Harj Narulla is a barrister and leading global expert on climate law and litigation at Doughty Street Chambers in London. Harj is known for his prominent work as counsel in world-first climate litigation before national, regional and international courts. Harj represents and advises States, international organisations, NGOs and vulnerable communities in climate and environmental matters and has been involved in climate litigation in more than 15 countries across Europe, Africa, Latin America, South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia and the Pacific.
Ranked by Legal500 as a leader in international human rights law, he recently acted for the Solomon Islands before the International Court of Justice in its landmark climate change proceedings, and has previously represented clients in climate cases before the European Court of Human Rights, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. He has also advised the UNFCCC, UNDP and the Asian Development Bank on climate and environmental law reform.
Harj has particular expertise in climate law and litigation in the fields of reparations, human rights, public international law, constitutional law, public law, business and human rights, international investment arbitration, corporate law, rights of nature, and Indigenous and First Nations law.
Alongside his practice, Harj has holds academic roles at leading universities. He is an Honorary Research Associate in climate law at the University of Oxford’s Sustainable Law Programme, a Research Visitor at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, and a Visiting Senior Fellow in climate litigation at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. Harj publishes regularly and has taught or delivered lectures at the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Harvard University, King’s College London, Imperial College London, the London School of Economics, Bond University and the University of New South Wales.
Harj has been appointed to a number of expert bodies. He is on the board of Greenpeace UK and the International Institute for Environment and Development, which hosts the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He is a member of the American Society of International Law’s Taskforce on Investor-State Dispute Settlement and Climate Change, the British Institute of International and Comparative Law’s International Expert Group on Corporate Climate Litigation, the Bar Council Climate Crisis Working Group, the Legal Working Group of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, the Loss and Damage Working Group for the Climate Research Forum, the Expert Legal Panel for Law for Change, and the Editorial Board of the Climate Litigation in the Global South Project. He is currently advising UNHCR as part of an expert group on statelessness in the context of climate change and UNDP on environmental law in Palestine.
Harj is a sought-after speaker and frequent media commentator. His cases have attracted widespread coverage and he has been quoted by The New York Times, BBC, The Guardian, Financial Times, Reuters, ABC, The Telegraph, The Independent, Daily Mail, Carbon Brief, and Drilled.
Harj is currently writing a book on climate reparations.
