Energy law is a new field and the specializations are unknown to most of us. However, the last decade has seen an increasing number of career opportunities that are available to lawyers and policy experts in the energy sector. Read this blog to get more information on whether it is a good idea to choose an academic career in energy law or not.

What is energy law?

Energy Laws are structured and implemented to regulate the creation and harvesting of energy. This field of law is concerned with creating, enforcing and challenging rules that regulate energy use. Energy laws are typically related to the sale, use and conservation of energy resources, as well as regulate the taxation of energy use. The purpose of developing Energy Laws is to regulate responsible use of domestic energy and protect national security, as it is related to energy development and use.

Scope of studying energy law

Energy lawyers and managers have one of the brightest and prosperous opportunities, both in terms of career and higher studies. The exponential growth of job offers in this field is a result of the increasing number of power projects for generation, efficient distribution and pricing that are growing. This further leads to the rising complications related to their finance, compliances, viability, contractual disputes and litigation. Following are a few areas that energy law graduates typically work for:

  • Electricity laws –Certain boutique law firms, or other big law firms occasionally get involved in regulatory litigation and look for hiring partners who can run their electricity litigation practice. Good lawyers having expertise in electricity law litigation and advisory are in high demand in this field.
  • Finance and compliances – Lawyers who are hired by big law firms are required to work on finance and compliances related to power projects. These types of finance lawyers are popularly known as project lawyers. Their prime responsibility is to advise clients in building and operating major power projects, as well as securing production and distribution business. These professionals possess in-depth knowledge of the risks and opportunities arising at every stage from conception to draw down and from production to consumption.
  • Energy policy advisory – Energy policy advisers are top executives as well as decision-makers at every level to be aware of government policies. They specialize in analyzing where future policy making might be headed and ensure effective representations to the authorities that make these policies as well as those who implement them.

Taking up energy law as your educational qualification will help you gain knowledge of the legal framework and contractual requirements of the energy, international trade, commercial and technology sector. With an Energy Law LLM degree under the belt, students can gain specialisation in energy law, business law and international economic law. So, go ahead and apply for this program now, to become proficient in law technology that focusses on the legal aspects related to the energy sector.