John Parkinson

Academic and reformer of English company law

Keith Stanton and Lady Justice Arden
Friday April 9, 2004
The Guardian

Professor John Parkinson, who has died aged 48 after a short illness, was one of the leading academic company lawyers of his generation, contributing to both the scholarly analysis and the practical development of English company law.

John was educated at Prescot grammar school, Merseyside, and Brasenose College, Oxford, graduating with first-class honours in 1976. He then qualified as a solicitor and, having worked briefly for the leading City firm of Freshfields, joined Bristol University as a law lecturer in 1980.

Although loyal to his origins in Prescot (he arranged for the front cover of the paperback edition of his book Corporate Power And Responsibility to carry a photograph of workers streaming out of the BICC factory in the 1930s, while the back bore his own photograph of the same site, derelict and awaiting redevelopment 60 years later), he remained at Bristol for the rest of his life. He was made professor in 1995, and contributed much to the life of the Bristol law school, his dry sense of humour making him a popular lecturer, tutor and colleague.

First published in 1994, Corporate Power And Responsibility was the centrepiece of John's research output. It was a work of significant scholarship, which drew on both legal and economics literature. It also had major practical implications, as it addressed the issue of the responsibilities owed by modern corporations to those who are interested in and affected by their activities.

John's thesis was that company law needed to take account of the range of stakeholders, other than shareholders, who have an interest in the activities of modern corporations. This put his work at the centre of the ongoing debate on corporate social responsibility and governance. The book, described as "marvellous" by one reviewer, was central to John's rapid rise up the academic hierarchy. In 1994, it won him the Society of Public Teachers of Law's book prize for outstanding legal scholarship by a younger scholar.

It was typical of his modesty that he had to be induced to attend the dinner at which his award was announced.

The issues in this book remained central to John's work over the next decade. He held an honorary research fellowship at the Political Economy Research Centre of Sheffield University, and worked as co-editor and contributor with its multi-disciplinary team that produced the volume of essays The Political Economy Of The Company (2000).

John also contributed actively to the practical process of shaping a modern company law. He served as a member of the Department of Trade and Industry's Company Law Review steering committee, which reported in 2001, and was a member of a DTI working group devising guidance on the concept of materiality in relation to the Operating and Financial Review.

He did not marry, and leaves his mother Joyce and sister Jean.

Lady Justice Arden writes: The choice of John Parkinson as a member of the steering group for the Company Law Review was inspired. Reflective and modest by nature, he never sought publicity and was probably not widely known in government circles at the time of his appointment. But the theme of his scholarship was an ideal qualification for the Company Law Review, which was intended to be, and was, a fundamental review into company law - the first for nearly 40 years.

It was also a vehicle for rethinking the balance of obligations between the various stakeholders in a company, and for generally recommending improvements in company law. This is a fast-moving subject, where there is a constant tension between regulation, public policy and entrepreneurialism.

John's forward thinking and analytical approach made him a key member of the review, of which I was also a member. In the deliberations of the steering group, he would often quietly wait until near the end of the discussion, and then deliver, in perhaps three or four sentences, his persuasive analysis of the problem, with arms folded and eyes fixed in concentration on the page in front of him.

He never had to make a point by repeating himself or raising his voice. Those actions would have been unnecessary and, in any event, alien to his quiet personality. He had an attractive sense of humour, and he quickly established a rapport both with officials in Whitehall and the rest of the steering group.

The contribution that John made to company law reform has yet to be realised in practice, as the government has still to implement the recommendations of the Company Law Review, though it has stated its commitment to bringing forward legislation in time. John's contribution to company law is thus not as yet wholly fulfilled.

His legacy is immense, and he has left us with the memory of a person in his prime, who never lost the power of incisive and creative thought in a highly complex field.

· John Edward Parkinson, academic, born March 19 1955; died February 19 2004