Katherine Nield, UK Clean Air Lawyer for ClientEarth, addressed the struggles facing the UK in delivering an effective air pollution free environment for the fourth and final seminar of this term’s Environmental Law Seminar Series.
Katherine began her presentation with an overview of her objectives as a lawyer with a focus on UK clean air issues and on promoting compliance with European air quality standards. Her company has a role in pushing for environmental reforms through litigation and through the pursuit of an air pollution regulatory framework.
She talked about efforts to minimise the impact and exposure of air pollution and addressed air pollution regulation both at the national and local authority level. She also discussed measures to address air quality laws and their implementation in the UK as well as some of the issues surrounding the implementation of air quality laws and the next steps for the UK in a post-Brexit era.
After the presentation, when participants had an opportunity to ask questions, Katherine spoke further about the role of local authorities in ensuring the implementation of air quality laws and the role that individuals can play in raising awareness of the state of air quality.
At the end of the seminar, Professor Martin Hedemann-Robinson, Professor William Howarth, Professor Elizabeth Hiester and all the participants thanked Katherine for her presentation.
This month’s seminar was organised for LLM students by the student committee comprising LLM students Smera Kumar and Ian Njathi
Environmental law at Kent
Environmental law is a recognised and long-established area of teaching and research expertise at Kent Law School. Academics, including Professor William Howarth and Dr Martin Hedemann-Robinson, are engaged in research across a number of areas of environmental law, with research spanning international, European and national law and policy. The Law School’s Environmental Law Seminar Series has been designed specifically for LLM (Master’s in Law) students with an interest in the environmental law modules offered at Kent.
Kent LLM students can graduate on the International Environmental Law and Policy pathway by (i) opting to study at least three (out of six) modules from those associated with the pathway of their choice and by (ii) focusing the topic of their dissertation on their chosen pathway. Students can also study environmental law in combination with other areas offered by the Law School.
A record of previous talks held as part of the Law School Environmental Law Seminar Series is available on our news blog.