Dr Virág Blazsek

Profile

Before joining academia, I practiced business, finance, investment, and commercial law for a decade. My experience includes roles as in-house counsel and manager at OTP Bank Plc in Budapest, Hungary; attorney at the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund’s Office of Investment Management in New York, NY; and a legal position at Winston & Strawn LLP in Paris, France.

Currently, I am a Lecturer in Corporate, Commercial, and Banking Law, and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Business Law and Practice (CBLP). I publish on banking law and financial regulation, mostly from a comparative perspective. I am available to share my knowledge and insights, and to respond to media inquiries within my areas of expertise. My monograph, Banking Bailout Law: A Comparative Study of the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union (Routledge, 2020), is held in over 700 libraries globally (WorldCat.Org, Sept. 2025). I delivered over a dozen book talks. In 2022, I held a virtual book talk and Q&A as part of Cornell Law School’s Berger International Speaker Series:

The book was also reviewed by an international panel of scholars and policymakers hosted by the Mile End Institute in 2021 (recommended playback speed: 1.5x to 2x):

More recently, I received the Michael Beverly Innovation Fellowship twice to research the FinTech-related transformation of the financial sector:

As part of that project, I have also been writing about the energy policy aspects of FinTech and Legal Tech. Check out a recent podcast I recorded on the topic:

I am also an External Examiner at King’s College London, Co-Convenor of the Banking and Financial Services section of the Society of Legal Scholars, and I have been listed on the banking law expert roster of the International Monetary Fund since 2023. Previously, I served as the School of Law Study Abroad Programme Coordinator; during my tenure, I successfully promoted and doubled the size of the programme. I held various academic and research roles at Central European University (2014-18), Fordham University School of Law (2016), Columbia Law School (2017), Budapest Business School (2018), and The George Washington University School of Law (2018-19). More recently, I was a visiting scholar at Emory Law (2024) and the European University Institute (2025).

I earned a JD and PhD in Law from Eötvös Loránd University, LLM and SJD from Central European University (Full PhD Fellowship recipient), an LLM in Business and Finance Law from The George Washington University (Thomas Burgenthal Scholarship recipient) and an LLM in US and Global Business Law from Suffolk University (ELTE Scholarship recipient). Earlier, I also studied Commercial Law, International Law, and EU Law at the University of Girona (Erasmus Scholarship recipient) and visited the University of Heidelberg (DAAD Scholarship recipient).

I am fluent in English, Spanish, German, and Hungarian.

Responsibilities

• Deputy Director, Centre for Business Law and Practice (CBLP)
• Co-Convenor, Banking and Financial Services section (Society of Legal Scholars)
• External Examiner (King's College London)

Research interests

Financial Regulation

My research focuses on banking law, financial regulation, and financial crisis management, with a particular emphasis on comparative perspectives. I have explored the legal-regulatory responses to the 2008 global financial crisis in the US and the EU, as well as the comparative analysis of bank bailouts in the US, UK, EU, Spain, and Hungary. My work also addresses the role of constitutional provisions, such as public debt-ceiling rules, in the post-2008 legal framework, as well as bank resolution regimes and the state aid and antitrust aspects of bank bailouts.

My book, Banking Bailout Law: A Comparative Study of the United States, United Kingdom, and the European Union (Routledge, 2020), examines the failure of European bank bailouts after the 2008 financial crisis and offers recommendations for how bailouts could be regulated and implemented more effectively in the future. Through a series of case studies, I analyse the pros and cons of different bailout techniques and legal frameworks, ultimately arguing that we can learn from past unsuccessful bank bailout techniques, avoid them going forward, and establish reasonable rules ex ante, rather than responding reactively to crises.

I have participated in several major comparative legal research projects, including publications such as Remedies in Contract Law in Europe (forthcoming 2025, Cambridge University Press), Security Rights and the European Insolvency Regulation (Intersentia Publishing House, 2017), and Estate Planning (Közjegyzői Akadémia Kiadó, 2015). Recently, I contributed a chapter on the Institutional settings of resolution authorities in EU Member States (Legal Research Paper Series, Bank of Italy, 2025).

I have authored or co-authored several journal articles, including A Systematization of Legal-Regulatory Risks Related to Central Bank Digital Currencies: A Comparative Analysis of the US, the UK, and China’ (Law and Financial Markets Review, 2025), an interdisciplinary article, Conservatorship, Quantitative Easing, and Mortgage Spreads: A New Multi-Equation Score-Driven Model of Policy Actions (Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, 2023), where we measure the effects of US policy actions on mortgage-backed security spreads before, during, and after the 2008 crisis. Further selected articles in my Financial Regulation research stream include Financial Consumer Protection in the U.S. and the E.U.: A Preventive Building Block of Banking Bailout Law (Union University Law School Review, 2021); A Comparative Comment on the Banking Bailout Literature (The FinReg Blog, Duke University School of Law, 2021); and Competition Law and State Aid for Failing Banks in the European Union and Its Specific Implications for Central and Eastern European Member States (Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies, 2016).

