Research directory

Julia's principal research interest is to explore the nature, dynamics and legitimacy of regulatory regimes, both state and non-state. She specialises in financial services regulation and the regulation of risk.  She has written extensively on regulatory issues in a number of areas, and has advised policy makers, consumer bodies and regulators on issues of institutional design and regulatory policy.

Jo is a professor of international commercial finance law. Her current and ongoing research interests relate to the use of private law in the international markets, with a particular focus on the derivatives markets, the use of standard form contracts and the resilience of financial market infrastructure. Jo’s book The Financial Courts was joint winner of the Main Book Prize awarded by the Inner Temple (joint with Professor Neil Duxbury’s book, The Intricacies of Dicta and Dissent).

Sir Ross Cranston is a professor of law. He was a judge of the High Court, Queen’s Bench Division for just over nine years and the judge in charge of the Administrative Court from January 2016. He still sits occasionally in the Commercial and Administrative Courts. Presently his main research interests are the judiciary and judging.

Suren’s research interests are in the fields of corporate law, law and economics, and empirical legal studies. His particular focus is on the stewardship role of institutional investors and on alternative modes of governance, such as privately designed orders or contractual solutions to various legal problems. He has received several prizes and grants and his research on shareholder engagement by large institutional investors was short-listed for the Society of Legal Scholars' 2018 Best Paper Prize.

Alperen’s research interests are primarily in corporate law and governance, law and finance, financial regulation, and capital markets regulation. He is interested in producing new theories or empirics, analysing established concepts in new contexts, understanding current or new phenomena, and identifying and addressing gaps and tensions in collective (regulatory, scholarly, societal) responses to crucial problems. Generally, he is interested in how the law develops, how it should develop and how it fails or succeeds in achieving its goals. 

Christos is a Visiting Professor at LSE as well as a Professor of International and European Monetary and Financial Institutions at the University of Piraeus. He is a specialist in European and international financial law and regulation and has acted as a consultant for the International Monetary Fund. He has written many articles and book chapters in the fields of UK, European and international banking and securities regulation, European Economic and Monetary Union and financial law reform.

 Elizabeth’s main research interest is to explore UK and EU financial markets regulation. There are three key strands to her research at present: i) Brexit and the evolving UK/EU financial governance relationship ii) the design and development of financial markets regulators in the UK and EU (namely the Financial Conduct Authority, and the European Securities and Markets Authority); and iii) the relationship between law and markets, specifically the current decline in the UK equity markets.  

Ciara joined the Law School as a Fellow in 2022. Ciara recently completed her doctorate at the University of Oxford. Ciara’s research interests include company law and corporate governance, with a particular focus on ‘ESG’ (environmental, social, governance) topics, corporate culture, and corporate purpose.

 David’s primary research areas are UK and US corporate law, takeover regulation and accounting regulation. Current projects include an empirical project on the effects of managerial insulation on firm performance and characteristics, several projects on the evolution of Delaware corporate law, and projects exploring the legal ecology of the purposeful company and the corporate governance choices made by private equity firms when they IPO their portfolio companies.

Steph was a corporate lawyer for over 23 years at leading international law firms. She has extensive experience and technical expertise in listed company regulation, corporate governance and company law. Steph focused primarily on corporate advisory matters and, as Technical Head of Listed Companies at Freshfields, advised the firm’s FTSE clients on disclosure obligations, the continuing obligations regime, company law and corporate governance. Most recently she was involved with the changes to the law on shareholder meetings arising from Covid-19.

Eva Micheler has written widely on corporate and comparative law. Intermediated securities and holding and transfer systems have been a significant focus of her work. She is a member of the Investor Protection and Intermediaries Standing Committee at the European Securities and Markets Authority. She recently advised the UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills on questions relating to intermediated shareholdings. Eva’s work has been cited by the UK Supreme Court and by the Austrian Oberster Gerichtshof. 

Niamh’s main research interest is to explore the EU's regulation of financial markets from institutional, substantive, and contextual perspectives. She is particularly interested in the consumer markets and in ESMA’s role in EU financial markets. 

David specialises in financial regulation, OTC derivatives, and financial market infrastructure.  He has published extensively on central counterparties, systemic risk, and financial market benchmarks, among other issues.  He co-organises the LSE Law Financial Market Infrastructure Research Seminar Series with Professor Jo Braithwaite, and regularly presents at LSE.

Elisabeth is a Senior Policy Advisor and Team Leader at the European Banking Authority. She leads the EBA’s policy work on crypto-assets. She represents the EBA in EU and international standard-setter work streams relating to FinTech, financial system interconnectedness, and the regulatory perimeter. Prior to joining the EBA in 2014, Elisabeth spent 7 years at the UK’s finance ministry advising primarily on the response to the 2008/9 financial crisis.

Philipp has been an educator, researcher, and policy consultant specialising in the regulation and law of financial services for over 20 years. Since 2017, he has focused on the regulation of Digital Finance. He served as the chair of the EU Commission expert group on FinTech (‘ROFIEG’), and the group's recommendations became a foundational document for the EU Digital Finance Strategy. 

Sarah’s main areas of research are corporate reorganization and insolvency. Before joining LSE she was a partner in Slaughter and May in London, with whom she retains a consultancy. She is regarded as one of the leading insolvency lawyers of her generation.

Edmund’s research interests are primarily in the areas of corporate law, law and finance, takeover regulation, capital markets regulation, as well as the economic analysis of the law. His current research is into the field of legal obstacles for blockchain/DLT solutions and smart contracts. Edmund is a Research Associate, UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies.

Mary was in practice at the Chancery Bar for 30 years until her retirement in 2022. Mary practised at Erskine Chambers, the leading company law set in the UK. She has experience of various different sorts of applications in the Business and Property Courts and more generally of company/commercial/ insolvency litigation. Most recently, shortly before her retirement, she was involved in some high-profile banking and insurance business transfer schemes.

Simon is a practising lawyer who also teaches on the LLM programme at LSE. His doctoral thesis, completed at LSE in 2017, was on corporate governance in private equity-backed companies. Simon continues to research and write on corporate governance, company law and related topics.

Sarah specialises in commercial equity, personal property and corporate law. Her research is primarily focused on the controversial issues relating to personal property rights and abuse of power in commercial, not-for-profit and corporate contexts.  Sarah returned to the LSE in 2022. This followed 11 years in Cambridge as the Downing Professor of the Laws of England, a Fellow of Trinity College and Director of the Cambridge Private Law Centre.