Corporate, Insolvency and Financial Law

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The Department has a tradition of producing leading scholarship in the fields of corporate law and governance, financial law, accounting regulation and takeover regulation and corporate insolvency law. Eminent commercial lawyers who have, in the past, taught at the LSE include Lord Wright, Lord Chorley, Professor Lord Wedderburn, Professor Paul Davies QC and Professor Sarah Worthington QC. Current members of staff such as Professor Julia Black, Dr Carsten Gerner-Beuerle, Professor David Kershaw, Dr Eva Micheler, Prof Niamh Moloney, Mr Edmund-Philipp Schuster provide academic and policy leadership in many aspects of the evolving financial markets, financial regulation, banking and corporate rescue/ insolvency sectors and are involved at the highest level in market and public sector developments.

Current publications by members of staff include leading texts on company law, such as Professor Kershaw's Company Law in Context: Text and Materials (Oxford University Press, 2009), corporate insolvency law, such as Professor Finch's Corporate Insolvency Law: Perspectives and Principles (Cambridge University Press, 2009 [2nd edition], securities regulation, such as Professor Moloney's EC Securities Regulation 2nd. ed. (Oxford University Press, 2008), as well as works on financial market regulation, financial law and banking law (see 'Monographs', below, or browse an individual members of staff's publications, by clicking on their name under 'Faculty' below). The Department also hosts the Law and Financial Markets Project which brings together academics and practitioners to consider key aspects of financial law, including legal risk and Professor David Kershaw, Dr Gerner-Beuerle and Edmund Schuster participates in a joint initiative on corporate governance with the Financial Markets Group: Corporate Governance at LSE. Members of the Department and Visiting Professors are on Editorial Boards of the Law and Financial Markets Review, the Industrial Law Journal, the Company Lawyer, Insolvency Intelligence, International Corporate Rescue and Butterworth's Journal of International Banking and Financial Law.

 

 

Corporate, Insolvency and Financial Law : Monographs

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Leading monographs and textbooks by existing and previous faculty:-

J. Benjamin, Interests in Securities (OUP, 2000)

J. Benjamin, The Law of Global Custody (with Madeleine Yates, (Butterworths, 1996, 2nd edition 2003)

J. Black, Rules and Regulators (OUP, 1997)

J. Black, Regulatory Innovation: A Comparative Analysis (Edward Elgar, 2005); co-edited with M. Lodge and M. Thatcher

R. Cranston, Regulating Business (Macmillan, 1979, Oxford Socio-Legal Studies)

R. Cranston, Cranston's Consumers and the Law, 3rd edition, C. Scott & J. Black (ed) (London, Butterworths, 2000)(Law in Context Series)

R. Cranston, Principles of Banking Law, 2nd edition (OUP, 2002)

R. Cranston, How Law Works (OUP, 2006)

P. Davies, Introduction to Company Law (OUP, 2002)

P. Davies, Gower and Davies' Principles of Modern Company Law 7th ed (Thomson Sweet & Maxwell, 2003)

P. Davies, Labour Legislation and Public Policy (OUP, 1993)

P. Davies, The Anatomy of Corporate Law (with others) (OUP, 2004)

V. Finch, Corporate Insolvency Law: Perspectives and Principles (2009, 2nd ed)

D. Kershaw, Company Law in Context: Text and Materials, Oxford University Press, 2009

E. Micheler, Joint Ventures in English and German Law (Hart,  2000) (editor; co-editor: D Prentice)

E. Micheler, Property in Securities (CUP, forthcoming, 2007)

N. Moloney, EC Securities Regulation 2nd. ed. (Oxford University Press, 2008)

A. Mumford, Taxing Culture (Ashgate: Socio-Legal Studies Series; 2002)

R. McCormick, Legal Risk in the Financial Markets (OUP, 2006)

S. Worthington, Proprietary Interests in Commercial Transactions (Clarendon Press, 1996)

S. Worthington, Commercial Law and Commercial Practice (Hart Publishing, 2003)

 

Corporate, Insolvency and Financial Law : Links

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The Bank for International Settlements Basel Committee  http://www.bis.org/bcbs/

Department of Trade and Industry http://www.dti.gov.uk/

The Financial Services Authority http://www.fsa.gov.uk

Global Insolvency http://www.globalinsolvency.com

The World Bank http://www.worldbank.org

Research Home

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Corporate, Insolvency and Financial Law :

Faculty

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Professor Joanna Benjamin
(Emeritus Professor)

Professor Julia Black

Dr Jo Braithwaite

Professor Michael Bridge

Dr Giuliano Castellano
(LSE Fellow)

Sir Ross Cranston FBA
(Centennial Professor)

Professor Vanessa Finch

Dr Carsten Gerner-Beuerle

Professor David Kershaw

Dr Eva Micheler

Professor Niamh Moloney

Dr Wanjiru Njoya

Dr Philipp Paech

Dr Ian Roxan

Mr Edmund-Philipp Schuster

 

Corporate, Insolvency and Financial Law :

Visiting Faculty

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William Blair QC
(Visiting Professor)

Jonathan Fisher QC
(Visiting Professor)

Malcolm Gammie QC
(Visiting Professor)

Roger McCormick
(Visiting Professor)

 

Corporate, Insolvency and Financial Law :

Research Students

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Ewan McGaughey

Email: l.e.mcgaughey@lse.ac.uk

Thesis Title: Public participation in corporate governance

Supervisors: Prof David Kershaw and Dr Eva Micheler

Research Interests: Comparative corporate law in the UK, US and Germany as it relates to public participation of the ultimate investors in companies.

