LLM Environmental Law and Sustainable Development
London, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 up to 3 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2024
TUITION FEES
GBP 25,740 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for overseas student fees | home student fees: GBP 15,130 per year
Introduction
The LLM in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development provides a unique specialization in a rapidly evolving area of law that covers a range of issues at the heart of major contemporary developments and debates.
At SOAS, we understand environmental law as deeply connected with human and social issues. This is why our introductory course is a course on Law Environment and Social Justice. This also explains why human rights dimensions are repeated in our courses.
We offer a wide range of distinctive modules that combine a focus on core subjects in the field alongside a critical inquiry into the theory and practice of environmental law, particularly as they relate to the Global South.
Why study LLM Environmental Law and Sustainable Development at SOAS?
- We are ranked in the UK top 20 (QS World University Rankings 2023)
- We are ranked 6th in the UK for employability (QS World University Rankings 2023)
- Our research publications have been rated first in the UK - and our School of Law rated sixth in the UK - in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021
We also offer courses focusing more specifically on the resource dimension of environmental law. At SOAS, we take a broad view of the subject matter and our Law and Natural Resources course addresses a broad variety of natural resources beyond the traditional focus on oil and gas, and does so in particular in terms of the livelihoods and human rights consequences of natural resource use.
- Our international environmental law-focused courses (International Environmental Law Law and the Climate Crisis, and Law, Environment and the Global Commons: Ice, Sea, Space, and Beyond) will offer you a strong base for some of the main challenges arising at the international and global level and provide you particular insights in the global South-global North aspects of relevant regimes that are on the whole structured around a North-South dichotomy
- In addition, we offer cutting-edge courses, such as Water Justice: Rights, Access and Movements and Alternatives to Sustainable Development: Rights of Nature and Harmony with Nature that address topical issues in environmental policy and law
- Students are also encouraged to participate in the SOAS Environmental Law & Policy Clinic
SOAS Law, Environment and Development Centre (LEDC)
The program is anchored in the research carried out at SOAS on environmental law whose institutional home is the Law, Environment, and Development Centre (LEDC). The LEDC is the focal point for environment-related research activities in the School of Law, including a vibrant PhD cohort, an annual seminar series, the publication of the Law, Environment and Development Journal (LEAD Journal), and other activities linked to ongoing research.
As students on the LLM in environmental law, you will be invited to become student members of the SOAS Law, Environment and Development Centre (LEDC), providing you an opportunity to become involved and engage with the SOAS research community and actors in the field, which includes many scholars in different departments and inter-disciplinary centers, such as the Centre for Development, Environment, and Policy and the Centre for Water and Development.
Duration
One year (full-time), two or three years (part-time)
Gallery
Ideal Students
Who should apply?
The program is ideal for LLB graduates or legal professionals with an interest in the theory and practice of environmental law and related fields, particularly as they relate to the global South.
After you graduate, you will join graduates from the LLM at SOAS, many of whom are now working as environmental lawyers, in environmental NGOs and consultancies, in government, in policy work at the national or international level (UN or other), or in academia (please also see the ‘employment’ tab on this page).
Please note that the LLM is restricted to applicants who hold a UK law degree or international equivalent. If you do not hold a law degree apply for a master’s degree in law at SOAS.
Admissions
Curriculum
Students must take modules to a total value of 180 credits, consisting of a dissertation (60 credits) and 120 credits of taught modules. Taught modules are worth either 15 or 30 credits. Students who wish to graduate with a specialized LLM are required to take at least 60 credits associated with their specialized LLM, and the dissertation topic will be undertaken within the LLM specialization.
Please note that not all modules listed will be available every year.
Important notice
The information on the website reflects the intended program structure against the given academic session. The modules are indicative options of the content students can expect and are/have been previously taught as part of these programs.
However, this information is published a long time in advance of enrolment, and module content and availability are subject to change.
Compulsory module
- LLM Dissertation in Law
Specialist pathway options
- Students who wish to graduate with a specialized LLM in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development are required to take at least 60 credits from the following list.
- Law and Natural Resources
- Water Justice: Rights, Access, and Movements
- Law, Environment, and Social Justice
- Law, Environment, and the Global Commons: Ice, Sea, Space, and Beyond
- International Environmental Law
- Water and Development: Commodification, Ecology and Globalisation
- Law and the Climate Crisis
- Law and the Biodiversity Crisis
General Law Options
- Students who wish to graduate with a specialized LLM in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development are required to take at least 30 credits from the following list.
