Demand for environmental and climate change lawyers is ripe as firms shape up for the Asia-Pacific ‘green revolution”.
Norton Rose global head of climate change and carbon finance practice, Anthony Hobley, said the firm is seeing huge growth opportunities in the area of renewable energy, sustainability and climate change. “We believe that a ‘green economy’ is going to be a major part of the Asian economy going forward,” he said.
As Asian nations turn more attention towards building sustainable economies, climate change practices in the region are jockeying for a position at the head of the pack. Hobley said Norton Rose is looking to recruit climate change lawyers across several of its Asia offices, including Jakarta, Bangkok, and in particular, Tokyo and Beijing, which have received a strong flow of climate change work.
The Singapore and Hong Kong market is expected to win most of the potential work in this area from Australia, should the Australian government fall further behind its Asian neighbours in passing carbon reduction legislation. Hobley says that Australian lawyers can seize opportunities in this area if they are willing to relocate.
Hobley, who studied chemistry and physics with the intention of becoming an environmental lawyer, says that a science or technology background is not absolutely essential to practice in this area. He says that any smart lawyer can get their head around the technology – the question is whether they are willing to move to Asia to practice in this space.
- Annie Dang
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