UNSW Law & Justice leads Go8 in climate conscious lawyering

UNSW Law & Justice leads the Go8 in embedding climate conscious lawyering across its core degrees.

UNSW Law & Justice has become the first university in the Group of Eight to explicitly embed climate conscious lawyering in their LLB and JD Program Learning Outcomes.  This milestone reflects a multi‑year effort across the faculty to prepare graduates for a profession already being reshaped by climate risk, regulatory change , and new expectations of legal practitioners.

The move builds on the work of Associate Professor Julia Dehm (La Trobe University) and Professor Nicole Graham (University of Sydney) on climate change in Australian legal education. It also follows UNSW Law & Justice’s structural reforms, completed in 2025, when the faculty introduced revised Program Learning Outcomes that require all graduates to understand the role of law in responding to contemporary challenges, including climate change. This indicates that climate considerations are not limited to environmental law, but are part of the broader context influencing legal doctrine, professional decision-making and institutional design.

Preparing students for a changing profession

UNSW Law & Justice Associate Dean Education, Associate Professor Helen Gibbon, said the reform reflects where the profession is heading.

"Climate risk is reshaping much legal work, from public law to corporations and evidence law. Our graduates need to be ready for that reality, and that means bringing climate into the way we design courses and assess learning. This is about equipping our students with the professional competence to navigate both public and private law contexts, where climate-related risks and implications are becoming ever more central."

Dr Riona Moodley of the UNSW Institute for Climate Risk and Response has been a central proponent of efforts to align legal education with the realities facing modern practitioners.

Drawing on her expertise as a legal practitioner and researcher in strategic climate litigation, she positions climate‑conscious lawyering as a core professional competency rather than a specialist extension of environmental law.

"Climate-related risks affect nearly all areas of legal practice. You see it in administrative review, in corporate disclosure, in contract, tort, and, of course, all areas of litigation,” Dr Moodley says.

“Students need to understand that climate change is not a standalone environmental law subject. Understanding the legal implications of climate change is now a fundamental aspect of lawyering and professional competence. Lawyers are expected, as part of their evolving professional obligations, to develop their competence in being able to assess, identify and respond to such risks. Legal education must now evolve to reflect these changes. UNSW has now taken concrete steps towards achieving this.”

Setting a new national benchmark 

Professor Cameron Holley says UNSW is well placed to lead nationally on this work.

"We believe UNSW is currently the only Go8 law school to embed climate directly into its Program Learning Outcomes,” Prof Holley says. “That matters because it sets a clear expectation for every student who comes through our degrees. Climate conscious legal capability is not something a few students pursue as a passion project. It is now part of what it means to graduate as a UNSW lawyer."

Prof Holley also stressed the importance of supporting students who may grapple with the scale of climate change and related legal challenges. This includes acknowledging climate anxiety while also equipping students with the skills and tools to act with confidence and professional judgment.

The faculty is already working on alignment across core subjects, support for academics through teaching materials, assessment redesign and opportunities for students to see how climate challenges are reshaping institutions and legal reasoning in real time.

Core courses are being mapped to align with the new Learning Outcome; academics are receiving support to incorporate climate‑related materials into existing teaching; and assessments are being redesigned so students can demonstrate their ability to identify and analyse climate implications in a range of legal contexts. Students will increasingly encounter examples drawn from litigation, corporate governance, statutory interpretation, and regulatory design, all areas in which climate considerations now play a central role.

A/Prof Gibbon notes that these reforms are not only about recognising the influence of climate risk on legal doctrine, but also about preparing students for the professional responsibility to help shape society’s response.

"What we are doing is preparing students not only to understand how law responds to climate risk, but to participate in shaping that response," A/Prof Gibbon says.

The move positions UNSW Law and Justice as a national Go8 leader in building climate literacy into accredited law degrees and reflects a broader international shift toward mainstreaming climate consciousness across legal education.