A flick through the newspaper on any particular day will yield at least one article dealing with the growing evidence of global climate change, or, as is still the case, a denial of these symptoms of a global "fever," as US senator Al Gore would term the problem. But for some lawyers in the Asia-Pacific and across the globe, the debate is long since over.

Back in 1997, when the Kyoto Protocol was being negotiated, Baker & McKenzie decided the issue was of increasing importance to its client base across the globe and established the first global climate change group of any law firm. "Basically at that stage, not much was going on," says Australia-based head of the group Martjin Wilder. "We were working in a legal practice that was evolving in a market that was almost non-existent, so for many years we just sort of plugged away. In fact, Wilder says "most of the other law firms thought we were off our rockers" - Australian vernacular for crazy.

But times have changed, and there are now a lot more law firms who have become involved in the practice in some capacity or another. While Bakers was the first, since then the likes of DLA Piper, Hunton & Williams, Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy, Norton Rose, Simmons and Simmons and others have entered the market.

"Very early on, people didn't really believe in climate change. They didn't know if climate change was an issue. If you walked into a board room of a company, they would feel there is no legal obligation, so why worry about it?" Wilder says. "But as things have gone on, and because we stuck it out, the practice just grew," he says. The firm now has a group of 10 lawyers in Sydney who work in the group, as well as others in London, Latin America, Japan and China, to a total of over 20 dedicated lawyers globally.

Climate change work is now a varied discipline for firms, who tend to handle different pieces of the legal puzzle. Baker & McKenzie has a broad-ranging practice, advising governments and international organisations such as the EU on the EUETS trading system, the UN and the Australian government, multilaterals such as the World Bank's carbon finance unit, as well as corporations and financial institutions such as ABN Amro, EnergyAustralia and Rabobank International. Some firms are focusing on more specific areas, which suit their other practices. Clifford Chance, for example, established an Environment and Climatic Trading Group, which focuses on the secondary market for carbon credit trading. DLA Piper is also strong in the secondary market.

Wilder says the biggest growth area is advising corporates who want to get in to carbon trading. "One of the interesting things is also that merchant banks who hadn't got into the area are starting to get in and make investments in carbon credits," he says.

Active markets for the sector in Asia include China, India, Malaysia and the Philippines, though a broader definition of Asia might include Russia, where the market is also hot. In countries like these, corporations, particularly in the energy sector (which is sensitive to any carbon cap schemes due to high emissions) will do things like CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) projects. An example might be a company that owns a power station in the UK going to China and retrofitting an old plant to meet overall targets. Andreas Gunst, who coordinates DLA Piper's practice from the UK, says that when CDM projects in China start to dry up, there will be more focus elsewhere.

Gunst says that although there are global doubts on the future of the compliance scheme after 2012, when the EUETS finishes its second phase, general faith in the future necessity and value of carbon credits continues. Law firms will no doubt take note.