- Gender and the Law of War
- Gender and the Law of Peace
- Human Rights of Women
- Law and Natural Resources
- Law, Religion, and the State in South Asia
- Israel, Palestine, and International Law (30cr)
- International Human Rights Clinic
- Human Rights and Islamic Law
- International Commercial Arbitration
- Law and Development in Africa
- Intellectual Property Law
- International laws on the use of force
- Foundations of International Law
- The Law of Armed Conflict
- Colonialism, Empire, and International Law
- Justice, Reconciliation, and Reconstruction in Post-Conflict Societies
- Water Justice: Rights, Access, and Movements
- Comparative Constitutional Law
- Law and Society in Southeast Asia
- Law and Postcolonial Theory
- International Criminal Law
- Gender, Law, and Society in The Middle East and North Africa
- Gender, Sexuality, and Law: Selected Topics
- Gender, Sexuality, and Law: Theories and Methodologies
- International Investment Law
- Law, Rights & Social Change
- Human Rights of Women
- Law, Environment, and Social Justice
- International Migration Law
- International Refugee Law
- Law, Environment, and the Global Commons: Ice, Sea, Space, and Beyond
- International Environmental Law
- The Prohibition of Torture in International Law
- Water and Development: Commodification, Ecology and Globalisation
- Multinational Enterprises and the Law I
- Multinational Enterprises and the Law II
- Business and Human Rights in the Global Economy
- Comparative Company Law
- Israel, Palestine, and International Law (15cr)
- Palestine, Resistance, and the Law
- Alternative Dispute Resolution I
- Alternative Dispute Resolution II
- Law and the Climate Crisis
- International Protection of Human Rights (15Cr)
- Islamic Family Law
- Islamic Legal Theory
- Transnational Law, Finance, and Technology
- Colonial Geographies of International Law
- Law and Society in The Middle East and North Africa
- Law and the Biodiversity Crisis
Open options
- Students who wish to graduate with a specialized LLM in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development must take an additional 30 credits from either the specialist pathway list, the general law option list, or SOAS open options.
Teaching and Learning
Contact hours
All Masters programs consist of 180 credits, made up of taught modules of 30 or 15 credits, taught over 10 or 20 weeks, and a dissertation of 60 credits. The program structure shows which modules are compulsory and which are optional.
As a rough guide, 1 credit equals approximately 10 hours of work. Most of this will be independent study, including reading and research, preparing coursework, revising for examinations, and so on.
It will also include class time, which may include lectures, seminars, and other classes. Some subjects, such as learning a language, have more class time than others. At SOAS, most postgraduate modules have a one-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar every week, but this does vary.
We recommend that part-time students have between two-and-a-half and three days a week free to pursue their course of study.
Knowledge and understanding
- Students will acquire specialist knowledge of environmental law from an international and comparative perspective.
- This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, knowledge and understanding of the following:
- theoretical and practical underpinnings of environmental law internationally
- context in which law is made, interpreted, adjudicated, and amended
- role played by law, particularly environmental law in different situations internationally, particularly its role in promoting sustainable development in the global South
- role and function of legal institutions in managing the environment and natural resources
- weight and significance of different sources and methodologies
- Students will develop knowledge of how to locate relevant materials and assess their relevance and/or importance
Intellectual (thinking) skills
- Students should develop rigor in the analysis and assessment of legal arguments.
- Students should develop the ability to understand, summarise and critically assess differing perspectives on theoretical debates.
- Students should develop independence of thought and the confidence to challenge the accepted wisdom.
- Students should learn to identify issues and formulate questions for further research through independent work.
- Students will be encouraged to bring to bear their own previous experience and knowledge in addressing legal issues in an interdisciplinary manner.
Subject-based practical skills
The program will help students develop the ability to:
- Write clear research essays and dissertations.
- Research in a variety of specialized research libraries and institutes and online, and retrieve, sift, and select information from a variety of sources.
- Present seminar papers and defend the arguments therein.
- Discuss ideas introduced during seminars.
- Develop essay and dissertation research questions.
- Read legal source materials rapidly and critically.
- Present legal arguments in moots and debates.
Transferable skills
The program will enable students to:
- Communicate effectively in writing.
- Structure and communicate ideas and arguments effectively both orally and in writing.
- Read and comprehend significant quantities of reading rapidly and effectively and develop critical faculties.
- Find and use a variety of written and digital materials, especially legal materials, in libraries and research institutes.
- Present (non–assessed) material orally.
- Develop teamwork skills.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
SOAS Law graduates leave SOAS as civic-minded and critically engaged individuals who can effectively contribute to their communities and societies. With a thorough understanding of the legal dimensions underlying many of our global challenges today, our Law students are valued by employers due to their analytical skills, specialist knowledge, and global perspective.
Graduates of the LLM Environmental Law and Sustainable Development degree have gone on to take up a variety of exciting opportunities.
Recent graduates have been hired by:
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
- Milieu
- ClientEarth
- Climate Law and Policy