Board of Trustees

Kate Cook is a barrister at Matrix Chambers. She specialises in environmental law and public international law. Before joining Matrix she worked as a legal adviser to the UK Department of the Environment. She has experience in international environmental negotiations and argued cases in the International Court of Justice.

Richard Dyton is the Pro Bono Partner at Simmons & Simmons. He has been a solicitor for over 20 years, trustee of several other charities and the co-chair of LRI.

Anne Miller, the other co-chair, is the director of The Creativity Partnership, Cambridge. She has been leading teams developing innovative products for over 20 years and registered 39 patents for a range of products. She is the author of “How to get your ideas adopted (and change the world)”.

Matthew Morton is a Counsel at Weil, Gotshal & Manges where his practice focuses primarily on environmental aspects of complex business transactions. He is a US attorney based in Washington.

Nicola Mwase-Vuma is the Finance and Operations Director at Media Defence and LRI treasurer. She is a chartered accountant with several years of experience in the not-for-profit sector in the UK and Malawi.

Seth Osafo is a consultant to the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), UNEP and the African Development Bank. He is the legal advisor to the African Group of Negotiators in the UN climate negotiations. Previously, he was the senior legal adviser to the UNFCCC secretariat and Head of the Legal Division of the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary General for the Future Status of Kosovo.

Joss Saunders is the General Counsel of Oxfam-GB and one of the LRI founding members. He has been a solicitor for over 20 years and previously worked in Uganda and in Eastern Europe.

Birsha Ohdedar is a Lecturer in Environmental and Climate Change Law at SOAS, University of London. He is also the Deputy Director of the SOAS Law, Environment and Development Centre. Birsha’s work focuses on environmental and climate justice, human rights, and water, with a regional focus on South Asia. 

Jannis Bille is an Associate within Herbert Smith Freehills’ corporate energy practice. He specialises on ESG and climate change matters, as well as energy regulation and renewable energy M&A.

Dr. Alina Averchenkova is a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and a visiting Senior Fellow at the Royal Elcano Institute. Alina’s current work focuses on the analysis of experiences with climate change governance and legislation around the world and capacity building and advisory to governments, parliaments, and international organisations on these issues. Alina holds a PhD in Economics and International Development from the University of Bath. 

Team

Pascale Bird is LRI’s Director and leads the organisation’s climate negotiation support work. She is a qualified solicitor who has worked at Simmons & Simmons and previously project managed a climate litigation book.

Olivia Tattarletti coordinates LRI’s legislation and capacity building work. She is a qualified solicitor in England and Wales who previously worked in litigation and human rights.

Jyoti Shrestha is the Communications and Project Support Officer at LRI. As an accomplished communications expert, she has spent almost a decade working within the nonprofit sector. Jyoti has previous experience working as a communications professional for WWF Nepal, specifically on projects related to combatting climate change.

Monserrat Madariaga is a Legal Consultant at LRI and a qualified lawyer from Chile with substantial expertise in environmental law and climate negotiations. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD at University College London, with a primary focus on international negotiations and the evolution of national climate change law and governance.

Photo: Monserrat Madariaga