Business organisations depend on having one or more persons who can legitimately make strategic business decisions. But what are the legal entitlements of such key professionals? This is the first book – with contributions from experts across Europe – to take a broad comparative look at how the delimitation of rights and duties of executive and non-executive managers is done under different areas of EU law and across different jurisdictions (namely, EU and national law). Aspects of the executive role covered include the following: extensive treatment of definitions and methodologies to ascertain the status of managers as ‘workers’ in Europe; comprehensive interdisciplinary and comparative analysis of cross-cutting issues affecting managers in Europe, including complexities arising from national variations in governance structures and roles and functions of managers; comprehensive analysis of cases before the European courts with full awareness of applicable rules; distinction between registered front directors and those who act as de facto managers; how employees (and to some degree other stakeholders) may be involved in management; trends in current EU law that increase the need to protect managers; trends that increase the need to hold managers liable; right to inter alia information and consultation, occupational health and safety, non-discrimination and free movement; and recognition that managers may not necessarily be powerful professionals with strength vis-à-vis the company as employer. According to EU statistics, in 2019, nearly 9.4 million persons held a managerial position across the EU’s Member States, meaning that many managers currently can no longer inherently be considered unworthy of employment protection. The legal status of these individuals thus cannot be sidestepped. This very important volume accordingly will be of value to practitioners, policymakers, and academics in employment and labour law.

Savvy managers no longer look at contracts and the law reactively but use them proactively to reduce their costs, minimize their risks, secure key talent, collaborate to innovate, protect intellectual property, and create value for their customers that is superior to that offered by competitors. To achieve competitive advantage in this way managers need a plan. Proactive Law for Managers provides this plan; The Manager's Legal PlanTM. George Siedel and Helena Haapio first discuss the traditional, reactive approach used by many managers when confronted with the law, then contrast it with a proactive approach that enables the law and managers' legal capabilities to be used to prevent problems, promote successful business, and achieve competitive advantage. Proactive Law for Managers shows how to use contracts and the law to create new value and innovate in often neglected areas - and implement ideas in a profitable manner.

This volume fills a gap in the literature regarding questions around the interactive dynamics between law and diplomacy on international trade and investment. It brings together lawyers and political scientists from Europe and Asia in an interdisciplinary effort at tracing the respective roles of law and diplomacy in the relations of the European Union (EU) with its trade and investment partners in Asia. Focusing on trade and investment relations with Asia, the EU presents a particularly interesting case as it has been a strong proponent of a rules-based international economic order for years and a frequent user of the formal procedures established in international treaties in case of disputes. At the same time, it has kept diplomatically active to adjust dispute management and international agreements to the needs and demands of the partners involved. Furthermore, not only is this region of crucial importance due to the presence of both vigorous emerging economies, like China, India and Vietnam, and more established partners, like Japan, EU-Asia relations also present a broad set of economic disputes and recent negotiation efforts analyzed in the contributions to this volume. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of international trade/economic law, EU politics, EU external relations (law), international relations, diplomacy and more broadly to international relations and Asian studies.

The first detailed analysis of the legal and practical implications of the AIFMD at regional and national level.

This three-volume book constitutes the first attempt to define corporate finance law as an independent field of law with its own principles and tools. The book also contains a unique theory of corporate governance with the firm as the most important principal.

This book takes a completely new and innovative approach to analysing the development of EU law. Within the framework of different important areas of EU law, such as the internal market, consumer protection law, social law, investment law, environment law, migration law, legal translation and terminology, it examines the Union’s approach to the regulation and management of legal risks. Over the years, the Union has come to a point where it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify its authority to regulate in various areas of law. In managing legal risks deriving from the diversity of Member States’ laws, which create barriers to trade and hinder the Union’s economy, the Union itself has actually produced new legal risks that now have to be addressed. This failure on the part of EU institutions to manage legal risks has contributed to legal uncertainty for actors operating on the internal market. This book intends to contribute to the Union’s smoother functioning and continuing development by proposing effective concrete solutions for managing the legal risks distorting the development of various areas of EU law. It pursues an innovative and effective approach to identify legal risks, their causes at the EU level and their impacts on the functioning of the Union and its Member States. By presenting new approaches in this context, the first book on legal risk management in the EU will actively promote the improvement of the EU lawmaking process and the application of EU law in practice.

The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) may be the most important European asset management regulation of the early 21st century. However, a preponderance of practitioners and academics in the field argue that, in its present form, the directive is seriously out of touch with both the system of European financial law and industry practice. In this first in-depth analytical and critical discussion of the content and system of the directive, thirty-four contributing authors – academics, lawyers, consultants, fund supervisors, and fund industry experts – examine the AIFMD from every angle. They cover structure, regulatory history, scope, appointment and authorization of the manager, rules on delegation, reporting requirements, transitional provisions, and the objectives stipulated in the recitals and other official documents. The challenging implications and contexts they examine include the following: connection with systemic risk and the financial crisis; impact on money laundering and financial crime; nexus with insurance for negligent conduct; connection with corporate governance doctrine; risk management; transparency; the cross-border dimension; liability for lost assets; and impact on alternative investment strategies. Ten country reports add a national perspective to the discussion of the European regulation. These chapters deal with the potential interactions among the AIFMD and the relevant laws and regulations of Italy, Switzerland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Austria, Liechtenstein, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Ireland. The former are Europe’s most vibrant financial centres and markets. Designed to spur a critical attitude towards the emerging new European financial markets framework presaged by the AIFMD, this much-needed discussion not only elaborates on the inconsistencies and difficulties sure to be encountered when applying the directive, but also provides potential solutions to the problems it raises. The book will be warmly welcomed by investors and their counsel, fund managers, depositaries, asset managers, and administrators, as well as academics in the field.