Manchester Centre for Law and Business
We're contributing to legal scholarship and discussions which influence everyday lives.
The Manchester Centre for Law and Business replaces the Private and Commercial Law Hub.
About us
The Centre for Law and Business was established in 1989 in the Faculty of Law of The University of Manchester by Professor David Milman (later Dean of the Faculty of Law, presently Professor of Law at Lancaster University and presently the Centre’s external founding member). Earlier projects included extensive knowledge exchange work with the legal profession and an externally funded project reviewing national corporate law regimes across Europe. The Centre acquired a reputation for providing a forum for interacting with the legal community and academic scholarship regionally, nationally and internationally.
The Centre presently encompasses a wide range of business-related areas. Research within the Manchester Centre for Law and Business sits at the intersection of critical social and economic debates, tackling legal, regulatory and policy questions. Many LLM modules and LLM streams cover aspects of commercial, corporate, and financial law, and are delivered by members of the Centre.
Recent activities (initially under the aegis of the Private & Commercial Law hub) have included a number of high-profile conferences, among which, in 2016 on the Insurance Act 2015, sponsored by DAC Beachcroft; in 2017 on the ten years of the Companies Act 2006, sponsored by Trowers & Hamlins and by QMUL; in 2020 on the impact of LegalTech on the legal profession, sponsored by Exchange Chambers and by the Northern Business & Property Courts Forum.
The Centre was revived in 2020 by Dr Vincenzo Bavoso and Professor Geraint Howells (acting as co-directors). The Centre’s aim is to be a world renowned brand among academic institutions, practitioners and policy-makers. Current partners include the Sheffield Institute of Corporate and Commercial Law (SICCL) at the University of Sheffield, the Hong Kong Commercial and Maritime Law Centre (HKCMLC) at City University of Hong Kong, Labour Business and Regulation at NUI Galway, the Manchester Business and Property Courts Forum, Grant Thornton LLP Manchester.
In September 2021 the Centre took over the editorship of the prestigious outlet Law and Financial Markets Review (Taylor & Francis), with Dr Vincenzo Bavoso, Dr Michael Galanis and Professor Geraint Howells acting as editors in chief, and Professor Orkun Akseli, Dr Nicolette Butler, Dr Joseph Lee and Dr Jasem Tarawneh as associate editors. A first annual conference is planned to take place in September 2022.
Areas of expertise
- Contract Law;
- Tort Law;
- Property Law;
- Commercial Law;
- Consumer Law;
- International Trade Law;
- Banking Law;
- Insurance Law;
- Corporate Law;
- Corporate Finance Law;
- Secured Transactions Law;
- Insolvency Law;
- Corporate Governance;
- Intellectual Property;
- Competition Law;
- Securities Law;
- Financial Regulations;
- Arbitration and Mediation;
- FinTech;
- Law and Technology;
- Money Theory.
