Dr Anna Donovan awarded joint runner up for the Peter Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship

The Peter Birks Prize is awarded to scholars in their early careers for published books, which are judged by the President of The Society of Legal Studies, the Vice-President, and the Immediate Past President.

The winners of the prizes were announced at the Annual Conference Dinner on Wednesday 1st September during the hybrid Annual Conference hosted by Durham University.

Dr Anna Donovan’s book Reconceptualising Corporate Compliance: Responsibility, Freedom and the Law (Hart 2021) offers a comprehensive examination of the issues surrounding corporate compliance.  The book raises fundamental questions of market order, corporate freedom and responsibility.  With impact that extends beyond the compliance arena, it draws on insights from corporate law and governance, together with social psychology, to illustrate how reform both within, and external to, the firm should be structured to increase the likelihood of long-term behavioural change.  In exploring these issues, the book challenges commonly held assumptions about corporate behaviour, whilst making a persuasive argument for change that aligns, rather than conflicts, with current market ideology. 

The shortlist for 2021 prizes can be found on the Society for Legal Scholars website.