Biography
I am a researcher and lecturer in environmental and property law at the University of Cambridge in the Department of Land Economy and am affiliated with the Law Faculty. I completed my undergraduate degree in Law (with French Law) at Brasenose College, University of Oxford in 2009. I then undertook an LLM by Research at the University of Dundee under the supervision of Professor Colin Reid. I completed a PhD in Land Economy at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Professor Martin Dixon in 2013. I am a Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.
Research
My research is primarily concerned with environmental, land and planning law. As far as environmental law is concerned, I have three main areas of research: national law controls on the use of land (contaminated land, waste, and habitats’ protection); the role of the judiciary in environmental law; and comparative and European Union environmental law. I have supervised dissertations concerned with the enforcement and design of environmental law regulations and concerning interdisciplinary approaches to the valuation of the environment.
In relation to land law I consider primarily issues surrounding the land registration system. I have been an academic consultant on to the Law Commission on their on-going Land Registration project. I also consider general land law and the role of human rights in land law. I have recently published on the role of stewardship in relation to rights in land, moving beyond English and Welsh land law, and have co-edited a special issue of the Journal of Property, Planning and Environmental Law concerned with the Regulation of Property.
Publications
Books
Interpreting Environmental Offences: The Need for Certainty (Hart Publishing, 28.05.2015)
Q & A Land Law 2014-2015, Martin J Dixon and Emma Lees (Routledge, 08.12.2014)
Forthcoming (2017), Environmental Law, D McGillivray, S Bell, E Lees, O Pederson and E Stokes (OUP)
Forthcoming (2019), The Principles of Land Law (OUP)
Book Chapters
“The Public Face of the Register: Confidence in the Land Registration Act 2002” in Das Grundbuch im Europa des 21. Jahrhunderts (ed Arkadiusz Wudarski, Duncker & Humblot, 2016, pp. 371-394)
“Contamination and the Polluter Pays Principle” in Implementing Environmental Law (eds Martin & Kennedy, Edward Elgar, 2015, pp. 118-133)
“State Guaranteed Title: The Land Registration Act 2002” in Property Law Perspectives III (eds Dorothy Gruyaert et al, Intersentia, 2015, pp. 117-134)
Forthcoming, “Guaranteed Title, No Title Guaranteed” in Land Registration Systems (eds Martin Dixon et al)
Teaching and Supervisions
I lecture land and environmental law in the Department of Land Economy. I lecture landlord and tenant law for the Department of Land Economy and the Law Faculty at the University of Cambridge. I also supervise land law for both Land Economy and Law students. I have previously taught planning and contract law, as well as land law for real estate finance.