People
Co-directors
- Dr Vincenzo Bavoso (Corporate Law; Finance Law)
- Prof Geraint Howells (Consumer Law; Commercial Law)
Internal members
- Professor Orkun Akseli (Commercial Law; Banking Law)
- Dr Nicolette Butler (Investment Law; Arbitration)
- Dr Alan Cunningham (IP Law; Technology Law)
- Dr Amber Darr (Competition Law)
- Dr Michael Galanis (Corporate Law; Corporate Governance)
- Dr Ashley Hannay (Property Law; Legal History)
- Dr Joseph Lee (Corporate Law; Finance Law)
- Dr Pinar Oruc (IP Law)
- Dr Jasem Tarawneh (IP Law; Arbitration)
- Dr Abubakri Yekini (Conflicts of Laws; Commercial Law)
Teaching & Scholarship Members
- Mrs Margaret Cunningham (Contract Law; Tort Law)
- Dr Philip Drake (Legal Advice Centre)
- Mrs Ruby Hammer (Contract Law; Tort Law)
- Mrs Harriet Lipkin (Property Law)
- Dr Annette Nordhausen-Scholes (Commercial Law; Consumer Law)
- Dr Rachael Ntongho (Corporate Law; Corporate Governance)
- Mrs Gillian Ulph (Property Law)
- Mrs Joanne Urmston (Property Law)
Affiliated Members
- Dr John Haskell John Haskell (Law and Money)
- Dr Amanda Odell-West Amanda Odell-West (IP Law; Bioethics)
- Professor Joseph Jaconelli (Property Law)
External members
- HH Judge Cawson QC
- Stephen Connolly (Exchange Chambers)
- Professor Henry Gabriel (Elon University)
- Professor Andrew Griffiths (University of Newcastle)
- Mark Harper QC (Kings Chambers)
- Professor Andrew Johnston (Warwick University)
- Professor John Linarelli (Touro Law School)
- Professor Gerard McCormack (University of Leeds)
- Professor David Milman (honorary founding member, Lancaster University)
- Professor Marc Moore (University College London)
- Professor Markos Zachariadis (Alliance Manchester Business School)
- David Waksman QC
List of doctoral students
- Fiona Lakareber
- Nishadi Thennakoon
- Amalachukwu Nwazota
- Abir Al Mahdouri
- Shirin Khawjah
- Barrak Q. AlMujalhem
- Ameena Zainal
- Rahaf Alshneikat
- Alyaksandra Dubrouskaya
- Ahlam Alasmir
- Rougang Li
- Rahaf Alshneikat
- Rosemary Toll
- Zeng Fan
- Adaeze Aniodoh
- Mohammad Odeibat
- Saeed Albedwawi
- Niyoosha Shisheghar
- Bonheur Minzoto
- Donal Loftus
Current projects
Akseli
- working on a co-authored monograph on secured transactions in global lawmaking
- working on a commentary on the UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions
- General Rapporteur of the International Academy of Comparative Law for the "Use of ADR in the enforcement of Security Interests and Insolvency
Bavoso
- working on a monograph titled “The Law and Regulation of Debt Capital Markets” which is due to be completed at the end of 2022;
- the dynamics of financial intermediation in the age of fintech, looking in particular at the changing role of banks and their evolving function in the financial system;
- the impact of Basel III, particularly with respect to its efficacy to constrain the excesses of market-based channels of finance.
Galanis
- Researching post-growth business organisation law and governance.
Hammer
- Working on understanding the student experience of millennial learners in legal education.
Howells
- Working on a monograph on Consumer Protection in the UK; an edited book on Asian Consumer Protection Law; an article on what makes some terms really unfair and impact of Covid-19 and consumers and vaccine damage compensation.
Past events
- The Northern Business and Property Court Forum, together with the University of Manchester (Centre for Law and Business), “The impact of legaltech on the legal profession”, Manchester, 14 November 2020 (around 150 attendees).
- Business Law PGR Mini-Conference, Law School, University of Manchester, 15 March 2021 (around 40 attendees).
- Manchester Centre for Law and Business / City University of Hong Kong, Joint research Workshop, November 2020 (around 20 attendees).
- Research Seminar, Professor Steven Schwarcz “Regulating Digital Currencies: Towards an Analytical Framework”, 22 April 2021.
- Research Seminar, Professor Marc Moore “Measuring Dual Class Stock Compatibility: An Inter-Exchange Analysis”, 5 May 2021.
- Research Seminar, Dr Vincenzo Bavoso and Dr Jasem Tarawneh “Phoenix Companies and the Abuse of Corporate Brands”, 19 May 2021.
- Research Seminar, Professor Geraint Howells “Online Platforms and Consumer Protection”, 3 November 2021.
- Research Seminar, Professor Tham Chee Ho “The Assignability of Arbitration Clauses”, 16 November 2021.
- Grant Thornton LLP & Manchester Centre for Law and Business “Forensic Accounting, Insolvency Law, and Legal Practice”, 1 December 2021.
