The article is authored by Abigail Holt of the Garden Court Chambers Environmental Law & Climate Justice Team for the Hilary Term Issue of The Barrister Magazine.
Abigail Holt has authored the opinion piece ‘Where planetary boundaries and legal boundaries coincide’, writing: “Increasing numbers of lawyers and activists are dealing with the existential angst involved and seeing what legal tools can be deployed to address the changes to human behaviour…”
“For those who are determined to use the law to confront arguably the most urgent “triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution”, 2024 has actually brought glimmers of hope in the UK and overseas.”
Abigail also references the “landmark” climate justice cases of Finch v Surrey County Council and Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz that our Marc Willers KC acted in, as well as the Barbuda Privy Council case Garden Court counsel were instructed in.
Read Abigail’s article in the latest Hilary Term issue.
About Abigail Holt
Abigail Holt has over 25 years of experience focusing mainly on accident, disease, health and medical-related issues. Her caseload concentrates on difficult tort/negligence cases: catastrophic injury and death; personal injury claims for head injuries and clinical negligence; complex industrial diseases, particularly lung disease/asbestos; injury abroad; to human rights claims including for child abuse/neglect. Abigail has been appointed leader of The European Circuit of the Bar for 2025.
The breadth of her experience encompasses difficult Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority Appeals; Court of Protection; Regulation of healthcare professionals (GMC, NMC); inquests; and judicial review of medical/healthcare-related matters.
Abigail has an interest and experience in environmental law and climate justice. Previously, Abigail worked with Paul Clark and Tim Baldwin on the “Zero Hour” Campaign in relation to the cross-party Climate and Ecology Bill, which aims to set concrete steps to implement the Paris Agreement.
Her current practice includes industrial disease work, including asbestos litigation which aims to hold polluters accountable. Asbestos is a form of deadly air pollution which engages the tort rules in relation to the attribution of harm and apportionment. Abigail’s academic background in science, particularly epidemiology, supports her practice in asbestos disease litigation.
She is a Director of the Manchester Law Library and a qualified mediator in the Garden Court Mediation Team.
