Event Report 2026

The Legal 500 ESG summit returned to London on 2 July to reflect and look ahead to another critical year in the sustainability space. Opening the day, Legal 500’s Harry Hyde welcomed the sponsors, speakers, and delegates and spoke of the continued importance of everyone in the room continuing to be green ambassadors in their own spheres. 

Philippa Hann, CEO of Paradigm Norton Financial Planning, kicked off the day with a keynote speech focusing on speaking up when it matters most. Hann reflected on the importance of ethics, sustainability, and purpose within organisations and how general counsel can beat out naysaying dynamics in order to ensure ESG gains its rightful place at the corporate table. Drawing on Hann’s insights and experience, the session saw delegates discuss among themselves the meaning of ethics and sustainability and how they can become part of a positive organisational culture. 

For the first panel of the day, Sarah Walker, partner at Travers Smith, led a session on the intersection between AI and sustainability. The discussion focused on how sustainability and AI could become complementary, reflecting on the importance of the just transition, meaningful digital upskilling, and responsible innovation. Walker was joined by Oliver Light, principal director and sustainability lead for private equity and real estate, at Accenture UK&I; Chantal Beaudoin, head of ESG at Knight Frank Investment Management; and Georgina Becker, human-centric responsible AI consultant at Kainos. 

The delegates then broke out into three roundtable sessions which took a closer look at some key practical ESG considerations. 

Dentons partners Helen Bowdren and Alexander McGregor led a session focused on ESG and crisis management. Reflecting on regulator scrutiny, stakeholder activism, and business disruption, the session saw delegates strategise with the hosts on how in-house legal teams can identify, manage, and effectively respond to ESG crises, placing an emphasis on brand protection, litigation avoidance, and supply chain risk management. 

Travers Smith partners Sarah-Jane Denton and Richard Brown reflected on the dual pressures of geopolitical uncertainty and the green transition and looked at the drivers of, and solutions to, the energy transition and security dilemma. The hosts and delegates worked to untangle the regulatory framework, identified the impactful low-carbon solutions open to businesses, and posed strategies to overcome the challenges within implementing transition plans. 

Ben Stansfield, sustainability partner at Gowling WLG sat down with George Pawley, general counsel at Oxygen Conservation, to lead a discussion on how in-house counsel can build a sustainability-aligned legal function from the ground-up. The session focused on growing businesses, particularly within the emerging carbon and nature markets, and discussed best practice in scaling-up teams, navigating disclosure requirements, and managing supply chain and green claims risk. 

After the breakout sessions, delegates convened again for the second panel of the day, where in-house experts Lisa Lischak, general counsel at Nexora; Punam Mehta, group general counsel at Longevity Partners; and James Thorne, associate general counsel at Associated British Foods discussed how their engagement with sustainability is changing and how legal leaders can move from ESG ambition to authenticity. Moderated by Legal 500’s Harry Hyde, the panel explored how in-house counsel can maintain sustainability gains while mitigating the increasing reputational and supply chain risks. 

For the last panel of the day, Dentons’ Felicity Ewing took to the stage to lead a discussion into the ever-changing ESG risk landscape, its impact on liability and litigation, and what this means for corporates and their in-house teams. Joining Ewing for a vital horizon-scan of key regulatory and litigation developments as well as the sustainability and climate risk landscape were Penny Cygan-Jones, ESG and sustainability lead for group legal at DNV; Adam Heppinstall KC, barrister at Henderson Chambers; and Dentons partners Helen Bowdren and Alexander McGregor. 

To close out the day, Legal 500’s Harry Hyde returned to the stage for his closing remarks, which reflected on how the ESG space continues to bring together diverse expertise, with legal leaders making the most of the risk landscape and green opportunities to help build resilient, purposeful, and future-ready businesses. 

The day ended as delegates joined for a drinks reception, sharing their successes and expectations for the next year of ESG action.