Dr Min Yan
Contact details
About
Overview
Dr Min Yan is a Reader and Deputy Associate Dean (Research) at the City Law School, University of London. He is also the editor of the City Law Forum, the forum for the exchange of ideas and the reporting of new developments in all aspects of law by CLS’s academics, doctoral researchers and visiting scholars. Before joining City, Dr Yan spent seven years at Queen Mary University of London, where he was a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Business Law and the founding programme director of BSc Business with Law. He holds a PhD in Law from King’s College London and a fellowship of Higher Education Academy.
Dr Yan’s research engages with the intersection between business and law and specialises in corporate law, corporate governance, and corporate responsibility. He has published in leading refereed journals such as Legal Studies, Cambridge Law Journal, Journal of Corporate Law Studies, Journal of Business Law, European Business Law Review, Asia Pacific Law Review, Hong Kong Law Journal and well-known U.S. law reviews such as Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business, Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, Securities Regulation Law Journal, Hastings Business Law Journal and Columbia Journal of Asian Law. His monograph Beyond Shareholder Wealth Maximisation is published by Routledge in 2018 (paperback in 2019). Dr Yan’s research has also been featured on the Oxford Business Law Blog, Business Times and Columbia University’s Blog on Corporations and the Capital Markets etc.
Dr Yan currently serves as an expert reviewer for the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad and the Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council. Meanwhile, Dr Yan is a dual qualified English and Chinese solicitor. Before entering academia, he practiced law and worked as a legal consultant.
Qualifications
- Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
- PhD in Law, King's College London, United Kingdom
- LLM in Commercial Law, Durham University, United Kingdom
Employment
- Reader in Law, City, University of London, United Kingdom, September 2023 - present
- Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Business Law, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom, August 2021 - August 2023
- Lecturer in Business Law, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom, September 2016 - August 2021
Administrative roles
- Co-Director of Company Law, Sino - UK Research Centre on Commercial Law, Economics and Business
- Deputy Associate Dean for Research and Innovation, The City Law School
Fellowships
- Fellow, Higher Education of Academy, July 2018 - present
Memberships of professional organisations
- Member, Law Society of England and Wales, April 2022 - present
- Member, Society of Legal Scholars, December 2017 - present
- Academic Member, European Corporate Governance Institute, December 2017 - present
- Member, International Corporate Governance Society, June 2017 - present
- Member, All China Lawyers Association, October 2010 - present
Research students
1stsupervisor
- Jiaxing Gao, Research Student
Publications
Publications by category
Books (2)
- Fort, T. and Presser, S. (2023). The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business. (Liu, J. and Yan, M. , Trans.) Taipei: Angle Publishing.
- Yan, M. (2017). Beyond Shareholder Wealth Maximisation Towards a More Suitable Corporate Objective for Chinese Companies. Routledge. ISBN 9781351973588.
Chapters (4)
- Yan, M. (2020). Residual Claimant Theory. Encyclopedia of Sustainable Management (pp. 1-5). Springer International Publishing. ISBN 9783030020064.
- Yan, M. (2020). Corporate Objectives. Encyclopedia of Sustainable Management (pp. 1-4). Springer International Publishing. ISBN 9783030020064.
- Yan, M. (2020). The Modern Corporation and Private Property. Encyclopedia of Sustainable Management (pp. 1-5). Springer International Publishing. ISBN 9783030020064.
- Yan, M. Rethinking the Role of Company Law in Promoting Environmental Sustainability. In Mackie, C. (Ed.), A Research Agenda for Corporate Environmental Law Edward Elgar.
