Staff profile

Daniel Attenborough is Professor of Corporate Law at Durham University and was formerly Director of the Law School's Institute for Commercial and Corporate Law (2015-2017; 2023-2025). He has held various other senior leadership positions, including Director of Admissions, Chair of the LLB Board of Examiners and, temporarily, Director of Internationalisation.  Daniel is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).  He teaches mainly corporate law subjects and has supervised a number of doctoral students in this field. This is also the principal area in which he publishes.

Prior to joining Durham in 2015, he was an Assistant Professor, then Associate Professor, at the University of Leicester between 2007-2014. He has held visiting posts at various institutions including, the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Berkeley Law School, and the University of Sydney.  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' fiduciary duties, corporate governance and sustainability, and corporate purpose. 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. 

Teaching Areas

Company Law

Corporate Governance

Mergers & Acquisitions

• UK and US/Delaware corporate law
• Corporate Governance and Sustainability
• Regulation of Takeovers

Authored book

• Boyle & Birds' Company Law (10th edn)
  
  Birds, J., Attenborough, D., Leiser, M., Solinas, M., Varney, M., & Zhang, Z. (2019). Boyle & Birds’ Company Law (10th edn). Sweet and Maxwell.

Book review

• Review: Andrew Keay, Directors' Duties. Jordons, 2nd ed, 2014. 608pp. hb £130.
  
  Attenborough, D. (2015). Review: Andrew Keay, Directors’ Duties. Jordons, 2nd ed, 2014. 608pp. hb £130. Journal of Business Law, 5, 433-436.
• Review: Andrew Keay, The Enlightened Shareholder Value Principle and Corporate Governance, Oxford: Routledge, 2012, 304 pp, hb £85.00.
  
  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

• Debating Theories of the Company and Separate Corporate Personality
  
  Attenborough, D. (2020). Debating Theories of the Company and Separate Corporate Personality. In A. Johnston & L. Talbot (Eds.), Great Debates in Commercial and Corporate Law (pp. 147-164). Macmillan.
• La Gouvernance d’enterprise et l’importance des facteurs sociaux et culturels: l’abandon conseil d’administration regles
  
  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 (pp. 151-166). Lextenso.

Journal Article

• Company law’s backgrounded relevance to climate change mitigation
  
  Attenborough, D. (2025). Company law’s backgrounded relevance to climate change mitigation. Journal of Corporate Law Studies, 1-35. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735970.2025.2548981
• Corporate Disclosures on Climate Change: An Empirical Analysis of FTSE All-Share British Fossil Fuel Producers
  
  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
• The Political Legitimacy of Company Law and Regulation
  
  Attenborough, D. (2020). The Political Legitimacy of Company Law and Regulation. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 71(1), 384-405.
• Misreading the Directors' Fiduciary Duty of Good Faith
  
  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
• Empirical Insights into Corporate Contractarian Theory
  
  Attenborough, D. (2017). Empirical Insights into Corporate Contractarian Theory. Legal Studies, 37(2), 191-213. https://doi.org/10.1111/lest.12134
• An Estoppel-Based Approach to Enforcing Corporate Environmental Responsibilities
  
  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
• The neoliberal (il)legitimacy of the duty of loyalty
  
  Attenborough, D. (2014). The neoliberal (il)legitimacy of the duty of loyalty. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 65(4), 405-428.
• Enforcement of Corporate Conduct under the Equitable Maximisation and Viability Principle
  
  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
• The Vacuous Concept of Shareholder Voting Rights
  
  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
• Giving purpose to the corporate purpose debate: an equitable maximisation and viability principle (Winner of the SLS Annual Conference Best Paper Prize 2011)
  
  Attenborough, D. (2012). 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, 32(1), 4-34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-121X.2011.00219.x
• Corporate Governance and the Importance of Societal and Cultural Factors: An Argument Against Calling Time on UK Boardroom Rules
  
  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.
• How directors should act when owing duties to the companies' shareholders: why we need to stop applying Greenhalgh
  
  Attenborough, D. (2009). How directors should act when owing duties to the companies’ shareholders: why we need to stop applying Greenhalgh. International Company and Commercial Law Review, 20(10), 339-346.
• Recent Developments in Australian Corporate Law and Their Implications for Directors’ Duties: Lessons to be Learned from the United Kingdom
  
  Attenborough, D. (2007). 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, 18(9), 312-323.
• The Company Law Reform Bill: an analysis of directors' duties and the objective of the company
  
  Attenborough, D. (2006). The Company Law Reform Bill: an analysis of directors’ duties and the objective of the company. The Company Lawyer, 27(6), 162-169.