Fraud and Risk in Commercial Law Conference on 15 and 16 June 2023

A conference on Fraud and Risk in Commercial Law was held at the Wee Chong Jin Moot Court, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore on 15 and 16 June 2023. This event was convened by Professor Hans Tjio and Professor Paul S. Davies. It is the second in a series on commercial law jointly organised by University College London, EW Barker Centre for Law & Business, Notre Dame Law School, and the City University of Hong Kong. The first event in this series was a virtual conference hosted by the University College of London Faculty of Laws on the theme of Intermediaries in Commercial Law in 2021.

The keynote address for this conference was presented by Senior Judge Andrew Phang SC which began with the observation that fraud could be considered a new form of undue influence. He expounded on the need for both private and regulatory law to respond to these modern forms of fraud and the importance of context in construing fraud today. He then observed that although there were fewer papers on risk, this was also important in commercial law as the allocation of such sets the tone for how business will be conducted.

The conference proceeded with paper presentations by delegates from the University of Oxford, the London School of Economics, King’s College London, the University of Georgia, the University of Western Australia, City University of Hong Kong, the National University of Singapore, and Singapore Management University. Focusing on the central themes of fraud and risk in commercial law, the conference papers featured cutting edge analysis on issues relating to crypto, AI, the imposition of oversight liability on third parties, as well as comparative perspectives on risk.

The conference papers will be published by Hart Publishing in a volume edited by Professor Hans Tjio and Professor Paul S. Davies and is expected to be released in 2024.

In person at Bukit Timah Campus (left to right): Associate Professor Kelry Loi, Professor Michael Bridge, Professor Yip Man, Professor Paul S Davies, Professor Özlem Gürses, Professor Tan Cheng Han S.C., Professor Elise Bant, Professor William Swadling, Associate Professor Magda Raczynska, Professor Christopher M. Bruner, Professor Hans Tjio, Mr Justin Lim, Professor Kelvin F.K. Low, Assistant Professor Tan Weiming, Professor Virginia HARPER HO, Mr. Timothy Chan, Professor Alexander Loke

EWBCLB Director, Professor Hans Tjio, welcoming the speakers and participants

Senior Judge Andrew Phang SC giving keynote address

Professor Michael Bridge presenting his paper “Force Majeure Clauses: Character, Scope and Protection”

Attendees listening attentively to the discussion

Attendees networking during lunch

Professor Özlem Gürses presenting her paper “The Impact of the Third-Party Fraud to the Assured’s Claim Against the Insurer”