3CL Travers Smith Seminar Series Podcast

Speaker: Professor William J. Magnuson (Professor of Law, Texas A&M University School of Law) Abstract: A remarkable transformation is taking place in our financial markets. The rise of machine learning algorithms and other artificial intelligence models has rapidly overtaken older methods of financial decisionmaking, and the consequences of the revolution are beginning to be felt across the c...

Speaker: Dr Luca Sicignano (Lecturer in Business Law at the University of Naples L’Orientale) Abstract: The effectiveness of corporate restructuring plans largely relies on solutions shared as widely as possible among relevant stakeholders. This explains the worldwide spread of procedures that presuppose a negotiation phase and the attainment of genuine agreements among all stakeholders involved,...

Speaker: Professor Dirk Andreas Zetzsche (Professor of Financial Law, University of Luxembourg) Abstract: Sustainability-oriented investors want to pay for impact, not compliance. We analyse the regulatory challenges and opportunities of impact investing. We find that advancing impact investing requires a departure from the EU Sustainable Finance Framework's (EUSFF) prevailing input-orientation an...

Speaker: Dr Clara Martins Pereira (Associate Professor of Financial Law, University of Durham) Abstract: The increasing use of AI in finance is predicted to have mixed impact on financial stability: while AI can be used to help financial institutions and supervisors identify, manage, and monitor systemic risk, it can also increase the frequency and severity of crises by exacerbating existing vulne...

Convenors: Professor Louise Gullifer (University of Cambridge) and Associate Professor Dora Neo (National University of Singapore) Speakers: Junayed Ahmed CHOWDHURY, Vertex Chambers, Bangladesh Megumi HARA, Chuo University, Japan Parawee KASITINON, Thammasat University, Thailand Debanshu MUKHERJEE, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, India Huyen PHAM, International Finance Corporation, Vietnam Griselda...

Speaker:  Associate Professor Aurelio Gurrea-Martínez (Singapore Management University) Abstract:  Despite the influence of the Global North in many insolvency laws and practices in the Global South, this article shows that the Global South has innovated in many aspects of insolvency law. In some cases, these innovations consist of solutions that, with certain adjustments, have been impo...

Speaker:  Professor Catherine Malecki (University of Rennes) Even in the context of the future EU Omnibus Package and the EU Directive n°2025/794 of 14 April 2025 'Stop-the-Clock', Companies and there directors must face an increasing climate litigation and this change cannot go back 20 years of progress in Sustainable Corporate Governance which is on the way on both sides of the Atlantic Oce...

Speaker:  Professor Ernest Lim (National University of Singapore) This presentation explores the external dimension of directors’ duties—whether directors can and should address climate impacts and other externalities even absent financial benefits to the company’s shareholders—in contrast to the shareholder value maximisation focus. Its significance stems from universal investors, the EU due...

Speaker: Associate Professor Dora Neo (National University of Singapore) With the advancement of technology, delivery of financial services, such as payment services, can be achieved almost instantaneously. In the area of trade finance, however, banks have been less quick to harness technology for trade digitalisation. An important reason is that trade financing has historically been heavily depen...

Speaker:  Professor Marc Steinberg (SMU Dedman School of Law) This presentation, based on Professor Steinberg’s June 2025 Oxford University Press book Corporate Director and Officer Liability — “Discretionaries” Not Fiduciaries, posits that corporate directors and officers are not fiduciaries. In fact, the liability standards that normally apply are too lenient to be identified as fiduciary....

Speaker: Professor Paul Deemer (Vanderbilt Law School) This lecture focuses on the development and project financing of large international infrastructure projects, and covers – What is “project finance” and what is not? How does a “project financing” differ from other types of financing? Why is project finance used on large infrastructure projects? What is “leverage,” and why is that important? W...

Speaker: Professor Eva Micheler (LSE) Abstract: Reliance on agency-theoretic reasoning has led to substantial theoretical and empirical advances in company law scholarship, but the narrow focus on board-level actors and phenomena has disconnected the analysis of the company from the reality of the economic organisation it is meant to enable and support. We follow Oliver Williamson’s call for a ‘la...

