James Thornton is the founding CEO of ClientEarth, Europe's first nonprofit environmental law firm, which brings together law, science, and policy to create solutions to key environmental challenges. An environmental lawyer and social entrepreneur, Thornton was named by The ?New Statesman ?as one of ten people who could change the world. He is a solicitor of England and Wales, and a member of the bar in New York, California, and the Supreme Court of the United States. He clerked with Judge John Minor Wisdom in the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, is a Conservation Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, and a fellow of the Ashoka Foundation. In 2017, Thornton co-authored the book Client Earth, which tells the story of the organization's progress over the past decade. Thornton graduated from Yale and is a graduate of New York University School of Law, where he was editor of the Law Review. He was recently appointed Honorary Professor of Law at the University of Bristol.