Expertise: Corporate Governance

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

Choudhury, Barnali

Barnali Choudhury is a Professor of Law and the Director of the Jack & Mae Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security. Prior to joining Osgoode, she was a Professor at University College London and academic director of UCL’s Global Governance Institute.

She is an internationally recognized expert on business and international economic issues, particularly as they relate to issues of human rights. She has published numerous books, including The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: A Commentary (Edward Elgar, 2023); Corporate Duties to the Public (Cambridge University Press, 2019); Understanding the Company: Corporate Governance and Theory (Cambridge University Press, 2017); and Public Services and International Trade Liberalization: Human Rights and Gender Implications (Cambridge University Press, 2012). Her work has appeared in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, Berkeley Business Law Journal, International & Comparative Law Quarterly, Journal of Corporate Law Studies, as well as in numerous other journals and in book chapters. It has also been featured in the Oxford Business Law Blog, the Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog and the American Society of International Law Insight, among others. She has written op-eds for the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Neue Zurcher Zeitung, and iPolitics and her work has been featured on the CBC and in Bloomberg Businessweek. She has held numerous research grants including grants from the Leverhulme Trust and SSHRC.

She is regularly invited to give talks and has presented her work throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and at the United Nations. She has visited at New York University, University of Cambridge, National University of Singapore, University of St. Gallen, University of Otago, and at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and Private Law. In addition to numerous academic citations, her work has been cited by the United Nations, the UK’s House of Commons, the House of Lords EU Select Committee, international arbitral tribunals and relied on by governments and international non-governmental organizations.

In addition, she is an Advisory Member for the Academic Circle Supporting the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development, on the board of directors for Ecojustice Canada, a principal co-investigator for the Canada Climate Law Initiative, a co-director of Osgoode Professional Development’s LLM in International Business Law, an Editorial Board Member of the Business and Human Rights Journal and is appointed to the pool of candidates for the EU’s Trade and Sustainable Development Panel.

For her latest research visit her SSRN page.

Research Interests:  Corporate Law, Business & Human Rights, Corporate Social Responsibility, International Investment Law, Corporate Governance, International Trade Law, International Arbitration