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Undergraduate degrees

The LLB at Edinburgh is designed to prepare you for a career as a lawyer in Scotland, providing the ideal foundation for further professional study. In accordance with the stipulations of the Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates, we will ensure you get the knowledge you need for a future in the profession.

The LLB is not only a gateway to practising law: many of our graduates opt not to practise law, and the LLB is an excellent grounding for many other careers, including politics, policy and government work, as it will provide you with a range of useful oratory, academic and professional skills.

Students in a lecture

Programme overview

The programme aims to promote advanced knowledge and understanding of the theory, concepts and rules of Law in their socio-economic, institutional, and historical frameworks. While the programme is grounded in Scots law and the Scots legal system, you will also be made familiar with the law and legal systems of the other parts of the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the wider world.

Teaching is offered in the first two years of foundational ‘Ordinary’ courses, and you will also enjoy the benefit of two further years of ‘Honours’ level study which enables you to choose from up to 40 specialist courses covering a wide range of theoretical, practical, and historical fields of study.

The Honours programme in years three and four places a strong emphasis on developing your analytical ability, with emphasis on written and oral skills, and opportunities to hone the latter through participation in legal ‘moots’ which reproduce a courtroom environment. Such mooting is just one of the ways in which the Law School encourages you to develop legal skills through a range of innovative learning methods.

Edinburgh Law School has been at the centre of the teaching and practice of law since its earliest days. You will have easy, local access to:

  • the Edinburgh Sheriff Court;
  • the Supreme civil and criminal Scottish courts;
  • the Crown Office;
  • the Scottish Government;
  • the Faculty of Advocates; and
  • the Law Society of Scotland.

You will come into frequent contact with the personnel of all of these institutions, both through field trips to these institutions and through external teaching provided by personnel from these institutions on the programme.

Though the degree is designed to offer the possibility to graduate with a qualifying degree for professional practise in Scotland, a number of graduates also go on to qualify and practise as a lawyer in other jurisdictions, in accordance with the relevant local conversion requirements and any further study required in the non-Scottish destination jurisdiction.

At the University of Edinburgh, there are two main types of undergraduate law degree:

  • The LLB Honours degree (studied over four years)
  • The LLB Ordinary degree (studied over three years)

Accreditation

Our LLB programmes are accredited by the Law Society of Scotland. You will be required to study certain courses to graduate with a fully qualifying degree.

You will be introduced to general legal principles and legal techniques and will study compulsory courses including:

  • Scottish Legal System
  • Critical Legal Thinking
  • Family Law
  • Public Law of the UK and Scotland
  • Contract Law
  • European Union Law.

You will also take a selection of optional courses.

You will build on the skills and knowledge obtained in Year 1 with a selection of compulsory courses including:

  • Property Law
  • Jurisprudence
  • Public Law and Individual Rights
  • Business Entities
  • Commercial Law
  • Succession and Trust Law
  • Delict
  • Criminal Law
  • Evidence

You will also take one optional courses.

You will receive advanced legal skills training during your honours study and will have the opportunity to specialise further by studying advanced law courses, chosen from a wide range of optional courses, alongside the compulsory Advanced Legal Writing course.

If you are studying law with a language you will spend Year 3 abroad. For other students, study abroad is an option.

This is the final year of the LLB (Ordinary) programme.

You choose further optional advanced law courses to expand your specialist knowledge, and you will normally write a dissertation. This will help you develop your legal research and writing skills.

This is the final year of the LLB (Hons) programme.

If you are planning to enter the Scottish legal profession, you will need to complete the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice after you graduate. You can apply for the diploma during the final year of the LLB programme.

Programme structure

To help you find out more about the compulsory and optional courses in this degree programme we publish the latest available information. However, please note this may not be for your year of entry, but for a different academic year.

Programme structure (2022-23)

Please be aware that all option courses may be subject to change year on year. The courses listed on these and linked pages are indicative for the noted year of study. They may not be available for subsequent years due to teaching resource, availability, and demand.

Enquiries

All enquiries regarding undergraduate applications to Law should be made to the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science Admissions Office.

