Margherita Cornaglia

Margherita is a barrister specialising in climate and environmental justice, with particular expertise in strategic climate litigation. Her practice covers private law claims for environmental harm, greenwashing and climate damages, as well as acting in OECD complaints before national contact points. In public law and planning, she has experience in both advisory work and High Court challenges. She advises on a range of issues arising in the planning process, including planning obligations, development in the Green Belt, and the interaction between planning and environmental regulation, with a particular interest in planning matters that engage issues of environmental protection, climate change and the net zero transition. 

Her public law practice includes acting in the first claim under Part 4 of the Climate Change Act, and in judicial review proceedings concerning environmental pollution and climate policy.

Internationally, she has been instructed in landmark climate proceedings before the International Court of Justice, the Inter‑American Court of Human Rights, and the European Court of Human Rights. 

Margherita’s non-contentious practice includes advising clients on environmental law and regulations, including the EU Deforestation Regulation and voluntary carbon markets, as well as on public law challenges relating to constraints in renewable energy developments.

Margherita is appointed to the Attorney General’s Public International Law C Panel (from 1 January 2026) and to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Panel of Counsel.