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Margherita is a barrister specialising in climate and environmental justice, and equality and discrimination. She is developing a specialist practice in strategic climate litigation and is instructed in novel climate and nature litigation, as detailed below. She is experienced in providing advice on case strategies from origination through to funding and development and combines creative thought with climate literacy to assist clients wishing to develop innovative litigation strategies.

Margherita advises on a range of issues across public, human rights, civil and corporate law in the context of climate litigation, including before non-judicial mechanisms like the OECD national contact points. She is accustomed to working with litigation partners in the UK and abroad, and continues, in her spare time, to work with lawyers, scientists and journalists in Italy, her home country, where she hopes to incentivise greater public and legal engagement with the climate crisis.

Margherita is committed to working within the profession to ensure that lawyers are properly responding to the climate crisis and was recently instructed by the Good Law Project to draft Lawyers for 1.5: Humanity's Lifeline. Margherita was the founding mind behind Doughty Street's new Climate and Environmental Justice Team. She accepts instructions across all areas of climate and nature litigation in advisory and contentious matters.

Margherita also acts in the Employment Tribunals and in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, representing Claimants and Respondents alike. She is ranked Chambers & Partners and as a Rising Star in the Legal 500, described as "a tenacious, robust and skilled advocate. She provides helpful and down-to-earth, workable advice and is an asset to any case.”

Margherita envisages that, with increasingly more climate literate young people entering work, the issue of how employers manage climate and biodiversity-related risks and respond to growing pressure from employees on ESG matters will become increasingly central. She is thus looking to combine her climate and employment law expertise to advise employees and employers alike where employee relations and climate law overlap. She is particularly interested in working with employers on properly managing climate-related risks and with trade unions on how to best advise and represent climate activist workers.

Margherita is Public Access qualified and accepts instructions on this basis.

Climate and Environmental Justice

Margherita's current work includes:

Instructed by a state in the climate advisory proceedings before the International Court of Justice. The ICJ is asked, by resolution 77/276 of the General Assembly, to provide an advisory opinion answering two questions: (a) What are the obligations of States under international law to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases for States and for present and future generations? And (b) What are the legal consequences under these obligations for States where they, by their acts and omissions, have caused significant harm to the climate system and other parts of the environment?

Instructed by Friends of the Earth, Kevin Jordan and Doug Paulley in their judicial review of the Government’s third National Adaptation Programme. More information about the case, and links to national press reports, can be found here.

Instructed by several environmental NGOs to provide legal assistance in a challenge to the European Commission’s Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2485 of 27 June 2023, made pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2020/852 (the Taxonomy Regulation). The challenge relates to the legality of the Delegated Regulation’s approval of Technical Screening Criteria relating to certain aviation and shipping activities.

Consulting part-time for Mishcon Purpose, Mishcon de Reya, in relation to the Purpose litigation programme. Inter alia, Margherita is assisting on a potential judicial review relating to landfill emissions, on a range of strategic claims against corporates for climate and environmental harm and, with Brazilian partners, on strategic claims geared towards holding UK corporate actors to account for illegal deforestation caused in the Amazon and Cerrado and linked to their supply chains.

Instructed as junior counsel in several confidential transnational environmental law claims, representing claimants seeking redress from large corporate actors headquartered in the UK for the loss and damage caused by environmentally irresponsible action. Margherita is assisting, in particular, with claims founded on attribution science, as well as a claim seeking to establish parent company liability for corporate maladaptation within the parent’s value chain.

Advising as junior counsel on a confidential, embryonic greenwashing claim against a large corporate, based on consumer protection law.

Instructed by a large philanthropic climate funder to advise on their voluntary carbon markets legal strategy.

Instructed by two NGOs in a confidential complaint before a national OECD contact point, focusing on alleged breaches of the OECD guidelines committed by a large corporate due to its enablement of the fossil fuel industry.

Instructed by the employee in whistleblowing detriment claims against one oil and gas company and one energy company.

Advising clients on a range of matters, including public law claims relating to bioenergy, strategic biodiversity claims, claims relying on the right to a healthy environment and the rights of nature, greenwashing claims, the protest rights of climate activists and claims pushing for the abatement of short-lived climate pollutants and to put a stop to unlawful flaring of methane gas.

Margherita's past work includes:

Selected as a Pegasus Scholar (Inner Temple) to spend time working with the Katiba Institute, in Nairobi, Kenya (January – March 2024, self-arranged placement). Margherita’s work focused, inter alia, on claims relating to harmful agricultural chemicals, to oil and gas developments in Northern Kenya, and to the unlawful agricultural exploitation of Yala Swamp, a protected wetland near Lake Victoria. During her time in Kenya, Margherita matured a good understanding of Kenyan Environmental and Constitutional law, and she continues to work with Kenyan colleagues on cases applying Kenyan law while back in the UK.

Instructed by the Global Legal Action Network in the case of Agostinho and others v Portugal and 32 other Contracting States, before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Her work in Duarte has focused on the applicability of Convention articles to the factual circumstances of the case and has touched upon novel issues such as the relevance of climate anxiety, the understanding of risks to life and wellbeing in light of the best available science, the issue of scientific uncertainty and the limitations or otherwise of anthropocentrism.