- Research Seminar, Professor Andrew Johnston “From Universal Owners to Hedge Funds and Indexers”, 9 March 2022.
- Manchester Business & Property Court Forum with Manchester Centre for Law and Business “Commercial Law in Times of Covid19, featuring Sir Julian Flaux (Chancellor of the High Court), Professor hugh Beale, chaired by Mr Justice Fancourt”, 18 March 2022.
- Manchester Centre for Law and Business / Sheffield Institute of Corporate and Commercial Law, joint research workshop, 23 April 2022.
- Research Seminar, Professor Donna Nagy “ESG Disclosure and the Role of the SEC”, 28 April 2022.
- Symposium, featuring Professor David Milman and HH Judge Mark Cawson QC “Recent Trends and Developments in UK Shareholder Protection Law”, 4 May 2022.
- Research Seminar, Professor Mark Janis, “Virtual Designs”, 18 May 2022.
Research Outputs (2021)
- Bavoso V. (2021) “Basel III and the Regulation of Market-Based Finance: The Tentative Reform”, New York University Journal of Law and Business, Fall (forthcoming).
- Bavoso V. (2021) “Financial Intermediation in the Age of FinTech: P2P Lending and the Reinvention of Banking”, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, May.
- Butler N. “The Effect of Unilateral Sanctions on the Foreign Investment Regime”, in S. Subedi, Unilateral Sanctions in International Law, Hart 2021.
- Galanis M. “Growth and the lost legitimacy of business organisation: time to abandon corporate law reform”, Journal of Corporate Law Studies, Vol.20(2), pp.291-325.
- Hannay A. “By Fraud and Collusion: Feudal Revenue and Enforcement of the Statute of Marlborough, 1267-1526”, 42 Journal of Legal History 65-89, 2021.
- Howells G. “Consumer Protection Values in the Fourth Industrial Revolution” 43 (2020) Journal of Consumer Policy 145–175.
- Lee J. “(ed) Takeovers in EU and China: State interests, Market players, and Governance Mechanism”, (2021 Springer).
- Lee J. Geidel, D, ‘Mapping an Investor Protection Framework for the Security Token Offering Market: A Comparative Analysis of UK and German Kaw’, The Taiwan Law Review No. 316 (2021).
- Lee J. Bao Y, Li J, ‘Evaluating the Mandatory Bid Rule for Takeover Law in China: an Empirical and Comparative Analysis’. In Lee J (Ed) Takeovers in EU and China: State interests, market players, and governance mechanism (2021 Springer).
- Lee J. ‘Cryptoassets, Developments and the Regulatory Perimeter’ in Chiu, I. & Deipenbrock, G. (eds) Routledge Handbook on FinTech and Law – Regulatory, Supervisory, Policy and other Legal Challenges (Routledge 2021).
- Ntongho R. “The Political Economy of a Monetary Union in ECOWAS: The Case of the ECO Currency”, Forthcoming Review of African Political Economy.
- Oruc P. and Suthersanen U. ‘Intellectual Property and Cultural Heritage Issues for Museums of Archaeological Materials’ in I. Stamatoudi, Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Cultural Heritage (Edward Elgar) 2021.
- Oruc P. (with Kretschmer M., Margoni T.) ‘D3.6 Interim study on the state of harmonisation of the rights of reproduction and adaptation and connected exceptions’ (2021). Project deliverable for reCreating Europe (H2020), under acceptance by the European Commission. https://zenodo.org/record/5069507#.YOMPrehKhPY
- Oruc P. “Copyright Law and the use of AI in Audiovisual Academic Research’ (2021) ViewFinder Magazine, Issue 117. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/viewfinder/articles/copyright-law-and-the-use-of-ai-in-audiovisual-academic-research/
- Yekini A. “The Hague Judgments Convention and Commonwealth Model Law: A Pragmatic Perspective”, Hart, 2021.
Social Media
Twitter: @ManchesterCLAB