LLM Environmental Law and Sustainable Development

The LLM in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development provides a unique specialisation 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 find repeated place 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 bases in 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 programme 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 centres, such as the Centre for Development, Environment and Policy and the Centre for Water and Development.

Why you?

The programme is ideal for LLB or other graduates with a related degree or legal or other professionals with an interest in the theory and practice of environmental law and related fields, particularly as they relate to the Global South.

You will join graduates from the LLM at SOAS, many of whom are now working in environmental law in 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 open to applicants from different disciplines and is not restricted to applicants who hold an UK law degree or international equivalent.

Global Partnerships

This programme can be offered as part of a dual LLM degree with a number of our partnering Universities. For further information about our LLM Dual degree partnerships, please visit Global Partnerships.

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

Find out about our Careers Service.