New Law Society guidance highlights climate duties for in-house counsel

The guidance is designed for in-house counsel across the public and private sectors in England and Wales and builds on the Law Society's 2023 guidance the impact of climate change on solicitors, which set out solicitors’ core professional duties in the context of climate change.

The new guidance states that in-house solicitors owe the same professional duties to their internal clients as solicitors in private practice owe to external clients. These include a duty of care, duty to warn, duty to disclose, and professional competency, all of which form part of the wider professional ethics framework governing solicitors’ conduct.

The guidance highlights the need for in-house legal teams to understand how climate-related issues could affect their organisations' regulatory compliance, contractual obligations, litigation exposure, reputation and business resilience. It also includes a practical checklist to help legal teams assess and respond to climate-related risks.

Sharon E Smith, a sustainability expert with Pinsent Masons, said: "General counsel and in-house legal teams are often trusted advisers to boards and senior management on legal risks and governance matters. The guidance emphasises how climate change increasingly affects legal risk management and governance and illustrates a number of areas for in-house solicitors to focus on, including compliance with climate and sustainability regulations, transparent climate-related disclosures and reporting, effective board oversight and directors' duties, and mitigating climate, greenwashing and related litigation risks."

While the guidance is not mandatory, it encourages legal teams to build climate considerations into their existing legal and governance functions rather than treating these as standalone issues.

Smith said: "The guidance encourages in-house counsel to develop a broad understanding of climate-related developments, identify where climate risks intersect with their existing responsibilities, and integrate climate considerations into legal risk management, governance frameworks, corporate policies, and all relevant legal matters and advice."

The guidance comes at a time when climate-related legal risks are becoming increasingly prominent for organisations.

Siobhan Cross, climate and sustainability expert at Pinsent Masons, said: "Given the rapidly evolving legal and regulatory landscape, together with increasing stakeholder scrutiny and climate-related litigation, general counsel and in-house legal teams should familiarise themselves with the Law Society's new guidance and consider whether their organisation's governance, risk management and legal processes adequately address climate-related legal risks."