Legal advice

Legal agreements can take many forms – they can be a contract, deed, a trust or a memorandum of understanding – and they can be complicated. As such, you can contact the Legal Team HERE for information and advice on legal agreements of all kinds. We can draft or review agreements.

Please note that, in relation to non-standard legal agreements, for practical reasons, Council has delegated its day-to-day responsibilities to the President and Vice-Chancellor of the School and School Secretary, both of whom can sign any legal document and delegate authority to others to sign legal documents in accordance with the School’s Scheme of Delegated Legal Authority (PDF).

Deeds are not the same as contracts and must be executed differently. If you have a deed, please refer to section 5-6 of the School’s Scheme of Delegated Legal Authority (PDF) for further information. 

If you receive a legal claim from, or you wish to make a legal claim against, a third party, or are involved, or likely to be involved, in any other kind of dispute, please contact Geraldine Ismail as soon as is practicably possible for advice on resolving the matter. Please also forward any legal documents. It is important that the School responds to all legal claims promptly because deadlines will apply to the process.

External Legal Advice - The School has entered into a four year agreement with Pinsent Masons LLP, which enables the School to benefit from reduced hourly rates and an agreed level of customer service. Geraldine Ismail manages the relationship between the School and it's preferred supplier of legal services. Because of the preferential rates and other benefits, this firm should always be used for external legal advice; unless the School Secretary grants permission to go elsewhere. Academic and other revenue raising departments must pay for their own legal advice.

Instructing Legal Advisors - Only members of the School’s Management Committee or Service Leaders have the authority to instruct external legal advisers on behalf of the School. There are some exceptions to this rule to enable key members of staff to instruct lawyers; but these arrangements must be agreed by the relevant Service Leader, because they are accountable for the expenditure of their Division. Members of academic departments wishing to instruct the School’s Legal Advisers should first contact the School Secretary or Geraldine Ismail.

The School does have an intellectual property policy. Additionally, the School adopts the general legal UK position under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 and deals with all intellectual property queries on a case by case basis. If you wish to obtain advice relating to intellectual property, including the use of our or third party logos and registered trademarks, please contact us HERE for further information. 

Copyright protects literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works as well as films, sound recordings, book layouts, and broadcasts. If you want to copy or use a copyright work, you usually have to obtain permission from the copyright owner or apply for a licence. However, please note that there are a few exceptions where you can copy or use part or all of a copyright work without obtaining the copyright owner’s permission. The most applicable exception is where the use is considered to be for “educational purposes”, allowing copying of works in any medium as long as the following conditions apply:

1. The work must be used solely to illustrate a point – this means that it is directly relevant to the course of study;

2. The use of the work must not be for commercial purposes;

3. The use must be fair dealing; and

4. It must be accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.

You should also note that under the School’s Copyright Licence and Newspaper Education Establishment Licence which are issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency and Newspaper Licensing Agency respectively, the amount of copying that we are permitted to do is restricted. This often causes problems with regard to the copying and circulation of academic and other text, including uploading material on Moodle.

It is usually permissible to copy the greater of up to a chapter, an entire article or 10 per cent of a publication. Copying chapters separately from the same book is not permitted. We would encourage you to utilise the Scanned Readings Service offered by the LSE Library to help us comply with our Copyright Licence. You can also visit the LSE Learning Technology and Innovation (“LTI”) website at lse.ac.uk/copyright for more information. Our current Newspaper Education Establishment Licence enables us to perform occasional copying of both the printed and online versions of national newspapers plus a small number of regional newspapers. You can contact us HERE for further advice.

 If you are looking for datasets to support your studies or research, the Data Library should be your first point of call. It provides access to a wide range of licensed data resouces, along with guidance on how those datasets can be used.

The Legal Team works behind the scenes with the Data LIbrary to ensure that access and use comply with applicable license terms and legal requirements, but students are encouraged to engage directly with the Data Library for dataset access, support and queries in the first instance.

The School must alert its insurers to any legal action or claims that might be, or has been, taken against it as soon as possible. Information concerning the School’s insurance policies can be found here. If you have any queries about insurance protection, claims or legal action, please contact us at secdiv.insurance@lse.ac.uk for all insurance related matters.

If you are travelling abroad, you should contact the School’s Health and Safety Team to ensure you are properly covered in the region to which you are travelling and for the work you will be undertaking. In some instances, your department or division will need to pay an additional sum to extend our current level of cover.

Permissions
Unless covered by a specific licence, you’ll need permission from the rights holder—usually the film’s distributor rather than the filmmaker. This can also come from a ‘filmbank’ such as the BFI, Filmbankmedia or MPLC. Make sure you get clear written approval for your specific event (including when and where it’s happening, who can attend, and whether tickets are being sold). Permission may come with a fee or conditions, so it’s important not to go ahead until this is confirmed.

Event Planning
When planning your screening, think about how the space will be used and what additional elements you’re including. Check the room is suitable for your expected audience size and layout, and that any technical requirements (e.g. projection, sound) are in place. If you plan to serve food or alcohol, play music, or create a more social event around the screening, there may be additional permissions or bookings required. Make sure these arrangements are considered early so your event runs smoothly and complies with School requirements. Please see the Good Practice Guidance. You can also consult this table of locations and capacities of licensed rooms and the Event Organisation Checklist.

Licensing
Given the educational context that underpins the work around the School, most film screenings will not require any additional licensing once you have acquired permission from the film’s rights holder. If your screening is designed to be shown to a large, public group in a commercial setting (i.e. large-scale public ticket sales) then more formal premises licensing may be required.

When to Escalate
a) If you are unsure about the permissions, whether they can be considered granted or if you need help drafting an email to a rights holder, LSE Legal Team can advise on this copyright element to ensure your confidence when choosing to screen a film.

b) If you are working towards a larger, more commercial public screening then you may need to consider more extensive planning with the Roombooking team, as well as more formal licensing for the premises.

The School currently holds the following licences:

1. NLA Licence Certificate 2025-26 (PDF) – For the copying & displaying of content

2. CLA Higher Education Licence 2024-27 (PDF) – For the display of text & still images