Centros and European Company Law: Twenty Years of Living Dangerously

3rd Annual Conference of the Oxford Business Law Blog

Centros and European Company Law: Twenty Years of Living Dangerously

  • 15 March 2019
  • University of Oxford

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Supported by

 

3rd Annual Conference of the Oxford Business Law Blog

Oxford | 15 March 2019, 08:30am

Mordan Hall, St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford

 

Print version of the programme

Conference Overview

March 2019 marked the twentieth anniversary of the Centros case (C-212/97), without doubt the most influential judgment rendered by the (then) Court of Justice in the field of European company law. Along with Überseering (2002) and Inspire Art (2003), Centros (1999) eased the cross-border mobility of corporations in the European Union, inducing fear of forum-shopping within the borders of the single-market, and prompting calls for a top-down harmonisation of corporate standards.

Against this backdrop, the editors of the Oxford Business Law Blog selected ‘Centros and European Company Law: Twenty Years of Living Dangerously’ as the theme of its third annual conference. Two weeks before Brexit would become effective, the conference provided an appropriate forum to discuss the present and future of European Company Law.

In addition, the theme invited a broader reflection on the dynamics of regulatory arbitrage and competition within the European continent and beyond, both in company law and adjacent areas. Amongst other pressing issues, the following questions were addressed: to what extent does the rise of technology redefine corporate mobility and fuel regulatory arbitrage? What is the legacy of Centros in insolvency law?

 

Conference Participation

This event was by invitation only. For any enquiries, please email oblb@law.ox.ac.uk.

 

About the Oxford Business Law Blog

The Oxford Business Law Blog is a forum for the exchange of ideas and the reporting of new developments in all aspects of business law. Its editorial board is comprised of Luca Enriques, Dan Awrey, Genevieve Helleringer, Horst Eindenmüller, Kristin van Zwieten, Umakanth Varottil and Andreas Engert. They are assisted by Roderic Kermarec, Vaclav Janecek, Jonathan Chan, Felix Pflücke, Bojana Vitanova, Leah Grolman and Jason Fu.  

 

The 3rd Annual Conference of the OBLB was generously supported by Travers Smith, the European Corporate Governance Institute, the Oxford Law Faculty, the Commercial Law Centre at Harris Manchester College and the Oxford Institute of European and Comparative Law.

 

Attendee List

 

 

Nikita Aggarwal

University of Oxford

John Armour

University of Oxford, Faculty of Law

Simon Bahlinger

University of Heidelberg

The Honourable Margaret Beazley

Notre Dame Sydney Australia

Marco Becht

Université libre de Bruxelles

Martin Bengtzen

London School of Economics

Jonathan Chan

University of Oxford

Anna Christie

University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law

Blanaid Clarke

Trinity College Dublin

Pierre-Henri Conac

University of Luxembourg

Marco Corradi

Stockholm University / University of Oxford

Steven Davidoff Solomon

Berkeley Center for Law and Business

Paul Davies

Centre for Commercial Law, Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford

Hans De Wulf Ghent University
Horst Eidenmüller

University of Oxford

Andreas Engert

University of Mannheim

Luca Enriques

University of Oxford

Eilis Ferran

University of Cambridge Law Faculty and Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law (3CL)

Jill Fisch

University of Pennsylvania Law School

Jason Fu

University of Oxford

Martin Gelter

Fordham University School of Law

Carsten Gerner-Beuerle

University College London

Louise Gullifer

Oxford University

Gérard Hertig

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

Roderic Kermarec

University of Oxford

Vanessa Knapp

Queen Mary University

Maximilian Leydecker

Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

J S Liptrap

University of Cambridge

Eva Micheler LSE
Federico Mucciarelli

SOAS University of London & University Modena

Jatine Patel

University of Oxford

Sarah Paterson

London School of Economics and Political Science

Jennifer Payne

Law Faculty, University of Oxford

Alvaro Pereira

University of California, Berkeley

Giovanni Petroboni

Commercial Law Centre - Harris Manchester College

Elizabeth Pollman

Loyola Marymount University

Arad Reisberg

Brunel Univeristy London

Wolf-Georg Ringe

University of Hamburg

Alexander Schall

Leuphana Law School, University Lüneburg

Philine Scheer

University of Oxford

Edmund Schuster

London School of Economics

Anne-Lise Sibony

University of Louvain

Mathias Siems

European University Institute / Durham University

Christoph Teichmann

Wuerzburg University

Tobias Tröger

Goethe University Frankfurt, House of Finance

Kristin Van Zwieten

University of Oxford

Bojana Vitanova

University of Oxford

Josef Weinzierl

University of Oxford

Thom Wetzer

University of Oxford

Amit Zac University of Oxford

Information

Address:
Mordan Hall, St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford
Contact:
Elaine McPartlan
European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Friday 15 March 2019

08:30
- 09:00

Registration and Coffee

09:00
- 10:30

Session 1

09:45
- 10:30

Centros, California’s “Women on Boards” Statute and the Scope of the Internal Affairs Doctrine

Speakers:
Discussant:
10:30
- 11:00

Coffee Break

11:00
- 12:30

Session 2

12:30
- 13:30

Lunch

13:30
- 15:00

Session 3

15:00
- 15:30

Coffee Break

15:30
- 16:15

Session 4

17:15
- 17:30

Wrap-up

Speakers

Presentations

Session 1

Back to all presentations

Session 1

Time:
09:00h
- 10:30h

Speakers

Back to all presentations

Centros and EU Free Movement rules

Time:
09:00h
- 09:45h

Speakers

Discussants

Centros, California’s “Women on Boards” Statute and the Scope of the Internal Affairs Doctrine

Back to all presentations

Centros, California’s “Women on Boards” Statute and the Scope of the Internal Affairs Doctrine

Time:
09:45h
- 10:30h

Speakers

Discussants

Session 2

Back to all presentations

Session 2

Time:
11:00h
- 12:30h

Speakers

Back to all presentations

Revisiting Legal Capital

Time:
11:00h
- 11:45h

Speakers

Discussants

Back to all presentations

The Illusion of Motion: Corporate (Im-)Mobility and the Failed Promise of Centros

Time:
11:45h
- 12:30h

Speakers

Discussants

Session 3

Back to all presentations

Session 3

Time:
13:30h
- 15:00h

Speakers

Back to all presentations

Defensive Regulatory Competition and its Effects

Time:
13:30h
- 14:15h

Speakers

Discussants

Back to all presentations

Tech, Regulatory Arbitrage, and Limits

Time:
14:15h
- 15:30h

Speakers

Discussants

Session 4

Back to all presentations

Session 4

Time:
15:30h
- 16:15h

Speakers

Back to all presentations

Business Restructurings in Europe 20 years after Centros

Time:
15:30h
- 16:15h

Speakers

Discussants

Back to all presentations

Roundtable: The Legacy of Centros and the Future of Regulatory Arbitrage in Business Law

Time:
16:15h
- 17:15h

Speakers