Dual-Class Share Structures in the UK Public Market
About this Event
Title: "An Institutional Approach to Dual-Class Share Structures in the UK Public Market"
Speaker: Sarah Alkandari, a third-year PhD student at UCL Faculty of Laws.
Date and time: Fri, 13 Nov 2026, 14:00 - 15:00 (UK time)
Venue/Format: In-person at Teaching Room 04, Old College, The University of Edinburgh.
About the event:
This session is part of a research presentation series hosted by Edinburgh Commercial Law PGR Reading Group (CLRG). CLRG organises and hosts research presentations by and for group members, academic staff, visiting scholars, and guest speakers working in the broad field of commercial law.
Each session features a 30-minute presentation, followed by open discussion and a Q&A session. The series provides a supportive and informal environment for researchers, including postgraduate researchers, as well as academic staff, visiting scholars, and practitioners to develop their research and presentation skills, share ideas and experiences, receive constructive feedback, and engage with others working in the field.
The group also provides opportunities to build academic and professional networks and broaden knowledge of current developments in commercial law.
Abstract: Corporate governance debates are often framed through agency theory and firm-level incentive alignment. This paper instead examines governance as a system of self-reinforcing formal and informal institutions in which corporate arrangements acquire legitimacy and practical enforceability. Using dual-class share structures in the UK public market as a case study, the paper considers institutional persistence alongside regulatory reform. Although recent listing reforms formally permit DCSS to enhance competitiveness and attract innovative firms, adoption has remained limited. This outcome cannot be explained by legal permissiveness alone. Rather, it reflects a deeply embedded institutional equilibrium in which one-share-onevote is treated as the benchmark of legitimate governance.
Drawing on Douglass North’s distinction between formal and informal institutions, and concepts of critical junctures, path dependence, and institutional lock-in, the paper traces how this equilibrium evolved and stabilised through the interaction of public authorities and private actors, whose roles frequently overlap in practice: legislators, regulators, self-regulatory bodies, institutional investors, proxy advisors, and international organisations. It argues that regulatory design operates within these pre-existing informal norms, beliefs, and culture, as such, formal reform alone is unlikely to shift the underlying path-dependent governance model of one-share-one-vote without complementary shifts to the wider institutional system.
Feel free to contact the convenor, Amanullah Ahmadzai, at ([email protected]) if you have any questions.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 0.00
