CLM appoints new Environmental Justice Solicitor

We are delighted to welcome our new Environmental Justice solicitor, Rebecca Keatinge, to the team here at CLM.

Rebecca will play a key role in the establishment of CLM`s Centre for Environmental Justice and will embark on a range of projects in the coming months, focused on engaging marginalised communities in relation to their environmental rights.

Rebecca has extensive experience in human rights law. Most recently, she was Managing Solicitor at Mercy Law Resource Centre; she has also worked in the immigration and asylum field, including working with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Cambodia.  She is a member of the Public Interest Law Alliance (PILA).

CLM, established in Coolock in 1975, currently assists more than 3,000 people each year through free legal advice, advocacy, mediation and community education services. Many of the issues faced by the communities we work with, such as energy poverty, housing, health and workers` rights issues are inextricably linked with our environment and our changing climate. People who are most disadvantaged or marginalised – whether it’s because of income, age, disability or education – have the fewest choices about where and how they live and are the least able to respond to challenges of climate change.

In the initial months, the Centre`s focus will be on capacity building in the community, through work with the Irish Local Development Network and other organisations; and on research and collection of data on how certain groups in our society are impacted by the environment and our changing climate. It will also run a free legal advice clinic on environmental matters.

Welcome Rebecca!