🔍Using requests for information to hold governments to account on pollution and nature
The News Building, London, SE1 9GF
Thursday 4th June 2026
Legal Voices for the Future presents our June 2026 Knowledge Session on 🔍Using requests for information to hold governments to account on pollution and nature🔍, led by Nia Simeonova, a reporter covering carbon markets and biodiversity for OPIS, A Dow Jones Company.
This session will examine the legal framework behind the ‘right to know’, otherwise known as ‘freedom of information’, regarding the conduct of public bodies. We will explore how this framework can be used to uncover vital information about the state of the environment in the UK and beyond, and hold the government and other actors accountable for their actions on environmental matters.
Join us in person at The News Building at 1 London Bridge St, London SE1 9GF or online (joining link below👇) on Thursday, 04 June, 2026 at 18:30 BST.
❗Please note, if attending in person, a photo ID will be required to access the venue for security reasons. Upon entry into the building, you will be guided to the event space by building staff.
Presentation
The session will open with an introduction from Andy Critchlow, the new Head of Energy News at Dow Jones, followed by Nia providing a brief overview of the freedom of information regime, and some practical examples of how it can be used to obtain valuable environmental information.
Panel Interview
Each of our monthly knowledge sessions will include a panel discussion with guest experts who will bring the topic of the presentation to life. For this session, we will be joined by a diverse panel of leading legal professionals and journalists, who will share success stories and recent cases, the legal intricacies behind successful information requests, and personal career journeys. The experts for this session are:
Each of our monthly knowledge sessions will include a small group discussion of ‘creative content’ related to the material discussed. This allows participants to reflect on the material in an engaging and collaborative way.
The creative content for this session will be the short philosophical story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, which can be accessed by clicking here. This powerful thought experiment touches on some of the topics which will be covered by the session, including the concept of knowledge hiding in plain sight and what to do with it. We look forward to what we think will be a thrilling small group discussion!
Join us online
Please join us using the link below:
https://newscorp.zoom.us/j/93341431212?pwd=5Z58IamswEP00H5xGb9RQAs1bRDqaj.1
Meeting ID: 933 4143 1212
Passcode: 217501
About Legal Voices for the Future
Legal Voices for the Future is a collaborative knowledge-sharing forum established by young practitioners from different fields of law, whose objective is to give voice to a new generation of lawyers. We do so by holding monthly knowledge sessions open to everyone - lawyers and non-lawyers alike. In order to bring fresh perspective, innovation and determination to pressing global issues such as climate change, each session is organised and led by a different member of Legal Voices for the Future.
Learn more about us on this website:
https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/climate-change/legal-voices-for-the-future
Follow us on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/legal-voices-for-the-future
Would you like to support our work?
We accept small donations via our fundraising page that we use to rent venues and provide catering for our events: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/legalvoices
We rely on donations from the LVF community to support our small operations costs, including subscriptions for our communication and data storage software, as well as maintaining our website. We’d also like to fundraise for other costs, including:
Your data
By signing up for a ticket to this event, you consent to us collecting and processing your personal data for the purposes in our Privacy Notice (accessible at https://legalvoicesforthefuture.co.uk/privacy-policy/).
This session will examine the legal framework behind the ‘right to know’, otherwise known as ‘freedom of information’, regarding the conduct of public bodies. We will explore how this framework can be used to uncover vital information about the state of the environment in the UK and beyond, and hold the government and other actors accountable for their actions on environmental matters.
Join us in person at The News Building at 1 London Bridge St, London SE1 9GF or online (joining link below👇) on Thursday, 04 June, 2026 at 18:30 BST.
❗Please note, if attending in person, a photo ID will be required to access the venue for security reasons. Upon entry into the building, you will be guided to the event space by building staff.
Presentation
The session will open with an introduction from Andy Critchlow, the new Head of Energy News at Dow Jones, followed by Nia providing a brief overview of the freedom of information regime, and some practical examples of how it can be used to obtain valuable environmental information.
Panel Interview
Each of our monthly knowledge sessions will include a panel discussion with guest experts who will bring the topic of the presentation to life. For this session, we will be joined by a diverse panel of leading legal professionals and journalists, who will share success stories and recent cases, the legal intricacies behind successful information requests, and personal career journeys. The experts for this session are:
- Ruth Chambers – Senior Fellow at Green Alliance
- Alex Shattock – Barrister at Landmark Chambers, specialising in public interest litigation
- Yusuf Khan – Reporter covering sustainability at The Wall Street Journal
Each of our monthly knowledge sessions will include a small group discussion of ‘creative content’ related to the material discussed. This allows participants to reflect on the material in an engaging and collaborative way.
The creative content for this session will be the short philosophical story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, which can be accessed by clicking here. This powerful thought experiment touches on some of the topics which will be covered by the session, including the concept of knowledge hiding in plain sight and what to do with it. We look forward to what we think will be a thrilling small group discussion!
Join us online
Please join us using the link below:
https://newscorp.zoom.us/j/93341431212?pwd=5Z58IamswEP00H5xGb9RQAs1bRDqaj.1
Meeting ID: 933 4143 1212
Passcode: 217501
About Legal Voices for the Future
Legal Voices for the Future is a collaborative knowledge-sharing forum established by young practitioners from different fields of law, whose objective is to give voice to a new generation of lawyers. We do so by holding monthly knowledge sessions open to everyone - lawyers and non-lawyers alike. In order to bring fresh perspective, innovation and determination to pressing global issues such as climate change, each session is organised and led by a different member of Legal Voices for the Future.
Learn more about us on this website:
https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/climate-change/legal-voices-for-the-future
Follow us on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/legal-voices-for-the-future
Would you like to support our work?
We accept small donations via our fundraising page that we use to rent venues and provide catering for our events: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/legalvoices
We rely on donations from the LVF community to support our small operations costs, including subscriptions for our communication and data storage software, as well as maintaining our website. We’d also like to fundraise for other costs, including:
- Extraneous costs associated with venue bookings and venue catering;
- Small thank-you gifts for session leaders, panel speakers and facilitators who so generously dedicate their time to making our events as great as they are;
- Subsidising the cost of paid events, such as our annual field trip, for LVF members who may not otherwise be able to attend.
Your data
By signing up for a ticket to this event, you consent to us collecting and processing your personal data for the purposes in our Privacy Notice (accessible at https://legalvoicesforthefuture.co.uk/privacy-policy/).
