Warwick Law School welcomes a new Assistant Professor to our team.

Joy Malala joins us from Aston University where she worked as a lecturer in commercial law. Before that, she was a lecturer and the Research Director at Strathmore University in Nairobi Kenya.

When asked about joining Warwick she told us, “I feel excited about joining WLS as a faculty member. I was here a few years ago as a PhD student under the supervision of Prof Dalvinder Singh. I am excited about collaborating with some of the faculty who share my research interests and in meeting the new students and basically being back on the Warwick Campus which I hadn’t been in such a long time.”

We chatted to find out a little more…

What will you be doing at Warwick?

I will be teaching Commercial Law and International Commercial Law to the Undergraduate and postgraduate students. I also hope to assist on the student experience in any way I can.

What are your research interests?

I embarked on a PhD here at Warwick University at the time the height of the so called FinTech revolution had begun, and academics had started to take notice of its impact both to finance and to society. One such innovation was in mobile payments which had arguably changed the financial services industry in many developing countries, among them Kenya. I particularly explored the emerging legal and regulatory issues that arose in 2007. I argued that the law on payments systems was incomplete as it did not address the specific issues necessary for an effective payment system. I argued that the current regulatory regime is weak and largely unfelt due to the nascent state of development of technology in the payments system. I also addressed the regulatory approach taken by Kenya in regulating mobile payments, juxtaposing the realities that combine to blunt the impact of innovation and access to finance. I offered all these as a foundational discussion on the regulatory capacity for the adoption and development of mobile payments within a regulatory vacuum and proposed an appropriate regulatory framework exploring, how new innovations in finance at the time were changing the banking industry and the resultant and unintended consequences to society at large.

Since then, I have come to research the socio-legal and political landscape of FinTech in the Global South. I have begun to explore, the ways in which, ‘Financial Inclusion’ and ‘Access to Finance’ has continued to elicit a lot of debates and critique due in part to the (un)intended consequences of these innovations. I explore the ways in which poor people in the Global South are framed to the wider global economy, as new markets for western neoliberal ideals, particularly the ways in which FinTech and BigTech have co-opted these terms to push them into new markets. I also research how law and policy is designed and should be imagined, particularly, through the increase of over indebtedness, one of the darker underbellies of digital microcredit. I am also part of the Global South Dialogue on Economic Crime Network which is an interdisciplinary platform for advancing dialogue, research, and capacity on economic and financial crimes.

Why did you want to study law?

When I was about ten, I declared to my father that I wanted to be a ‘Corporate Lawyer’, I hadn’t the faintest clue what that meant. Over the years, I felt that I had to fulfil that declaration since it somehow became my persona. Eventually, everyone who seemed to be making an impact in their society happened to be a lawyer. Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s in Kenya, there were a lot of changes politically and socially, many of the change makers were lawyers, so this solidified my interest in the law. I however ventured into academia because, much like many who study law, practicing it just did not suit my personality and I enjoyed teaching too much. I therefore pursued a career in academia.

University can be very stressful, what do you do to unwind?

I have three small children all under the age of five so there is never a dull moment in our house. They are now learning how to ride their bicycles and scooters and it’s been wonderful to take them out every weekend to practice while we ride alongside them.

Andrew Williams, Head of Warwick Law School commented, “we are really excited that Joy is returning to the Law School as part of our faculty. Her expertise and knowledge of commercial law will I’m sure be beneficial to both our staff and students, as will her experience of studying here. I look forward to seeing her back on campus.”

Good luck in your first term Joy, we are thrilled to have you back with us.