Theme: The nexus between Nigerian Commercial Law and the Principles of International Commercial Law
The Commercial Law Research Network – Nigeria (CLRN_N) invites the submission of papers for its inaugural academics conference funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Research Networking Scheme. CLRN_N is a network through which researchers connect to influence the development of commercial law and policy in Nigeria. It promotes the application of inter-disciplinary research methods to the analysis of commercial law and policy in Nigeria, facilitates engagement between researchers and stakeholders, encourages collaborations amongst members and contributes to the development of the next generation of researchers.
One of the oft-mentioned barriers to effective law reform in countries in the global south, of which Nigeria is one, is the failure of reforms to cater to local realities. There are multiple contributors to this mismatch between law and local reality in such countries. One reason is that the laws are often reformed through legal transplants, which seek to modernise dated legislation without due consideration for the adaptations that would be required to fit the recipient system. Another key contributor to the mismatch is the poor consultation practice underlying law reform. There is often poor communication amongst policy-makers and regulators, on one hand, as well as amongst policy-makers and stakeholder groups on the other. This approach to law reform results in the fragmentation of laws, as well as the creation of parallel regulatory systems within the same areas of commercial law. It is an essential requirement of effective reforms that important local realities are articulated and examined, as well as juxtaposed with the principles of the international order before reform recommendations are designed and/or implemented.
CLRN_N aims to engender a considered approach to commercial law reform by building a bridge between researchers and key stakeholder groups. To that end, it convenes an academic conference at which researchers can set out their assessments of the law and make recommendations which will be the subject of subsequent discussions with policy-makers, regulators and end-users. Its inaugural conference will be held on the 13th and 14th of September 2019; hosted by the University of Reading School of Law and its Centre for Commercial Law and Financial Regulation (CCLFR).
Its main research streams include:
- Company Law, Insolvency Law and Secured Transactions Law
- International Trade Law and International Economic Law
- Intellectual Property Law
- International Arbitration
- Oil and Gas/Energy Law
- Commercial Law broadly-speaking
Each session will be led by reputed researchers from leading institutions across the globe.
Interested speakers should send abstracts no longer than 300 words to Dr Bolanle Adebola: b.adebola@reading.ac.uk. Submission closes on the 9th of August 2019. Abstracts will be peer-reviewed by the research-leaders of the relevant research streams. Selected abstracts will be communicated by the 16th of August 2019.