Email: futurestudents@ed.ac.uk

Phone: +44 (0)131 650 3565

It is possible to combine the study of law with another named academic discipline, so that you study both subjects throughout your time at Edinburgh and develop a deep knowledge of both subjects. Such degrees provide you with the opportunity to learn about the intellectual interactions between the subjects and to combine multiple intellectual interests.

Students outside Old College, Edinburgh Law School

If you decide to study a law and language degree you will study abroad in your third year at an institution which teaches in the named language of your degree programme (Spanish, German, or French), offering you the chance to have a culturally immersive experience in another country whilst also developing you legal and language skills.

At present Edinburgh Law School offers the following joint honours degrees. Please follow the relevant link for entry requirements and information about the degree you are interested in.

Each of these programmes is studied over four years and you will take a range of courses from both the Law School and the School in which your programme is combined.

To see the full programme structure for each of the joint degree options please click on the relevant link above.

Please be aware, if you wish to qualify for entry into training for the legal profession, it can be difficult to get all the subjects required by the Law Society of Scotland. Depending on the joint degree you choose, you may need to take extra courses in some years in order to meet the requirements set by the Law Society of Scotland. You should discuss your course options with your personal tutor as soon as you register in year one, to ensure that your career goals can be met by your degree programme structure.

One of the attractions of the Edinburgh LLB joint Honours degree, however, is that it is possible to revert to a 'pure' law degree at (or indeed before) the end of the first year, or sometimes even at a later date, should you decide to do so. This means that the joint Honours degree allows you to keep your options open even after you've started your degree here at Edinburgh. Depending on what courses you have taken up to the point you decide to change, you may still have to take extra courses in order to meet the requirements of the Law Society of Scotland for entry to training for the legal profession.

Enquiries

All enquiries regarding undergraduate applications to Law should be made to the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science Admissions Office.

Email: futurestudents@ed.ac.uk

Phone: +44 (0)131 650 3565

The Graduate LLB is a two-year programme intended for those who already hold a degree level qualification and wish to obtain an undergraduate qualification in the law. For this reason, it is a very attractive conversion course for graduates from all disciplines and nationalities wishing to pursue a career in the law.

Students in a lecture

The Graduate LLB is primarily designed to prepare you for entry to the Scottish legal profession and is the ideal foundation for further professional study in law, usually the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice (known as Professional Education and Training stage 1, or PEAT 1). In accordance with the stipulations of the Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates, we will ensure you get the legal skills and knowledge you need for a future in the Scottish legal profession.

Though the degree is a qualifying degree for professional practise in Scotland, a number of graduates also go on to qualify and practise as a lawyer in other jurisdictions, in accordance with the relevant local conversion requirements and any further study required in the non-Scottish destination jurisdiction.

It is also an excellent grounding for many other careers, including politics, policy and government work, as it will provide you with a range of useful oratory, academic and professional skills.

You will be introduced to general legal principles and legal techniques and will study compulsory courses including:

  • Scottish Legal System
  • Critical Legal Thinking
  • Family Law
  • Public Law of the UK and Scotland
  • Contract Law
  • European Union Law

You will also take a selection of optional courses. Please note if you intend to practise law in Scotland you will be required to take all law optional courses.

You will build on the skills and knowledge obtained in Year 1 with a selection of compulsory courses including:

  • Property Law
  • Jurisprudence
  • Public Law and Individual Rights
  • Business Entities
  • Commercial Law
  • Succession and Trust Law
  • Delict
  • Evidence
  • Criminal Law

You will also take one optional course. Please note if you intend to practise law in Scotland you will be required to take all law courses.

Programme structure

To help you find out more about the compulsory and optional courses in this degree programme, we publish the latest available information. However, please note this may not be for your year of entry, but for a different academic year.

Degree structure (22-23)

Please be aware that all option courses may be subject to change year on year. The courses listed on these and linked pages are indicative for the noted year of study. They may not be available for subsequent years due to teaching resource, availability, and demand.

Enquiries

All enquiries regarding undergraduate applications to Law should be made to the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science Admissions Office.

Email: futurestudents@ed.ac.uk

Phone: +44 (0)131 650 3565

Online masters degrees

Edinburgh Law School has been teaching LLM degrees by online learning since 2005. Ranked 15th in the world for law (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026), our online masters programmes give you the flexibility to study for an internationally recognised qualification at one of the world's leading universities.

