Promoting sustainability through law

Watch this short video for an overview of these two Master's programmes

The Institute for Marine & Environmental Law (IMEL) is the academic home for the Faculty's Master's programmes in Environmental Law and Marine & Environmental Law, convened by IMEL Director, Professor Alexander Paterson. 

As global awareness continues to grow regarding the significant and varied challenges facing the earth and the myriad of species reliant on it for their survival, both global and domestic law and policymakers have turned to law as one potential solution to manage these challenges and ensure the long-term survival of species. Not surprisingly, the disciplines of environmental and marine law have seen significant growth over the past few decades both in the international and domestic context. They are both exceedingly vital and exciting areas of law to engage in, with countless opportunities emerging in a wide variety of contexts for those with expertise in these areas of law.

In response to these environmental crises, and with a view to responding to the need to build additional capacity in these still-developing areas of law, IMEL offers a broad array of postgraduate qualifications specialising in Environmental Law or Marine & Environmental Law. These postgraduate qualifications, which are briefly detailed below, include:

  • LLM degree by coursework and minor dissertation
  • MPhil degree by coursework and minor dissertation
  • LLM Professional Master's
  • Postgraduate Diploma.

These qualifications and degree types differ in form, scope, duration and content - enabling potential students to choose a programme most suited to their current and future personal circumstances and professional needs. These programmes are also offered on either a full-time basis (in which case students take two courses per semester) or part-time basis (in which case students take one course per semester). Students in full-time employment are only allowed to study part-time.

These postgraduate environmental law specialisations would be of greatest interest to current and future local and foreign domestic scholars, legal practitioners, government officials, members of the judiciary and those working in the environmental NGO sector. Being involved in these areas of law enables practitioners to have tangible impact on ensuring the ongoing sustainability of life on earth. 

PLEASE NOTE: ** New Master's Scholarship Opportunity specifically for this programme. 

Programme Structure

Master of Laws Degree in approved courses and a minor dissertation

(LLM degree code LM003)

  • Structure: Course Component (4 courses) and Dissertation Component (a supervised minor academic dissertation of 25 000 words)
  • Credit weighting: Course Component (4 courses of 30 credits each = 120 credits) & Dissertation Component (120 credits) = 240 Total Credits.
  • Specialisations: Students can specialise in either Environmental Law (PBL04) or Marine and Environmental Law (PBL07).
  • Anticipated students: Applicants with a LLB degree (law degree) who wish to undertake both postgraduate coursework and a major academic research project, and/or progress to a PhD and ultimately enter the academic profession.

Master of Philosophy in approved courses and a minor dissertation

(MPhil Degree – LM002)

  • Structure: Course Component (4 courses) and Dissertation Component (a supervised minor academic dissertation of 25 000 words)
  • Credit weighting: Course Component (4 courses of 30 credits each = 120 credits) & Dissertation Component (120 credits) = 240 Total Credits
  • Specialisations: Students can specialise in either Environmental Law (PBL04) or Marine and Environmental Law (PBL07).
  • Anticipated students: Applicants with no LLB degree who wish to undertake both postgraduate coursework and a major academic research project, and/or progress to a PhD and ultimately enter the academic profession.

Master of Law Degree in approved courses with research papers

(LLM Professional Degree – LM028)

  • Structure: Course Component (4 courses) and Research Project Component (comprising of 4 practical research tasks of 5 000 words each associated with each of your chosen courses - noting that these practical research tasks are additional to any coursework requirements associated with each course).
  • Credit weighting: Course Component (4 courses of 30 credits each = 120 credits) & Research Project Component (4 practical unsupervised research tasks cumulatively counting 60 credits) = 180 Total Credits
  • Specialisations: Students can specialise in either Environmental Law (PBL04) or Marine and Environmental Law (PBL07).
  • Anticipated students: Applicants (with or without a LLB degree) who generally do not want to pursue a PhD or enter the academic profession in the long term - but rather seek the knowledge conveyed in the courses and the specialised legal skills developed through the practical research tasks to further their professional career prospects as a lawyer, legal consultant, advocate, government official, member of an NGO etc. Undertaking a LLM Professional Degree does not preclude entry into a PhD.

