Jonathan Hardman is a Senior Lecturer in Company and Commercial Law at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), and has been a visiting academic at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Auckland (Aotearoa New Zealand). He was a corporate lawyer in private practice for 10 years before he swapped his suit for tweed and became an academic. Jonny's research mostly focuses on argumentation structures within corporate law. He is one of the founding organisers of the Global Corporate Law Seminar Series. Further information as to his research can be found at www.hardmanlaw.co.uk.

1. Introduction

Part I: The Limits of Agency Theory in Company Law

2. The Ubiquity of Agency Costs

3. Delineating Agency Costs

4. The Evitable Dominance of Agency Cost Analysis in Company Law

5. A Need for Rebalance

Part II: The Logic of Agency Theory in Company Law

6. Corporate Agency Costs

7. Incurring Agency Costs

8. Resolving (Front-Ending) Agency Costs

9. Conclusion

Agency theory is ubiquitous in company law. This book explores (a) the limits of such deployment, and (b) the logic of how to deploy it. This book will be of interest to academics, students and researchers of corporate and company law.