The SOAS School of Law is a

law school A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for b ...

of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. It is based in the

Paul Webley Paul Webley CBE (19 November 1953 – 2 March 2016) was director and principal of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London from 2006 to 2015. From 2010 until his death in 2016, he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the Uni ...

wing of the Senate House in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

, London, United Kingdom. The

SOAS The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

School of Law has an emphasis on the legal systems of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The School of Law has over 400 students. It offers programmes at the LLB,

LLM A large language model (LLM) is a language model trained with Self-supervised learning, self-supervised machine learning on a vast amount of text, designed for natural language processing tasks, especially Natural language generation, language g ...

and MPhil/

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

level.

International students International students or exchange students, also known as foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their Secondary education, secondary or tertiary education in a country other than their own. In 2022, there were over 6.9 m ...

have been the majority at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level for many years. It publishes a number of journals, including the '' Journal of African Law'', the ''Journal of Comparative Law'' and the ''Yearbook of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law''. Along with the International Environmental Law Research Centre (IELRC), it produces the ''Law, Environment and Development Journal'' (''LEAD Journal''). An independent student law journal is also published by undergraduate and graduate students, the ''SOAS Law Journal'', and it publishes articles from faculty, students and alumni. Notable alumni of the school of law include Foreign Secretary David Lammy MP, former

President of Ghana The president of the Republic of Ghana is the elected head of state and head of government of Ghana, as well as commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces. The current president of Ghana is John Mahama, who won the 2024 presidential elect ...

John Atta Mills John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills (21 July 1944 – 24 July 2012) was a Ghanaian politician and legal scholar who served as the 11th president of Ghana from 2009 until his death in 2012. He was inaugurated on 7 January 2009, having defeated the govern ...

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

justices from

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, and Iranian human rights activist Ghoncheh Ghavami.

History

The SOAS School of Law was established in 1947 with Seymour Gonne Vesey-FitzGerald as its first head, and as such is one of the 20 oldest law schools in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Initially, the School of Law only hosted post-graduate students. In 1975, under the leadership of Antony Nicholas Allott, the school developed a comparative undergraduate LLB which continues to the present. In 2012, the Head of the Law School, Mashood Baderin, was appointed as Special Independent Expert to Sudan by the

United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a United Nations Regional Gro ...

. In 2013, Paul Kohler assumed the role as Head of the SOAS School of Law following the retirement of Baderin.

Academics

The SOAS School of Law

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

(LLB) programme is recognised as a Qualifying Law Degree by the

Law Society of England and Wales The Law Society of England and Wales (officially The Law Society) is the professional association that represents solicitors for the jurisdiction of England and Wales. It provides services and support to practising and training solicitors, as ...

and the Bar Standards Board for the purposes of completing legal training. As such, the SOAS LLB satisfies all professional requirements for the Common Professional Examination. Although many modules at SOAS embody a substantial element of English

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

, all modules are taught as far as possible in a comparative or international manner with an emphasis in the way in which law functions in society. Thus, law studies at SOAS are broad and comparative in their orientation. All students study a significant amount of non-English law, start in the first year of the LLB course, where 'Legal Systems of Asia and Africa' is compulsory. Specialised modules in the laws and legal systems of particular countries and regions is also encouraged and faculty experts conduct modules in these subjects every year. Several combination BA degrees also allow students to combine law courses with another faculty, including history and politics. The SOAS School of Law also has a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

(

) which provides many advanced courses on comparative, international and transnational commercial law- all focused on Asian and African legal issues. The SOAS School of Law also offers a

programme. In addition to academic programmes, SOAS School of Law students also have access to several Pro Bono law clinics. These Pro Bono law clinics offer students the opportunity to work alongside practising lawyers on actual cases involving human rights and civil rights which are taken on free of charge to the clients.

Research

The SOAS School of Law has expertise in the laws of Asian and African countries,

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

, transnational

commercial law Commercial law (or business law), which is also known by other names such as mercantile law or trade law depending on jurisdiction; is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of Legal person, persons and organizations ...

environmental law Environmental laws are laws that protect the environment. The term "environmental law" encompasses treaties, statutes, regulations, conventions, and policies designed to protect the natural environment and manage the impact of human activitie ...

, and

comparative law Comparative law is the study of differences and similarities between the law and legal systems of different countries. More specifically, it involves the study of the different legal systems (or "families") in existence around the world, includ ...

. It is home to the following research centres: * Centre for East Asian Laws (CEAL) * Centre for Law and Conflict * Centre for Ethnic Minority Studies (CEMS) * Centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Law (CIMEL). Faculty members routinely contribute to journals and publish volumes of leading research annually. The school has close ties with the internationally renowned

Institute of Advanced Legal Studies The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) is a member institute of the School of Advanced Study, University of London. Founded in 1947, it is a national academic centre of excellence, serving the legal community and universities across the ...

