CLIENTEARTH - Key Persons

Adam Weiss

Job Titles:

Programme Director for Europe
Regional Director of Programmes, Europe

As Programme Director for Europe, Adam is accountable for ClientEarth's programmatic activity in Europe and for delivering against the organisation's intended impact in the region. Adam also sits on ClientEarth's staff Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee and on the Operations Management Group. Adam tries to bring his background in human rights and anti-discrimination to all the work he does. Experience Adam previously managed the legal practice at two NGOs: the European Roma Rights Centre and, before that, the AIRE Centre. He defended victims of human rights violations throughout Europe, particularly migrants and ethnic minorities. He has litigated before the European Court of Human Rights, UN treaty bodies, and national courts in twenty countries across Europe. Adam is currently on the board of two NGOs: the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (Belgium) and Focus on Labour Exploitation (UK). Education Adam holds an LLM from King's College (University of London) and a JD from Columbia Law School (New York). He is a member of the New York State bar. Before studying law, he received a diplôme d'études approfondies (Master of Advanced Study) from the University of Paris-IV (La Sorbonne), specialising in 18 th-century French literature. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University in history and literature. He speaks English, French, Spanish, Hungarian, and some Dutch.

Amy Rose

Job Titles:

Director of Litigation, Compliance & MEL / Legal Director
Member of the Senior Management
Member of the State Bars of California

Amy specialises in strategic impact litigation and oversees the strategy and management of ClientEarth's diverse and growing litigation portfolio. She focuses on supporting our legal teams to bring a wide range of climate and environmental cases across Europe and around the world. Amy also manages ClientEarth's organisational Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning framework, and sits on the Risk and Compliance Committee, ensuring compliance with ethical and practice of the law obligations of ClientEarth lawyers licensed in over 15 countries. Amy is a member of the Senior Management team, Operational Management Team and Programme Management Group, and provides organisational and programme-specific input and direction. Experience Before joining ClientEarth, Amy was the Head of Litigation at Altisource Portfolio Solutions in Luxembourg, where she managed a large and diverse portfolio of multinational cases. Prior to moving to Europe, Amy worked as a general commercial litigator at the global law firm of Squire Sanders (now Squire Patton Boggs) in San Francisco, California. Education Amy graduated with honors from Boston College with a degree in political science and international relations, and received her Juris Doctor from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Amy is member of the state bars of California and Oregon. She is in the process of completing the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme to become qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales, and is also preparing to sit the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test in Ireland. Amy is working on

Anaïs Berthier

Job Titles:

Head of ClientEarth 's Brussels Office

Anaïs Berthier is a Senior Lawyer and Head of ClientEarth's Brussels office. She provides strategic direction, coordination and oversight of our work engaging with the EU institutions and other vital stakeholders. Experience Anaïs has worked for law firms in France and in Belgium, including Huglo-Lepage & Associés, handling issues on a wide range of European law matters including waste, chemicals (including on the REACH Regulation), facilities' permits, environmental liability and climate change. Before moving to Brussels, she worked as a lawyer for the French Ministry of the Environment, where she focused on Kyoto Protocol and World Trade Organisation (WTO) issues. Before becoming Head of EU Affairs at ClientEarth she led our work on strengthening the rule of law. This included ensuring the implementation and enforcement of the procedural rights provided by the Aarhus Convention: access to information, public participation in decision-making process and access to justice in environmental matters. Education She holds degrees in International and European law from French and British universities. She was admitted at the French bar in 2005.

Anne Friel

Job Titles:

Lawyer / Juriste, Environmental Democracy Lead

Anne Friel joined ClientEarth's Brussels office in February 2015. Her work focuses on enforcing access to information and justice rights at EU level. Experience Anne previously practiced EU competition, trade and public procurement law in the Brussels offices of White & Case and Philip Lee Solicitors until 2011, when she joined the European think tank, Migration Policy Group, to work on responsible public procurement. Education Anne has a first class degree in Scots law from the University of Glasgow and a masters in EU law from the College of Europe in Bruges. She qualified as a solicitor in Scotland in 2008 (not currently practising as a solicitor). Democracy is vital to protecting our health and the environment. Without it, individuals are unable to make informed consumer and political choices and hold decision-makers to account. Our work on the Aarhus Convention helps individuals do just that by ensuring wide access to environmental information and the ability to participate in and challenge decisions. With these tools, citizens can change the policies and corporate practices that are harming our environment and health. Anne is working on:

Bianca Vergnaud

Job Titles:

Senior Strategic Communications Officer

Bianca joined our Brussels office in 2017 working for the Strategic Communications team. She focuses on communicating the work our legal teams and partners carry out across Europe. Experience Before joining ClientEarth, Bianca worked as a Communications Assistant for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Brussels, Belgium. There, she worked with partners from across Europe to communicate on the protection and conservation of habitats and wildlife. Education Bianca graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Geoscience from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland before obtaining a Masters of Science in Oceanography from the University of Southampton, England. She is fluent in both English and French.

Boya Jiang

Job Titles:

Nature and Climate Lawyer, China Office

Boya Jiang joined ClientEarth China office in September 2019 after she graduated from the University of Oxford. She is based in our Beijing Office. Before joining ClientEarth, Boya has done multiple internships in courts at different levels and at Dentons law firm. Boya has done a lot of research work in many areas of laws including environmental law, maritime law, constitutional law and human rights law. She has published several papers and done much pro bono work. Boya holds a Magister Juris degree in law and a Bachelor of Laws prior to that.

