Program Overview

MRes in Law

Key Information

Start Date

September

Duration

1 year

Attendance Mode

Full-time or part-time

Location

On Campus

Fees

• Home: £15,740
• International: £26,770

Course Code

PGTF0141

Course Overview

The MRes in Law aims to provide students with advanced skills in legal research, the ability to undertake high-level analysis of law and legal issues with a focus on areas of research specific to the School of Law at SOAS, a grasp of the research methods that underpin the discipline and its place in the humanities and the social sciences, a grounding in legal research methods, and the ethics of legal research.

Structure

Students must take modules to a total value of 180 credits, consisting of a dissertation (90 credits) and 90 credits of taught modules. Taught modules are worth either 15 or 30 credits.

Compulsory Modules

• Research Methods in Law (30 credits)
• MRes in Law Dissertation (90 credits)

Guided Options List A

Minimum 30 credits from List A

• Gender and the Law of War (15 credits)
• International Human Rights Clinic (30 credits)
• International laws on the use of force (15 credits)
• Foundations of International Law (15 credits)
• The Law of Armed Conflict (15 credits)
• Colonialism, Empire and International Law (15 credits)
• Water Justice: Rights, Access and Movements (15 credits)
• Comparative Constitutional Law (15 credits)
• Law and Society in Southeast Asia (15 credits)
• Law and Postcolonial Theory (15 credits)
• International Criminal Law (15 credits)
• Gender, Law and Society in The Middle East and North Africa (15 credits)
• Gender, Sexuality and Law: Selected Topics (15 credits)
• Gender, Sexuality and Law: Theories and Methodologies (15 credits)
• International Investment Law (15 credits)
• Law, Rights & Social Change (15 credits)
• Human Rights of Women 1 (15 credits)
• Law, Environment and Social Justice (15 credits)
• International Migration Law (15 credits)
• International Refugee Law (15 credits)
• Law, Environment, and the Global Commons: Ice, Sea, Space and Beyond (15 credits)
• International Environmental Law (15 credits)
• The Prohibition of Torture in International Law (15 credits)
• Alternatives to Sustainable Development: Rights of Nature and Harmony with Nature (15 credits)
• Multinational Enterprises and the Law I (15 credits)
• Business and Human Rights in the Global Economy (15 credits)
• Israel, Palestine, and International Law (15 credits)
• Palestine, Resistance, and the Law (15 credits)
• Alternative Dispute Resolution I (15 credits)
• Law and the Climate Crisis (15 credits)
• International Protection of Human Rights (15 credits)
• Islamic Family Law (15 credits)
• Islamic Legal Theory (15 credits)
• Transnational Law, Finance and Technology (15 credits)
• Colonial Geographies of International Law (15 credits)
• Law and Society in The Middle East and North Africa (15 credits)
• Human Rights and Islamic Law 1 (15 credits)
• Human Rights and Islamic Law 2 (15 credits)
• Human Rights of Women 2 (15 credits)
• Intellectual Property Law 1 (PG) (15 credits)
• Intellectual Property Law 2 (PG) (15 credits)
• Law and Development in Africa I: Theories and Concepts (15 credits)
• Law and Development in Africa II: Thematic Topics (15 credits)
• Law, Religion and the State in South Asia 1: Constitutional and Criminal Law (15 credits)
• Law, Religion and the State in South Asia 2: Religious Personal Law (15 credits)
• Law and Natural Resources 1: Framework, Rights and Land (15 credits)
• Law and Natural Resources 2: Biological Resources, Corporations and Mining (15 credits)
• International Arbitration: Law and Theory (15 credits)
• International Arbitration: Practice (15 credits)

Teaching and Learning

The MRes in Law programme consists of 180 credits, made up of taught modules of 30 or 15 credits, taught over 10 or 20 weeks, and a dissertation of 90 credits.

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.

Careers

Recent graduates have been hired by organisations including:

• 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

Scholarships

• Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Studentships
• Felix Scholarships

Staff

• Professor Philippe Cullet, Professor of International and Environmental Law

Related Content

• SOAS-Alphawood Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art
• NLUD-SOAS Joint LLM/MA in Environmental Justice in South Asia
• School of Law, Gender and Media

Research

• Addressing the multi-scalar dimensions of sectoral water conflicts: Lessons from South Asia (WATCON)
• Food security and the governance of local knowledge in India and Indonesia (2018–2023)
• Fostering ecocentric community-led river restoration and conservation in the Ganga Basin (2022–2023)
• Conflicts over Access to Water and Land: Evolving dimensions (2022–2025)
• Carceral Policy, Policing and Race
• Sanitation in India: Understanding a complex and controversial human right (2016)
• Legal Issues Related to Water Sector Restructuring in India (2006–2009)
• UKIERI: Climate change and groundwater management in India (2013–2015)
• Rule of Law in Thailand
• Age of consent and child-marriage in the British Empire
• HURIME Project: Human Rights in the Post-Uprisings Middle East
• SOAS Influencing the Corridors of Power project

Events

• The 2025 SOAS-QFC Annual Public Lecture and Experts' Workshop on Islamic Finance

Blogs

• Meet Iqra Hasan: SOAS alum making history as India's youngest female Muslim MP
• South Africa v Israel, provisional measures and the obligation to prevent genocide
• Why I chose to study MA Human Rights Law at SOAS
• How is Covid-19 impacting human rights?
• Africa neglects women's property rights at its own economic peril - but it's not the only culprit
• Sudan's catastrophe: A long history of failed responses to structural and direct violence