, which is also part of the federal

Publications

The SOAS School of Law and faculty members are involved in the publication of the following legal research journals: * '' Journal of African Law'', * ''Journal of Comparative Law'', * ''Law Reports of the Commonwealth'', * ''Yearbook of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law'', * ''Law, Environment and Development Journal'' (''LEAD Journal''), * ''SOAS Law Journal'' (Co-founded by five SOAS law students, it is a student-led and edited journal featuring submissions by students, alumni and faculty.)

Rankings

The SOAS School of Law was ranked 39th out of all British law schools by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' League Table in 2024. The

QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...

placed SOAS in the 151-200 bracket in 2020 for law.

SOAS Law Society

The SOAS Law Society promotes opportunities to learn about the study of law and career options to student members at SOAS. The Law Society hosts meetings, intercollegiate exchanges, mooting tournaments and other educational events. Although there was formerly a separate SOAS Bar Society that conducted bar-related programming and organised moot teams and tournaments, it merged with the Law Society in 2013. Past moot teams fielded by the SOAS Law Society or SOAS Bar Society have participated in the annual English Law Students Association (ELSA) Moot Tournament and the prestigious London Universities Mooting Shield, which was founded by SOAS Law School alumnus, barrister and present New York attorney Daniel Jackson. Amal Alamuddin Cannes 2016

Teaching

Faculty at the SOAS School of Law are routinely rated highly on national student satisfaction surveys, with the satisfaction rate reaching 91% in 2015. The SOAS School of Law has more than 30 full-time academic staff, 20 professors, many visiting professors and distinguished judicial and other visiting academic staff. Visiting Professors *

Amal Clooney Amal Clooney (; born ) is a British International human rights law, international human rights lawyer. She has represented several high-profile clients, including former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, form ...

- Former visiting professor at SOAS School of Law, human rights barrister and wife of actor

George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and philanthropist. Known for his leading man roles on screen in both blockbuster and independent films, Clooney has received numerous accolades, including two Ac ...

. * David W. Kennedy

Notable alumni

Heads of State

Official portrait of Rt Hon David Lammy MP crop 5

- Former

Judiciary

* Idris Kutigi - Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. * Sylvester Umaru Onu - Supreme Court Justice of Nigeria. * Shirani Bandaranayake - Former Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, noted Sri Lankan jurist. * Henry M. Joko-Smart - Supreme Court Justice of Sierra Leone.

Academics

* Muhammad Mohar Ali - Bangladeshi

Islamic Law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...

scholar. * Antony Nicholas Allott -

theorist, Professor of Asian Laws at SOAS * Mohammad Hashim Kamali - Leading expert on Islamic law, noted Afghan academic. * Chibli Mallat - International lawyer, a law professor, and a former candidate for presidency in Lebanon. * M. Ershadul Bari - Leading Bangladeshi Constitutional Law expert. He did his PhD in Constitutional Law from SOAS, University of London on a Commonwealth Academic Staff Scholarship in 1985. He was the Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Dhaka from 1991 to 2001. Subsequently, Professor Bari was appointed the Vice-Chancellor of Bangladesh Open University- a position which he held for nearly 6 years. He, later, served the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as a Professor of Law.

Lawyers: Solicitors and Barristers

* Charles A. Adeogun-Phillips - Former genocide and war crimes prosecutor. * Herbert Chitepo - First black barrister in

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

, later known as Zimbabwe, and noted contemporary ally of Robert Mugabe. * Sara Hossain - Bangladeshi lawyer.

Politicians and Diplomats

* Francis K. Butagira - Former Ugandan Ambassador to Germany. * Nihal Jayawickrama - Sri Lankan statesmen. * David Lammy - British Labour Party MP, candidate for

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...

in 2016. * Mohamed Salih Omer - Sudanese statesman. * Aaron Mike Oquaye - Ghanaian statesman. * Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam - Sri Lankan

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

lawyer, politician and former Member of Parliament.

Activists

* Husna Ahmad - Bangladeshi environmental campaigner. * Ghoncheh Ghavami - Iranian civil rights activist.

References

External links

SOAS School of Law Journals
{{coord, 51.52251, -0.12892, region:GB, display=title SOAS University of London Law schools in England Universities and colleges established in 1947 1947 establishments in England

History

Academics

Research

Publications

Rankings

SOAS Law Society

Teaching

Notable alumni

Heads of State

Judiciary

Academics

Lawyers: Solicitors and Barristers

Politicians and Diplomats

Activists

See also

References

External links