I have organised or co-organised several international conferences and academic events, such as

• The 5th Conference on Financial Law and Regulation, CBLP, University of Leeds School of Law (forthcoming 24-25 June 2026)

• The 4th Conference on Financial Law and Regulation, City Law School, London (3 July 2025)

• The 2nd Future of Business Law: Diversifying Voices and Perspectives Workshop, CBLP, University of Leeds School of Law (25 April 2025)

• The 1st Future of Business Law: Diversifying Voices and Perspectives Workshop, Durham University Law School, Durham (1 May 2024)

• The Leeds Financial and FinTech Law Conference 2023, Transforming FinTech in Leeds: Lessons from the U.S. and Singaporean Models, CBLP, University of Leeds School of Law (11 May 2023)

• The University of Leeds Inaugural Conference on Recent Developments in Insolvency Law, CBLP, University of Leeds School of Law (2 May 2022)

I regularly review articles for law reviews and journals as well as book proposals. My co-edited conference report, Inaugural Conference on Recent Developments in Insolvency Law: Reflections on the Pandemic and Brexit (University of Leeds, 2022), reflects the ongoing regulatory challenges posed by financial crises and technological advances.

I have written several opinion pieces and articles for prominent publications. For example, my recent opinion piece in American Banker critiques the disconnect between US regulators’ rhetoric and their actions regarding the 2023 bank failures (2024).

The FinTech-Related Transformation of the Financial Sector

I have also focused on the transformation of the financial sector through FinTech and Legal Tech, particularly their implications for financial regulation and policy. As a fellow in the Michael Beverley Innovation Fellowship programme (2022-24), I received funding for a project aimed at establishing a professional network and fostering external partnerships between the University of Leeds School of Law and stakeholders in the Leeds Financial and FinTech hub. This project also aims to make policy recommendations to support this transformation. I have been invited to speak at a dozen conferences, including the LegalTech in Leeds annual conference for three consecutive years, and I also delivered a keynote there in 2025.

My co-authored article, ‘A Systematization of Legal-Regulatory Risks Related to Central Bank Digital Currencies: A Comparative Analysis of the US, the UK, and China’ (Law and Financial Markets Review, 2025), provides legal-regulatory recommendations and emphasizes that while central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) offer potential benefits, they introduce significant new risks.

At the Leeds Financial and FinTech Law Conference 2023, which I organised, the CBLP hosted distinguished speakers from the US, the UK, and Singapore. The conference was mentioned, among others, in the Oxford Business Law Blog. I am also active in exploring how emerging technologies, including AI and blockchain, will reshape financial regulation. My research on the legal-regulatory risks of CBDCs and the broader implications of new financial technologies remains central to my work.

I also submitted written evidence to the UK Parliament’s Treasury Committee on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Financial Services (2025).

Legal Tech Regulation

Since 2022, as a consequence of my activities as a Michael Bevery Innovation Fellow, I have been invited to speak at the LegalTech in Leeds annual conference series for three consecutive years. In previous years, I contributed to panel discussions and addressed the legal-regulatory aspects of technology for smaller and larger law firms respectively. In 2025, I was invited to hold a keynote; I addressed an underresearched area, the energy policy dimensions of LegalTech. Later, I published the chief points of my talk in the Research and Innovation Blog (Leeds University Business School). And I co-recorded the above-mentioned podcast on the topic; The two forces driving legal tech growth: people and power.

I have presented my related research at various conferences including at City Law School (London), Taylor’s University (Malaysia), and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (London) (2025).

Recently, I submitted a written feedback in response to the Public Consultation on Guide for Using GenAI in the Legal Sector for the Ministry of Law Singapore (2025).

Notable Publications and Contributions

• A Systematization of Legal-Regulatory Risks Related to Central Bank Digital Currencies: A Comparative Analysis of the US, the UK, and China’ (co-author) (Law and Financial Markets Review, 2025)

• Written feedback on ‘Public Consultation on Guide for Using GenAI in the Legal Sector’ (Ministry of Law Singapore, 2025)

• Written Evidence on ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Financial Services’ (UK Parliament’s Treasury Committee, 2025)

• Resolution Authorities and their institutional settings in EU Member States (Hungary) (Legal Research Paper Series, Bank of Italy, 2025)

• The Energy Policy Dimensions of LegalTech (Research and Innovation Blog, Leeds University Business School, 2025)

• Regulators’ rhetoric about bank failures doesn’t match their actions (American Banker, 2024)

• Conservatorship, Quantitative Easing, and Mortgage Spreads: A New Multi-Equation Score-Driven Model of Policy Actions (Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, 2023)

• Conference Report: University of Leeds Inaugural Conference on Recent Developments in Insolvency Law (co-editor) (Singapore Management University Yong Pung How School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Series; Bankruptcy, Reorganization & Creditors eJournal, 2022)

• Financial Consumer Protection in the U.S. and the E.U.: A Preventive Building Block of Banking Bailout Law (Union University Law School Review, 2021)

