A book introducing the “law & management” by presenting the existing literature on the topic will be published in 2024 by Oxford University Press.

This project is open to all researchers, whether they are practitioners or academics.

Subjects covered

– Law as a science of organization
– Transposition of Porter’s 5 forces model to law
– Legal astuteness and Legal Agility
– Legal culture and internal legal organization
– Law & Management: The Ethical Dimensions
– Management of non-legal risks through law and on the management of legal risks
– Application of game theory and other strategies to contract, company and public-private partnership law
– Preventive law, Proactive Law, Comprehensive law, Collaborative law
– Application of Law and Economics Theory on Legal Design
– Non-market strategies
– Tax and legal planning
– Tetranormalization
– Approaches to the legal psychology of economic actors (excluding taxation)
– Compliance and Legal performance
– Proactive legal design/information design as a management tool to foster business collaboration
– Role of Taxation in Normative Theories of Corporate Social Responsibility
– Institutional Approaches to Law & Management
– Contractual Trust
– Business strategy Literature for Law Firms
– Proactive law and collaborative contracting
– Systems Thinking in Proactive Approach to Law in Business
– Towards the emerging of a real business ecosystem in the legal sector
– An interdisciplinary theory of law and management for thinking and managing normative flows
– Contract Management
– Legal communication
– Institutional and Regulatory entrepreneurship
– Legal information & Knowledge management
– Tetranormalization
– Theories of Lobbying
– Legal implication of CSR
– Sociology of the legal ecosystem of firms
– Corporate governance as a source of competitive advantage
– Legal department/Litigation funding/Third party Funding
– Law & Reputation
– AI and legal departments
– Legal department/Litigation funding/Third party Funding
– The Role of Law in the Value Chain
– Analysis of Firms’ legal decisions making
– In/Outsourcing of legal services

Although we have already received a large number of proposals (more than 40) we are still looking for contributions on the following subjects (frequently updated) :

• Choice of Legal forms/structures (in the view of theories such as organizational architecture…)
• Legal Ops
• Behavioural approaches to taxation
• Methodologies of legal innovation
• Legal/Tax planning as a method
• Firm theory and its relevance to understand firms legal performance
• Strategic use of normalization and standardization

On request, the editors can provide a description of each of these subjects and an indicative bibliography. The authors will naturally be asked to complete these initial bibliographies.

It is also possible to propose to the Editors and the Scientific Board other authors or topics, which may be approved if they prove to make a significant contribution to the Law & Management approach.

Writing instructions

In order to understand what the concerns of the Law & Management approach are, it is essential to read the following articles:

• Bagley, C.E. (2008) “Winning Legally : the Value of Legal Astuteness”, Academy of Management Review, 33(2), 378
• Bird, R. C. (2008), “Pathways of legal strategy”, Stanford Journal of Law, Business & Finance, 14:1.

Our model is the Oxford Handbook series which offers authoritative and up-to-date surveys of original research.

Regarding the mode of citation, as indicated, the Harvard method is requested. American English instead of British English is to be used. Accordingly, for example, use -zation instead of -sation

Format to use for citations in the text: (Author name, Year).

When several authors are cited, they should be separated with a “;” and listed in chronological order. For example (Williamson, 1979; Teece, 2007).

Format to be used in the bibliography for a journal article: Viñuales, J.E. (2013), “The rise and fall of sustainable development”, Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 3-13. (Single quotes are to be used within the double quote when the title contains in turn a quotation). Format to use in the bibliography for a book: Field, A. (2013) Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics: and sex and drugs and rock’n’roll, 4th ed., Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. Format to use in the bibliography for a book chapter : Luna, E.M. (2014) “Community-based disaster risk reduction and disaster management”, in A. López-Carresi, M. Fordham, B. Wisner, I. Kelman & J.C. Gaillard (eds.), Disaster management: international lessons in risk reduction, response and recovery, Routledge, New York, NY, pp. 43-63. (Be careful not to invert Name and first letter for the editors). Format to be used in the bibliography for a web resource: Jameson, S. (2017) “Protests in Portugal reached unseen scope”, www.EssayPro.com, last viewed April 27, 2018.

It is crucial that authors bear in mind that:

1) topics should be treated with a systematic focus on the applications and implications for business of the legal or legal-managerial techniques studied.

