Professor Roger Halson
- Position: Professor of Contract and Commercial Law
- Areas of expertise: law of obligations; contract law; consumer law; law of remedies
- Email: D.R.Halson@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 7211
- Location: 2.21 Liberty Building
Profile
I have been a Professor of Contract and Commercial Law at the University of Leeds since 2003. I am currently the International Director and was the Head of the School of Law from 2010-13. Before that, I was lecturer, senior lecturer and sub-dean at University College London and a lecturer at Nottingham University.
My most recent book, Liquidated Damages and Penalty Clauses, was published by Oxford University Press in 2018. It is the first monograph published in the UK or the US on this key commercial topic. In the Foreword Lord Dyson, the former Master of the Rolls and Justice of the Supreme Court, wrote that ‘it is remarkable that we have had to wait so long for a detailed consideration [of] an area of law which is so important’. The book’s publication was very timely because in 2015, for the first time in almost a century, the law in this area was reformulated by the UK Supreme Court in Cavendish Square Holding BV v Talal El Makdessi [2015] UKSC 67. In one of the first appellate courts to discuss this reformulation, the New Zealand Court of Appeal, referred to the book and described it as ‘an excellent text’ in 127 Hobson Street Ltd v Honey Bees Preschool Ltd [2019} NZCA 122.
I am the author or co-author of five other books on private law topics as well as editing and contributing to a collection essays on contract law. I have written many articles in leading academic journals including the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, the Law Quarterly Review, Current Legal Problems and Lloyds Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly. This work has been referred to by appellate courts in the UK and overseas. In addition I have been invited to comment upon several law reform initiatives.
Responsibilities
- International Director for the School of Law
Research interests
My research focus is the law of obligations, particularly contract law and the law of remedies. I am interested in all approaches to these subjects, including comparative, economic, empirical, historical, theoretical and practical analyses.
Research grants include:
- ‘A Comparative Study of the Law relating to the Remoteness of Loss in Argentina and England and Wales with Particular Reference to Recent Reforms Proposed in Argentina’ under the British Academy under their International Partnership and Mobility Scheme (2012)
- ‘Boosting Growth Through Strengthening Investor and Creditor Protection in China: How Can China Learn fron the UK Experience’ under ESRC NSTC scheme (co-investigor, £535k, 2012)
Qualifications
- LLB University of Newcastle upon Tyne (first class) 1981
- M Litt by thesis University of Oxford 1986
- Solicitors Final Examinations, Nottingham Trent 1985
Student education
At Leeds, I have been involved in leading and teaching contract law and have also contributed to courses in tort law and international trade. I have also supervised or co-supervised seven PhD students at the University of Leeds all of whom successfully completed the degree.
Research groups and institutes
- Centre for Business Law and Practice