IN The Trumpian world, as climate-change debates grow more heated—much like the planet—and the divide between energy lawyers and environmental advocates becomes deeper, a few idealistic Big Law lawyers may be tempted to switch sides. Perhaps because they love the outdoors. Or because they see a connection between rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and rising global temperatures.

But when it comes to jettisoning an energy practice at a corporate law firm and trying to join an organization that advocates for environmental causes, the chances of success are narrow. “There are a lot of trust issues that arise,” says Lucy Deakins, a partner in Denver's Dunsing & Deakins and a former associate for Fulbright & Jaworski (now Norton Rose Fulbright) who has tried but so far failed to make such a transition.

Some lawyers, including Michael Freeman, a staff attorney at EarthJustice, and Nada Culver, senior counsel for The Wilderness Society, and Scott Anderson of the Environmental Defense Fund, have won environmental advocacy jobs despite having toiled for years in the corporate world. One of the most prominent examples is Anderson, who serves as EDF's senior policy director in Austin and previously was an executive vice president and general counsel of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO). Freeman and Culver succeeded in making the switch from corporate to enviormental advocacy only after years of trying.