Helping lawyers see the big picture on climate change.

Lawyers look for precision. They examine information through a laser-focused lens, and analyse its impact from multiple angles. Sometimes this means the big picture gets lost. They’re busy too. Their brains are full every day, and for most of the day. 

I know this intimately. I know the level of dedication that drives the profession. I know that in this continued state of busy-ness, unless their instructions anticipate it, it’s unlikely lawyers will step far enough back to see the true big picture. Only when big picture information becomes fundamentally relevant to the needs of their clients, will lawyers use some of their precious time to review it.

In our current environment of fast-evolving changes in regulation, societal expectations and new climate action obligations, that is a dangerous and incomplete state of affairs.

Professional advisers like lawyers and accountants absolutely need big picture information. But that information must be readily accessible and precisely relevant.  

I find that information in places that most lawyers won’t look – like the Ministry for the Environment’s National Climate Change Risk Assessment technical report. My role – and where I can add value – is to wade through reports such as this, find targeted information, interpret it, and deliver it in a way it can be absorbed and used by practitioners when providing legal or business advice.

Because, as a lawyer, I’ve experienced the same challenges, I want to provide precise climate-change information; distilled, well-researched, robust information that is believable and pinpoint relevant.

© Debra Dorrington 2021.