Dr Sonam Gordhan is a Lecturer in Environmental Law and a member of the Centre for Climate Law and Governance at the Dickson Pool School of Law, King's College London. She researches and teaches in the field of environmental law, with a particular focus on climate change and adjudicative process. She is co-convenor of the LLB Environmental Law and gives tutorials in Tort Law.

Before joining the Law School, Sonam was a Departmental Lecturer at Corpus Christi College and the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. At Oxford, she convened the undergraduate course in Environmental Law and contributed to BCL teaching on Legal Concepts in Environmental Law. She also ran tutorials in Administrative and Constitutional Law. In earlier years, she was an Associate Lecturer (Teaching) at UCL Faculty of Laws, where she convened a special seminar course on Tort and Environmental Problems and gave tutorials in Tort.

Sonam completed her PhD at UCL Faculty of Laws, which explored the relationship between adjudicative method and climate change problems. This research examined fundamental precepts of common law adjudication and the role they play in climate change legal disputes. Her doctoral research was generously funded by the London Arts and Humanities Partnership and the UCL Faculty of Laws. Sonam's work has appeared in the Modern Law Review and the Journal of Environmental Law. She has presented her work at seminars and conferences at the University of Oxford, UCL, University of Cambridge, LSE Grantham Institute, Birkbeck and University of Nottingham.

Sonam is delighted to be returning to King's in 2025. In earlier years, she was awarded a First Class degree in Law with European Legal Studies at King’s College London, and completed her LLM at the University of Sydney. Prior to her academic career, Sonam worked in civil society. She was a Legal Intern at Friends of the Earth UK and was involved in the challenge to the government's decision to expand Heathrow Airport; conducted legal research on environmental principles to inform the EU Withdrawal Act 2018; and contributed to legal action on matters relating to access to justice and the Aarhus Convention. She also consulted for Greenpeace International and the Climate Justice Programme. Sonam is also Reviews Editor at Journal of Environmental Law and is a member of the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association. 

Research interests 

Dr Gordhan's principal interest is in environmental law and adjudicative process. In particular, she examines the relationship between adjudicative process and climate change problems, with a focus on common law jurisdictions.

Areas of expertise include:

• Climate change adjudication
• Judicial review and environmental problems
• Post-Brexit UK environmental law and governance
• Legal research methods in environmental law

Teaching interests 

• Environmental Law
• Tort Law