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School of Law

Overview

The School of Law is the only one of its kind in the UK that is dedicated to legal systems and legal challenges of the developing world, with complementary strengths in human rights, international law and institutions, environmental law and international trade and commerce.

We have unrivalled expertise and produce world-leading research in comparative law (China, Africa, South/South-East Asia, the Middle East), complemented by specialists in international and transnational law, human rights, transnational commercial law, environmental law and socio-legal method.

Meet the academics.

Our Head of School says...

There is no law school like SOAS. Our stats speak for themselves - 1st in REF research outputs, top 10 in the UK for Research Quality in Law (Complete University Guide 2023), top 5 in London for Law (Complete University Guide 2023) - but they don't tell the whole story. Whether you come for an LLB, BA, LLM/MA, or PhD you'll find a unique legal educational experience anchored in and focussed on the Global South, on post-colonial legal geographies, and on diversity and inequality. And you'll be exposed to Law at multiple scales, in all sorts of places and spaces: the globalised economic order, the multipolar inter-sovereign order and the teeming hyperspace of normative orders, from constitutional to customary. Diversity is not a box we tick, it’s our core identity: we embrace it in our students, we embody it in our staff, we study it in our research, and we reflect it in our teaching.

Scott Newton

Post-Soviet law and legal/institutional reform in Central Asia and CIS; law and development (markets and globalisation in developing and transitional states); law, governance and post-conflict reconstruction; human rights.

Facts and figures

1st in UK

REF 2021 (Research Outputs)

6th in UK

REF 2021

Why choose SOAS for Law?

Research

Research at the School of Law

The School of Law is a world-class centre for study and research in comparative (South, Central and East Asia, Africa, Islam and the Middle East), transnational, and international law.

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In the School of Law

Centre for Gender Studies

The Centre for Gender Studies at SOAS University of London.

Centre for Global Media and Communications

The Centre for Global Media and Communications at SOAS University of London.

Law, Environment and Development Centre

The Law, Environment and Development Centre at SOAS University of London.

In this section

Blogs

School of Law & Department of Economics

Careers: At SOAS I felt I didn't have to explain myself

Having graduated from SOAS in 1991, Samantha Mitchell has carved a career as a Technology Lawyer and External Affairs Consultant. But SOAS also brought so much more to her life, including lifelong friends and a sense of belonging.

School of Law

Careers: "I studied Law in order to make the world a better place"

Graduating with an a first class honours in LLB Law in 2017, Katerina Hemalova embarked on a career in as a lawyer. Becoming a qualified solicitor in 2020, she's now working for the FCA as an Associate Lawyer.

School of Law

Careers: I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a lawyer

Lingxi Wang knew from a very young age that he wanted to be a lawyer. Studying at SOAS helped him achieve that dream. We asked Lingxi about his experience and any advice he would give to aspiring lawyers.

School of Law

Olivette Otele: “SOAS is the place to be”

An interview with Olivette Otele, who joins SOAS as a Distinguished Research Professor of the Legacies and Memory of Slavery.

School of Law

The importance of Black feminist connections, activism, and resistance across continents

A group of Black feminists travelled to Colombia to celebrate Francia Márquez becoming the first Black Vice President of the country.

School of Law

What the Public Order Bill means for our rights and freedoms

The right to protest is undoubtedly fundamental to a democracy. The UK’s Public Order Bill redefines and narrows what is deemed peaceful protest.
Research

Food security and the governance of local knowledge in India and Indonesia (2018–2023)

Working with the Australian Research Council to examine the ways small farmers identify, conserve and exchange useful plant material.

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Fostering ecocentric community-led river restoration and conservation in the Ganga Basin (2022–2023)

Interrogating the concept of "river rights" to examine the contribution of ecocentric rights for river restoration and conservation.

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Conflicts over Access to Water and Land: Evolving dimensions (2022–2025)

Addressing water conflicts through the lens of water security.

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Carceral Policy, Policing and Race

Amplifying the carceral experiences of marginalised populations across the Global South.

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Sanitation in India: Understanding a complex and controversial human right (2016)

Examining the right to sanitation in India from a broad perspective that encompasses the various dimensions of the right.

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Legalissues Related to water sector restructuring in India (2006–2009)r

The first major study of water law in India since the early 1990s and contributed to ensuring policy-makers would consider it a more important part of sector reforms.

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UKIERI: Climate change and groundwater management in India (2013–2015)

Analysing the impact of climate change on groundwater.

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Rule of Law in Thailand

Enhancing SOAS knowledge and capacity in the study and research of East and Southeast Asian laws, with a focus on Thai law.

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Age of consent and child-marriage in the British Empire

Exploring the debates that led to the reform of age of consent laws in UK and their introduction in other parts of the Empire at the end of the 19th century.

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HURIME Project: Human Rights in the Post-Uprisings Middle East

Enhancing the knowledge of academicians and politicians on the new tendencies of human rights discourses and practices in the MENA region.

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Sustainable systems: Influencing water governance in India

Shaping the development and review of key water management legislation in India, influencing media debate and coverage of water issues in India and across the world.

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Events

6 February 2023

Lord Peter Hain on global complicity in South Africa’s tragic corruption story

Anti-apartheid protester to Right Honourable Lord, from Pretoria childhood to senior UK Cabinet Minister, then leading the fight against global corporate complicity in the ‘Zupta’ state capture scandal, Peter Hain’s life has been one of constant campaigning and activism.

6 February 2023

Book discussion on Insecure Guardians: Enforcement, Encounters and Everyday Policing

Based on extensive fieldwork and around 200 interviews, this ethnographic study reveals a distinctly ‘postcolonial condition of policing’. Mutually reinforcing phenomena of militarisation and informality have been exacerbated by an insecure state that routinely conflates combatting crime, maintaining public order, and ensuring national security.