Staff profile

Daniel Attenborough is Professor of Corporate Law at Durham University. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). He joined Durham in 2015. Prior to this, he was an Assistant Professor, then Associate Professor, at the University of Leicester between 2007-2014. Outside of his academic career, he worked for the Legal Services Commission (now the Legal Aid Agency), an executive agency that provides information, advice, and legal representation to help people get access to justice. He holds a PhD from the University of Leeds, an LLM (with Distinction) from the University of Leicester, and a BA (Hons) from Nottingham Trent University. 

Current Reserch

His principal and current research and teaching interests are in the fields of corporate and commercial law, in the broadest sense; he has published widely on directors' duties, shareholder rights, comparative company law, and corporate governance theory. His scholarship has appeared in various leading law journals, including Legal Studies, Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, Journal of Corporate Law Studies, European Business Organization Law Review, and the Journal of Environmental Law. In 2011 Daniel was awarded the prestigious Best Paper Prize at the Society of Legal Scholars annual conference which was held at Downing College, Cambridge University. He has also held visiting posts at various institutions, most recently the University of California, Berkeley, and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London.

Teaching Areas

Company Law

Corporate Governance

Mergers & Acquisitions

• Comparative UK and US Corporate Law
• Corporate Governance theory
• Directors’ duties
• Shareholder rights

Authored book

• Birds, J., Attenborough, D., Leiser, M., Solinas, M., Varney, M., & Zhang, Z. (in press). Boyle & Birds' Company Law (10th edn). (10th). Sweet and Maxwell

Book review

• Attenborough, D. (2015). Review: Andrew Keay, Directors' Duties. Jordons, 2nd ed, 2014. 608pp. hb £130. Journal of Business Law, 5, 433-436
• Attenborough, D. (2013). Review: Andrew Keay, The Enlightened Shareholder Value Principle and Corporate Governance, Oxford: Routledge, 2012, 304 pp, hb £85.00. Modern Law Review, 76(5), 940-943. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12043

Chapter in book

• Attenborough, D. (2010). La Gouvernance d’enterprise et l’importance des facteurs sociaux et culturels: l’abandon conseil d’administration regles. In V. Magnier (Ed.), La Gouvernance des Sociétés Cotées Face à la Crise (151-166). Lextenso

Journal Article

• Attenborough, D. (online). Giving purpose to the corporate purpose debate: an equitable maximisation and viability principle (Winner of the SLS Annual Conference Best Paper Prize 2011). Legal Studies, 4-34
• Attenborough, D. (online). The Company Law Reform Bill: an Analysis of Directors’ Duties and the Objective of the Company. The Company Lawyer, 162-169
• Attenborough, D. (online). Recent Developments in Australian Corporate Law and Their Implications for Directors’ Duties: Lessons to be Learned from the United Kingdom. International Company and Commercial Law Review, 312-323
• Attenborough, D. (online). How Directors Should Act When Owing Duties to the Company’s Shareholders: Why We Need to Stop Applying Greenhalgh. International Company and Commercial Law Review, 339-346
• Attenborough, D. (2022). Corporate Disclosures on Climate Change: An Empirical Analysis of FTSE All-Share British Fossil Fuel Producers. European Business Organization Law Review, 23(2), 313-346. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40804-022-00246-2
• Attenborough, D. (2020). The Political Legitimacy of Company Law and Regulation. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 71(1), 384-405
• Attenborough, D. (2020). Misreading the Directors' Fiduciary Duty of Good Faith. Journal of Corporate Law Studies, 21(1), 73-98. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735970.2019.1631516
• Attenborough, D. (2017). Empirical Insights into Corporate Contractarian Theory. Legal Studies, 37(2), 191-213. https://doi.org/10.1111/lest.12134
• Attenborough, D. (2016). An Estoppel-Based Approach to Enforcing Corporate Environmental Responsibilities. Journal of Environmental Law, 28(2), 275-299. https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqw012
• Attenborough, D. (2014). The neoliberal (il)legitimacy of the duty of loyalty. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 65(4), 405-428
• Attenborough, D. (2013). Enforcement of Corporate Conduct under the Equitable Maximisation and Viability Principle. Legal Studies, 33(4), 650-678. https://doi.org/10.1111/lest.12002
• Attenborough, D. (2013). The Vacuous Concept of Shareholder Voting Rights. European Business Organization Law Review, 14(2), 147-173. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1566752912001115
• Attenborough, D. (2010). Corporate Governance and the Importance of Societal and Cultural Factors: An Argument Against Calling Time on UK Boardroom Rules. European Business Law Review, 21(4), 559-572