Activism is increasingly shaping corporate behaviour, from climate claims to governance challenges. But when public pressure escalates into litigation, how prepared are businesses for the reputational, legal, and regulatory risks that follow?
In the third and final episode of our Disputes Reimagined podcast, Partner Katie Chandler is joined by Winston & Strawn Partner Troy Yoshino, 4 Pump Court Barrister Rebecca Keating, and Lawyer at ClientEarth Alex Cooper. Together, they discuss how rising activism is influencing corporate strategy, accelerating climate-related disputes across global markets, and the new types of legal, reputational, and regulatory challenges emerging as a result.
Topics covered include:
- How political activism is influencing corporate strategy and accountability.
- The rise of climate‑related disputes and ESG litigation.
- The growing role of public and moral drivers in legal claims.
- The global nature of activist litigation.
- Emerging challenges for businesses, including AI‑related group claims, reputational risk, court capacity, and demand for more proactive disputes preparedness.
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Our guest
Troy Yoshino
David is a highly experienced international dispute resolution specialist and mediator with over 40 years of practice in complex, high-value matters. David began his career as a partner at Simmons & Simmons and later served as Managing Director and firmwide Head of Legal at Goldman Sachs, where he led the Legal group in EMEA for 27 years. He is the founder of Dominion Street Mediation where he practises as a leadership coach and mediator.
Troy is a partner at Winston & Strawn LLP in San Francisco. He focuses his practice on defending class actions in various contexts, from consumer claims to privacy, financial services, toxic torts, and more.
Troy is experienced in co-ordinating class action and complex proceedings, defending clients in multiple jurisdictions, and has handled appeals before the US Supreme Court, federal circuits, and state appellate courts. In this capacity, he also regularly assists clients in the defence of proceedings that can or have given rise to class actions, such as federal, state, and local government enforcement matters and investigations, as well as proceedings in countries outside the United States.
Rebecca Keating
Rebecca is a barrister at 4 Pump Court, dual-qualified in England and Wales and the Bar of Ireland. She specialises in technology-related disputes, with a practice covering project failures, artificial intelligence, cyber attacks, cryptoassets, and quantum computing. In relation to group litigation, she acted in the Post Office Group litigation and is currently instructed in the Pan-NOx Emissions Group litigation. She is ranked as a Leading Junior by Chambers & Partners and Legal 500. Rebecca is a co-author of 'A Practical Guide to Quantum Computing and the Law' and a contributor to several key texts on AI and IT law.
Alex Cooper
Alex is a lawyer in the Accountable Corporations team at ClientEarth. His work focuses on exploring and implementing legal strategies to mainstream climate-related risk and to foster accountability for the impacts of climate change. Before joining ClientEarth, Alex worked on complex litigation domestic and cross-border at claimant-side firm Hausfeld & Co LLP, and defence-side at Slaughter and May. He also has experience in climate change and corporate law issues, having worked at the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative, a legal NGO.
