About
Emma Laurie is an Associate Professor in Law, specialising in property and housing law. Emma is the Digest editor for The Journal of Social Security Law. She is also a member of the Academic Panel of the Administrative Justice Council (ajc-justice.co.uk) – the body given responsibility for oversight of the administrative justice system in the UK.
Research
Research groups
Research interests
- Residential tenancy law
- Housing law
- Social Security law
- Administrative justice
Current research
Emma’s research interests are principally in residential tenancies, social security and, more broadly, administrative justice. Emma is particularly interested in researching the interaction between law and policy, both the initial creation of the law and subsequently when the courts adjudicate areas of law (such as social housing) which have a highly political context.
Her recent research (with her colleague Professor Sarah Nield) explored whether tenants in the private rented sector should benefit from human rights protections (S Nield & E Laurie, The private-public divide and horizontality in the English rental sector. (2019) Public Law 724-745).
Emma has also recently completed a paper which argues that the courts have diluted the standard of review for appeals by homeless people. Emma argues that Parliament has given the courts the duty to oversee the lawfulness of homelessness decision-making and there is no justification for the courts diminishing that function. (E Laurie, ‘Homelessness and the ‘over-judicialisation’ of welfare’ Legal Studies (forthcoming)).
Publications
Teaching
Emma teaches a third year option called Renting Homes: Law and Policy which is based on her research interests. She also teaches contract law.
Emma has supervised to successful completion a number of PhD students and would welcome hearing from students who are interested in undertaking research in the field of housing law (in the private rented or social rented sectors) or within administrative justice more broadly.