Paul S Davies is an English

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

and academic notable for having been published in many areas of

private law Private law is that part of a civil law legal system which is part of the ''jus commune'' that involves relationships between individuals, such as the law of contracts and torts (as it is called in the common law), and the law of obligations ( ...

, particularly

commercial law Commercial law, also known as mercantile law or trade law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and business engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a branc ...

. He has been the chair in Commercial Law at the Faculty of Law,

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

since 2017 and has practised as a barrister at

Essex Court Chambers Essex Court Chambers is a set of commercial barristers in Lincoln's Inn Fields, central London. It has 96 tenants, of whom 45 are King's Counsels, also known as Silks. It is considered by legal commentators to be one of the 'Magic Circle' of London ...

since 2021.

Education

Raised in

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

, Davies was admitted to

Downing College Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 650 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the olde ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

to read

Oriental Studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studi ...

, with a focus on Japanese studies. He later switched to reading Law at the same college, and completed a Diploma in French Legal Studies at the

University of Poitiers The University of Poitiers (UP; french: Université de Poitiers) is a public university located in Poitiers, France. It is a member of the Coimbra Group. It is multidisciplinary and contributes to making Poitiers the city with the highest studen ...

before graduating with Firsts in both Oriental Studies and Law in 2007. His graduating mark in law was the highest since 1986. In 2017, he was awarded a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in law from the University of Cambridge by special regulations.

Academic career

Davies was a research assistant at the

Law Commission A law commission, law reform commission, or law revision commission is an independent body set up by a government to conduct law reform; that is, to consider the state of laws in a jurisdiction and make recommendations or proposals for legal chang ...

's Property, Trust and Family Law Team between 2007 and 2008. He then joined the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge and was appointed as a Fellow at

Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

, and later the Newton Trust Lecturer in Law. Between 2014 and 2016, he was a visiting professor at

KU Leuven KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...

. In 2013, he was appointed as a Fellow at St Catherine's College, Oxford, where he taught until assuming his present post at UCL in 2017. His inaugural lecture at UCL was titled "Bad Bargains" and was chaired by Lord Sales. He is an academic member of the Chancery Bar Association. In 2020, Davies was awarded the

Philip Leverhulme Prize The Philip Leverhulme Prize is awarded by the Leverhulme Trust to recognise the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising. The prize schem ...

for his work on private law.

Publications

Judicially-cited

Many of Davies' publications have been cited judicially by Commonwealth courts, including those in England and Wales, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. I
''Marks_and_Spencer_v_BNP_Paribas''_[2015
UKSC_72.html" ;"title="015">''Marks and Spencer v BNP Paribas'' [2015
UKSC 72">015">''Marks and Spencer v BNP Paribas'' [2015
UKSC 72 the UK Supreme Court cited Davies' article, "Recent developments in the Law of Implied Terms" [2010] ''Lloyds' Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly'' 140, at [24] and [64], and expressed support for the criticism in that article of Lennie Hoffmann, Baron Hoffmann, Lord Hoffmann's judgment in the earlier case of ''AG of Belize v Belize Telecom'' 009UKPC 10. These criticisms were also drawn on by the Singapore Court of Appeal i
''Foo_Jong_Peng_v_Phua_Kiah_Mai''_[2012
SGCA_55.html" ;"title="012">''Foo Jong Peng v Phua Kiah Mai'' [2012
SGCA 55">012">''Foo Jong Peng v Phua Kiah Mai'' [2012
SGCA 55justifying its decision not to follow ''Belize Telecom''. Davies' work on contractual rectification was cited by the Court of Appeal in England & Wales i
''FSHC Group Holdings v Glas Trust Corporation'' [2019
EWCA Civ 1361].https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2019/1361.html and was described by Lord Justice Leggatt (now Lord Leggatt), as "particularly helpful". I
''Group_Seven_v_Notable_Services''_[2019
EWCA_Civ_614.html" ;"title="019">''Group Seven v Notable Services'' [2019
EWCA Civ 614">019">''Group Seven v Notable Services'' [2019
EWCA Civ 614 the Court of Appeal cited Davies' monograph on dishonest assistance (''Accessory Liability'' (2015)) with approval.

Books

Accessory Liability
(Hart Publishing, 2015) - awarded the Inner Temple Book Prize 2018, which rewards outstanding contributions to the understanding of law. It was also joint second for the 2015 Society of Legal Scholars Peter Birks Book Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship, and was shortlisted for the St Petersburg International Legal Forum Private Law Prize. * Equity and Trusts: Text, Cases and Materials (OUP, 2018) - co-authored with Graham Virgo QC *Defences in Equity (Hart, 2018) - co-edited with James Goudkamp * JC Smith's Law of Contract (OUP, 2021)

Articles

* "The Mental Element of Accessory Liability" (2021) 137 ''Law Quarterly Review'' * "Excluding the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999" (2021) 137 ''Law Quarterly Review'' 101 * "Bad Bargains"

019 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

''Current Legal Problems'' 253
"The_Basis_of_Good_Faith"_[2019
''Journal_of_Commonwealth_Law''_1.html" ;"title="019">"The Basis of Good Faith" [2019
''Journal of Commonwealth Law'' 1">019">"The Basis of Good Faith" [2019
''Journal of Commonwealth Law'' 1

Legal practice

Davies began his pupillage at Essex Court Chambers on 1 September 2020 and qualified as a barrister on 1 November 2020. He has been a tenant at Essex Court Chambers since 4 February 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Paul S British legal scholars British barristers Alumni of the University of Cambridge Academics of University College London Year of birth missing (living people) Living people