Our online masters programmes enable you to:

  • study when its convenient for you;
  • study from anywhere in the world;
  • study full or part time over a range of study durations; and
  • become part of a rich and varied online community of people in your field.
Student studying

With five LLM degrees and a wide range of study durations, studying online with Edinburgh Law School provides you with the flexibility to study and maintain your work and personal commitments from anywhere in the world.

Want to find out more? Book onto our Postgraduate Online Learning Open Days taking place between the 19th and 21st May 2026:

Book onto our Open Days

Edinburgh Centre for International and Global Law

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The Edinburgh Centre for International and Global Law (ECIGL) brings together and expands the exciting and innovative research, teaching and engagement with international law and law beyond the state done at Edinburgh Law School. Taking advantage of Edinburgh Law School's place as an historic and renowned hub for theoretical, socio-legal and doctrinal studies in law in national, European and global dimensions, ECIGL is committed to being a dynamic and interdisciplinary intellectual space that addresses contemporary international and global questions through both fundamental research and practical policy engagement.

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Edinburgh Centre for International and Global Law

A lively community of critical thinking, legal expertise and theoretical reaction.

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Who we are

A lively community of critical thinking, legal expertise and theoretical reacion, ECIGL brings together accomplished scholars and experts bridging a wide span of contemporary international law.

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A focal point for a diverse, eclectic, interdisciplinary and well-rounded approach to the study of international law and global governance.

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The Law of the List is an interdisciplinary study of global security law in motion.
The Law of the List: UN Counterterrorism Sanctions and the Politics of Global Security Law
By Gavin Sullivan
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Scottish land registration reform

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As Scottish Law Commissioners, Professor Kenneth Reid and Professor George Gretton contributed to sweeping reform of the Scottish land registration system. Their work led to the introduction of a new law of land registration, above all achieved by the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012. Reid and Gretton have written extensively on matters of property law and together are the authors of the standard work on conveyancing.

Land Registration

Before the publication of the 18th volume of the Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia in 1993, which included Reid’s contribution on Scottish property law and which was reprinted as a book with an additional chapter by Gretton in 1996, the field was little studied. Reid’s work, based on an exhaustive study of sources over a period of some 600 years, proposed an overarching theoretical structure which would work for property of all types. Using a new taxonomy and a series of high-level principles, Reid showed how it was possible to organise and explain coherently what had often appeared as a jumble of unrelated rules. Reid’s research rediscovered and reformulated the law of property in Scotland.

This rediscovery exposed major shortcomings in the legislation which had introduced registration of title in Scotland. During his time as a Law Commissioner, Reid wrote three consultative Discussion Papers on land registration. Gretton, who succeeded him as a Law Commissioner in 2006, was responsible for the final Report and for draft legislation (2010). A Bill based on the Law Commission’s draft was introduced to Parliament by the Scottish Government in 2011 and was passed the following year as the Land Registration etc (Scotland) Act 2012. The resulting Act is a substantial piece of legislation comprising 124 sections and five schedules.

The passing of the Act marked the culmination of an extensive programme of property law reform carried out by the Scottish Government. The new Act took effect on 8 December 2014.

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LLM in Medical Law and Ethics

The LLM in Medical Law and Ethics addresses a diverse range of topics that reflect the legal and ethical challenges faced by those working in and around health and medicine. These topics are examined in their social, political and historical context.


Dr Edward Dove, Programme Director (2017-2022), provides an overview of the LLM in Medical Law and Ethics along with fellow academics Annie Sorbie, Gerard Porter and Emily Postan.

The programme will cover legal and ethical issues that arise in various contexts, including but not limited to:

  • Medical treatment and experimentation
  • Regulation of healthcare professionals
  • Assisted reproduction
  • Genetics
  • Assisted dying and euthanasia
  • Biomedical research, and
  • Public health and global health
Zahra, graduate from the LLM in Medical Law and Ethics
My experience on the LLM in Medical Law and Ethics course was fantastic. The quality of the course was impeccable.
Zahra Arifali Haji Jaffer
LLM in Medical Law and Ethics, 2017

Individual and population health is of critical social concern and has been identified as a key ‘global challenge’ which implicates a wide range of actors and policy fields.

