Overview and entry requirements

The SOAS LLM in Law and Gender offers an interdisciplinary, intellectually and politically rewarding and collegiate space, designed for critical and impactful engagements with law and gender, with a particular focus on the Global South and both historical and contemporary legal and alegal pursuits of gender, sexual, racial, Indigenous, class, caste, disability, post-conflict, post-colonial and environmental justice.

Our students and teaching staff are particularly versed in feminist, queer and critical race theoretical approaches to intersectionality and are deeply engaged in cutting-edge projects across the ‘SOAS regions’ and beyond. 

See School of Law

Why study LLM Law and Gender at SOAS

We are UK Top 20 and World Top 200 for Law (QS World University Rankings 2021).

The LLM programme on Law and Gender is not just your go-to place for exploring interdisciplinary and critical approaches to law and gender in society; it rests upon a unique mission to support you, from the very beginning of this adventure, as both a learner and a teacher, making sure that your past and present personal, activist, academic and professional experiences and future aspirations are acknowledged and nurtured in a way that can equip you with firm and substantial critical directions.

You will learn and, whilst doing so, teach and help others, too, in a highly diverse and friendly environment.

You will approach both law and gender as your critical objects proper, to be explored in a pedagogical world that seeks to creatively and meaningfully overcome the distinction between the academic and the activist, the theoretical and the practical, relying on a praxis that each of you will have a chance to tailor to suit your personal and career needs as well as your unique research impulses and sensitivities.

You will, in other words, become a member of a vibrant, exploratory community amidst a buzzling metropolis and the wider SOAS contexts.

We will work together on making this experience truly life-changing and memorable, which will not only equip you with critical approaches to law and gender, well beyond the confines of more ‘traditional’ institutions, but also ensure that you encounter and benefit from our unique, inter- and post-disciplinary, non-hierarchical and deeply collaborative approach to learning-in-the-world.

SOAS Centre for Gender Studies

This programme proudly lays at the intersection of the SOAS School of Law and the SOAS Centre for Gender Studies which, in their own ways, house some of the most innovative, critical and world-renown research on gender and law you will encounter in London, the United Kingdom and the world.

Whether you wish to explore, or have experience with, global, transnational, local or specifically Global Southern approaches to law and gender, we have committed and uniquely knowledgeable teaching staff and students you can engage and work with.

Some of our particular areas of expertise include postcolonial feminist and queer approaches to international and domestic law, diaspora studies and African and Asian feminisms, critical studies of sexual and gender diversity in the Global South, and the intersections of migration, post-conflict, environmental, anti-racist and anti-capitalist studies of law and gender.

Why you

This programme is perfect for LLB graduates or legal professionals and theorists seeking a deeper, both practice and theory-oriented, engagement with gender studies in law and gender in legal studies — a meeting place for those ready to challenge their accustomed ways of being-in-the-world in community with other, critically-minded teachers and learners.

You will not only join the current explorers along this inter and post-disciplinary path, but also numerous alumni and alumnae around the globe who still cherish this experience as a turning point in their careers and life-paths. 

Please note that the LLM is restricted to applicants who hold an UK law degree or international equivalent.  If you do not hold a law degree but are interested in pursuing a master’s degree in law at SOAS, please see details of the MA here.

Explore

• Law in the time of Corona: Gender, feminism and international law
• SOAS School of Law Research

Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings

Start of programme: September intake only

Mode of Attendance: Full-time or Part-time

Structure

Students take 180 credits composed of a dissertation (60 credits) as well as Core, Compulsory and Optional modules.

Core modules: These are mandatory and must be passed in the year they are taken before the student can progress to the next year.

Compulsory modules: These are mandatory but in the case of a failure, students may carry this into their next year provided that they retake and pass the failed element or exam.

Optional modules: These are designed to help students design their own intellectual journey while maintaining a strong grasp of the fundamentals.

Students who wish to graduate with a specialised LLM are required to take at least 60 credits associated with his or her specialised LLM, a further 30 credits within the School of Law (General Law Postgraduate Taught Module List), and a final 30 unit which can either be taken within the School of Law or from the Language Open Options or Non-Language Open Options pages with the LLM Programme Convenor’s permission. The dissertation topic will be undertaken within the LLM specialisation.

Please note: Not all modules listed will be available every year. Please see the individual module page for information.

Dissertation

Dissertation (12,000 words), on a topic related to the specialism of the degree

Taught Component

AND

Guided Option

Choose a module(s) from the List A or General Law Options below to the value of 30 credits

AND

Choose a module(s) from the List of General Law PGT Options below or from Postgraduate Open Options to the value of 60 credits

List of Modules (subject to availability)

List A

General Law Options

Open Options Note

Open options will need approval of deputy PG programme convenor (LLM or MA)

Other non-law options might also be available, for example:

Programme Specification

• LLM Law and Gender Programme Specification (pdf; 174kb)

Important notice

Teaching & Learning

Students will acquire specialist knowledge of the chosen subject areas of law. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, knowledge and understanding of the following:

• the theoretical and practical underpinnings of law
• the context in which law is made, interpreted, adjudicated, and amended
• the role played by law in different social and economic environments
• the role and function of legal institutions
• the 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

Contact hours

In the Department of Law, most modules have a one or two hour lecture and a one hour seminar every week. Lectures and seminars are often taken by different teachers to provide a variety of angles on the subject. The majority of the student’s time will be through their own independent study. Students become more active in class through their reading and essay-writing and should greatly enhance their participation in discussion groups.

Dissertation

Its aim is to provide an opportunity for students to conduct original historical, socio-legal and legal-anthropological research on their own initiative, to engage in empirical, intersectional and in-depth analysis of particular subjects and to use a range of primary historical sources, fieldwork data and the like. It is assessed by a single 12,000-word dissertation (including notes but excluding bibliography).

SOAS Library

SOAS Library is one of the world's most important academic libraries for the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, attracting scholars from all over the world. The Library houses over 1.2 million volumes, together with significant archival holdings, special collections and a growing network of electronic resources.

Tuition fees

Fees for 2022/23 entrants, per academic year (Band 3 tuition fee) 

Fees go up each year, therefore your tuition fee in your second and subsequent years of study will be higher.

Our continuing students, on the same degree programme, are protected from annual increases higher than 5%.

Full details of postgraduate tuition fees can be found on the Postgraduate tuition fees page.

Scholarships

For further details and information on external scholarships visit the Scholarships section

Employment 

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.

SOAS Law graduates have found the LLM a vital boost to their work as legal professionals and that this Law Masters is an excellent base for further study towards a research degree such as a PhD leading to an academic career. 

Recent School of Law graduates have been hired by:

• PwC LLP
• BLM Law
• BloombergNEF
• British Medical Association
• Clifford Chance
• DAC Beachcroft LLP
• Department for Work and Pensions
• EY
• HM Treasury
• Latham & Watkins
• Legal Cheek
• Simpson Millar Solicitors
• The Economist
• Travers Smith
• Vodafone
• World Cancer Research Fund

Find out about SOAS Careers Service

• How to Apply
• Online Application
• Request a prospectus
• Got a question - use our enquiry form (opens a new window)
• Funding options
• English language requirements
• Tuition Fees
• Admissions Contacts