Postgraduate Diploma in Law

(PGDiploma – LG002)

  • Structure: Course Component (4 courses) alone.
  • Credit weighting: Course Component (4 courses of 30 credits each) = 120 Total Credits.
  • Specialisations: Students can specialise in either Environmental Law (PBL04) or Marine and Environmental Law (PBL07).
  • Anticipated students: Applicants (with or without a LLB degree) who want to build their substantive knowledge in a particular area of law by coursework alone.

Students undertaking any of these postgraduate qualifications, specialising in either Environmental Law or Marine & Environmental Law, must take two predetermined compulsory core and must choose elective courses for a set of options. These compulsory and elective courses are clearly set out in the Law Faculty Handbook.

The courses (including the semester in which they are ordinarily offered) are listed below.

  • Principles of Environmental Law (PBL5640F/PBL4640F – first semester) – block lectures.
  • International Environmental Law (PBL5619F/PBL4619F – second semester) – block lectures.
  • Land Use Planning Law (PBL5641F/PBL4641F – first semester) – block lectures.
  • Natural Resources Law (PBL5642S/PBL4642S – second semester) – block lectures.
  • Pollution Law (PBL5643S/PBL4643S – second semester) – block lectures.
  • International Law of the Sea (PBL5602F/PBL4607F – first semester) – mixture of weekly lectures and 2/3 small teaching blocks.

With the exception of International Law of the Sea, all the above courses comprise of:

  • a block-teaching component (two weeks each) held in person at the Faculty 
  • a correspondence learning component (12 weeks) undertaken at the student’s place of residence.

Full details regarding the structure, rules and admission requirements applicable to each of these postgraduate programmes and courses are available in the Law Faculty Handbook. Further information on the application process, deadlines, dissertation guidelines, supervision and more, have a look at the School for Advanced Legal Studies’ website.

Why study marine and/or environmental law?

  • Vital and relevant area of law to study enabling one to make a tangible difference to one's environment in the interest of current and future generations of species.
  • Arguably one of the most ethical and tangible areas of law  - with an ability to see the direct consequence of the role of law in regulating human activity and promoting sustainability.
  • A continually and rapidly expanding area of law with an immense and wide range of opportunities spanning formal legal practice, environmental law consultancies, local and international NGOs and the government sector.
  • Given the all-pervasive nature of marine and environmental law, issues canvassed in the programmes are of relevance to all legal practitioners, environmental consultants, government officials and those working in the corporate and NGO sectors.

Why study marine and environmental Law in South Africa?

  • Given the contemporary and innovative nature of South Africa's legal frameworks governing the terrestrial and marine environment, which are used as a case study throughout the programme, it is of key relevance to foreign students seeking to understand, critique and become involved in the reformation of their own more outdated and staid domestic legal frameworks.
  • South Africa, with its intriguing blend of statute, common and customary laws and conflicting social, economic and environmental imperatives provides a very dynamic and challenging microcosm to reflect on the role of marine and environmental law.

Why choose programmes run by IMEL?

  • Founded in 1983, it is the oldest and one of the largest dedicated grouping of marine and environmental law scholars in Africa.
  • Largest dedicated programme in Africa focusing specifically on both marine and environmental law with largest array of specialist courses to choose from specifically crafted to ensure exposure to all relevant areas of marine and environmental law - from both a local and international perspective.
  • Vast choice of different degree programmes to suit your specific needs and skills - including LLM, Mphil, LLM Professisonal and PGDiploma.
  • Programmes structured into both full-time and part-time programmes to enable you to work and study at the same time.
  • Courses on programme structured into block and correspondence components - thereby enabling participants from Cape Town and elsewhere to enrol in the programme.
  • Participants include lawyers and postgraduate students from other disciplines ensuring a rich dynamic in the class.
  • Members who convene and teach on the programmes have specialist expertise spanning a broad range of fields including natural resources law, pollution law, climate change law, land use planning law, international law and international law of the sea  
  • Majority of academics running the programmes have been practising attorneys in the past thereby enabling them to bring a vital mix of academia and practice into the learning environment.
  • Diversity of learning pedagogy employed to ensure a dynamic and interactive class environment.
  • Cape Town, a rapidly expanding city situated on the marine/terrestrial divide in one of the most biological rich and sensitive areas in the world and plagued by mass inequalities creates an intriguing platform for field trips - which are embedded into the majority of courses.
  • Specialist guest speakers invited to present on specific topics to expose students to practitioners engaged in contemporary matters, issues and disputes.