This programme is ideal for those who wish to develop skills that will prepare themselves for a career in medical law or ethics or in health-related policy or regulation, and who wish to add new advocacy skills to their professional portfolio. The programme attracts students from a variety of legal backgrounds, as well as students with prior education and training in health and public health-related fields, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities.

The LLM in Medical Law and Ethics adopts an interdisciplinary approach to learning, drawing on academics within and beyond law and ethics.

Uniquely, students will have the opportunity to select their own topics for study, exploring together with fellow students and staff, issues that are at the cutting-edge of the broad field of medical law and ethics.

This not only broadens avenues of learning, but also opens students up to a much wider community of scholars and practitioners.

Edinburgh Law School has had a strong presence in the regulation of the medicine, innovation, and related human rights since the birth of the disciplines of medical law and ethics in the 1970s.

Edinburgh Law School is home to the Mason Institute – a world-leading interdisciplinary research hub – whose research feeds directly into the Masters programme.

The Medical Law and Ethics team, alongside the Mason Institute, is also responsible for the leading textbook in the field, Law and Medical Ethics (Oxford University Press). This was the first textbook of its kind in the UK, and it continues the tradition of medical jurisprudence study first laid down by Professors J Kenyon Mason and Alexander McCall Smith.

As a student on the LLM in Medical Law and Ethics programme, you will become part of our active community of scholars, practitioners, and students from around the world.

You will gain insights into both the fundamentals of medical law and ethics, and issues of contemporary significance that reflect the research interests of members of staff. Importantly, you will benefit from interactions with diverse research communities with which the staff are engaged, including:

The Law School arranges a wide range of events, public lectures and conferences throughout the year which regularly attract high-profile speakers and delegates.

In addition the Mason Institute offers a range of events that you will be able to attend and opportunities to get involved in the activities of the institute. In the video below Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra, co-director of the Mason Institute, talks about the range of events and activities that students can attend.

In this video, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first publication of Mason and McCall Smith's Law and Medical Ethics. It is the UK’s leading textbook in medical law and ethics, which was born and nurtured at Edinburgh Law School.

The Mason Institute has its own podcast series and recorded a special episode to celebrate the seminal textbook, Mason and McCall Smith's Law and Medical Ethics.

The podcast looks at how the textbook came about in the first place, what contributions have been made to the current 12th edition published in 2023, and what the future may hold for the book. 

Listen to the Mason Institute Podcasts

Contact us

If you have any questions about the LLM in Medical Law and Ethics please don’t hesitate to contact us.

pg.law.enquiries@ed.ac.uk

This programme can be taken full time over one year, or part time over two years subject to visa restrictions. It offers a range of subjects that covers a broad spectrum of contemporary issues in medical law, jurisprudence and ethics, from an international and interdisciplinary perspective, allowing you to tailor a programme to suit your interests.

View 2026-27 programme information for the LLM in Medical Law and Ethics

Courses offered in the 2026-27 academic year can be found below. 

With the exception of the compulsory courses, and depending on demand, space on specific courses may be limited.

  • Fundamental Issues in Medical Jurisprudence (20 credits, must be taken in semester 1)

    This course serves as a foundation for critical analytical engagement with the core features of the discipline of medical jurisprudence, being the relationship between law and ethics in the provision of healthcare, the influence of human rights on medical practice, the importance of consent, confidentiality and medical negligence in shaping the contours of the doctor/patient relationship, as well as issues at the start and end of life, such as assisted reproduction and assisted dying. Where appropriate, comparative legal analysis will further inform discussion and debate.

  • Fundamentals in Bioethics (20 credits, must be taken in semester 1)

    This course serves as a foundation for critical engagement with the core elements of bioethics and of doing bioethics. It will introduce students to three pillars of rigorous bioethical analysis: (i) concepts, (ii) theories, and (iii) robust argumentation. It will equip students with the skills to develop and defend ethical arguments, and to apply these to legal, regulatory and policy issues in health and biomedicine.

