EXECUTIVE INSIGHT
Michelle T Davies ’ first professional introduction to sustainability put her on a “ vertical learning curve ”.
However , instead of being once bitten , twice shy , she was bitten by the bug – and it set in motion a stellar career in sustainability law .
Michelle , Global Head of Sustainability ( EY Law ), speaks to Sustainability Magazine about the countless challenges and opportunities for businesses in terms of sustainability .
The landscape is constantly changing , but Michelle is certain of one thing – sustainability is something companies can “ bet their ranch on ”.
Q . CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR PATH TO YOUR CURRENT ROLE ?
» I am a lawyer and have been practising for over 35 years . I always wanted to practise internationally and after graduating with a first class honours degree in Law from UCL I studied as a Fulbright Scholar in the US where I graduated with a master of law degree in international law . I then took the New York Bar and qualified as a New York attorney before coming back to the UK and qualifying here .
My family ( my husband Grahame and son Henri ) are in Monmouthshire and so I spend my time between Wales and London where I work and live during the week . I love being in the countryside and as most of my family and friend are based there it is a great place to live .
I had my first foray into sustainability when I was asked by the law firm I was a partner with at the time if I would help a client looking to buy some biomass and onshore wind projects .
This was over 25 years ago when the clean energy market was in its very early stages and I was a pretty typical cross border M & A lawyer with no experience of renewable energy .
It was an almost vertical learning curve but I loved the sector and the client I was working with went on to do a huge amount more in the sector .
I was right by its side and continued to learn whilst my desire to devote my career to this new emerging area only grew . After a few years I set up what I believe was the first pure play clean energy and sustainability team – we predominantly focused on the UK as this was a hugely buoyant market and grew to be one of , if not the , largest legal teams in the market .
When the UK Government decided to cut the subsidies for renewables we had to pivot into international opportunities – that was probably one of the most challenging times of my career as my firm had a limited global projects CV and we literally had to start from scratch . But the team was hugely committed and driven and we succeeded and during these years we engaged on many international clean energy programmes which I am still enormously proud of today because we really did make a difference . sustainabilitymag . com 23