Specialisation Lecturers

The core lecturers on the programmes are:

  • Professor Alexander (Sandy) Paterson (BSocSci LLB LLM PhD University of Cape Town) is a professor of environmental law based at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Law, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town and its current Director. He is programme convener of the postgraduate degrees specializing in marine and environmental law and he currently convenes the following courses: Principles of Environmental Law, Land Use Planning Law and International Environmental Law. His research focusses on the law relating to biodiversity, protected areas, land-use planning and incentive-based environmental regulation. Prior to joining the Institute in 2004, he practised as an environmental attorney and environmental consultant for several years. He has also worked in the NGO sector monitoring the progression of environmental legislation through Parliament. He is a member of the IUCN World Commission of Environmental Law (WCEL), World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), the Association of Environmental Law Lecturers from African Universities (ASSELLAU), Environmental Law Association and International Association of Impact Assessment (SA). He currently sits on the Board of the Biodiversity Law Centre and on the Editorial Board of the South African Journal of Environmental Law and Policy and the Chinese Journal of Environmental Law. On weekends you will find him up a mountain or surfing in the ocean.
  • Associate Professor Melanie Murcott joined the Institute of Marine and Environmental Law in 2023. She holds an LLB from the University of Cape Town and an LLM (Constitutional and Administrative Law) from the University of Pretoria (both with distinction). She obtained her LLD (Constitutional Law) from North-West University. She currently convenes the following courses: Natural Resources Law and Pollution Law. Before joining academia in 2012, Melanie practised as an attorney, including at Hogan Lovells (South Africa) where she was a partner. From 2012 to 2023, Melanie taught and engaged in research at the University of Pretoria. Among other accomplishments, she authored Transformative Environmental Constitutionalism (Brill, 2022), a significant monograph which develops a novel approach to the adjudication of disputes concerning environmental protection, given that we face a planetary crisis with myriad justice implications. Melanie believes, as Maya Angelou says: “no one of us can be free until everybody is free”. Importantly for Melanie, a flourishing environment creates the necessary conditions for freedom since humans and the environment are fundamentally connected.
  • Associate Professor Graham Bradfield currently heads up the Shipping Law Unit in the Faculty of Law and convenes the International Law of the Sea Course. After graduating with Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Law degrees from the then University of Natal, he completed articles of clerkship and practised as an attorney in Durban before being appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Commercial Law and completing a LLM in Shipping Law at UCT. After a stint in legal practice in Sydney, Australia, and in Cape Town, he re-joined the Faculty. He presently convenes the specialist postgraduate programmes in Shipping Law and presents courses in Admiralty Jurisdiction and Practice, Carriage of Goods by Sea, International Law of the Sea, Marine Insurance, and Maritime Law. He has previously taught courses in Special Contracts; Credit, Security, real and personal, and Insolvency Law, and Insurance Law in the LLB programme, and a course in International Commercial Transactions Law in the LLM programme. His research and teaching interests lie in the fields of Shipping Law; International Trade Law; Contract Law; Credit; Security and Insolvency Law.

Key contacts for queries

There are a number of key staff members to contact at the Faculty of Law relating to the above programmes. 

  • Institute of Marine and Environmental Law (for all issues relating to the Institute or the academic programmes we offer)

Become an active and engaged member of the earth community in promoting sustainability through law.