Our research

Corporate and Financial Law

This has been an area of traditional strength for the Centre. Our corporate law research covers most areas of company law with particular interest in:

• corporate governance
  • objectives of public companies
  • directors’ duties
  • director accountability
  • shareholder rights, remedies and litigation
  • shareholder engagement
  • corporate social and environmental responsibility
  • governance and the corporate sector of the legal profession)
• corporate insolvency
  • comparative approaches to corporate rescue
  • liquidation; administration
  • transactional avoidance
  • forum shopping
  • jurisdictional competition in the context of international insolvency proceedings.

The financial law strand of this research area focuses on banking and financial law, and, in particular, on:

• bank insolvencies
• money laundering
• bribery and financial crime theory
• analysis of secured credit regimes
• the role of the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and other supra-governmental and international finance organisations in promoting notions of globalised finance law.

We also have expertise in the regulation of conduct in financial services, as well as consumer protection in the provision of credit and personal insolvency.

Researchers: Adam Baker, Carrie Bradshaw, Sarah Brown, Andrew Campbell, Suren Gomtsyan, Andrew Keay, Joan Loughrey, Colin Mackie, Gerard McCormack, Steven Montagu-Cairns, Duncan Sheehan, Ilaria Zavoli, Zhang Zinian

Contract, Consumer and Commercial Law

In contract and consumer law, we concentrate on:

• consumer credit and over-indebtedness
• analysis of the law of guarantees from efficiency and re-distributional perspectives
• practical and theoretical approaches to remedies for breach of contract
• norms of consumer protection in the realm of financial contracting with consideration of national and European approaches.

Our expertise also includes issues of:

• monetary remedies for tortious wrongdoing
• behavioural decision theory and private law theory
• misuse of private information and data protection
• tort
• press regulation and freedom.

Another area of research activity is intellectual property law, especially in the context of the pharmaceutical industry and the life sciences; emerging technologies; and, trademarks and geographical indications.

Researchers: Subhajit Basu, Sarah Brown, Graham Dutfield, Roger Halson, Rebecca Moosavian, Alastair Mullis, David Pearce, César J Ramírez-Montes, Duncan Sheehan, Paul Wragg, Qi Zhou

Competition Law

Our competition research covers most areas of competition (antitrust) law. Our particular interests and expertise cover:

• abuse of dominance/monopolisation (market power)
• anticompetitive agreements, including online vertical restraints
• public and private enforcement of competition law, including criminalisation (the imprisonment of executives for cartel activity)
• parental liability for competition law infringements, etc.

We have a growing interest and expertise in the challenges of technology markets for competition law, including blockchain technology, smart contracts, networks, and online platforms.

Researchers: Pinar Akman, Or Brook, Konstantinos Stylianou, Peter Whelan

Regulation

Our regulation research expertise includes regulatory theory, regulatory practice, and regulatory economics. Our researchers investigate when, how and why we should regulate industries, with sector-specific expertise in the information, communications, technology (ICT), and energy markets. This area of expertise includes specifically:

• environmental law and regulation of UK shale gas and hydraulic fracturing (fracking)
• polluter-pays principle and corporate environmental liability
• regulation of the food supply chain
• press regulation
• regulation of online markets including e-commerce and platforms
• regulation of emerging technologies, specifically the regulation of information communications technologies and Artificial Intelligence
• the regulation and accountability of professionals and regulators, and, in particular, those in the legal profession.

Researchers: Pinar Akman, Carrie Bradshaw, Subhajit Basu, Joanne Hawkins, Joan Loughrey, Colin Mackie, Konstantinos Stylianou, Paul Wragg

Tax Law

Our tax expertise covers most aspects of taxation from income taxes to VAT, at international, European, and national levels. Current projects include:

• international corporate tax reform
• anti tax avoidance rules
• political economy of taxation
• progressive taxation and VAT
• anti tax fraud policy
• tax incentives for R&D
• double taxation treaties
• the tax implications of employment law.

Our research is informed by concerns over tax fairness, the challenges posed by the digitalisation and robotisation of the economy, and tax revenue sustainability, primarily in the context of developing countries.

Researchers: Rita de la Feria, Rachael O’Connor, Leopoldo Parada

International Trade Law

Our international trade law research covers international economic law, particularly international trade law under the World Trade Organization (WTO) with a particular interest in international agricultural trade regulation. This strand of research also investigates:

• alternatives to investor-State arbitration
• business and human rights
• sustainable development in investment treaties and investment contracts.

Researchers: Maria Anna Corvaglia, Graham Dutfield, Roger Halson, Fiona Smith, Surya P Subedi