  • Contemporary Issues in Medical Jurisprudence (20 credits, must be taken in semester 2)

    This course is designed to engage students with current live issues arising in the field of medical jurisprudence, being a disciplines which sits at the cross-roads between law, medicine and ethics and is concerned primarily with legal and social responses to advanced in medicine, healthcare and related technologies.  The course is deliberately designed to be open and responsive to issues that are current at the time of delivery in any given year.

You must study between 40 and 60 credits from the courses listed below.

  • Mental Health Law (20 credits)
    The main aim of the course is to examine the development of mental health law and how it is applied to related conditions that arise throughout the spectrum of life, beginning with diagnosis of conditions through early years, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and senior years. As well as examining specific legislation, the course (to a lesser extent) will focus on: changing societal attitudes to mental health and the growing recognition that mental health is as important as physical health.
    The course will also consider the provisions in Scots law and that in England & Wales, for the care and detention of offenders who have a mental health diagnosis. It should be noted that the basis of this course lies in the law and legislation; it does not seek to focus on medical diagnosis or treatment for mental health conditions.
     
  • Reproduction and the Law (20 credits)
    This course provides you with an understanding of the law, policy, and precedent associated with the regulation of human reproduction in the UK. It provides a solid legal grounding in this area by focusing on key topics including: abortion, assisted reproduction, embryo research, wrongful life and wrongful birth, and surrogacy.
     
  • Medico-Legal Issues in Clinical Negligence and Regulation (20 credits)
    This course interrogates medico-legal issues which arise in the delivery of healthcare, with a focus on clinical negligence law and healthcare professionals, fitness to practice, as well as patient safety and wellbeing.

You will have the option to take between 0 and 20 credits of the following courses from different subject areas offered by the Law School, depending on availability and with the express permission of the programme director.

  • Intellectual Property Law 1: Copyright and Related Rights (20 credits)
  • Intellectual Property Law 2: Industrial Property (20 credits)
  • Delict and Tort (20 credits)
  • Sexual Offending and the Law (20 credits)
  • Robotics, AI and the Law (20 credits)
  • Child Law in Comparative Perspectives (20 credits)
  • Advanced Issues in Patent Law and Policy (20 credits)
  • LGBT Rights: A Legal Perspective (20 credits)
     

Having successfully completed 120 credit points of courses within the LLM, you will be ready to move onto a single piece of independent and in-depth research. The 10,000 word dissertation allows you to focus on a preferred topic from within the field of medical law and ethics, normally based on a subject you have studied in one of your courses during the programme.

You are supported with your independent research in several ways:

  • During semester 2 (Jan – March) you are provided with targeted opportunities to develop research and writing skills necessary for the successful completion of a larger research project.
  • You receive advice on formulating an appropriate research topic and feedback on developing a specific research question.
  • You are assigned an academic supervisor who will provide you with support and guidance while you undertake your research. You will have three meetings with your supervisor (in the period April – June, following the end of taught courses) in which avenues of research are discussed; a structure for the dissertation is developed; and feedback is provided on a sample of the dissertation. The dissertation is submitted in August.

This independent research project is a challenging but rewarding endeavour, allowing you to demonstrate a comprehensive grasp of the relevant literature and an ability to engage critically with a range of sources, drawing on the skills and knowledge you have developed during your studies. You are encouraged to show originality and evidence of independent thinking. Indeed, the outcome of the project – your dissertation – may provide a useful platform for the next stage of your career.

Please note that due to unforeseen circumstances or lack of demand for particular courses, we may not be able to run all courses as advertised come the start of the academic year.

Contact us

If you have any questions about the LLM in Medical Law and Ethics please don’t hesitate to contact us.

pg.law.enquiries@ed.ac.uk

 

Page update: Courses for the 2026-27 year were published on the 16th April 2026. 

You will be taught by a core teaching team made up of individuals who each has an outstanding record of research in the field, as well as in other related areas. 

Core teaching staff for the 2025-26 academic year are listed below: 

Ms Daisy Cheung - Programme Director 2025-26

Daisy is Lecturer of Medical Law and Ethics at Edinburgh Law School. Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh, she was Deputy Director and Research Fellow of the Centre for Medical Ethics and Law (CMEL) at the University of Hong Kong. She currently remains a Research Fellow of CMEL, and is a member of the Mental Health Law Committee of the Law Society of Hong Kong.

