Two of the most notorious fossil fuel-backing law firms just got called out

Lawyers and climate crisis campaigners held law firms that represent planet-wrecking companies to account on Wednesday 13 November. They targeted the headquarters of two of the most notorious firms: A&O Shearman and Akin.

Lawyers against fossil fuels target Akin and A&O Shearman

Lawyers and allies staged a protest outside the London headquarters of legal firms A&O Shearman and Akin, as their staff arrived this morning:

Representatives from a coalition of groups including Lawyers are Responsible and Fossil Free London held portraits of people across the world whose homes and lives have been devastated by floods and fires due to climate breakdown:

Both A&O Shearman and Akin make millions from climate and biodiversity catastrophe by enabling the operations of some of the world’s most polluting and destructive companies.

A&O Shearman: lawyers for fossil fuels

A&O Shearman is the result of a merger earlier in 2024 between Allen and Overy and Shearman Sterling. Prior to its merger, Allen and Ovary conducted £89 billion worth of transactional work between 2018 and 2022 according to LS4CA ‘Carbon Circle’ report. A longstanding client of A&O Shearman is Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, ADNOC, which is currently significantly expanding oil and gas production.

US law firm Akin is well known for its work with the petrochemical industry, boasting on its website that:

For more than 75 years, Akin has empowered U.S. domestic and international oil & gas leaders to fuel the world.

Akin’s commitment to the fossil fuel industry is explicit on various pages of the firm’s website. For example, it says:

Akin is an elite global energy law firm with deep roots in the oil & gas industry. We are extremely well positioned to partner with our clients in creating value and sustainable business models in volatile markets and uncertain political climates.

The firm also has a huge team of more than 75 lawyers specialising in political lobbying, including for the fossil fuel industry. Akin is a member of the International Energy Trading Association (IETA).

Akin and the IETA lobbying link

Global green coalition Kick Big Polluters Out identified the IETA as the biggest fossil fuel lobbyist at last year’s COP 28 in the UAE: the IETA brought 116 people including representatives from Big Polluters Shell, TotalEnergies and Norway’s Equinor.

Akin also attended COP 28. The IETA’s other members include: Chevron, ExxonMobil, Drax, Eni, Shell, BP, and BNP Paribas to name but a few.  Groups like the IETA frustrate attempts at effective global climate action in favour of the fossil fuel industry, and make a mockery of the COP process.

Akin received $7.92m from fossil fuel lobbying for the period 2019-2023 according to Law Students for Climate Accountability Climate Scorecard 2024 report.

Joanna Warrington, campaigner at Fossil Free London said:

Standing outside London’s top legal firms, justice is nowhere to be seen. Lawyers here are raking in millions by defending the corporations wrecking our planet.

They’re not just complicit – they’re profiting from climate disaster while the world’s most vulnerable pay the price.

“Unacceptable”

Melanie Strickland from Lawyers Are Responsible said:

It is unacceptable that these firms are enabling climate and ecological breakdown whilst so many people and other living beings are experiencing the effects of this catastrophe right now.

We lawyers work in a public profession. As lawyers, we are granted professional status on behalf of the public. It is a privilege, and it entails certain responsibilities to uphold the public interest. Yet these firms, A&O Shearman and Akin, operate on the basis of commercialism rather than professionalism, and are aggressively pursuing their clients’ interest at the expense of the planet, our shared home, and everyone else, and massively lining their own pockets in doing so.

We believe that it is possible for lawyers to be part of the solution and we want our fellow professionals in these firms to be part of the solution.

Monika Sobiecki from Lawyers Are Responsible said:

The scientific consensus is clear: to avoid ongoing mass loss of life and other catastrophic harm to human health, and to avert the existential threat to our society, the essential first step is to stop any new fossil fuel projects that expand infrastructure, hence productive capacity, and start to reduce existing fossil fuel infrastructure.

As lawyers, we all value the Rule of Law in ensuring that we have a fair, stable and prosperous society. In a world devastated by climate chaos, there is a serious risk to the Rule of Law. Yet these firms, by continuing to work with fossil fuel companies, are accelerating us further along the path of climate collapse. That must change.

Featured image and additional images via Fossil Free London and Lawyers Are Responsible