James Thornton (environmentalist)

James Thornton is an environmental lawyer and writer. He is the Founder of ClientEarth, a global non-profit environmental law organisation, and Visiting Professor of Practice at the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment, Oxford. In 2025 the Financial Times named him among the top 20 heads of inernational law firms of the last twenty years, the one environmentalist named on the list. He is also a writer (nonfiction, novels, poetry and essay collections), and a Zen Buddhist priest. A profile in Country and Townhouse states that his legal work 'has indeed been world-changing.' He is also an Irish citizen.