Professor Frank Stephen

Frank joined the School of Law on 1 st September 2005 having been a Professor in the Economics Department of the University of Strathclyde since 1990. He is Joint Editor of the European Journal of Law and Economics. He became Head of School on 1st August 2007.

Frank has held visiting appointments at Cornell University, Toronto Law School, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona), Group EM Toulouse and University College Cork. He is an external member of the Business Efficiency and Competitiveness research group of the Department of Business Economics at the Universidade Autonoma de Barcelona. In 2004 Frank was elected to the Executive Board of the International Society for the New Institutional Economics (ISNIE) and in 2007 was elected as a Vice-President. He will become President of ISNIE in 2010.

From 1996-2001 Frank was Chairman, Economists' Forum, Lord Chancellor's Department. In 2000/01 he was Adviser to the Justice 1 Committee of the Scottish Parliament for its Inquiry into Legal Aid and Access to Justice. Frank was a member of the Research Working Group established by the Scottish Executive Justice Department to examine 'Competition and Regulation in Scottish Legal Services Markets', 2004/5. He was appointed special adviser to Joint Committee of House of Commons and House of Lords considering Draft Legal Services Bill in June of 2006.

Frank's current research interests are on the interface between economics and the law with three main areas:

• Competition and regulation in professional service markets
• Incentives in the criminal justice system
• Impact of legal rules on the financial system and economic growth

His research has been funded by ESRC, Leverhulme Trust, European Commission (PHARE), Scottish Office, Office of Fair Trading, Law Society of Scotland, Scottish Executive Justice Department, Swiss Federal Economic Secretariat (SECO), Faculty of Advocates and Scottish Legal Complaints Commission.

Work continues with Stefan Van Hemmen and David Urbano of the Autonomous University of Barcelona on a cross national study of the impact of business regulation and the functioning of legal systems on levels of entrepeneurship.

Continuing research on the regulation of the legal profession and current proposals for change in England & Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Switzerland. Recent work in this area has been funded by the Swiss Federal Economics Secretariat (SECO) and the Faculty of Advocates. Publications arising from this research are listed below. A project with Angela Melville has recently been completed on the 'Master Policy and Guarantee Fund' of the Law Society of Scotland funded by the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission.

• LW7392 Law and Development

Frank is willing to supervise research students in any area of the economic analysis of law, regulation of professions, the link between law and economic development and on incentives in the criminal justice system

Publications Database

Articles and Chapters

(with David Urbano and Stefan Van Hemmen), 'The responsiveness of entrepreneurs to working time regulations', Small Business Economics, vol. 32, 2009, 259–276.

(with Nuno Garoupa), ‘Why Plea-Bargaining Fails to Achieve Results in so Many Criminal Justice Systems: A New Framework for Assessment’, Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, vol 15, No. 3, 2008, 318 - 354.

'Regulation of the Legal Professions or Regulation of Markets for Legal Services: Implications of the Legal Services Act 2007’, European Business Law Review, vol. 19, No. 6, 2008, 1130-1139.

(with Stefan Van Hemmen), 'Laws, Enforcement, Legality and Economic Development', Washington University Journal of Law and Policy, vol. 26, 2008, 37-54.

(with John Murphy), 'Partial blindness and alternative insights in the ascription of negligence liability', Chapter 13 in Michael Faure and Frank Stephen (eds), Essays in the Law and Economics of Regulation, In Honour of Anthony Ogus, Antwerpen: Intersentia, 2008.

(with Giorgio Fazio and Cyrus Tata), ‘Incentives, Criminal Defence Lawyers and Plea Bargaining’, International Review of Law and Economics, 28, 2008, 212-219.

(with Christopher Burns) 'Liberalization of Legal Services' , pp 118-161 in Aymo Brunetti and Sven Michal (eds.), Service Liberalization in Europe: Case Studies (Volume 2) Strukturberichterstattung Nr. 35/2, Studies on behalf of the State Secretariate for Economic Affairs (SECO), Berne, 2007.

(with Cyrus Tata), ‘When Paying the Piper Gets the' Wrong' Tune: The Impact of Fixed payments on Case Management, Case Trajectories, and 'Quality' in Criminal Defence Work’, pp. 186-213, in Pascoe Pleasance, Alexy Buck and Nigel J Balmer (eds.) Transforming Lives: Law and Social Process, Legal Services Commission, 2007.

(with Cyrus Tata) "Swings and Roundabouts": 'Do Changes to the Structure of Legal Aid Remuneration Make a Real Difference to Criminal Case Management and Case Outcomes?', [2006] Criminal Law Review, 722-741.