Teaching Experience: Commercial Law (LL209); Property II (LL275); Contract Law, Labour Law (at King’s College, London) and Company Law (LL.M. revision classes at University College, London)

Recent Publications:

E McGaughey, ‘Unfair Dismissal Reform: Political Ping-Pong with Equality?’ (2012) Equal Opportunities Review, Issue 226 The government’s action of re-raising the fair dismissal qualification period by Ministerial Order to two years is vulnerable to judicial review, because it will have a discriminatory impact on people protected by the Equality Act 2010 and the EU Equality Directives. The House of Lords addressed the same issue in R (Seymour-Smith) v Secretary of State for Employment after the last time the qualifying period was raised. A better alternative to halt growth in unemployment is probably not allow employers to make it easier to make workers unemployed, but to pay regard to the workforce’s views when determining the fairness of dismissals. In any event, it appears relatively clear that the courts would not let UK governments continue to play political ping pong where equal rights are at stake.  Click here for full text via SSRN

E McGaughey, 'Should Agency Workers Be Treated Differently?' (2010) LSE Working Paper Series
    The EU Temporary and Agency Work Directive created a right of equal treatment on working time and pay for agency workers compared to direct workers. This article asks, what justifications are there for any different treatment? Using job security rights as an example, this article explores the framework for regulation of employment agencies and the common law position of agency workers. It highlights, first, that profit-making agencies were frowned on historically by international law, and that principled regulation is required to prevent abuse. It shows, secondly, that the common law test of ‘mutuality of obligation’, that removes employment rights for agency workers, is legally and logically unsound. It then illustrates, third, that a recently developed test for implied contracts, which leads agency workers to have no employer at all, pays incomplete regard to the full authority on contractual and statutory construction. These loopholes are unfair and inefficient and amount to an unjustified subsidy for agency work. Simple recognition is needed that agency workers should not be treated differently, because work through an agency is work like any other. Click here for full text via SSRN

E McGaughey, 'Donoghue v Salomon in the High Court' (2011) 4 Journal of Personal Injury Law 249
    Chandler v Cape Plc decided that a parent company was liable for asbestos injuries of an insolvent subsidiary's employee, because the parent could exercise control over the subsidiary. This article recounts the case's facts, assesses the reasoning and elaborates the potential implications. It posits that this decision, aside from being based on sound authority, is consistent both with limited liability as a restricted exception to the law of obligations, only justified so far as creditors may truly and freely opt out, and with the general law of tort, which holds people liable for the actions of third parties when they may exercise control. Four main questions over the implications are raised: can controlling parties be liable for any torts? Can any directors or shareholders be liable? What possibilities are there for tort claimants abroad to sue UK multinational parent companies? And how far beyond shareholding might a controlling relationship extend? click here for access via Westlaw [ON CAMPUS]  |  click here for access via Westlaw [OFF CAMPUS]

Media Appearances:

French Parliament Television, LCP Assemble Nationale, Detours D'Europe: Destination Londres (2011) on UK labour law at 14:00

Vladimir Meerovitch

Email: V.Meerovitch@lse.ac.uk

Thesis Title: 'Corporate governance and finance in Russia'

Supervisors: Dr Eva Micheler and Dr Carsten Gerner-Beuerle

Elena Christine Zaccaria

Email: e.c.zaccaria@libero.it

Thesis Title: 'Using Indirectly Held Securities as Collateral: Legal Risks and Future Challenges'

Supervisors: Dr Eva Micheler and Professor Michael Bridge

Research Interests: Law and Finance; Corporate Insolvency Law; Contracts; International Trade Law; Conflict of Laws; European Union Law; Comparative Law

Recent Publications:

'Diritti di proprietà intellettuale e finanziamento alle imprese: le garanzie reali sulla proprietà industriale' (to be published in a treatise edited by A. Iannarelli, N. Scannicchio and G. Resta (2011) [forthcoming]

'Sopravvenuto squilibrio delle prestazioni (hardship) e adattamento del contratto nel commercio internazionale', in G. Alpa and G. Capilli (eds), 'Lezioni di diritto privato europeo', Cedam, Padova, 2007, 405 – 422

'L'adattamento dei contratti a lungo termine nell'esperienza giuridica statunitense: aspirazioni teoriche e prassi giurisprudenziali', Contratto e Impresa, 2, 2006, 478-506

 'The Effects of Changed Circumstances in International Commercial Trade', The International Trade and Business Law Review, IX, August, 2005, 135–182

'Il conflitto tra il creditore privilegiato ex art. 2775 bis codice civile ed il creditore ipotecario', Contratti, 6, 2004, 547–553

'The Dilemma of Good Faith in International Commercial Trade', Macquarie Journal of Business Law, 1, 2004, 101 – 112.

Translation:

Translation English - Italian: M. Hesselink, The New European Legal Culture, (ed) G. Resta, ESI, Napoli, 2005;