Daisy’s research focuses on mental health and capacity law and ethics. She has previously written on a number of issues related to compulsory treatment (both in the hospital and the community) and capacity law in Hong Kong. She has also published on public mental health ethics in the Covid-19 context, and has written on mental capacity law and ethics across several contexts, including two funded projects, one on adult guardianship regimes and one on best interests assessments on behalf of individuals lacking capacity. As a part of the former project, she co-edited a collection on advance medical directives across 16 jurisdictions in Asia (Cambridge University Press 2023).

Find out more

Professor Anne-Maree Farrell is Chair of Medical Jurisprudence at Edinburgh Law School and Director of the Mason Institute.

Professor Farrell's research expertise lies generally in health law and bioethics. She is particularly interested in the relationship between politics and regulation in the area of health. She has specific interests in law and the human body (blood, organ, tissue), health technologies, health security, the management of public health risks, clinical negligence and no-fault compensation for medical injury. She admitted to legal practice as a solicitor in Australia, Ireland, England & Wales. Prior to becoming an academic, she worked as a lawyer in private legal practice specialising in mass torts, product liability and medical negligence.

Find out more

Murray Earle is a Teaching Fellow in medical law. He is a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand (BA Law & International Relations; BA (Hons) Comparative Literature), and the University of Edinburgh (LLM Medical Jurisprudence & the Sociology of Law; and PhD in Medical Law).

Murray started his career as a lecturer in medical law at the University of Glasgow, while completing his PhD. That was followed by work as a Senior Researcher at the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe, 2000-2011). From there he developed an independent career, writing, and teaching on, a wide range of online postgraduate medical law courses offered by the School of Law, at the University of Edinburgh. He was also involved in writing for a range of reference publications.

Find out more

Emily is an Early Career Fellow in Bioethics. Her background is in philosophical bioethics and policy management. She was awarded her PhD for her thesis ‘Defining Ourselves: narrative identity and access to personal bioinformation’ in 2017.

Prior to her doctoral research she worked in policy roles at the Scottish Government in the fields of public health and environmental justice. She was also project leader and co-author of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics 2013 report ‘Novel Neurotechnologies: intervening in the brain’. She has published on ethical and legal issues relating to identity development, consent to research participation, secondary uses of health data, and neurotechnology.

Emily’s main research interests lie in exploring the relationships between biomedical information and self-conception, specifically the narrative constitution of self. Emily is Course Organiser for the on-campus and online LLM courses Fundamentals in Bioethics and Biotechnology, Bioethics and Society. She is a Deputy Director of the JK Mason Institute for Medicine, Life Sciences and the Law, with particular responsibility for the Institute’s policy engagement portfolio.

Find out more about Emily Postan

Dr. Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra is Chancellor’s Fellow in the Legal and Ethical Aspects of Biomedicine, and Co-director of the JK Mason Institute for Medicine, Life Sciences and the Law. She is also a member of the Wellcome Trust-funded Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society.

Dr. Ganguli-Mitra’s background is in bioethics, with a special interest in global bioethics, structural and gender justice. She has written on ethical issues related to global surrogacy, sex-selection, biomedical research in low-income countries, social value in research governance and the concepts of exploitation and vulnerability in bioethics.

Find out more about Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra

Gerard is a lecturer in medical law and ethics in the School of Law. His research interests include medical law, patent law and the regulation of the life sciences. He speaks Japanese and also conducts comparative research in Japanese law within these subject areas.

He has held visiting fellowships at the Centre for Studies in Ethics and Rights (Mumbai, India), the Centre for Biomedical Ethics, National University of Singapore and with the Program on Science, Technology and Society at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Find out more about Gerard Porter

Katy is on sabbatical for the 2025-26 academic year

Catriona (Katy) McMillan is a Lecturer in Medical Law and Ethics at the University of Edinburgh School of Law. She is also Deputy Director of the JK Mason Institute for Medicine, Life Sciences and the Law, and Convenor of the Law Society of Scotland's Health and Medical Law Sub-Committee.