'The consequences for behaviour of changes in criminal justice systems', Legislação, Nos. 42/43, January/June 2006, 99-126.

'The Market Failure Justification for the Regulation of Professional Service Markets and the Characteristics of Consumers', in Claus-Dieter Ehlermann and Isabela Atanasiu, eds., European Competition Law Annual 2004: The Relationship between Competition Law and (Liberal) Professions, Hart Publishing, Oxford and Portland, Oregon, 2006.

(with David Urbano, and Stefan van Hemmen), 'Impact of Institutions on Entrepreneurial Activity', Managerial and Decision Economics, 26, (2005) pp. 413-418

(with Stefan Van Hemmen) 'Rule of Law, Finance and Development', in Marciano, A and Josselin, J-M, eds., Law and the State: A Political Economy Approach, Edward Elgar, 2005.

(with Nuno Garoupa) "Optimal Law Enforcement with Legal Aid", Economica, vol. 71, 2004, pp 493-500.

'European Single Market and the Regulation of the Legal Profession: An economic analysis', Managerial and Decision Economics, Vol. 23, 2002, pp. 115 - 125.

'Reform of Legal Aid in Scotland', Hume Papers on Public Policy, Vol 8, No. 3, 2001, pp. 23 - 41.

(with Juergen G. Backhaus) 'Verantswortliches Management und Massenprivatiserung: Eine theoretische und empirische Untersuchung des Wndels der rechtlichen und politschen Beziehungen' in Hans G Nutzinger (ed) Verteilungsprobleme im Transformationsprozeb , Berlin, Dunker & Humbolt, 2002.

(with J. H. Love) 'Regulation of Legal Profession', in B. Bouckaerts and G. De Geest eds., Encyclopaedia of Law and Economics, Vol. III, Regulation of Contracts, pp. 987-1017, Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 2000.

(with E. Shinnick ) 'Professional Cartels and Scale Fees: Chiselling on the Celtic Fringe?', International Review of Law and Economics, Vol. 20, No. 4, 2000, pp 407-423.

Books and Published Reports

(with Angela Melville) Report to Scottish Legal Complaints Commission on the Master Policy and Guarantee Fund Research, Institute for Law, Economy and Global Governance, School of Law. University of Manchester and Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, Edinburgh, June 2009.

(with Angela L Melville) The Economic Organisation of the Faculty of Advocates, Institute for Law, Economy and Global Governance, School of Law, University of Manchester, February 2008.

(with Cyrus Tata) Impact of the Introduction of Fixed Payments into Summary Legal Aid: Report of an Independent Study, Scottish Executive Social Research, 2007. A summary of the findings of this research is available in Legal Studies Research Programme, Research Findings No 61/2006, Scottish Executive Justice Department.

(with Christopher Burns) Liberalization of Legal Services, Report on research commissioned by Swiss State Secratariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) as part of its 'Reform Works' programme, January 2007. A revised and extended version of this report is published as Stephen and Burns (2007), see above under 'Articles and Chapters'.

(for the Scottish Consumer Council) Discussion Paper on the Regulation of Christmas (Hamper) Savings Schemes, SCC, December 2006.

'Regulation of private rented housing: a law and economics perspective' in M. Partington et al Ensuring Compliance: The Case of the Private Rented Sector, Working Paper No. 06/148, Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol.

Scottish Executive Justice Department (2006) Report of Research Working Group on Legal Services Market in Scotland (major attributed contributions to report)

Comparing Costs of District, Stipendiary Magistrate and Sheriff Summary Courts in Scotland, Appendix to Report on Summary Justice in Scotland (McInnes Committee), Scottish Executive Justice Department, 2004.

'Annex C - Adviser's Report', pp. 34-54, in Justice 1 Committee, 8 th Report 20001, Report on Legal Aid Inquiry, SP Paper 437 Session 1 (2001), Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, November 2001.

'An Economic Perspective on the Regulation of Legal Service Markets', Evidence submitted to Justice 1 Committee Inquiry into the Regulation of the Legal Profession (pdf), September, 2001.

(editor). Access to Justice, Edinburgh: David Hume Institute, 1996.

Teoria Economica do Direito, Sao Paulo: Makron, 1993, Brazilian edition of Economics of Law.

The Economics of Law , Brighton: Wheatsheaf; Ames : Iowa State University Press, 1988

(editor) Firms, Organization and Labour: Approaches to the Economics of Work Organization, London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin 's Press, 1984.

The Economic Analysis of Producers' Cooperatives, London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin 's Press, 1984.

(editor) The Performance of Labour-Managed Firms, London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin 's Press, 1982.

 

Media Availability

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