William Wilson - Associate

  • Barrister, full Rights of Audience
  • Eighteen years experience of specialist environmental law, ten within government
  • LLM Master of Laws Degree with Merit
  • Harkness Fellow, USA, 1996-97
  • Lawyer with Environmental Law Unit, Burges Salmon LLP since 2001


Recent work for Cambrensis has included

  • Report for conservation body on IPPC and Habitats issues, coastal power station
  • Delivery of training materials on EU REACH and the GHS Regulations to EU –China project
  • Workshops on ‘Climate Change in the Boardroom’ and REACH in London
  • Evidence on Climate Change Bill to Joint Committee and Efra Committees of UK Parliament
  • Radon policy report for devolved administration
  • Work on international air quality protocols for international body
  • Advice and presentations to major metals and mining groups, Engineering Employers Federation, UK Steel, Confederation of British Metalformers and Society of British Aerospace Companies and its members on EU chemicals regulations, and Member of UK Metals Industry REACH Group
  • Workshop in Ukraine on Implementing Environmental Laws
  • Presentation of seminars for industry, government and academia on climate change, energy policy, carbon sequestration, distributed generation, hydrogen and fuel cells, chemicals regulation and other environmental and energy topics

2001 to date
Environmental and Energy Lawyer, Burges Salmon, Bristol

Recent work has included -

  • Advice on radioactive substances law for government, NDPBs, environmental regulator and several other major nuclear industry groups
  • Advice on chemicals regulation, REACH and UN GHS to major multinational companies
  • Advice on sustainability and green procurement issues for major procurement project by UK government department
  • Advice on establishing new systems of water abstraction licence trading
  • Waste law advice to local authority
  • Advice on renewable energy, environmental law, water, air quality, IPPC, enforcement and wide range of regulatory and policy law issues

1992-2001
Senior Principal (Legal), Environment (National) Division Solicitor’s Office
Department of the Environment, Transport & the Regions

  • Advised on national and European Community environmental legislation and litigation, advising Department and both Conservative and Labour Ministers
  • Division’s work covered advice to the central environment department in government on waste, water, air quality, integrated pollution prevention and control, Environment Agency sponsorship, radioactive substances, Climate Change Levy, emissions trading, sentencing for environmental offences, legislation, Directives, drafting Statutory Instruments, advice, UK and EU litigation and infraction cases
  • Climate legislation work included work on Climate Change Levy and Climate Change Agreements when first introduced
  • Four years experience advising government on radioactive substances law and litigation: Euratom Treaty, Radioactive Substances Act 1993, justification decisions, advice to Ministers, negotiations in Brussels and judicial review proceedings. Registered as national expert with the International Atomic Energy Authority
  • Legal manager of the Environment Act 1995 which set up the Environment Agency for England and Wales
  • Water law experience includes legal management of the Water Industry Act 1999 and the publication draft of the Water Act 2003: work on UK and EU litigation on the Drinking Water Directive; advice to the Drinking Water Inspectorate and development of its prosecution function. Helped negotiate the Water Framework Directive, the most important revision of European Union water law in 30 years
  • Air quality experience includes Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 and new legislation on air pollution controls, regulations to implement the Air Framework Directive and its First, Second and Third Air Quality Daughter Directives, and advice to the Air Quality divisions of the DETR. This has continued with work on air quality regulations for Defra
  • Waste law experience includes drafting regulations to implement the Landfill Directive, and environmental law advice relating to the previous Foot and Mouth disease outbreak
  • Environmental law enforcement experience includes presentations to government and Environment Agency on civil and criminal law enforcement and comparative law; participation in relevant law reforms and steering committees
  • Environmental Law lectures and seminars include -
    Department of Environment, Transport & the Regions/Defra
    British Nuclear Energy Society
    Northwestern School of Law, Lewis & Clark College, Oregon, USA
    Harkness Fellowship presentation, New York Academy of Medicine
    U.S. National Hydrogen Association, Washington D.C.
    UK Ministry of Defence
    IHEC 2005 Hydrogen Congress, Istanbul
    Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
    Mariupol, Ukraine
    Ofgem
    EEF
    UK Steel
    ASD, Brussels
    Society of British Aerospace Companies
    Confederation of British Metalformers

  • Registered as National Expert with International Atomic Energy Authority
    and
  • Expert Reviewer, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC Special Report on Carbon Capture and Storage.

1996 - 1997
Harkness Fellow, Commonwealth Fund of New York

  • Based at Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon
  • Visited and interviewed state and Federal regulators, regulated industries and environmental groups in 25 states

Author:

  • Making Environmental Laws Work - Law and Policy in the UK and USA (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 1999) (www.hartpub.co.uk)
  • Co-author William Robert GROVE – The Lawyer Who Invented the Fuel Cell (Metolius, 2007). Launched at the Tenth Grove Fuel Cell Symposium, London September 2007

Previous experience includes-

6 1/2 years
Manager, Legal Services
Investment Management Regulatory Organisation ‘IMRO’
Dealing with 1,200 fund managers in the UK, and co-ordinating their regulation with financial regulators in the USA and elsewhere. From recognition of IMRO as a self regulatory organisation for the financial services sector to all aspects of membership and compliance.

6 1/2 years
Senior Legal Assistant
Director of Public Prosecutions’ Department, London
Responsible for the prosecution of serious crime in London: investigating and prosecuting police; and 2 years helping to establish the Fraud Investigation Group.