Find out more

Annie is on sabbatical for the 2025-26 academic year

Dr Annie Sorbie is a Lecturer in Medical Law and Ethics at Edinburgh Law School, with a research and teaching portfolio. She is a medical lawyer (currently non-practising) with over 14 years’ experience in legal practice in the health, social care and regulatory sector (September 2001 – December 2015, Partner from 2009). She has extensive experience of providing strategic advice on matters of health regulatory practice and policy, both in health and social care regulation, and also more widely within the NHS and private sectors.

Having joined the Wellcome funded Liminal Spaces Project in January 2016, Annie’s doctoral research interrogates the contribution of the public interest to health research regulation in the context of access to identifiable patient information for research purposes without consent. Annie is also a Deputy Director of the Mason Institute for Medicine, Life Sciences and the Law, and co-leads its policy portfolio. In June 2018 Annie was appointed to the Lay Advisory Group of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

Find out more about Annie Sorbie

The staff teaching on this programme are subject to change for the 2026-27 academic year. Staff listed as on sabbatical will not be available to teach for the duration of their sabbatical.

Contact us

If you have any questions about the LLM in Medical Law and Ethics please don’t hesitate to contact us. 

pg.law.enquiries@ed.ac.uk 

Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime

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The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime (ESYTC) has generated new understanding about youth offending and the impact of interventions. The study has led directly to reform in youth justice policy and practice in Scotland and has had international influence.

ESYTC

Led by Professors Lesley McAra and Susan McVie, the ESYTC is a prospective longitudinal study of pathways into and out of offending amongst a cohort of more than 4000 young people in the city of Edinburgh.

Data collection for the study has included six annual sweeps of self-report surveys from cohort members (aged 12-17) as well as official records from police, social work, children’s hearings, schools and criminal convictions records; surveys of parents and teachers; a community survey; and compilation of a Geographic Information System incorporating census and police-recorded crime data. A sub-sample of the original cohort (now aged 24/25) recently completed a follow-up self-report.

The ESYTC highlighted four key findings:

  1. Involvement in serious offending by young people is strongly linked to their experiences of multiple aspects of vulnerability and social adversity.
  2. Early identification of at-risk children is imprecise, and inappropriate use of formal controls risks recycling young people around the justice system, irreversibly stigmatising them, with negligible beneficial effect.
  3. Pathways out of offending are facilitated or impeded by critical moments in the early teenage years, particularly experience of exclusion from school.
  4. Appropriately targeted diversionary strategies can increase desistance from serious offending.

The ESYTC’s findings on the effectiveness of policing and youth-justice interventions provided evidence for the Scottish Government’s recent reforms to youth justice, including the Early and Effective Intervention Programme for under 16s and the Whole System Approach for under 18s. The Early and Effective Intervention Programme has been rolled out nationally. 

The Whole System Approach represents a major shift away from punitive measures towards maximum use of diversion, a key focus being keeping 16 and 17 year-olds out of the criminal justice system. The Whole System Approach was rolled out nationally to all 32 local authorities in Scotland in September 2011, along with guidance that draws heavily on ESYTC findings. All but two local authorities in Scotland have signed up to adopt the WSA.The effectiveness of these reforms is indicated the Policing Performance Framework data, which shows that the number of recorded crimes and offences committed by children and young people (8-17 year olds) decreased by 32% between 2008-09 and 2011-12.

The influential research carried out by Professor Lesley McAra and Professor Susan McVie was recognised when they were jointly awarded the Howard League Research Medal in 2013. Their paper ‘Delivering Justice for Children and Young People: Key Messages from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime’ was published by the Howard League in 2013.

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Top LL.M. Programmes for Health and Medical Law 2019

1 April 2019

Masters degrees

Ranked 15th in the world for law (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026), The University of Edinburgh Law School’s LLM and MSc programmes offer you the chance to achieve an internationally recognised and respected postgraduate degree from one of the world's top universities.

We offer one of the widest ranges of legal masters programmes in the UK. Our programmes offer an excellent opportunity to deepen your knowledge, whether you wish to specialise in a particular area of the law, or to pursue a broader perspective at a more advanced level. Most of our programmes can also be studied either full time over one year, or part time over two years.

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