Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) - Trends and Forecasts

June Hu '15

Special Counsel

Sullivan & Cromwell

June Hu is special counsel in the Firm’s General Practice Group. She coordinates the Firm’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practice, and advises on a range of ESG, corporate governance, activism and takeover defense matters. 

June has represented clients across the industry spectrum, including in the consumer & retail, insurance, healthcare, technology and financial services sectors. Representative ESG and corporate governance clients include AB Inbev, AIG, Ally Financial, BlackRock, Bank of New York Mellon, Boeing, Butterfield, Canadian Pacific, Intercontinental Exchange, JPMorgan, Regions, Royal Bank of Canada, Ryder, U.S. Bancorp and Volkswagen.

June is an author of the Firm’s annual proxy season review (now in its tenth year of publication), which identifies key trends in S&P 1500 shareholder proposals and analyzes the implications for issuers and investors. She frequently publishes and presents on ESG and corporate governance matters.

 

Leah Malone

Partner

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

Leah Malone is a Partner in the New York office and leads the Firm’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Sustainability Practice. She advises boards, management teams and investors on ESG and sustainability matters from conception through strategic implementation, oversight and reporting. Her work includes issues related to shareholder engagement, shareholder activism, board effectiveness, board composition and DE&I and other employee initiatives, as well as reporting and disclosure, green initiatives and risk and crisis management, among other areas.

Prior to joining Simpson Thacher, Leah was a Managing Director in the Governance Insights Center, and previously practiced for several years at another international law firm.

Leah earned her B.A. from Georgetown University and her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law. She is a member of the New York State Bar.

Dave Marshall

Corporate Associate

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

Dave advises U.S., Canadian and international clients on a variety of corporate governance and transactional matters, including proxy disclosures and reporting obligations under the U.S. federal securities laws, listing rules of the NYSE and Nasdaq, and governance practices. Dave also has an extensive pro bono practice, having helped to lead the firm’s role as head of a court-appointed steering committee in the lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union against the U.S. government to halt the Trump administration’s family separation policy.

Dave has also worked as an associate in the New York City office of Torys LLP and as a summer associate in the Toronto office of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. He holds a J.D., with honors, from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, an M.P.P. from the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, and a B.A., first class honors, from McGill University. He also briefly held a Guinness World Record for organizing the largest number of people dressed as garden gnomes in one place.

Justin Nowell '16

Senior Managing Associate

Sidley Austin

Justin Nowell has significant experience working as counsel for public and private companies and boards of directors across industries, advising on a wide range of corporate matters including: corporate governance, shareholder activism and preparedness, takeover defense, environmental, social and governance (ESG), mergers and acquisitions, financing transactions and related legal matters impacting their business and key stakeholders. Justin is also an author of memoranda on evolving market trends, expectations, and practices in the regulatory and corporate governance spheres.

Prior to joining Sidley, Justin was a corporate associate at another leading global law firm.

Justin received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a James Kent Scholar, Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, Teaching Fellow, and an articles editor for the Columbia Science and Technology Law Review. He received his B.A. in English and government and legal studies from Bowdoin College. He is admitted to practice law in New York.

In addition, he is an adjunct professor at the Fordham University School of Law and is recognized as a Certified Corporate Governance Professional® by the Society for Corporate Governance.

Michael Gerrard

Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice

Columbia Law School

The founder and faculty director of the groundbreaking Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and one of the foremost environmental lawyers in the nation, Michael Gerrard is an advocate, litigator, teacher, and scholar who has pioneered cutting-edge legal tools and strategies for addressing climate change. He writes and teaches courses on environmental law, climate change law, and energy regulation. He was the chair of the faculty of Columbia University’s renowned Earth Institute from 2015 to 2018 and now holds a joint appointment to the faculty of its successor, the Columbia Climate School. 

For three decades, before joining the Columbia Law School faculty in 2009, Gerrard practiced law in New York, most recently as the partner in charge of the New York office of Arnold & Porter, where he remains senior counsel. As an environmental lawyer, he tried numerous cases and argued many appeals in federal and state courts and administrative tribunals. He also handled the environmental aspects of diverse transactions and development projects and provided regulatory compliance advice to an array of clients in the private and public sectors. Several publications rated him the leading environmental lawyer in New York and one of the leaders in the world.

A prolific author, he has written or edited 14 books, including Global Climate Change and U.S. Law, the first and leading work in its field (co-edited with Jody Freeman and Michael Burger), and Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States (co-edited with John Dernbach). His 12-volume Environmental Law Practice Guide and four-volume Brownfields Law and Practice each received the Association of American Publishers’ Best Law Book of the Year award.

Gerrard is the former chair of the American Bar Association’s 10,000-member Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources. He has also chaired the New York City Bar Association’s Executive Committee and the New York State Bar Association’s environmental law section. He has served on the executive committees of the boards of the Environmental Law Institute and the American College of Environmental Lawyers. 

Gerrard also has taught courses at Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and the University of Malta. He has lectured on environmental law in Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Great Britain, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malta, the Marshall Islands, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Vatican City, and throughout the United States. He has worked with the government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands on the legal issues caused by rising sea levels that threaten the island nation.