Laurence
Teillet

Laurence holds two bachelor’s degrees in Law and British and Spanish Civilisations from the University of Nantes in France, where she enriched her legal foundation with a vast cultural understanding. To expand her expertise in climate change and energy law, Laurence furthered her studies at the University of Bergen in Norway, exploring the complexities of international climate change and energy governance. This experience broadened her perspective on the legal aspects of energy transition and sustainability.

Laurence pursued specialisation in Natural Resources Law, earning an LL.M. from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland in 2021, receiving the 2020 Natural Resources Scholarship. After this experience, she completed an LL.M. degree from the University of Limoges in France, specialising in International and Comparative Environmental Law. Her studies focused on French, Canadian, and Tunisian comparative environmental law. Her dissertation on Ecological Interventionism in International Environmental Law was published in 2020 in open access on the academic platform Aurore.

Laurence is a recipient of the 2022 NTU Studentship and is currently pursuing a PhD at Nottingham Law School, where she focuses on the prosecution and convictions of environmental activists for piracy, under the supervision of Dr Mark Chadwick, Dr Luigi Daniele, and Prof Jonathan Doak. Since January 2023, she is a PGR Representative for Nottingham Law School. She is an active member of Nottingham Trent’s Climate Justice Hub and Human Rights and Social Justice Forum.

Her interests primarily centre around International Environmental Law and the Law of the Sea. After two years as an International Law tutor, she commenced her role as an Hourly Paid Lecturer at Nottingham Law School in September 2023, where she is presently teaching International, European, and Comparative Law to LLB Undergraduate Students.

“To me, embracing climate justice is an imperative endeavour, essential to future-proof Law as a resilient discipline. It stands as a response to the pressing challenges of our time: fostering social equality and welfare while resolutely pursuing climate adaptation and mitigation strategies.

In my PhD, I am researching the prosecutions and convictions of environmental activists for piracy. The misuse of the piracy definition poses a significant problem, as it enables any State worldwide to prosecute environmental activists under the universal jurisdiction associated with piracy, even for minor acts of violence. Enhancing the definition of piracy would promote climate justice by safeguarding environmental defenders from unjust prosecutions. This approach does not condone violence but rather emphasises the importance of the principle of opportunity of pursuits and appropriate legal justifications for prosecution.

In addition, I have a broad interest in International Environmental Law and the Law of the Sea. I regularly write and publish articles on the impact of climate change on security and strategic issues.”

Laurence’s contributions:

• Are breaches of the Right to a Healthy Environment capable of triggering the Responsibility to Protect in International Law? Exploring the potential of mental health protection as a catalyst, Environmental Rights Review, 2023
• The Helmand River Dispute: International Legal Perspectives on the Afghan-Iranian Border Conflict, Opinio Juris, 2023
• “Obviously, they are not pirates”: the European Court on Human Rights rules in favour of Greenpeace activists’ in the Arctic Sunrise case, NTU Blog, 2023
• Non-State actors’ direct enforcement of international environmental law – the example of ‘environmental pirates’, Environmental Liability, 2023 (forthcoming)
• “If you were waiting for the opportune moment, that was it.” – The International Law Commission’s first report fails to address the pitfalls of piracy’s definition, International Law Blog, 2023
• The return of ‘environmental pirates’? Greenpeace v. Shell on the Atlantic Ocean, NTU Blog, 2023
• L’interventionnisme écologique en droit international de l’environnement, Aurore, 2022
• COP27 did not seize the opportunity to open the debate around States’ greenhouse gases emissions accountability, International Law Blog, 2022
• Did NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan inspire Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine?, Jurist, 2022
• Changement climatique et points de bascule sociétaux : la crise climatique aurait-elle favorisé l’accession au pouvoir des Talibans en Afghanistan ?, La Pensée Ecologique, 2021

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