Hodge Jones & Allen welcomes Harrison Grant to expand Environmental Justice team
Leading environmental lawyer Kate Harrison and her colleagues at Harrison Grant have joined forces with Hodge Jones & Allen
The Harrison Grant team joins forces with Hodge Jones & Allen’s Environmental Justice Team to support clients holding the state to account on issues relating to climate change and the environment. This includes acting for clients whose rights or health have been impacted by pollution, NGOs challenging legislation or state actions by judicial review, and environmental campaigners who have been arrested or punished.
Kate Harrison founded Harrison Grant in 2004, a niche law practice providing legal services in environmental planning and public law. She quickly established the firm as a leader in its field, with groundbreaking cases overturning government policy on nuclear power, protecting the marine environment and challenging Heathrow runway 3 in a series of cases –including the first case under the Climate Change and Planning Acts in 2010.
Other successes include defending the need to account for aviation emissions in a case brought by the American airlines at European level and fighting the original plans for HS2 up to the Supreme Court, Harrison Grant advised on protecting Alexandra Palace from development, challenging the Duchy of Cornwall under the habitats environmental information directives, protecting the Cornish river estuaries, challenging entitlements to fishing quota which are unsustainable.
Recent successes include cases challenging the Government’s regulations on oil permits on environmental grounds and overturning permission to develop Manston airport.
Harrison Grant lawyers joining HJA alongside Kate are partners Susan Ring and Alice Goodenough, and solicitor Magdalena Gray.
Harrison Grant’s team will work alongside HJA’s environmental lawyers led by Jocelyn Cockburn who represents Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah (achieving a global first in the second inquest into the death of 9-year old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, after air pollution was ruled as her cause of death). Jocelyn’s team use human rights, public law and criminal law to help people defend their rights and effect change. They help to protect disadvantaged and vulnerable individuals.
The expanded HJA Environmental Justice team will also work closely with leading criminal solicitor, Raj Chada and the HJA Protest Law Team to offer legal advice to environmental protestors, as the role of protest and campaigning proves increasingly vital in combatting climate change. HJA’s protest practice has previously represented high profile environmental campaigners such as Extinction Rebellion and the Heathrow 13.
Commenting on the transfer of her practice, Kate Harrison said: “We are excited to have joined forces with Hodge Jones & Allen, as it enables us to carry out our vital environmental work even more effectively. Our coming together is a winning combination and there has never been a more urgent time to address the consequences of the climate crisis. We want to ensure that our legal expertise is channelled to support environmental legislation and decisions which preserve our global future.
“It is a pleasure to have such a wealth of talent working alongside me, and together we look forward to continuing our fight for justice more powerfully.”
Patrick Allen, Senior Partner, Hodge Jones & Allen said: “I am delighted to welcome Kate, Susan, Alice and Magdalena to Hodge Jones & Allen. Harrison Grant are admired and respected for the leading cases they have handled over the years. The team brings a great wealth of experience and expertise in all types of environmental matters. The issues they deal with could not be more important. Climate change and environmental destruction pose an existential threat to continued life on this planet. HJA with the HG team will use the law to hold the government to account, to preserve our environment, ensure that the UK meets its carbon zero and green growth targets and support campaigners who are fighting on these issues.”