For example, the phenomenon of the diffusion of legal innovations may concern not only companies but also other social actors. The diffusion of a legal innovation such as the extension of the institution of marriage to same-sex couples, while of fundamental importance in our society, is not relevant to the Law & Management approach. On the other hand, the development of effective legal arrangements adopted by pioneering companies before they are copied by others is. This innovation allows such companies, at least for a certain period, to gain a competitive advantage and therefore has a place in the Law & Management approach.

2) the book aims at presenting the existing literature for persons who want to learn about Law & Management. Therefore, at least 50% of the article should be devoted to a presentation of the literature.

The document must be between 10 and 15 pages in Word, font-size12, Times New Roman, without line spacing. It must also be in line with the editorial instructions that will be sent to the authors. The insertion of diagrams or graphs for illustrative purposes is strongly encouraged. The bibliography cited should be attached to the chapter submitted.

Procedure

Practitioners and academics must express their interest in a Topic to reserve one of the remaining topics or to propose a new topic.

Students interested in participating in this project are invited to contact the project organizers (massona@essec.edu) when selecting their thesis/dissertation topic to ensure that the topic is still available and to discuss a writing schedule. In principle, a mid-term meeting will be scheduled to ensure that the participants have understood the process and to check on the progress of their chapters.

Upon submission of a chapter, and independently of the evaluation of the thesis or dissertation by the institution in which the work is registered, the Editors and the Scientific Board will read it and assess its suitability for publication. The Editors and the Scientific Board may also ask the authors to make any changes they consider necessary.

Evaluation criteria

→ Relevance: State of Art: Does the contribution’s topic fit into the Law & Management (L&M) approach? Does the contribution’s introduction present the link between the contribution and the topic of the handbook? Does the angle of attack of the topic correspond to the L&M approach? Is focus placed on individual corporate decisions through application of the notion of legal performance and corporate management (micro- and not macroeconomic approach)? Do the theories discussed in the contribution inform the reader about how a company can benefit from the law?

→ State of Art: Does the contribution consist of, for at least 50% of its content, a presentation of the existing literature or the state of the art? Are key authors easily identifiable? Does the contribution present the dialogues that may have existed between certain authors? Is a critical approach to the topic developed? Are prospective elements for development mentioned?

→ Accessibility: Is the contribution written in a way that is intended and useful for an international audience? Are the examples appropriate for an international audience? Is the contribution understandable to a non-specialist in the field? Is it self-sufficient, that is, understandable in its own right? Are the sources referenced available in the English language?

→Clarity and coherence: Is the contribution clear? Is the topic analyzed in a consistent and coherent way? Does the contribution provide examples (which do not necessarily have to be based on empirical studies)? Does the contribution explain relevant concepts, especially in management?

→ Formal aspect: is the contribution from 12 to 16  pages long (between 6,000 and 8,000 words)? Have the citation rules been respected? Are the citations correct (we will check by sampling)? Do the citations mention a page number or range of pages when authors refer to a specific passage?

Editors

• Antoine Masson, Associate Expert, ESSEC Business School (editor in chief)
• Hugues Bouthinon-Dumas, Professor, ESSEC Business School (co-editor)
• W. Gregory Voss, Professor, TBS Business School (co-editor)
• Jean-Michel Do Carmo Silva, Professor, Grenoble Ecole de Management (co-editor)

Scientific Board

• Constance Bagley, guest Professor Copenhagen Business School, CBS LAW
• Gerlinde Berger-Walliser, Professor, University of Connecticut
• Robert Bird, Professor, University of Connecticut
• Pascal Corbel, Professor, Paris-Saclay University
• Anne-Sophie Courtier, Professor, NEOMA Business School
• Marc Fréchet, Professor, IAE de Saint-Etienne
• Sandrine Henneron, Professor, NEOMA Business School
• Fabrice Lumineau, Professor, HKU Business School
• Helena Haapio, Professor, University of Lapland
• Christophe Collard, Professor, EDHEC Business School
• Christophe Roquilly, Professor, EDHEC Business School
• Soili Nystén-Haarala, Professor, University of Lapland
• David Orozco, Professor,  Florida State University College of Business