Expertise: Business Law

Petrin, Martin

Martin Petrin is the Jarislowsky Dimma Mooney Chair in Corporate Governance at York University, with a joint appointment at Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business. He is an internationally recognized scholar whose research interests are in corporate governance and business law, often from a comparative perspective. Most recently, his research has focused on the impact of AI and new technologies, corporate regulation, corporate and managerial liability, mergers & acquisitions, and corporate theory.

Prior to joining York University, Professor Petrin held the inaugural Dancap Private Equity Chair in Corporate Governance at Western University (with cross-appointments at the Faculty of Law and Department of Management), where he also served as Associate Chair Research for the Management Department. He was previously a Full Professor, Vice Dean (Innovation & Enterprise), and Deputy Director of the Centre for Commercial Law at University College London, UK.

Professor Petrin has been a Visiting Professor at the National University of Singapore (twice, including as the Kwa Geok Choo Distinguished Visitor), a Distinguished Fellow and Visiting Professor at the Notre Dame London Law Program, a Visiting Professor at NYU London, and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law and the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law. He holds an S.J.D. from UCLA School of Law, an LL.M. (Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar) from Columbia Law School, and a Ph.D. and J.D. (both magna cum laude) from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

A prolific scholar, Professor Petrin has authored or co-authored several books, including the leading textbook Corporate Governance: Law, Regulation and Theory (2nd edition, 2025) and Corporate Duties to the Public (Cambridge University Press, 2019). He is also the co-editor of the Research Handbook on Corporate Liability (Eward Elgar, 2023) and Understanding the Modern Company (Cambridge University Press, 2017). His work has appeared in top-tier journals including the Yale Journal on Regulation Bulletin, Columbia Business Law Review, Penn State Law Review, Modern Law Review, American University Law Review, and Canadian Business Law Review. His scholarship has been cited by courts including the Delaware Court of Chancery and has been featured in policy forums and media outlets including The Hill Times and Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

Professor Petrin’s research has been supported by major grants, including a SSHRC Insight Grant on AI and corporate governance (as Principal Investigator), a Law Foundation of Ontario Responsive Grant (as Collaborator), a Swiss National Science Foundation Research Fellowship, and an ECGI Collaboration Sponsorship. He received the Western Research Excellence Award (Outstanding Scholar category) in 2023 and the EXALT Excellence Award for Legal Teaching in 2018.

Before entering academia, Professor Petrin practiced corporate and business law at an international law firm, advising clients on corporate governance, M&A transactions, private equity investments, and D&O liability. He is admitted to the Bar in New York and Switzerland.

Professor Petrin is a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI), was previously on the Board of Directors of Startup Help (a non-profit supporting entrepreneurship for marginalized communities), and holds an NFP Board Governance Certificate from the ICD and Rotman School of Management. He frequently serves as a consultant, a peer reviewer for leading academic journals and publishers, and has been invited to speak at institutions worldwide, including Harvard Law School, Fordham Law School, and the National University of Singapore.

Research Interests: Corporate law and governance, including the impacts of AI and new technologies

Hewitt, Jeffery G.

Jeffery Hewitt joined the faculty at Osgoode Hall Law School in 2019. After graduating from Osgoode in 1996, Professor Hewitt returned to complete his LLM in 2015/16. Professor Hewitt’s research interests include Indigenous legal orders and governance, constitutional law, human rights, legal education, business law, as well as art + law and visual legal studies. Professor Hewitt has taught constitutional law and is a co-director of Osgoode’s Intensive Program in Indigenous Lands, Resources, and Governments. He was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1998 and is mixed-descent Cree.

He has recently edited a collection of works with Richard Moon and Beverley Jacobs on religious freedom and Indigenous spirituality (University of Toronto Press), with a 2024 anticipated publication date.