Vilija is a Lecturer in EU Law and co-convener of core EU Law module at The Dickson Poon School of Law. Prior to joining King’s in August 2025, she was a Lecturer in Law at the University of Reading and British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in Law at the University of Oxford. At Oxford, she also held lectureships in EU Law and Constitutional Law, was part of the teaching team for the Regulation of the Internal Market course on the BCL/MJur programme, and led seminars in Law and Public Policy for the MPP degree at the Blavatnik School of Government. Prior to that, Vilija was Emile Noël Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Jean Monnet Center at NYU School of Law.

Vilija holds a DPhil in EU Law from the University of Oxford, where she also graduated from the Magister Juris (Distinction) and MPhil in Law degrees, all three supported by the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarship. During her doctorate, she was awarded Michigan Grotius Research Fellowship and spent a semester at the University of Michigan.

Originally from Lithuania, Vilija completed Bachelor of Laws and Master’s in International Law degrees at the Mykolas Romeris University in Lithuania, where she was ranked top of the class for both degrees. During this time, Vilija also studied at Paul Cézanne (Aix-Marseille III) University (France) and Ghent University (Belgium). After graduation, Vilija held a position as Lecturer in International Law at Mykolas Romeris University and later worked as a stagiaire at the Legal Service of the European Commission.

Vilija’s monograph, 'Judicial Authority in EU Internal Market Law: Implications for the Balance of Competences and Powers' (Hart Publishing 2022), won the SLS Peter Birks Book Prize for Outstanding Early Career Legal Scholarship (Second Prize, 2024) and was shortlisted for the UACES Best Book Prize 2023, awarded for the most substantial and original contribution to knowledge in contemporary European studies.

Vilija’s most recent publication is 'The UK Regulatory Framework Post-Brexit: "Law Unbound"' (Oxford University Press 2026), co-edited with Paul Craig. She is currently working on a Research Handbook on the Theory and Philosophy of EU Law, to be published with Edward Elgar Publishing.

Research interests 

Vilija's research interests lie in EU and public law. They include:

• Supranational courts, with the focus on the EU Court of Justice
• Federalism and the balance of competences and powers in the EU
• The intersection between the EU’s internal market law and social policy
• Fundamental rights, with a focus on socio-economic rights
• The UK’s regulatory framework post-Brexit
• Health law and policy

Teaching interests

• EU Law (core)
• Advanced EU Law
• Europe in Crisis

Selected publications 

Books

P. Craig, V. Vėlyvytė (eds), Research Handbook on the Theory and Philosophy of EU Law (forthcoming with Elgar Publishing)

P. Craig, V. Vėlyvytė (eds), The UK Regulatory Framework Post-Brexit: ‘Law Unbound’ (Oxford: OUP, 2026).

V. Vėlyvytė, Judicial Authority in EU Internal Market Law: Implications for the Balance of Competences and Powers (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2022) 312 pp.

Journal articles

V. Vėlyvytė, S. Weatherill, ‘The Principle of Mutual Recognition: Past, Present, Future’ (2026) 51(1) European Law Review 84–103.

V. Vėlyvytė, ‘Competence Creep in EU Free Movement Case Law’ (2023) 48(6) European Law Review 636–660.

V. Vėlyvytė, ‘The Power to Shape the Internal Market: Implications of CJEU Case Law for the EU’s Institutional Balance’ (2016) 12 Croatian Yearbook of European Law and Policy 25–47.

V. Vėlyvytė, ‘Right to Strike in the EU after Accession to the ECHR: Identifying Conflict and Achieving Coherence’ (2015) 15(1) Human Rights Law Review 73–100.

Contributions to books

V. Vėlyvytė, ‘Healthcare’ in P. Craig, V. Vėlyvytė (eds), The UK Regulatory Framework Post-Brexit: ‘Law Unbound’ (Oxford: OUP, 2026).

P. Craig, V. Vėlyvytė, ‘Post-Brexit Regulation: Law Unbound’ in P. Craig, V. Vėlyvytė (eds), The UK Regulatory Framework Post-Brexit: ‘Law Unbound’ (Oxford: OUP, 2026).

V. Vėlyvytė, ‘Judicial Authority’, in S. Garben, L. Gormley (eds), Oxford Encyclopedia of EU law (Oxford: OUP, 2024), 17 pp.

V. Vėlyvytė, ‘The Right to Strike in the EU after Accession to the ECHR: A Practical Assessment’ in M. Freedland and J. Prassl (eds), EU Law in the Member States: Viking, Laval and Beyond (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2014) 75–94.

Blogposts

'The UK-US Medicines Deal and the Hidden Costs of Brexit’ (UK in a Changing Europe, August 2026)

'International Recruitment and the NHS Post-Brexit’ (UK in a Changing Europe, March 2026)

'Brits (Still) Have the Right to Timely Healthcare’ (UK in a Changing Europe, January 2024)

'Does the European Court of Justice Respect the Limits of EU Competence?’ (EU Law Analysis, December 2022)