JACK GARNER

Professor Jack Garner was a leading environmental lawyer and one of our founder members. He gave one of two introductory addresses (with the late Andrew Lees) at our opening conference in September 1986. He is remembered every year at the Garner Lecture, which is one of the leading events in the Environmental Law calendar. The first Garner lecture in 1987 was given by Lord Nathan, who went on to become our first President. The Lord Nathan Memorial Fund for the Environment raises money to help maintain and update our public information website, Law and Your Environment.

2020 - Judy Ling Wong CBE  We were thrilled that Judy Ling Wong CBE, Honorary President of the Black Environment Network agreed to speak this year.  Her lecture brought to life the theme of diversity and inclusion in environmental law.  Judy Ling Wong, painter, poet and environmentalist is best known as the Honorary President of Black Environment Network  (BEN). She was a Founder of the National Park City Foundation and instrumental in conceptualizing London National Park City. She was awarded an OBE for pioneering multicultural environmental participation in 2000, and a CBE for services to heritage in 2007. Judy was introduced by our Patron, Maria Adebowale-Schwarte and the event was kindly sponsored by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. 

2019 - Baroness Brown of Cambridge We were privileged to welcome Baroness Brown of Cambridge DBE FREng FRS, Julia King, as our speaker in 2019. Baroness Brown is an engineer, who has held senior engineering and leadership roles in industry and universities. She is currently: Vice Chair of the Committee on Climate Change and Chair of the Adaptation Committee; NED of the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult; Chair of the Carbon Trust. She was non-executive director of the Green Investment Bank, and she led the King Review on decarbonising transport (2008) for the Chancellor of the Exchequer. She is the Sector Champion for the Offshore Wind Sector Deal, part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy. Baroness Brown sits as a crossbench Peer, a member of the House of Lords European Union Select Committee.  Members can watch a recording of the lecture on the members' only page under the events tab (sign in to access).

2018 - Advocate General Dr Juliane Kokott - Court of Justice of the EU We were delighted to welcome Advocate General Dr Juliane Kokott from the Court of Justice of the European Union. The theme of the lecture was “The Contribution of the case law of the CJEU to the Development of Environmental Protection in the UK”.  Dr Kokott's lecture

2017 - Julie Hirigoyen, CEO UK Green Building Council We were pleased to hear from Julie Hirigoyen, CEO of the UK Green Building Council. The evening was chaired by UKELA Patron, Maira Adebowale-Schwarte. The theme of Julie's lecture was: "The role of law in ensuring that our built environment protects and enhances our natural environment".

Julie Hirigoyen's lecture

2016- Pamela Castle OBE This year's lecture was on 16 November at Freshfields in London. We were delighted to welcome former Chair of UKELA and founder of Castle Debates, Pamela Castle OBE as our speaker. The title of her lecture was: ‘Environmental Science, Law and Policy – challenges and opportunities.’ We were also very pleased to welcome Bishop James Jones as Chair for the evening. As well as our audience in London, we welcomed audiences from around the UK who watched via weblink.

Pamela Castle's lecture

2015 - James Thornton, CEO ClientEarth We were delighted to welcome James Thornton to give the 2015 Garner lecture. He spoke to a full house at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, London on Can we Catch-Up? How the UK is falling behind on Environmental Law. We also welcomed delegates from around the UK watching via webcast from Dingwall in Scotland to Plymouth in South West England and all places in between.

James Thornton's lecture

If you are interested in lectures from an earlier time period, please get in touch or take a look at our Reading Room.