Rethinking Company Law Towards a Sustainable Economy by Dr Laura Rodes-Saldaña

19 September 2023, 5-6pm. Registration is required for this event. 

This seminar is co-hosted by the International Business Law Research Group and the College of Law, Social & Criminal Justice Research Seminar Series. Our series offers exciting insights into ongoing research projects within the law school and conducted by our external research partners. We often feature work from our research centres. Join us for invigorating discussion! 

In this session, we hear from Dr Laura Rodes-Saldaña. Dr Rodes-Saldaña read Law and Business in Spain. After a period of practice as a corporate lawyer at an international law firm, she studied at the University of Leicester for an LLM in International Commercial Law (completed with Distinction) and later a PhD, which she completed in 2019. In 2018, she moved to Hertford College (University of Oxford) where she was appointed as a Stipendiary Lecturer in Law until September 2022, when she joined BCU School of Law as a Lecturer in Law. Her areas of expertise encompass company law, business law, corporate finance law and law and economics, particularly from an international and comparative perspective.

In this session, Dr Rodes-Saldaña will give the following presentation, followed by an interactive Q&A: 

Title: Rethinking Company Law Towards a Sustainable Economy 

Abstract:  

The research undertaken under this project will contribute to the publication of a journal article focused on presenting viable options for Company Law reform with the aim of achieving a global economy operating within social and planetary boundaries.

This project is undertaken under a law and economics methodology, namely through the lens of modern economic concepts of sustainability, prosperity, circular economy, planetary boundaries and social boundaries. Some economists (most famously Colin Mayer, Kate Raworth and Mariana Mazzucato) have recently suggested ideas that governments and policymakers could take on board in order to rethink the economy in general- and the business enterprise in particular-for the purposes of achieving prosperity. The novelty of their approach is the conceptual framework of a desirable economy. They are abandoning the idea of maximisation of wealth as a backbone of good economics. Instead, they are suggesting that other social and environmental issues are a to be considered within economics. What is more, they suggest this is hardly optional; having a prosperous economy solely focused on GDP increase would be merely a short-sighted approach, given the climate emergency and the well known scientifically proven devastating effects of the lack of action. 

Therefore, and as a necessary result of the application of this economic approach, some attention must also be drawn to Company Law. Company law will largely determine – besides soft law- the actions of companies and their actors/executives. This project will identify areas of company law which should be rectified, in order to comply effectively with the needs of the new sustainable economies within planetary and social boundaries. 

This seminar has now concluded but it is available on demand. If you find that you do not have access, you can email the research seminar series leader at mitchell.longan@bcu.ac.uk in order to gain access.