Dr Sapna Reheem Shaila

Sapna joined Kent Law School in 2024. Her research focuses on law-society nexus. Sapna’s current research examines the role of transnational actors and their influence in shaping legal fields in different parts of the world. Sapna is also working on examining how ‘law and justice’ are performed, practised and processed by people who are at the margins of society. Sapna is currently completing her manuscript based on her doctoral dissertation on justice sector reforms in post- independent Timor Leste.

Sapna is a recipient of the prestigious Max Weber fellowship (2022), Dickson Poon scholarship (2016-2019), and the William Ross Murray scholarship (2014-2015). Her research has been published in leading socio-legal journals such as the Law and Social Inquiry, and in edited collections by the Cambridge University Press.

Prior to joining Kent Law school, Sapna has taught at King’s College London, University College London, University of Edinburgh, and SOAS. She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Sapna is a qualified lawyer( India/ non-practising) and she has worked in good governance and rule of law charities in India and the UK. 

Qualifications: PhD in Law (King’s College London 2022), Fellow of the Higher Education Academy; LLM in Law, Development and Governance (SOAS 2015); B.A/ LLB Hons ( NALSAR 2013)

• Law and Society
• Comparative Law
• Transnational Law
• International Organisations
• Law and Development
• Tort Law
• Regulatory Theory
• Transitional Justice and Post-conflict state building

LAWS6870 Law and Social Change (convenor)

LAWS6860 Law and International Development ( convenor)

LAWS5570 Tort Law

LAWS6970 Research Projects

Sapna is happy to collaborate with candidates who are interested in using qualitative research methods to study the varied aspects of law and answering questions on power, agency and social change in the above highlighted research interest areas

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy