Company Directors' Duties and Conflicts of Interest

Book excerpt: This article is reprinted from the introduction to Associate Professor Rosemary Teele Langford's 'Company Directors' Duties and Conflicts of Interest' which was published by Oxford University Press on 5 March 2019. The book provides detailed analysis of directors' duties arising under UK case law, codes and statutory regulation, with extensive reference to the law in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and New Zealand. It provides comprehensive analysis of the conflicts faced by directors, including conflicts of duties, unauthorised profits, corporate opportunities, multiple directorships, nominee directorships, and conflicts involving stakeholders' interests. The author subjects difficult aspects of these topics to rigorous and original analysis informed by a range of common law jurisdictions. This extensive, multi-jurisdictional examination presents solutions to complex issues that have, to date, confounded courts and commentators alike and enables clarification of existing legal approaches. This is both a key reference work set in a practical legal context and an exhaustive and original theoretical reassessment of this important and dynamic area of company law.