Brian Rohan

Job Titles:

Regional Head of Programme for Africa & South America
Regional Head of Programmes for Africa and South America

Brian is ClientEarth's Regional Head of Programme for Africa & South America. In this role he is accountable for designing engagement in these geographies and delivering against the organisation's intended impact there. Experience Brian joined ClientEarth after having lived in Cambodia since 2003. In Cambodia, he headed a start-up initiative linking private investment, conservation management and local livelihoods, served as advisor on land rights, natural resources governance and community livelihoods issues, and managed the Ministry of Environment's process to create Cambodia's Environmental Code. Prior to Cambodia, Brian worked with the American Bar Association in Washington, D.C., during which time he launched the ABA's environmental governance programming in China. Brian has also lived and worked in Uganda, Moldova and Ukraine, and began his legal career as a Superfund lawyer with the U.S. EPA. Education He graduated from New York University School of Law in 1990 and is admitted to practice law in New York State.

Chris Duncan - CCO

Job Titles:

Director of Communications
Global Director of Communications

Chris Duncan joined ClientEarth as Director of Communications in July 2018, having worked in communications, marketing and public affairs across a range of sectors for more than 15 years. Chris started his career delivering communications and marketing projects for an organisation that helped long-term unemployed people in the UK to get back into work. That was followed by a stint in the financial sector, where he worked with the UK's major financial institutions on communications initiatives to promote Chip & PIN, contactless payments and online fraud prevention. Before joining ClientEarth, Chris was Global Communications Director at Marie Stopes International, a charity that provides reproductive healthcare to women living in under-served communities across 37 countries, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

Chris Kaneb

Job Titles:

Vice Chair, North America Board

Cory Edelman

Job Titles:

North America Board Member

Csaba Kiss

Job Titles:

Coordinator of the Justice & Environment

Csaba Kiss is also the Coordinator of the Justice & Environment network of public interest environmental law organisations based in the EU, producing legal analyses, case studies, policy papers and strategic complaints in environmental legal issues in the respective member states.

Diane Vandesmet

Job Titles:

Events and Communications Officer
Strategic Communications Officer

Diane Vandesmet joined ClientEarth in November 2017 as Events and Communications officer. She is based in our Brussels office. Before joining ClientEarth, Diane worked for five years in China as a broadcast journalist and communications manager for an international business organisation. After a Master's degree in European Politics from Sciences Po Grenoble, she also worked for the French ministry for the Environment and in a Brussels based lobbying organisation. Here I feel I have a very fulfilling mission: strengthen the voice of the Earth advocates. That is why I joined ClientEarth and its team of passionate lawyers and experts. Diane is working on

Dimitri de Boer

Job Titles:

Regional Director of Programmes for Asia

As Regional Director of Programmes for Asia, Dimitri is accountable for ClientEarth's programmatic activity in Asia and for delivering against the organisation's intended impact in the region. Dimitri is one of China's most prominent environmental cooperation experts. He previously led the EU - China Environmental Governance Programme, a flagship EU-funded cooperation with China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, which promoted access to information, public participation, and access to justice from 2010 to 2015. When the EU Programme came to a successful close, Dimitri joined ClientEarth and started its China office. He quickly built relations and cooperation activities with China's Supreme People's Court and Ministry of Environmental Protection. Experience Before joining ClientEarth, Dimitri worked as senior adviser on environment and climate change for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in China for 12 years. He also worked as consultant for the World Bank, European Union, and the Chinese government. Dimitri volunteers as vice-chairman of the Board of China Carbon Forum, an independent platform which aims to foster trust and cooperation among China's stakeholders for climate action. Education Dimitri studied Chinese language in Beijing, speaks good Thai, and holds a Masters of Business Administration with Distinction marks (top 2%) from Edinburgh Business School. He has been awarded a special foreign expert permit by the Chinese government for outstanding contributions to environmental protection.

Elspeth Jones

Job Titles:

Member of the Executive Team
Interim Deputy Chief Executive

Elspeth works closely with the Chief Executive, Board of Trustees and the Senior Leadership Team to set organisational strategy, ensure that key organisational priorities are identified, driven forward and delivered, to horizon scan and to anticipate issues that need to be planned for and dealt with to ensure the smooth and efficient running of the organisation as a whole. Elspeth joined ClientEarth in 2014 to develop our strategic litigation programme and has worked on wide range of projects and programmes across the organisation since. Experience Before joining ClientEarth Elspeth practiced at the commercial bar in London, specialising in commercial contracts, shipping, insurance, construction and international arbitration, and regularly appearing in court. Elspeth has also worked as the Executive Director of the climate change and tropical forests charity Size of Wales, and spent four years as a trustee and then Vice-Chair of the Sumatran Orangutan Society. Education Elspeth has undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in law from the University of Oxford and is a barrister qualified to practice in England and Wales. She is also a fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce). She was nominated for a fellowship in 2020 for her "unwavering commitment to promoting environmentalism, using legal expertise to protect the planet and defend tropical forests."