Kay Everett Memorial Lecture: “Climate Migration-lessons from the Orient”

Krishnendu Mukherjee will talk about his experiences of how global warming is devastating the lives of those in the some of the most climate-vulnerable areas of India who have contributed least to the problem, including migration and its consequences. The talk will postulate the question of whether the law and lawyers have any role to play in providing a just remedy.

Krishnendu Mukherjee is a barrister and Indian advocate, working with the most vulnerable and marginalised, especially from the global south, through his trans-national practice of immigration, environment and business and human rights. He has spent nearly 15 years working on environment-related human rights issues, especially in India where he lived for several years. His experience there has led him to conclude that curtailing, mitigating, and remedying environmental harms should be focussed on the human rights violations that they cause, especially on the most vulnerable and marginalised, and that the issue(s) should be widely publicised for educational and campaigning purposes to bring wider change. Mukherjee has also been practising immigration law since 1995, when as a volunteer at Asylum Aid, a refugee charity, he represented in his first asylum case. Since then he has represented in all levels of the immigration courts, including in the case of Regina (Razgar) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2004] 3 WLR 58, the leading case on Article 8 and expulsion.

James Elliott is a Managing Partner at Wilsons Solicitors. He qualified as a solicitor in 2001 and became a partner in 2010. James has led the Public Law and Human Rights department and, in 2023, stepped into the role of Managing Partner. Since 2014, James has also served as a Judge in the Mental Health Tribunal. With extensive experience in asylum and immigration law, James specialises in judicial reviews and injunctions for people facing removal or held in immigration detention. He has also helped many clients who’ve been caught up in delays caused by the Home Office and British embassies abroad, pursuing justice through the higher courts.

Eddie Bruce-Jones is Professor of Law and Dean of the College of Law at SOAS. He has published on the subjects of racial justice, migration law, colonalism and law and the humanities. He serves on the trustee board of the Institute of Race Relations and served for a decade on the trustee board of Rainbow Migration. He has served on expert consultation panels for the United Nations OHCHR and the Equality Committee of the Council of Euorpe's Parliamentary Assembly.

Birsha Ohdedar is a Senior Lecturer in Climate Change and Environmental Law at SOAS University of London and Deputy Director of the Law, Environment and Development Centre (LEDC). His research focuses on environmental justice, climate and water law, and post-growth approaches, critically examining the role of law within the wider political economy of environmental and climate crises, with a particular regional focus on India. He is currently engaged in projects on water conflicts, climate adaptation, and post-growth transitions, and serves as an Editor of the Law, Environment and Development (LEAD) Journal as well as co-convenor of the SOAS LLM in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development. Birsha directs the SOAS Environmental Policy Clinic, working with students and external partners on applied environmental initiatives, and is a Trustee of Legal Response International. Before entering academia, he practised law in New Zealand, India, and the UK, including work in commercial law, human rights, and renewable energy and climate change law.

Oscar Tønner Frandsen is a Lecturer in Law at SOAS and serves as Deputy Director for Careers and Legal Clinics. He joined SOAS in 2019 as a Senior Teaching Fellow and Guest Lecturer before taking up a full-time post in September 2025. His expertise lies in human rights and public law, with a particular focus on immigration, international protection, Pr*son law, and broader public law issues. Oscar qualified as a Solicitor in 2025 after completing his training contract at Wilson Solicitors, where he worked from 2019 to 2025. He subsequently joined the Howard League for Penal Reform, supporting children and young adults on a wide range of Pr*son and public law matters. His earlier experience includes roles in a London-based public law and legal aid firm and at an award-winning human rights charity working with vulnerable migrants.

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