Andrew Johnston

Professor of Company Law and Corporate Governance

Director of Admissions (PGT)
Director of Internationalisation

Company Law; Corporate Governance; Corporate Governance and Sustainability; Financial Market Regulation; Law & Economics; Corporate Social Responsibility

School of Law
S1.32, Social Sciences Building
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

024 765 73928

Scholarship

Company Law; UK, EU and Comparative Corporate Governance; Corporate Governance and Sustainability; Regulation of Takeovers, Mergers & Acquisitions; Financial Market Regulation; Law & Economics; Corporate Social Responsibility

Bio

Andrew joined Warwick Law School in July 2020. He grew up in Liverpool and then studied law at the University of Cambridge. After practising law with Herbert Smith and the Treasury Solicitor, he embarked on an academic career, teaching at the University of Warsaw and writing his PhD at the European University Institute in Florence. He then taught at the Universities of Sheffield, Cambridge and Queensland before being appointed Professor of Company Law and Corporate Governance at the University of Sheffield in 2013. He has held visiting positions at Mines ParisTech and Queensland University of Technology, and also currently holds a number of external positions:

Research Associate at the Centre for Business Research at the University of Cambridge
Research Associate at the Centre de Gestion Scientifique at Mines ParisTECH
Research Fellow at the Bankruptcy Law Research Centre of Renmin University, China
Member of the Sustainability Law Research Group at the University of Oslo
Member, GOODCORP Research Network, European Trade Union Institute, Brussels
Partner, The Modern Corporation and the Purpose of the Corporation projects

Publications

Johnston, Andrew, 2024. The Bank of England and the "prehistory" of corporate governance. Business History
Johnston, Andrew, Miyamoto, Kohei, 2023. Independent directors and team production in Japanese corporate governance. Asian Journal of Law and Society, 10 (2), pp. 272-305
'Johnston, Andrew, 'Belinga, Rachelle, 'Segrestin, Blanche, 2022. 'Governing institutional investor engagement : from activism to stewardship to custodianship?. Journal of Corporate Law Studies, 22 (1), pp. 45-82
Chen, Ding, Deakin, Simon, Johnston, Andrew, Wang, Boya, 2021. Too much technology and too little regulation? The spectacular demise of P2P lending in China. Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium
Johnston, Andrew, Amaeshi, Kenneth, Adegbite, Emmanuel Olakanmi, Osuji, Onyeka, 2021. Corporate social responsibility as obligated internalisation of social costs. Journal of Business Ethics, 170, pp. 39-52
Johnston, Andrew, Segrestin, Blanche, Hatchuel, Armand, 2019. From balanced enterprise to hostile takeover : how the law forgot about management. Legal Studies, 39 (1), pp. 75-97
Segrestin, Blanche, Johnston, Andrew, Hatchuel, Armand, 2019. The separation of directors and managers : a historical examination of the status of managers'. Journal of Management History, 25 (2), pp. 141-164
Johnston, Andrew, Talbot, Lorraine, 2018. Why is modern capitalism irresponsible and what would make it more responsible? A company law perspective. King's Law Journal, 29 (1), pp. 111-141
Johnston, Andrew, 2017. The Shrinking Scope of CSR in UK Corporate Law. Washington & Lee Law Review. 1001, 74 (2)
Johnston, Andrew, Sadiq, Kerrie, 2017. Beyond Country-by-Country Reporting : A Modest Proposal to Enhance Corporate Accountability. New Zealand Universities Law Review, 27 (NZULR 569) (3), pp. 569-600
Johnston, Andrew, 2015. Regulating Hedge Funds for Systemic Stability : The EU's Approach. European Law Journal, 21 (6), pp. 758-786

Johnston, Andrew, 2024. From managerialism to shareholder primacy : the role of the Cohen Committee and the Bank of England. Barnes, Vicky; Hardman, Jonny; Wilson, Sarah (eds.), The Origins of Company Law: Methods and Approaches, Hart Publishing
Johnston, Andrew, 2023. From universal owners to hedge funds and indexers : will stewardship drive long-termism and sustainability?. Chiu, Iris H -Y.; Hirt, Hans C. (eds.), Investment management, stewardship and sustainability : transformation and challenges in law and regulation, Oxford, Hart Publishing Ltd. (Bloomsbury)
Johnston, Andrew, 2023. Integrating sustainability into corporate governance. In Bruner, Christopher; Moore, Marc (eds.), A Research Agenda for Corporate Law, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 57-79
Johnston, Andrew, Pugh, Trevor J., 2022. Fiscal austerity and monetary largesse : the EU?s constitutional and ideological straitjacket. In Sjåfjell, Beate; Villiers, Charlotte; Tsagas, Georgina (eds.), Sustainable Value Creation in the European Union : Towards Pathways to a Sustainable Future through Crises, Cambridge University Press, pp. 89-112
Johnston, Andrew, Segrestin, Blanche, 2021. Lost from view : the legal invisibility of managers in the UK. Sogner, K.; Colli, A. (eds.), The Emergence of Corporate Governance: People, Power and Performance, Routledge
Johnston, Andrew, 2015. Arbitrability of Company Law disputes. In Shan, W.; Liu, Q. (eds.), China and International Commercial Dispute Resolution, Brill, pp. 195-227
Sjåfjell, Beate, Johnston, Andrew, Anker-Sørensen, Linn, Millon, David, 2015. Shareholder primacy: the main barrier to sustainable companies. In Sjåfjell, B.; Richardson, B. J. (eds.), Company Law and Sustainability: Legal Barriers and Opportunities, Cambridge University Press, pp. 79-147
Johnston, Andrew, Njoya, Wanjiru, 2014. Employee voice in corporate control transactions. In Bogg, Alan; Novitz, Tonia (eds.), Voices at Work: Continuity and Change in the Common Law World, Oxford University Press (OUP), pp. 400-420
Johnston, Andrew, 2009. EC regulation of corporate governance.

Johnston, Andrew, 2012. ISO 26000 : guiding companies to sustainability through social responsibility?. SSRN Electronic Journal, Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

Teaching Impact

Policy

I work with Frank Bold, the Purpose of the Corporation project, GOODCORP and Sustainable Market Actors for Responsible Trade Group at the University of Oslo on matters relating to sustainable corporate governance.

In early 2020, I coordinated the statement on 'Corporate Governance for Sustainability' which argues that directors should be obliged to oversee the development and implementation of a Sustainability Strategy and report on its implementation. As part of the debate about the European Commission's Sustainable Corporate Governance Initiative, in February 2021, I presented an overview of the statement at a Brussels webinar on 'Sustainable corporate governance and non-financial reporting: Finding a pathway to policy coherence', organised by Frank Bold, Alliance for Corporate Transparency and Climate Disclosure Standards Board.

The statement can found at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3502101 and the recording of the webinar is available at https://youtu.be/BNZTfEyDuxs?t=29.

Research Supervision

I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD supervisees. However, please ensure that you have a research proposal which corresponds with the University of Warwick School of Law requirements.

I am happy to consider supervising PhDs in company law, UK, EU and comparative corporate governance, corporate governance and sustainability, takeovers, law & economics, banking and financial regulation.

Current PhD students:

Panpan Sun
Xiaoxi Nie
Siyu Dong
Anh Nguyen
Kirandeep Kaur

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