Adam Woodhall, founder of Lawyers for Net Zero and winner of the LexisNexis Legal Personality of the Year 2023 award, explores his motivations and highlights the opportunities for the legal sector to help drive the climate transition
What was your route into the profession?
After spending 15 years working to deliver climate action via business, I realised that the legal sector, particularly in-house, was an unrealised opportunity for driving meaningful momentum.
What has been your biggest career challenge so far?
In early 2021, when I first had the idea to focus on general counsel and their teams, I didn’t know any in-house lawyers, and had zero resources. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have a few contacts who could introduce me to influential GCs. That, along with utilising my LinkedIn network, meant I was fortunate to have some fantastic individuals, such as the UK GCs of E.ON and Nestle, become early supporters of our initiative. In their footsteps have followed the global GCs of organisations such as Rolls-Royce, Centrica, National Grid, Specsavers and WPP, all of whom are currently participants in our Leaders Programme.
Which person within the legal profession inspires you most?
Dana Denis-Smith, CEO of Obelisk Support, and the founder of First 100 Years, is amazing and appears to have limitless energy as a tireless campaigner, working to promote the role of women in the legal sector. Unsurprisingly, I found out she’s also a previous winner of the ‘Legal Personality of the Year’ award.
If you weren’t in the legal sector, what would you choose as an alternate career?
I probably would be a dance choreographer. I used to dance around the living room to Top of the Pops in the early 1980s… and my mum said that I should go to dance class. Unlike Billy Elliot, I thought only girls did that, so gave up on my dance career pretty early. I still often choregraph dance moves in my head when I’m listening to music I enjoy.
Who is your favourite fictional lawyer?
It’s the Tom Cruise character in A Few Good Men: his commitment, intelligence and boldness is inspiring. The famous climatic scene where he challenges the Jack Nicholson character, who responds by saying ‘You can’t handle the truth!’, reminds me of society’s attitude to the climate and ecological crises.
What change would you make to the profession?
The legal profession has a fantastic opportunity to help drive the climate transition and help deliver legitimate net zero. There are so many ways that lawyers can be part of this. Those in private practice, for example, can look at The Chancery Lane Project, and apply the multitude of contract clauses and related activities and help to create more using their pro bono time.
For GCs and their teams, there is Lawyers for Net Zero ‘Leaders Programme’, a peer-to-peer process which built around our ‘Net Zero Action Principles’ guidance, which enables participants to build upon their position as corporate leaders.
How do you relax?
I still love dancing, particularly contact improvisation, which is a beautiful form of contemporary dance. When dancing in this form, it takes me to another place, and for a moment, I forget my mission to be part of the societal transformation that retains a livable planet for all, and I’m connecting with something that humans have been expressing since before history—a connection with the sublime.