Speaker: Professor Christopher Nicholls (University of Western Ontario) In 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression, the Yale Law School and Harvard Business School launched an innovative joint program: the “Law-Business Course”. The program’s principal architect was Yale law professor William O. Douglas, best remembered today as the longest serving member of the US Supreme Court and one of the...

Speaker: Dr Akshaya Kamalnath (Australian National University) Governance of companies has always involved some uncertainty and technology related challenges similarly add to the risks and challenges involved. Yet, corporate governance – both the legal and non-legal aspects – finds ways to address risks and so it will be with tech-related issues. This paper argues that effective corporate governan...

Speaker: Professor Mark Roe (Harvard Law School) Chair: Felix Steffek (University of Cambridge) Abstract: The notion of stock-market-driven short-termism relentlessly whittling away at the American economy’s foundations is widely accepted and highly salient. Presidential candidates state as much. Senators introduce bills assuming as much. Corporate interests argue as much to the Securities and Exc...

Speaker: Elisa Cencig (Norges Bank Investment Management) Cambridge 3CL invites you to a seminar on the responsible investment strategies of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the entity responsible for managing Norway's government pension fund, valued at over 1 trillion US dollars. Operating in over 70 countries, NBIM is at the forefront of shaping sustainable and fair market practices glo...

Speaker: Professor Paul Deemer (Vanderbilt Law School) Abstract: This lecture will focus on the development and project financing of large international infrastructure projects, and will cover – - What is “project finance” and what is not? How does a “project financing” differ from other types of financing? - Why is project finance used on large infrastructure projects? What is “leverage,” and why...

Speaker: Associate Professor John Sorabji (UCL) The presentation will look at why England and Wales has, historically, been a 'good forum to shop in' for commercial dispute resolution. It will then consider four challenges to its ability to maintain that position, before turning to practical steps that could and, perhaps should, be taken to enable it to remain a forum of choice for commercial disp...

Speaker: Martin Voitko (World Bank) Abstract: The Structured Finance seminar is intended to be a primer on understanding key concepts of these complex financial instruments and their benefits/limitations. The seminar will cover securitisation trades (both traditional (or cash) securitisations and synthetics) as well as covered bonds. The presentation will further explain what different types of th...

Speaker: Professor Chris Thomale (University of Vienna, University Roma Tre) Abstract: According to a widely received concept coined by Hansmann/Kraakman, “asset partitioning” denotes a bundle of doctrines surrounding the relationship of business owners as well as their business and private creditors, so-called entity shielding and owner shielding. Often, this configuration is associated with a le...

Professor Eilís Ferran (Cambridge), Assistant Professor Elizabeth Howell (LSE) and Professor Felix Steffek (Cambridge) present the third edition of the book ‘Principles of Corporate Finance Law’ published by Oxford University Press in September 2023. Each of the three co-authors presents fundamental issues and new developments in corporate finance law reflected in the chapters of the book they wer...

Speaker: Professor Marc I. Steinberg (SMU Dedman School of Law) Abstract: This presentation, based on Professor Steinberg’s recent Oxford University Press book Rethinking Securities Law, which was awarded Winner — Best Law Book of 2021 by the American Book Fest Awards, focuses on the need to “rethink” the U.S. securities laws — with particular emphasis on the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securit...

Speaker: Professor Jens Binder (University of Tübingen) 3CL runs the 3CL Travers Smith Lunchtime Seminar Series, featuring leading academics from the Faculty, and high-profile practitioners. For more information see the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law website at http://www.3cl.law.cam.ac.uk/

Speaker: Professor Reinhard Bork (University of Hamburg) 3CL runs the 3CL Travers Smith Lunchtime Seminar Series, featuring leading academics from the Faculty, and high-profile practitioners. For more information see the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law website at http://www.3cl.law.cam.ac.uk/

Speaker: Professor Wolfgang Wurmnest Biography: Wolfgang Wurmnest is a full professor of law at the University of Hamburg since 2021. Previously he served as a full professor at the Universities of Augsburg (2013–2021) and Hanover (2009–2013), and as a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Private International and Comparative Law, Hamburg (2004–2008). He was a visiting scholar in...