Instructed by an NGO to draft an amicus curiae focusing on methane and short-lived climate pollutants, and their relevance to the respect for human rights, before the inter-American court, following Chile and Colombia’s request for an advisory opinion on climate change. The amicus is accessible here. 

Selected as a delegate to conduct a seven-day investigation into the conditions of indigenous communities and environmental and human rights defenders in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. Instructed as part of a seven-person team to make and report recommendations to the Guatemalan government, international community and multinational companies, relating to the criminalisation of indigenous communities consequent on agrarian conflict and structural discrimination and induced by the expansion of palm-oil cultivations.

Acting for employee whistle-blowers seeking to rely on the protections afforded in s. 43B(1)(e) of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

Instructed to advise the Serbski Sjem on the German Government’s compliance with international law obligations to secure their minority rights and to determine whether the Serbski Sjem meet the definition of indigenous peoples, primarily as a result of their unique connection to their land.

Acting as the first Legal Coordinator for the UNFCCC Climate Champions Team, in conjunction with FILE Foundation. In her role, Margherita was responsible for the Climate Champions' most recent efforts to strengthen compliance and the integrity of voluntary net zero commitments. She also organised a Climate Action Event, within the COP26 Blue Zone, focusing on the opportunities that the law provides for stronger action towards net zero. The event is viewable here.

Assisting Lord Carnwath of Notting Hill on his work focusing on the incorporation of rule of law considerations in the COP 26 negotiations. Involved liaising and working with groups such as ClientEarth, The Chancery Lane Project, Legal Response International and the Grantham Institute at the LSE.

Working as a research consultant with FILE Foundation, working on FILE’s Network Management and Climate Litigation Project, as well as assisting with research concerning Ecocide Law.

Devilling for Kirsty Brimelow QC in defending Greenpeace UK from prosecution for dropping boulders in the sea to prevent deep-sea trawling.

Providing informal legal advice and assistance to grassroots activists, including providing legal advice on actions against the police in the context of Climate protests and demonstrations (Article 10 and 11 ECHR), providing legal advice on legitimate expectations arising from local government policies prioritising sustainable housing, and providing miscellaneous legal advice to local Extinction Rebellion Groups.

Employment

Margherita has extensive experience representing parties in case management and substantive preliminary hearings and in full merits hearings, as detailed below She advises and offers client trainings on matters including redundancy, unfair dismissal, TUPE, discrimination, claims under the Working Time Regulations and detriment claims under Part IVA of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Margherita also has experience conducting internal investigations and has been led on two investigations to date: an internal misconduct / whistleblowing investigation and a complex investigation into claims of bullying within a Trade Union.

Recent cases include:

Instructed by the employee in whistleblowing detriment claims against one oil and gas company and one energy company.

Successfully acted for a senior employee against a large bank, helping secure a significant, six-digit settlement.

Acted (as junior counsel) for a large space agency, helping successfully resolve the claim by resisting it on jurisdictional grounds.

Partially successful in a claim listed for seven days in the Employment Tribunal and for one day in the Employment Appeals Tribunal on behalf of the Claimant against a public authority involving direct discrimination, discrimination arising from disability, unfair dismissal, victimisation and harassment.

Successfully represented the Claimant in a 5-day claim involving issues of pregnancy, religion and disability discrimination under sections 13, 15, 18, 19, 20 and 21 EA, as well as issues of automatically unfair dismissal pursuant to s. 99 ERA and MAPL Regulation 10, employment status, unlawful deductions and failure to provide written particulars.

Instructed as junior counsel in Azeem Rafiq’s institutional racism claim against Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Acted alone in the last substantive preliminary hearing prior to settlement of the claim.

Instructed as junior counsel in a sexual harassment claim by a sportswoman against her former coach.

Instructed on various advisory matters for both Claimants/Respondent to assess merits of claims for LEI cover (Ongoing);

Offers pro bono legal advice to claimant clients of the East London Legal Advice on a regular basis (Ongoing);

Successfully acted for the Claimant in an unfair dismissal claim concerning alleged misconduct due to failure to follow government COVID guidance in a care home context during the first lockdown in March 2020, reported here (May 2021);

Instructed on behalf of the Respondent in a one-day preliminary hearing to determine the Respondent’s application for strike-out and deposit order in a complex disability discrimination claim (May 2020);

Instructed with Paras Gorasia to conduct an investigation into allegations of bullying amongst senior individuals within a Trade Union (2020 – 2021);

Successfully acted on behalf of the Respondent in a one-day preliminary hearing to determine disability (December 2020);

Instructed with Paras Gorasia to conduct an investigation into allegations of potential criminal behaviour amongst very senior individuals within a high profile organisation (June 2019);

Instructed in a claim listed for 3 days on behalf of a Claimant in the fashion industry for constructive unfair dismissal against her former employer (August 2019);

Instructed on behalf of one of the largest retailers in the country in a Preliminary Hearing (June 2019).