• Study on the Adequacy of the Information to be Disclosed under Article 89(1) of the Capital Requirements Directive IV in the EU for the European Commission (Chapter on USA) [consultancy] (2021)

• A Comparative Comment on the Banking Bailout Literature (The FinReg Blog, Duke University School of Law, 2021)

• Banking Bailout Law (Blue Sky Blog, Columbia Law School, 2020)

• BANKING BAILOUT LAW: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE UNITED STATES, UNITED KINGDOM, AND THE EUROPEAN UNION (Routledge, 2020)

• The European Aspects of Global Financial Developments (11 J. Bus. Entrepreneurship & L. 233, 2018)

• A Globális Pénzügyi Folyamatok Európai Vetületei (in Hungarian) [European Aspects of Global Financial Processes], Létunk Social Science Journal (2016)

• A Comparative Analysis of the Bad Asset Management Companies of Spain and Hungary: The Devil is in the Details (Queen Mary Law Journal, 2016)

• Competition Law and State Aid for Failing Banks in the European Union and Its Specific Implications for Central and Eastern European Member States (Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies, 2016)

• Sovereign Debt-ceiling Rules in the Spanish and Hungarian Constitutions and their Interplay with the Relevant EU Laws (International Conference on Trade, Business, Economics and Law Proceedings, Oxford University, 2015)

• THE 2009 INTERCHANGE FEE DECISION OF THE HUNGARIAN COMPETITION AUTHORITY: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY (LAP Lambert Publishing, 2011)

Through my research, I aim to bridge the gap between legal theory and practice, offering insights into how the financial sector can better navigate regulatory challenges in both the traditional and emerging areas of financial services.

Qualifications

• PhD in Law (summa cum laude)
• SJD in International Business Law (summa cum laude)
• LLM in Business and Finance Law
• LLM in U.S. and Global Business Law (High Honors)
• Juris Doctor (cum laude)

Professional memberships

• Society of Legal Scholars (Co-Convenor, Banking and Financial Services Law section)
• Banking & Financial Services Law Association (Academic Committee member)
• European Corporate Governance Institute (Academic Member)
• Higher Education Academy (Fellow)

Student education

I currently teach on the following modules:

• International Banking Law: Capital Markets and Loans (module leader)
• International Banking Law: The Regulatory Framework
• International Corporate Insolvency Law
• Central Issues in Arbitration (module leader)

I was the programme coordinator and module leader for the School of Law’s study abroad programme and modules in 2022-25.

In previous years, I also taught on the following modules:

• Contract Law I-II
• Insolvency Law
• Commercial Law: Commercial and Consumer Sales

I have been an External Examiner for five law modules in two online LLM programmes at King’s College London since 2022.

I have been supervising undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral dissertations in various areas of Business Law and Law and Finance since 2021. Currently, I supervise three doctoral research projects. As internal examiner, I have examined numerous doctoral research projects at transfer examinations and PhD vivas since 2022. I was also invited to chair a public PhD defence at the Collegio di Spagna, University of Bologna, in 2025. I am happy to supervise outstanding doctoral students in areas of business and financial law.

I was invited to teach in the Fiscal and Financial Federalism in the EU course on the LLM in International and European Taxation program at Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Law (2021-23). In previous years, I was a visiting professor at Central European University, Corvinus University, Budapest Business School, and Hult Business School.

I am a Fellow of the Advance HE (formerly known as Higher Education Academy, UK), and I hold a Certificate in Excellence in Teaching in Higher Education, which was awarded by Central European University.

Skill-building is a significant part of legal education. Coming back to academia after having practiced law for a decade enables me to assist students in skill-building in an authentic way; students get many chances throughout my courses to improve their relevant skills, such as thoroughness, problem-solving and analytical skills. Innovative teaching methods such as blended learning are especially efficient in this respect; combining classroom learning with the usage of a variety of online teaching tools is great because it is so flexible and blended environments can help facilitate learning as digital surfaces enable a more customized instruction, support and feedback for students. Online tools enable to form learning communities which multiplies the available information too. In the area of social sciences, one needs to be interdisciplinary and comparative. Separating any legal issue from its economic and social context is artificial. Legal-regulatory changes in the financial sector have been turbulent in the past decade or so, and similar tendencies can be predicted. Therefore, innovative and interdisciplinary approach in the legal education is a must in order to meet the needs of the job market.

Coming from a region that has undergone dynamic legal and economic transitions over the past decades, I am able to appreciate the post-2008 legal developments in banking with a deeper understanding of their global context. Rooted in the continental European legal tradition, my studies in macro- and microeconomics, taxation, accounting, sociology, philosophy, and psychology have enabled me to take a truly interdisciplinary approach in both my teaching and research. My experience in the US, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Hungary—both as a student and a scholar—has given me a unique perspective, helping me reflect on their strengths and challenges, which in turn have shaped my teaching philosophy.

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for Business Law and Practice

Current postgraduate researchers

• Yile Qu
• Theophilus Tawiah
• Jingyi Chen