Wildlife and nature conservation

Leigh Day has decades of experience pursuing wildlife conservation cases, protecting habitats and species in the terrestrial and marine environments.

We specialise in cases concerning the proper implementation of international, EU and domestic environmental law, including:

EU Directives on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)

We also work on cases to protect threatened species from persecution, disturbance and harassment on land and at sea (through, for example, hunting and oil and gas expansion).

Leigh Day can offer legal advice and help you challenge injustice, improve wildlife conditions and review wildlife conservation laws.

Most recently, we have acted for clients challenging:

General Licences for the killing of wild birds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The failure to evaluate the impact of the introduction of some 60 million non-native pheasants into the countryside every year.

Ofwat’s failure to regulate discharges of sewage into rivers.

Permission for the emergency use of neonicotinoids to protect sugar beet crops from aphids.

The grant of licences for bottom trawling and their impact on Marine Protected Areas.