Inside Legal ESG / Law Students for Climate Accountablity - with Haley Czarnek and Martha Agudelo Cordoba
April 17, 2025
AUTHOR Shana English
Empowering Future Attorneys: Insights from Law Students for Climate Accountability
In this episode of the Inside Legal ESG podcast series, Pam Cone speaks with Haley Czarnek, National Director of Law Students for Climate Accountability along with Martha Agudelo Cordoba, International Director of Law Students for Climate Accountability. They share why and when the organization was founded and give a highlight on their most recent research.
They will be sharing more about their most recent report at the upcoming Legal ESG Toronto event on May 7. You can still register here: https://www.insidepractice.com/legal-esg-toronto
There are moments in the evolution of business where two previously distinct domains collide with such force that they reshape the operating landscape for an entire generation of leaders. The convergence of geopolitics and ESG is one of those moments.
For the past several years, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria represented a clear, forward-moving consensus. That consensus has fractured. We have entered "The ESG Reset" - a fundamental reframing of the landscape driven by a potent mix of political whiplash, volatile investor sentiment, and persistent geopolitical crises.
The past year has shifted artificial intelligence in the legal sector from a theoretical "what if" to an urgent "what now." The initial excitement of generative AI has given way to the hard, complex realities of implementation, risk, client pressure, and a tangible fear of being left behind. We are no longer just "piloting" AI. We are in a full-scale race to integrate it, govern it, and prove its value.
The legal profession is standing at a new crossroads. Forces that once moved incrementally - client expectations, regulatory shifts, technology adoption, and firm culture are now accelerating in parallel. The cumulative effect is profound: law firms are being asked to reinvent how they serve clients, how they uphold responsibility in society, and how they organise themselves internally.
