The Enviro Legal Defence Firm (ELDF) has been in existence for 8 years, providing high quality, research, consultancy and advocacy on environmental and development issues. From our experience over the last few years, we feel that the current needs and opportunities require us to make a step change in the structure and role of the organization. In particular, we feel much of today’s research does not clearly identify the environmental issue it wishes to address or provide clear steps to its solution. Many of the cases, which come to us, are last minute, badly prepared or unfocused. We would wish therefore to be more proactive in our research, policy work, and training, whilst being more strategic in our litigation.
The Foundation
The ELDF made a decision to set up a foundation about three years ago. The Environmental Law and Development Foundation (henceforth known as the Foundation) would take on what is now the core work of the law firm, leaving the law firm free to focus on legal consultancy and litigation. Ideally every aspect of environmental law should be addressed by one organization but in India and particularly the Bar Council has a peculiar position for practitioners. An advocate cannot work for charity as an integral part of it and draw sustenance. A salaried employee of a trust or a society is thus barred from practicing as an Advocate under the Bar Council Rules. This technicality thus necessitates the creation of two institutions –one which is charitable and which can be proactive and the other being a law firm. It is precisely for this reason that the Foundation was created. The Foundation would therefore become the research and training arm of the organization, whilst the law firm would pursue issues through litigation, either through victim-lead cases or public interest litigation. It is believed that the existence of both organizations would be highly beneficial in addressing environmental challenges in India for the reasons mentioned above. The research could feed the litigation, whilst the litigation could feed the research-a system of praxis. Correspondingly, we have a number of conceptual ideas of activities that could be taken up by the Foundation for which there may not be ready “clients” through the law firm approach.
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The Enviro Legal Defence Firm (ELDF) has been in existence for 8 years, providing high quality, research, consultancy and advocacy on environmental and development issues. From our experience over the last few years, we feel that the current needs and opportunities require us to make a step change in the structure and role of the organization. In particular, we feel much of today’s research does not clearly identify the environmental issue it wishes to address or provide clear steps to its solution. Many of the cases, which come to us, are last minute, badly prepared or unfocused. We would wish therefore to be more proactive in our research, policy work, and training, whilst being more strategic in our litigation.
The Foundation
The ELDF made a decision to set up a foundation about three years ago. The Environmental Law and Development Foundation (henceforth known as the Foundation) would take on what is now the core work of the law firm, leaving the law firm free to focus on legal consultancy and litigation. Ideally every aspect of environmental law should be addressed by one organization but in India and particularly the Bar Council has a peculiar position for practitioners. An advocate cannot work for charity as an integral part of it and draw sustenance. A salaried employee of a trust or a society is thus barred from practicing as an Advocate under the Bar Council Rules. This technicality thus necessitates the creation of two institutions –one which is charitable and which can be proactive and the other being a law firm. It is precisely for this reason that the Foundation was created. The Foundation would therefore become the research and training arm of the organization, whilst the law firm would pursue issues through litigation, either through victim-lead cases or public interest litigation. It is believed that the existence of both organizations would be highly beneficial in addressing environmental challenges in India for the reasons mentioned above. The research could feed the litigation, whilst the litigation could feed the research-a system of praxis. Correspondingly, we have a number of conceptual ideas of activities that could be taken up by the Foundation for which there may not be ready “clients” through the law firm approach.