Stephen Connelly

Professor

Co-Director of GLOBE

Chair of the Philosophy and History of Legal Systems

School of Law
S1.06, Social Sciences Building
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

024 761 50410

Advice hours: drop in S1.06:

Mon 4pm; Tue 4pm.

Scholarship

Stephen's principal research interest is in the philosophy and history of legal systems. His work spans the history of legal theory, from Ancient Near Eastern cosmological accounts of law, through classical Greek and Roman legal philosophy, through to Early Modern philosophy and modern process theories of law. His analyses to date have included Sumerian lamentation, Plato, Epicurus, the early Stoa, Philo Judaeus, Spinoza, Leibniz, Scholem, Bergson, Whitehead, and Deleuze.

Stephen welcomes PhD applications from students interested in researching continental legal philosophy.

Stephen also provides expert analysis on finance law, focusing on the private law techniques used in the field. Among his publications is the leading student textbook on the subject: Finance Law (Routledge, 2025). Stephen has both given evidence to the UK Parliament and drafted legislation pertaining to sovereign debt.

Bio

Stephen is a qualified solicitor in England & Wales with Frankfurt am Main Bar affiliation. He has 5 years PQE as a commercial and financial regulation litigator, and as managing associate on international structured finance transactions.

Outside of teaching Stephen provides consultancy work to NGOs, government departments, international organisations and leading law firms on all aspects of finance and corporations law, and regularly provides comment to the press (FT, Evening Standard, Economist, Global Restructuring Review) and practitioner journals. Recent work includes advising NGOs on bilateral sovereign finance, and working with the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Debt.

Publications

Connelly, Stephen, 2023. On the role of signs in Epicurus' legal theory. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique, 36 (3), pp. 1033-1057
Connelly, Stephen, Connelly, Stephen, 2021. Locke, Leibniz and the state space. The City: An Object or a Subject of Law?, 1 (1), pp. 1-18
Connelly, Stephen, 2021. Locke, Leibniz and the state space. The City: An Object or a Subject of Law?, 1 (1), pp. 1-18
Connelly, Stephen, 2021. The Tuna Bond Scandal : the continued lack of transparency in bank-to-state credit facilities agreements. Journal of International Economic Law, 24 (3), pp. 649-671
Connelly, Stephen, Tan, Celine, Patricio, Karina, Lima, Ferreira, Tassis, Chris, 2020. The G20 debt service suspension initiative : what of commercial creditors?. Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, 35 (11), pp. 741-743
Connelly, Stephen, 2019. Syndicating in one's own interest : the scope of the duties of a lead arranger during syndication who is also an underwriter or lender. Butterworth's Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, 34 (6)
Connelly, Stephen, 2018. Restricting the assignment of receivables. Pitfalls for floating charges?. Butterworth's Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, 33 (7)
Connelly, Stephen, Leesurakarn, Saveethika, 2017. 'Tis said they turned and ate each other? The interaction between OTC clearing requirements and the BRRD. Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, 32 (4), pp. 205-208
Connelly, Stephen, 2016. When overseeing becomes overlooking : the post-GFC reconfigurations of international finance. Journal of Corporate Law Studies, 16 (2), pp. 403-435
Connelly, Stephen, 2015. Difference and repetition : the UK's "protection" of close out netting from EU rules leaves counterparties worse off. Butterworths Journal of International Banking & Financial Law, 30 (2), pp. 80-82
Connelly, Stephen, 2014. Is it time for a more concrete focus on systemically important financial instruments?. Journal of International Banking Law and Regulation, 29 (5), pp. 274-279

Connelly, Stephen, 2021. Money. Wall, Illan Rua; Middleton, Freya; Shah, Sahar (eds.), The critical legal pocketbook, Oxford, Counterpress
Connelly, Stephen, 2021. Leibniz : a contribution to the archaeology of power. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press
Connelly, Stephen, 2021. Concept : a deviant student. Wall, Illan Rua; Middleton, Freya; Shah, Sahar (eds.), The critical legal pocketbook, Oxford, Counterpress
Connelly, Stephen, 2016. The implementation of the EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive's derivative bail-in powers in the UK. Binder, Jens-Heinrich (ed.), Bank Resolution and Recovery in Context, Oxford, OUP
Connelly, Stephen, 2015. Spinoza : cosmopolitanism for the love of multitudes. Caraus, Tamara; Paris, Elena (eds.), Re-Grounding Cosmopolitanism, New York, Routledge
Connelly, Stephen, 2015. Spinoza, right and absolute freedom. Abingdon, Oxon, Birkbeck Law Press
Connelly, Stephen, Friedrich, Tamara L., Vessey, L., Shipman, A., Day, Eric A., Ruark, G., 2013. A conceptual framework of emotion management in leadership contexts. Leader interpersonal and influence skills : the soft skills of leadership, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, Routledge

Teaching Impact

Legislation

Stephen has worked closely on several areas of UK legislation, including:

drafting the Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Bill 2025 (currently at second reading).
amendments to the UK regime for bailing in derivatives.
having his proposals for legislation to create a required debt registration procedure for bank-to-state loans as a means to force transparency become UK Labour Party policy in its 2019 Election manifesto.
defending his draft amendments for the UK Corporate Governance and Insolvency Bill 2021 before a senior committee, including a Supreme Court Justice.

Public Understanding

Stephen has briefed Industry & Parliament Trust meetings of MPs on state-led financing and direct investment mechanisms, and on sovereign debt. he has also produced a policy brief on company law after Brexit, which led to the revision of UK Government advice to small businesses operating in the EU from the UK.

He is often asked to comment on financial matters in the press, and has made appearances on the BBC.

With Andreas Kokkinis, Stephen led a briefing session for Matt Western MP and West Midlands business leaders on the effect of Brexit on their legal arrangements.

Professional Practice

Stephen is often asked to provide consultation to law firms and NGOs on matters of international corporate and financial law. Public events have included briefing Allen & Overy on company law post-Brexit, examining finance documentation for NGO NRGI, and producing briefing papers for Jubilee Debt Campaign and Oxfam.

Stephen is a Solicitor (England & Wales) and a member of the Frankfurt am Main Bar. His legal practice has included international syndicated finance, projects, and financial and commercial litigation where he has been a solicitor advocate in the Chancery Division, and taken cases to the House of Lords (as was) and Privy Council.

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.

Stephen welcomes PhD proposals in the history of legal philosophy, including:

natural rights and natural law theories (e.g. in Spinoza, Leibniz, and Hellenic philosophies)
continental philosophy and especially process philosophy (e.g. Deleuze, Whitehead, Bergson)

If you would like to research in these areas but are unsure how to narrow down a question, feel free to email me with your academic credentials and a discussion of your interests. We can identify a viable research question together.

Current PhD students:

Kirandeep Kaur