C12 : Public Interest Litigation

Do anti- SLAPP laws protect environmental activists? Do costs orders enhance or restrict access to justice? This session will examine the use of public interest litigation to protect the environment, and how to practise for the benefit of individual clients in an area dominated by deep-pocket defendants. The issue of certification of a statement of claim as a piece of public interest litigation worthy of a protective costs order (and whether that should be by judicial determination, or some other objective criteria) will continue the discussion. Most jurisdictions require fees to be paid to courts for issuing process, fixing hearings and so on. should public interest litigants be exempt from contributing ot the costs of court services automatically ? If so, how ? What (if any) should be the relevance of lawyers being prepared to act pro bono for plaintiffs in public interest litigation in terms of protective costs orders and/or fee exemption claims ?