Professor Iain MacNeil
- Alexander Stone Chair of Commercial Law (Law)
telephone:
01413305863
email:
Iain.MacNeil@glasgow.ac.uk
R34 Level 4, School of Law, 5-9 The Square, Glasgow G12 8QQ
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8174-4292Biography
Iain MacNeil joined the School of Law in 2003 and was appointed to the Alexander Stone Chair of Commercial Law in 2005. He is a graduate of the Universities of Glasgow (LLB) and Edinburgh (PhD). Iain’s early career was as an investment analyst in the City of London covering the insurance sector. He took up his first academic appointment at the University of Aberdeen in 1993 following completion of his PhD on The Legal Framework for the EU Single Market in Insurance.
Iain’s primary interest and expertise now lies in corporate governance and financial regulation. He has published widely and in particular he has explored the interaction between hard and soft law in this sphere, as well as the influence of international standards. His recent publications focus on sustainable finance and stakeholder interests in corporate governance.
Beyond the University of Glasgow, Iain has several roles. He is an honorary professor at the National Law University Delhi, a member of the advisory board of the Centre for Business Research at Cambridge and a member of the International Securities Regulation Committee of the International Law Association (ILA). He recently served as Deputy Chair of both the 2020 Hong Kong Law RAE Panel and the 2021 UK Law REF Panel. He has acted as Senior Adviser on several EU DG FISMA projects examining national compliance with EU financial sector Directives.
Research interests
Research interests summary
- Corporate Law and Governance
- Financial Regulation (banking, capital markets, insurance)
- Sustainability and ESG Investing
- Comparative Law
- Insurance Law
- Contract Law
My research interests have shifted over time. My PhD thesis and early publications focused on the construction and operation of the EU single market in insurance, encompassing freedom of establishment, freedom to provide services and free movement of capital, as well as the regulatory system that developed from those EU Treaty provisions. This work included the private law framework for insurance contracts in the single market, comparing the approach through harmonisation of substantive law with the alternative of harmonisation of choice of law and jurisdiction.
My focus then shifted primarily to corporate law. In this phase I became more focused on theoretical approaches such as law & finance and law & economics while continuing to develop my interest in the interplay between private and public (regulatory) law. At this time to I was able to develop collaborations with several of my former PhD students, each of which ultimately led to joint publications. My most cited journal article on Google Scholar is a joint publication with Dr Xiao Li, my former PhD student. These collaborations drew me to undertake research in China (funded by a Leverhulme Fellowship) on the emerging corporate law system, focusing in particular on the role of the state and private capital. The personal and professional dimensions of these collaborations expanded my vision and understanding of the role of corporate law in diverse social systems, opening up perspectives on the rule of law and law in action that continue to inform my thinking.
The start of the third phase of my research coincided with the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008. During this phase my research ocused on how the law, regulatory rules and ethical codes attempt to control the type of misconduct that has become associated with the crisis. From 2008 to 2011, I collaborated as Adjunct Professor with the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) at the Australian National University and then served as general editor of the Law and Financial Markets Review between 2011-13. In the latter role I was privileged to chair an editorial board comprising senior practitioners and judges whose insights and experience provided invaluable guidance on the legal and regulatory responses to the financial crisis.
Having returned to a more sustained focus on research following completion of my term as Head of School (2015-2019), I am currently working on several strands of research:
- the transplantation of corporate governance codes around the world;
- the role of sustainability in corporate governance and financial regulation;
- the emergence of non-financial regulation as a priority for financial regulators in the UK and Australia;
- the interaction of corporate social responsibility and socio-economic rights.
Publications
Selected publications
MacNeil, I. (2010) The trajectory of regulatory reform in the UK in the wake of the financial crisis. European Business Organisation Law Review, 11(4), pp. 483-526. (doi: 10.1017/S1566752910400014)
MacNeil, I. and O'Brien, J. (Eds.) (2010) The Future of Financial Regulation. Hart: Oxford. ISBN 9781841139104
MacNeil, I. (2009) Uncertainty in commercial law. Edinburgh Law Review, 13(1), pp. 68-99. (doi: 10.3366/E1364980908000966)
All publications
Grants
Professor MacNeil has been awarded the following grants:
2011
Prof Iain MacNeil secured funding from Hart Publishing to help fund a conference on financial regulation held at LSE in November 2011.
2009
Prof Iain MacNeil and Prof Justin O'Brien, Visiting Professor at Glasgow and Professor of Corporate Governance at CAPPE, secured £50,000 funding to support an international conference entitled 'The Future of Financial Regulation', which ran in Glasgow on 30-31 March 2009. Funding was secured from ESRC World Economy and Finance Programme, GOVNET, CAPPE, TIRI, and The Chancellor's Fund at the University of Glasgow.
Supervision
My current students are:
Federica Agostini - 'Regulation of green securitisation'
Abdulaziz Bin hagshah - 'The New Corporate Governance Regulatory Frameworks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - Reality and Aspirations'
Xiayang Chen - 'A Comparative Study of the Credit Rating Agencies: China and the USA'
Sarah Deng - 'Legal Transplant as a Device of Legal Change in Transitional Economies: The Case of Importing Common Law-Style Corporate Fiduciary Duties into Contemporary China'
Antonio De Vito - 'Judicial Independence and Corporate Tax Avoidance'
Paula Madalinska - 'Regulatory development, its implications and impact on shaping automated advice services in financial markets'
Ten students have completed their PhD under my supervision. Six have gone on to academic posts – two in Hong Kong, one in Iran, one in Libya and two in China (the Universities of Tsinghua and Nankai).
I am willing to supervise PhD students in any of the areas mentioned in my research interests above.
- Agostini, Federica
Regulation of green securitisation - Chen, Siyi
Solving Conflicts of Interest Between Directors and Shareholders: Perspectives from the UK, US, and China - Wilczopolska, Paula Patrycja
Regulatory development, its implications and impact on shaping automated advice services in financial markets.
Teaching
My recent teaching has been in Company Law, Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation. I was the founder of the LLM in Corporate & Financial Law in 2009.
Additional information
Member of the editorial board of the Capital Markets Law Journal.
Adjunct Professor, The Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) based at the Australian National University, Canberra (2008-2011).
CoSIG Visiting Scholar, Hong Kong, March 2011.
Special Adviser to the House of Lords European Union Committee (May-July 2012). See House of Lords, European Union Committee, 2nd Report of Session 2012-13, “MiFiID II: Getting it Right for the City and EU Financial Services Industry” (HL Paper 28).
Member of the UK’s Research Evaluation Framework (REF) Law Panel (2014).
Head of the School of Law, University of Glasgow, 2015-2019.
Distinguished Visiting Fellow, School of Business Law and Taxation, UNSW, Sydney, 2020.
