Environmental Law Seminar Series report: Environmental law in action

Kent Law School alumna Victoria Cherrier, now a principal consultant at Wood PLC, returned to Kent this month to deliver a talk on “Environmental Law in Action” for LLM students.

The talk, held on Monday 15 October, was the first for the Law School’s 2018/19 Environmental Law Seminars Series.

Victoria previously worked as a policy analyst at the Institute for European Environmental Policy in London, where she focused on water and industrial pollution issues related to European legislation. In her new role at Wood PLC (formerly known as Amec Foster Wheeler), Victoria manages and delivers projects related to European environmental policy.

Kent LLM student Vipassri Niyompruksa (who helped organise the seminar) said: ‘The seminar introduced insightful information for pursuing a career in environmental law and outlined EU/UK environmental policy frameworks for environmental protection. Victoria drew on some practical examples on how her legal knowledge had been ‘put in action’. In this regards, she addressed the challenges of working with the United Nations, the European Commission, the UK and other European government departments to provide expert advice and establish environmental policy frameworks for air quality, chemicals, industrial emissions, climate change, water and waste. Victoria further exemplified some projects she had previously worked on for the European Commission such as a ‘Water Reuse Impact Assessment’ and an ‘Analysis of Implementation of the Seveso Directive’.

‘Overall, the discussion inspired attendees to gain a practical perspective on careers within the environmental field and a useful overview of a broad range of environmental law policies for development and implementation in order to meet local and international standards.’

This month’s seminar was organised for LLM students by the student committee comprising Sara Sánchez, Pirunrak Siwarom and Vipassri Niyompruksa.


Environmental law at Kent

Environmental law is a recognised and long-established area of teaching and research expertise at Kent Law School. Academics, including Professor William Howarth and Dr Martin Hedemann-Robinson, are engaged in research across a number of areas of environmental law, with research spanning international, European and national law and policy. The Law School’s Environmental Law Seminar Series has been designed specifically for LLM (Master’s in Law) students with an interest in the environmental law modules offered at Kent.

Kent LLM students can graduate on the International Environmental Law and Policy pathway by (i) opting to study at least three (out of six) modules from those associated with the pathway of their choice and by (ii) focusing the topic of their dissertation on their chosen pathway. Students can also study environmental law in combination with other areas offered by the Law School.

A record of previous talks held as part of the Law School Environmental Law Seminar Series is available on our news blog.