Professor Sarah Nield LLB Solicitor
Professor of Property Law
Professor Sarah Nield is Professor of Property Law within Southampton Law School at the University of Southampton.
She studied at University College London before becoming a solicitor practising in London. Sarah then moved to Hong Kong for 12 years where she was in practise as solicitor prior to moving into academia at the University of Hong Kong. Since returning to the UK she has worked at the University Southampton with a brief spell at the University of Bristol. Her research interests lie primarily in the fields of property law and equity, as well as company and commercial law. She has published widely in her areas of interest – see publications. Sarah teaches Land Law and Company Law as part of the undergraduate programmes and offers an LLM options in Secured Transactions and Ship Finance.
Her current research work focuses on security interests in property, both to support residential and corporate lending. In relation to residential lending her work examines the regulation of mortgages secured on the home and their wider interface with the financial services sector and housing policy. In relation to corporate lending her work considers security for loan capital and its role in the insolvency process. She is a member of the Secured Transactions Project which is formulating reform proposals to this area. A further major strand of her current work examines the impact of human rights upon property principles primarily through Article 1 Protocol 1 and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Having worked and practised in Hong Kong, she is also interested in Hong Kong Land Law and comparative approaches to property. Sarah was born and brought up close to Southampton in the New Forest and now that she is back living in the New Forest, she has also researched into the regulation of common land and its role in conservation.