Our story

My Mum likes to joke that I was about two years old when she first said to my Dad – “that one is going to be a lawyer”. I made the decision to be a lawyer aged 14, when my late Grandpa took me to watch a criminal trial at the Old Bailey. About ten years later I joined the White Collar Crime team at one of the biggest law firms in the world, as a fully qualified solicitor.

The next seven years passed in a blur of extraordinary work for a range of brilliant clients, dealing with issues such as bribery, fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and corporate governance. And I loved every minute of it.

However, like so many people my age, over the course of several years the threat of climate change had been growing in my mind. Whilst I felt extraordinarily privileged and grateful to be doing work that I found so stimulating, I increasingly felt concerned that, as matters stood, nothing I was doing in my professional life was making any appreciable difference in relation to climate change; a subject which I found increasingly alarming as I gradually came to learn more about it.

Part of my life plan had always been to take a year away from work to travel and on 1 September 2022 my wife and I landed in Australia to begin a much-needed year away.

As it so often does, travel and distance gave me time to reflect on what I had achieved over the course of my career so far and what I wanted to achieve when I returned to the UK. It quickly became clear to me that, however nervous stepping out of my comfort zone made me feel, I needed to find a way to use the skills that I had, but in the context of climate change – an issue that I was becoming effusively passionate about.

I decided that I needed to go and work at a law firm which practised every area of the law through the lens of climate change. A place where I could supplement my skills as a White Collar Crime lawyer with the knowledge of climate change that I would require to practice my area of the law in a context that I knew would be increasingly relevant to clients. I needed to feel like I was using the power of the law, and working as hard as I was, to be part of the solution.

There was just one problem. The law firm I wanted to work for didn’t exist. That was a tough realisation, and it took several more months of reflection to figure out my next steps.

I knew that I was a lawyer and would probably be one for a very long time. I also knew that I wouldn’t be able to make the impact I wanted in relation to climate change at any of the established firms, none of whom seemed to be taking the issue of climate change as seriously as I believed we must. I realised that it was as Yvon had said. If I had to be a lawyer, I wanted to do it on my terms.

In a firm that I could truly be proud to be a part of. A firm which stood for something bigger than just the profit earned by its partners.

A firm where I would only have to do work which would be good for the planet, for client’s whose values I shared. A firm where I could surround myself with exceptional lawyers, who were as passionate about climate change as I was. A place where our combined legal expertise and passion for the work might spark innovative ideas which I didn’t think would be likely to flow from any less focused an environment.

And that was where the idea of Gen-R Law was born.

Thank you so much for taking an interest in this firm. If you would like to be a part of our story or believe that we could be helpful as part of your own journey to navigate the complexities and opportunities of climate change, we would love to hear from you.

Together, we can help secure a liveable future for Generation-R and For Tomorrow.