought and flooding, with all the social problems that accompany such issues. I think it is the most pressing issue we have to deal with in terms of justice, politics and science.

"To make good legal advice freely available to the poorest nations is one important contribution that lawyers are able to make. Climate change is an issue that will be debated as long as you and I live and, given the potential worst-case consequences, we all have a responsibility for reaching an informed view about it and deciding what our contribution, if any, will be."

The LRI believes the concept in the long term could be adapted to be used in other areas where there is a need for a balanced conversation with access to legal advice for all involved parties, with one suggestion being to aid poorer nations in discussions over arms reduction. "We have to be realistic about what lawyers can do. We can't deliver clean water or food, but in a rules-based complex negotiation there is something we can add," Flynn concludes. "These negotiations are taking place in an international law context where lawyers play a role."

Other firms that support the project in a variety of ways, including staffing the situation room, are Herbert Smith, Baker & McKenzie, Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hogan Lovells, Olswang, Clayton Utz, Allen & Overy, Stibbe, Berwin Leighton Paisner, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Bircham Dyson Bell, Bates Wells & Braithwaite, Blake Dawson, Slaughter and May, Schoenherr, Buddle Findlay, Clyde & Co, Haffner Haffner & Kirwin, LG, Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy and Nabarro and Ruffer.