John Edward Parkinson (19 March 1955 – 19 February 2004) was Professor of Law at Bristol University and a key member of the Company Law Review Steering Group which worked towards the

Companies Act 2006 The Companies Act 2006 (c 46) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which forms the primary source of UK company law. The Act was brought into force in stages, with the final provision being commenced on 1 October 2009. It largely ...

. He died prematurely at age 48, following a short illness. He was born in

Prescot Prescot is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it lies about to the east of Liverpool city centre. At the 2001 Census, the c ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

and educated at Prescot Grammar School and Brasenose College, Oxford. He graduated as joint top of his year, also winning the Martin Wronker University Prize for Law.

Career

Parkinson worked briefly for city law firm

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (informally Freshfields, or FBD) is an international law firm headquartered in London, and a member of the Magic Circle. The firm has 28 offices in 17 jurisdictions across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Nor ...

before moving to Bristol to teach. Parkinson rose to real prominence with the publication of his book, ''

Corporate Power and Responsibility ''Corporate Power and Responsibility: Issues in the Theory of Company Law'' (1993) is a seminal book in UK company law by J.E. Parkinson. Its focus is corporate governance from a progressive perspective which charts the flaws and maps the reforms ...

: Issues in the Theory of Company Law'' (1993). This book was unique in British scholarship for addressing the theoretical debates and engaging in the economic arguments in company law from a progressive perspective. The message of the work was that company law needs to take account of the range of stakeholders, other than shareholders, who are affected by modern corporations. In 1994 he won the Society of Public Teachers of Law's book prize for outstanding legal scholarship by a younger scholar.

Publications

;Books *''

: Issues in the Theory of Company Law'' (1993) ;Articles *JE Parkinson, 'Disclosure and Corporate Social and Environmental Performance: Competitiveness and Enterprise in a Broader Social Frame' (2003) 3 Journal of Corporate Law Studies 3

External links

*Parkinson's obituary fro
''The Guardian''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkinson, John Edward 1955 births 2004 deaths Academics of the University of Bristol Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford People educated at Prescot Grammar School