Journal articles (30)
- Yan, M. (2026). The Limits of Company Law in Saving Our Planet: Rethinking the Future of the Corporate Purpose Movement. European Business Law Review, 37(Issue 1), pp. 55-90. doi:10.54648/eulr2026003
- Yan, M. (2026). Directors’ Duty on Climate Change under English Law? Lessons from Sequana and ClientEarth. Hong Kong Law Journal, 55(3), pp. 483-498
- Yan, M. (2025). Review of Social Enterprises in Asia: A New Legal Form by Ernest Lim. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023, 196pp (£85.00 hardback) ISBN: 978-1-108-83815-3. Legal Studies, 45(3), pp. 446-450. doi:10.1017/lst.2025.13
- Yan, M. (2025). FinTech: Finance, Technology and Regulation. By Ross P. Buckley, Douglas W. Arner and Dirk A. Zetzsche. [Cambridge University Press, 2024. xx + 330 pp. Paperback £29.99. ISBN 978-1-00907-821-4.]. The Cambridge Law Journal, 84(2), pp. 464-470. doi:10.1017/s0008197325100755
- Yan, M. (2025). Operationalising stakeholder governance: some lessons from China’s new Company Law. Journal of Corporate Law Studies, 25(1), pp. 211-245. doi:10.1080/14735970.2025.2503032
- Yan, M. (2025). Book Review of Global Fintech Revolution: Practice, Policy, and Regulation. Securities Regulation Law Journal, 53(1), pp. 73-80
- Yan, M. (2024). Weighted Voting Rights Under China’s New Company Law. Journal of Business Law, 2024(7), pp. 559-569
- Yan, M. (2024). The Current Debate and Future Development of Dual-Class Share Structures in China. Hong Kong Law Journal, 54(1), pp. 135-158
- Yan, M., Jia, F., Chen, L. and Yan, F. (2022). Assurance process for sustainability reporting: Towards a conceptual framework. Journal of Cleaner Production, 377. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134156
- Yan, M. (2022). Permitting dual class shares in the UK premium listing regime – a path to enhance rather than compromise investor protection. Legal Studies, 42(2), pp. 335-357. doi:10.1017/lst.2021.50
- Yan, M. (2021). The myth of dual class shares: lessons from Asia’s financial centres. Journal of Corporate Law Studies, 21(2), pp. 397-432. doi:10.1080/14735970.2020.1870843
- Yang, L. and Yan, M. (2021). The Conceptual Barrier to Comparative Study and International Harmonisation of Data Protection Law. Hong Kong Law Journal, 51(3), pp. 917-950
- (2021). Acknowledgement to Reviewers of Journal of Sustainability Research in 2020. Journal of Sustainability Research, 3(1). doi:10.20900/jsr20210008
- Yan, M. (2020). The Role of Government and Regulation in Corporate Social Responsibility - The Case of China. Columbia Journal of Asian Law, 33(2), pp. 264-294. doi:10.7916/cjal.v33i2.4778
- Yan, M. (2020). Shareholder Control in the Context of Corporate Social Responsibility—A Fundamental Challenge to Modern Corporations. Hong Kong Law Journal, 50(3), pp. 1057-1079
- Yan, M. (2020). Differentiated voting rights arrangement under dual-class share structures in China: expectation, reality, and future. Asia Pacific Law Review, 28(2), pp. 337-359. doi:10.1080/10192557.2020.1855794
- Yan, M. (2020). A Control-Accountability Analysis of Dual-Class Share (DCS) Structures. Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, 45(1), pp. 1-48
- Yan, M. (2020). The Rise of Shareholder Primacy and Corporate Responsibility in China: An Overview. International Company and Commercial Law Review, 31(6), pp. 323-336
- Yan, M. (2020). Agency Problem, Ownership Structure and a Lesson for China. Company Lawyer, 41(6), pp. 162-170
- Yan, M. and Daoning, Z. (2019). From Corporate Responsibility to Corporate Accountably. Hastings Business Law Journal, 16(1), pp. 43-64
- Yan, M. (2019). Corporate Social Responsibility versus Shareholder Value Maximization: Through the Lens of Hard and Soft Law. Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business, 40(1), pp. 47-86
- Yan, M. (2017). The Corporate Objective Revisited: Part II. Business Law Review, 38(Issue 2), pp. 55-60. doi:10.54648/bula2017008
- Yan, M. (2017). The Corporate Objective Revisited: Part I. Business Law Review, 38(Issue 1), pp. 14-20. doi:10.54648/bula2017003
- Yan, M. (2015). Evolution of the Corporation and the Shareholders’ Role in China. International Company and Commercial Law Review, 26(11), pp. 355-363
- Yan, M. (2015). Agency Theory Re-examined: An Agency Relationship and Residual Claimant Perspective. International Company and Commercial Law Review, 26(4), pp. 139-144
- Yan, M. (2013). The Failure of the Entity Model. Company Lawyer, 34(9), pp. 272-280
- Yan, M. (2012). Morality—An Equivocal Area in Patent System. European Intellectual Property Review, 34(2), pp. 261-265
- Yan, M. (2012). The Law Surrounding the Facilitation of Online Copyright Infringement. European Intellectual Property Review, 34(2), pp. 122-126
- Yan, M. (2011). Remedies under the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (1980) and the Sale of Goods Act 1979: A Comparative Examination. City University of Hong Kong Law Review, 3(1), pp. 111-139
- Yan, M. (2011). Obstacles in China’s Corporate Governance. Company Lawyer, 32(10), pp. 311-320
Working paper
- Yan, M. (2025). The Limits of Company Law in Saving Our Planet: Rethinking the future of the corporate purpose movement. London, UK: The City Law School.
Professional activities
Editorial activity (3)
- Journal of Sustainable Business, Editorial Board Member, February 2025 - present.
- International Journal of Technology Management, Guest Editor, August 2022 - present.
- International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Editorial Board Member, June 2018 - present.