UBC

Brienne Gloeckler, Co-Chair

Brienne is a 2L who graduated with her BCom and has a background in marketing and communications. She is passionate about intersectional environmentalism and climate justice and strongly believes that systemic change is needed to fight the oppressive capitalist systems at the root of social and environmental injustices. Through her law degree, Brienne hopes to gain the knowledge and skills needed to participate in holding powerful actors accountable for their perpetuation and subsidization of climate change and its disproportionate effects on marginalized communities. She is keen pursue a career that fights for the policy and legal regime changes needed to better serve and protect people and the planet.

​

​

 

Emma Smyth, Co-Chair

Emma is originally from Vancouver Island, where she graduated from the University of Victoria with a degree in English literature and philosophy. She is now a 2L student here at UBC. As a kid, she spent a lot of time helping out on her grandfather's little farm near Patricia Bay, the experience of which laid the groundwork for her love of nature. She has always had deep concern over the future of our planet, and hopes to become an advocate for the environment with her law degree. Emma is particularly interested in conservation, carbon sinks, and the concept of rewilding, especially as tools to combating climate change and further environmental degradation.

​

​

​

 

Gillian Thiel, Negotiations Competition Organizer

Gillian is a third-year law student at UBC with a BSc in Environmental Science and a MSc in Physical Geography. Her past research examined the impacts of climate change on nutrient cycling and water resources in the Canadian Arctic. In the Arctic, Gillian observed the dramatic landscape changes caused by rising global temperatures. Driven by this experience and her love for the natural environment, Gillian is pursuing a law degree to learn how she can better contribute to environmental protection efforts as well as climate change mitigation and adaptation.

​

​

 

 

Christine Yan, Negotiations Competition Organizer

Christine grew up in Ottawa and always had a fondness for nature. Her concern for climate change sparked when she watched Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and since then she has set out to continue learning about the nuances and different forces contributing to climate change, hoping to make small changes along the way. Through various recent experiences, Christine has become increasingly concerned about agriculture, the food system, and indigenous issues, and how they relate to climate change and many inequalities around the world. Christine hopes to combine her business and law degree to challenge the status quo on what industries and corporations prioritize.

​

 

Katie Browning, Communications Director

Katie grew up in New Westminster, BC. She is a second-year law student at Allard Law with a BSc in Psychology from the University of Victoria. During her time in undergraduate studies, Katie studied a variety of topics that relate to how we as individuals interact with our natural and built environment, such as influential mechanisms to increase pro-environmental behaviour, mindfulness and nature connectedness, and climate change communication. She also completed an honours thesis in environmental psychology, on the topic of ecological worldview, environmental pessimism, and attitudes towards discretionary air travel. Her experiences in studying psychology and climate change ultimately led her to pursue a law degree in hopes to contribute positive environmental change.

​

​

 

Josh Friedman, External Relations Director

Josh grew up in the Steveston neighbourhood of Richmond BC. He is a 3L at the Allard School of Law and holds a BSc in Natural Resources Conservation from the UBC Faculty of Forestry. Josh worked as an environmental consultant in the BC renewable energy sector following his undergraduate education. At law school, Josh assisted Allard Law faculty research into environmental assessment law, directed his own research project focused on environmental, Indigenous, and Aboriginal law, and completed a certificate in Indigenous Cultural Competency. Josh enjoys hiking, cycling, climbing, camping, live music, and playing with his cat.

​

​

 

Lucas Hodgson, Treasurer

Lucas is a 2L student at Allard and holds an undergraduate degree in Natural Resources Conservation at UBC’s Faculty of Forestry. He has been passionate about environmental issues for as long as he can remember and hopes to bring his passion for these issues into a legal career. During his undergrad, Lucas researched the threatened dry deciduous tropical forests at the Wildlife Institute of India. He also completed a capstone project on food security in Haiti, looking at correlations between environmental shocks and childhood dietary diversity scores. He is looking forward to his seminar course this year: “Legal Institutions and Resource Extraction in the Global South” where he will examine a case study relating to externalities from Canadian extractive companies in the global south.

​