The British Office for Environmental Protection - Views from the Inside

About this Event

The Office of Environmental Protection (OEP) was created just over two years ago as a new independent environmental watchdog - critically assessing government progress on achieving its long term environmental goals, and having new legal powers to hold government and other public bodies to account for breaches of duties under environmental law. OEP is among a handful of such bodies in the world, and international organisations are now monitoring its development with interest as a possible model in other jurisdictions.

Richard Macrory and Jamie Sawyer-Merchant will discuss the background to OEP, and its key functions, as well as providing an insight of the work of a lawyer working for the organisation.

The talk will be followed by a drink reception.

About the Speakers

Richard Macrory Hon KC, non-executive director, OEP. Richard is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Law at UCL and helped establish the Centre for Law and the Environment. He was the first chair of the UK Environmental Law Association, and founding editor of the Journal of Environmental Law. In 2021 he was appointed a non-executive director of OEP.

Jamie Sawyer-Merchant, Principal legal officer, OEP. Jamie read law at Cambridge followed by a Masters in Environmental Science and Law at the University of Sydney. She was in the financial markets litigation team at Simmons and Simmons, and before joining OEP last year led the climate change and banking sector work stream at ClientEarth.

Chair: Prof. Eloise Scotford. Eloise is Professor of Environmental Law and Dean of the UCL Faculty of Laws. In 2018-2021, she was REF Lead (UoA18 - Law) and in 2019-2021, she was Vice-Dean (Research) in the UCL Faculty of Laws. Professor Scotford has been a Trustee of the Council of Management of the UK Environmental Law Association and, in 2020-22, she was co-chair of UKELA’s Governance and Devolution Group (formerly Brexit Taskforce).

About the UCL Centre for Law and the Environment

The Centre for Law and Environment was established to provide a focal point for the UCL Faculty of Laws' outstanding expertise and academic strength in the field of the environment and the law. The main goals of the Centre are to advance research and teaching and explore the role of law in meeting contemporary environmental and energy challenges. The Centre is committed to treating domestic law (UK), regional (European Union) and international aspects of environmental law in a comprehensive and integrated manner. This approach is reflected in offerings on the LLM course and the supervision of doctoral students, as well as in the diverse range of research pursued by members of the Centre.

See the activities of the Centre

Photo by Vicky Yu on Unsplash