Dr Daniel Attenborough

Contact Dr Daniel Attenborough (email at daniel.attenborough@durham.ac.uk)

Biography

Daniel Attenborough is an Associate Professor in Corporate Law at Durham University. He holds degrees from Nottingham Trent (BA, 1996-1999), Leicester (LLM (Distinction), 2002-2003), and Leeds (PhD, 2004-2008) universities. Prior to joining Durham he was a Assistant Professor, then Associate Professor, at the University of Leicester between 2007-2014, and a part-time Teaching Assistant at the University of Leeds while completing his doctoral studies from 2004-2007. Daniel is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). Outside of his academic career, he has also worked for the Legal Services Commission, an organisation that provides information, advice and legal representation to help people get access to justice.

Current Reserch

His principal and current research and teaching interests are in the fields of corporate and commercial law, in the broadest sense; he has published widely on directors' duties, shareholder rights, comparative company law, and corporate governance theory. His scholarship has appeared in various leading law journals, including Legal Studies, Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, Journal of Corporate Law Studies, European Business Organization Law Review, and the Journal of Environmental Law. In 2011 Daniel was awarded the prestigious Best Paper Prize at the Society of Legal Scholars annual conference which was held at Downing College, Cambridge University. He has also held visiting posts at various institutions, most recently the University of California, Berkeley, and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London.

Teaching Areas

Company Law

Corporate Governance

Mergers & Acquisitions

Research Interests

• Comparative UK and US Corporate Law
• Corporate Governance theory
• Directors’ duties
• Shareholder rights

Publications

Authored book

• Birds, J., Attenborough, D., Leiser, M., Solinas, M., Varney, M. R. & Zhang, Z. (2019). Boyle & Birds' Company Law (10th edn). Sweet & Maxwell.

Book review

• Attenborough, D. (2015). Review: Andrew Keay, Directors' Duties. Jordons, 2nd ed, 2014. 608pp. hb £130. Journal of Business Law 5: 433-436.
• Attenborough, D. (2013). Review: Andrew Keay, The Enlightened Shareholder Value Principle and Corporate Governance, Oxford: Routledge, 2012, 304 pp, hb £85.00. Modern Law Review 76(5): 940-943.

Chapter in book

• Attenborough, D. (2020). Debating Theories of the Company and Separate Corporate Personality. In Great Debates in Company and Commercial Law. A. Johnston & L. Talbot Palgrave. tbc.
• Attenborough, D (2010). La Gouvernance d’enterprise et l’importance des facteurs sociaux et culturels: l’abandon conseil d’administration regles. In La Gouvernance des Sociétés Cotées Face à la Crise. Magnier, V Lextenso. 151-166.

Journal Article

• Attenborough, D. (2020). Misreading the Directors' Fiduciary Duty of Good Faith. Journal of Corporate Law Studies 20(1): 73-98.
• Attenborough, D. (2020). The Political Legitimacy of Company Law and Regulation. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 71(1): 384-405.
• Attenborough, D. (2017). Empirical Insights into Corporate Contractarian Theory. Legal Studies 37(2): 191-213.
• Attenborough, D. (2016). An Estoppel-Based Approach to Enforcing Corporate Environmental Responsibilities. Journal of Environmental Law 28(2): 275-299.
• Attenborough, D. (2014). The neoliberal (il)legitimacy of the duty of loyalty. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 65(4): 405-428.
• Attenborough, D. (2013). Enforcement of Corporate Conduct under the Equitable Maximisation and Viability Principle. Legal Studies 33(4): 650-678.
• Attenborough, D. (2013). The Vacuous Concept of Shareholder Voting Rights. European Business Organization Law Review 14(2): 147-173.
• Attenborough, D (2012). Giving purpose to the corporate purpose debate: an equitable maximisation and viability principle (Winner of the SLS Annual Conference Best Paper Prize 2011). Legal Studies 4-34.
• Attenborough, D. (2010). Corporate Governance and the Importance of Societal and Cultural Factors: An Argument Against Calling Time on UK Boardroom Rules. European Business Law Review 21(4): 559-572.
• Attenborough, D (2009). How Directors Should Act When Owing Duties to the Company’s Shareholders: Why We Need to Stop Applying Greenhalgh. International Company and Commercial Law Review 339-346.
• Attenborough, D (2007). Recent Developments in Australian Corporate Law and Their Implications for Directors’ Duties: Lessons to be Learned from the United Kingdom. International Company and Commercial Law Review 312-323.
• Attenborough, D (2007). The Company Law Reform Bill: an Analysis of Directors’ Duties and the Objective of the Company. Company Lawyer 162-169.