UKELA Patrons

Sir Robert Carnwath has been a Lord Justice of Appeal since September 2001, having been a Judge of the High Court, Chancery Division, from 1994. At the same time he became a Privy Counsellor. He is senior President of Tribunals. Previously he was in practice as a barrister in the Chambers of the Right Hon. Geoffrey Rippon QC, MP (now Landmark Chambers). His main areas of practice were local government, planning and environmental Law, and administrative law. Between 1988 and 1994 he was Attorney-General to HRH the Prince of Wales (following which he was made a Companion of the Victorian Order). He was Chairman of the Law Commission for England and Wales from February 1999 until July 2002. Internationally, in 2004 he was a founding member, and first Secretary-General, of the European Union Forum of Judges for the Environment (EUFJE). He has been joint chairman of the judicial advisory committee for the UNEP handbook on environmental law; and a member of the UNECE taskforce on the Aarhus Convention.

Maria Adebowale is the Founder and Director of Capacity Global. Capacity Global is the only non-governmental organisation and social enterprise in the UK focusing specifically on environmental justice and equality. She is the author of the Third Sector Climate Change Declaration among other publications. Maria is a former Commissioner for the UK Sustainable Development Commission and a former Director of the Environmental Law Foundation. She is the Chair of Waterwise, a Commissioner for English Heritage, a Matron of the Women's' Environment Network, a trustee of the development charity Allavida. She was also a Judge NESTA's Big Green Challenge. Maria is also listed in the Independent on Sunday's Top 100 Green List as one of the most influential environmentalists.

Sir Crispin’s early career was in the Royal Highland Fusiliers, involved with mountaineering and scientific expeditions to remote parts of the world. He qualified as an advocate in Scotland in 1982 taking silk in 1995. He has a specialist practice in all aspects of rural law, including environmental law and is the author of a number of legal text books. Sir Crispin has been a member of the Scottish Regional Committee of UKELA for many years and is now the Convenor. He is a member of the UKELA “Wild Law” group.

Tom Burke CBE is currently an Environmental Policy Adviser to Rio Tinto plc and a visiting Professor at Imperial and University Colleges, London. He is a Senior Business Advisor to the Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative on Climate Change. He is a Founding Director of E3G, Third Generation Environmentalism, and serves on the boards or advisory boards of a number of environmental and other organisations. He is Chairman of the Editorial Board of ENDS magazine. He was appointed by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to chair an Independent Review of Environmental Governance in Northern Ireland from 2006-7, which recommended an independent environment agency should be set up. He has been adviser to a number of government advisory bodies and special adviser to Ministers.

Malcolm Grant CBE has been President and Provost of UCL since 2003, and was previously Pro-Vice Chancellor of Cambridge. Born and educated in New Zealand, he is an environmental lawyer and Bencher of Middle Temple, and has researched and published extensively in environmental planning, and local government law. He is a member of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Economic and Social Science Research Council (ESRC) and the Hong Kong University Grants Committee. He was appointed by the Prime Minister in 2008 as a UK Business Ambassador. He attended the first UKELA conference.

Sir Francis Jacobs KCMG QC is Professor of Law at King’s College London and President of the Centre of European Law. He was previously an Advocate General at the European Court of Justice (1988-2006). From 1974 to 1988 he was Professor of European Law in the University of London, and from 1981 to 1988 Director of the Centre of European Law at King’s College London. He was also in practice at the English Bar, and appeared frequently asthe European Court of Justice. He is a Bencher of the Middle Temple. He is chairman or member of the advisory board of several institutes of European law and is a trustee of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. He became a Privy Counsellor in 2005.

Professor Richard Macrory joined the Faculty of Laws at University College London in 1999. He was a Member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution between 1992 and 2003, and a Board Member of the Environment Agency in England and Wales between 1999 and 2004. He is editor in chief of the Journal of Environmental Law (Oxford University Press) and legal correspondent to ENDS Report. He was Hon. President of the National Society for Clean Air 2005-6, and chairman of Merchant Ivory Film Productions between 1988 and 2004. In 2001-2003 he was chairman of the Steering Group of the European Environmental Advisory Councils. In 2005 Professor Macrory was appointed by the Cabinet Office to lead a review on regulatory sanctions applicable to business generally. The final report, Regulatory Justice – Making Sanctions Effective was published at the end of 2006 and all the recommendations acepted by Government. Professor Macrory is a barrister and a member of Brick Court Chambers, London. In March 2008 he was made honorary Queen's Counsel.

Lord Woolf of Barnes was called to the Bar in 1955 and became a judge in 1979, rising to become a law lord in 1992, Master of the Rolls (1996–2000) and Lord Chief Justice (2000–2005). As Lord Chief Justice he was an outspoken advocate of penal reform, the importance of rehabilitation and spare use of custody. In 1990 his “Strangeways Report” into the British Prison System for the Government is still regarded as a blue print for a secure, efficient and humane rehabilitative Prison System. The Woolf reforms, which sought to make litigation more accessible and less expensive, have had a profound impact on civil justice since they were introduced in 1999.

Barbara Young was Chief Executive of the Environment Agency from 2000 to 2008 and Chair of the Care Quality Commission until February 2010. Before that she was Chairman of English Nature and Vice Chairman of the BBC. From 1990 to 1998, she held the post of Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Barbara Young is a Life Peer in the House of Lords (cross-benches), a Trustee of the Institute for Public Policy Research and a Patron of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management. She has been President, British Trust for Ornithology since 2005; is a Vice President of the RSPB, Birdlife International, Plantlife and Flora and Fauna International and President of Wildlife Trust (Cams, Beds, Northants, Peterborough).

The late Lord Slynn was President of UKELA until 2007. He died in April 2009.
He was a barrister, arbitrator and accredited mediator. He had a distinguished national and international career.