What the Pandemic Can Teach Climate Attorneys

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused more rapid changes to the law than most of us have seen in our lifetimes. As many have argued, climate change is also a dire emergency, requiring an equally sweeping legal response. Unlike COVID-19, however, the climate crisis will not manifest as one swift, simple, time-limited threat that might generate immediate consensus. This Essay explains why, on a practical level, COVID-19 and climate are intertwined.

It argues that climate attorneys should focus on coronavirus lawsuits, which could be more consequential to climate progress than recent executive or legislative action.