Biography
I am an Associate Professor of Law. Previously, I was Senior Lecturer in Law at both the Universities of Leicester and Essex and Lecturer in Law at the Universities of Leicester and Strathclyde. Currently, I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Advisory Member of the RSE Scottish Law Innovation and Technology Network (SCOTLIN), a Member of the European Association of Private International Law (EAPIL), an invited Associate Member of the Centre for Private International Law, School of Law, University of Aberdeen, a listed participant in UNCTAD's Working Group on E-Commerce and a Contributor to the RSE funded project "Digital Assets in Scots Private Law" (2024-2025): https://www.abdn.ac.uk/law/research/centre-for-commercial-law/digital-assets-in-scots-private-law-innovating-for-the-future-1850.php.
My research takes a pragmatic, normative, inter-disciplinary approach to the function, value and effect of global law. Specifically, I am interested in the function and application of international private law in recognising systemic inequality and vulnerability, regulating and resolving cross-border disputes and securing access to justice.
I have a particular interest in four areas. First, the creation and operation of rules of international jurisdiction to commercial and private disputes across borders. Second, the impact of these rules on the rights of vulnerable parties and their ability to enforce those rights across borders. Third, the interaction between jurisdiction, enforcement and technology. Fourth, the impact of fundamental rights in international private law.
I have written a monograph (Ashgate 2008) and published chapters on the recognition of vulnerability in private international law across a range of cross-border relationships such as: consumers’ access to justice in international private law (CUP 2003, Ant-Sakkoulas 2007, Elgar 2017), the legal challenges of social media to freedom of expression (Elgar, 2017), the protection of weaker parties in the protection of cultural objects (Journal of Private International Law, 2015), equity/benefit sharing through international commercial contracts and environmental law (Hart, 2018), and the impact of Brexit on cross-border dispute resolution and enforcement in UK private international law (Journal of Business Law, 2020). My most recent work focusses on developing a normative framework for vulnerability in private international law (forthcoming, Hart, 2023) and balancing substantive and conflicts of values in the relationship between the AI value chain and private international law.
More broadly, I am interested in commercial law; in particular domestic and international sale of goods, consumer rights and the digital agenda, and the emerging concept of digital fundamental rights. I was co-awarded a Modern Law Review Seminar Series funding in 2013 on the Legal Challenges of Social Media to Freedom of Expression which was published in 2017 (Elgar: Law, Technology and Society Series).
I am interested in supervising PhDs on any aspect of international private law (commercial or private, UK, EU, international, theoretical/comparative/pragmatism/ interaction with public international law and global governance) and the regulation of dispute resolution and information technology.
At Edinburgh Napier I have taught and teach Scots Commercial Law and Business Entities. I have introduced, lead and deliver on International Private Law and Law and Technology.