The 5th Annual Conference on the Intersection of Corporate Law and Technology

10:30-10.45

Welcome

10:45-11:15

Keynote Speaker: Associate Professor Alison Lui, Liverpool John Moores University

Dr Alison Lui is an Associate Professor in Corporate and Financial Law and the Research Excellence Framework Co-ordinator for Law at Liverpool John Moores University. She specialises in financial regulation, financial technology and AI law. An active researcher, Alison is a SPRITE+ Expert Fellow, Max Planck Fellow, Inner Temple Associate Academic Fellow, Churchill Fellow and LJMU Early Career Fellow. She has won research awards from the British Academy, Research England, the British Council, Society of Legal Scholars, the Honourable Society of Inner Temple, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities. Alison has published a monograph and an edited book with Routledge, various book chapters and many peer-reviewed articles in top journals such as Law, Innovation and Technology, Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, Journal of Banking Regulation and Criminal Law Review.

Presentation Title: Deepfakes, Real Losses: The Liability Gap in AI-Driven Deepfake Financial Scams

Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) outputs such as deepfakes can be useful in creating realistic simulations in education, news reporting, and the arts. However, the emergence of malicious deepfake scams has raised concerns about the quality and reliability of information provided to social media users. This article argues that a liability regime for deepfakes is missing in the consumer protection frameworks. It posits that regulatory interventions do not explicitly target GenAI software developers and online social media platforms, which are required to implement appropriate risk management safeguards to prevent unlawful activities. We contend that a shared liability regime for deepfakes between multiple actors involved could offer suitable protection for victims of online financial frauds and would target the beginning of the deepfake supply chain. The shared liability regime is complemented with the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s consumer duty rule, which acts as a preventive monitoring action and enforcement mechanism to avoid foreseeable harm to customers in AI applications.

11:15-11:55

Presenter 1: Dr Başak Ozan Özparlak, Özyeğin University, Istanbul, Türkiye.

Dr. Başak (Bashaq) Ozan Özparlak is an Assistant Professor in IT Law at Özyeğin University Faculty of Law. She completed her master's degree in European Union Law and a PhD in Private Law. Since 2016, she has been active in both industry and academia, focusing on the legal and regulatory aspects of emerging technologies. Her research interests include AI and law, autonomous systems, cybersecurity law, and privacy. She continues to contribute to the field through research, teaching, and participation in national and international projects. She received the Excellence in Research Award from her university in June 2025 and, in the same year, was selected for the “100 Brilliant and Inspiring Women in 6G – List for 2025” by the Women in 6G Platform. Her current research addresses the integration of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks (TN and NTN) and its regulatory aspects, including spectrum.

Presentation Title: Next Generation AI-Native Networks from a Legal Perspective

Abstract

This talk focuses on the legal challenges posed by the next generation of "AI-native" wireless networks. As AI becomes embedded in the network itself, it will not only reshape communication but also affect society, business, and everyday life. For this reason, privacy and security must henceforth lie at the core of the legal foundations of IT technologies. Is it too early to ask how existing legislative frameworks address the challenges posed by next-generation AI-native communication infrastructure? The talk examines this question through the EU digital legislative framework and recent digital policy. In the near future, as the internet integrates AI, the network will constantly process personal data, turning the infrastructure into a system that continuously learns from its users. Embedding AI into every layer of the network also creates new vulnerabilities that could be exploited or manipulated, placing cybersecurity compliance at the core of safeguarding human rights. Finally, the novel role of the space segment as a communication layer requires an update of spectrum policies. These three elements — privacy, security, and spectrum — are not abstract concerns but practical legal challenges. Because they will shape compliance, legal liability, investment certainty, and the ability to bring new services to market, getting ahead of the rules becomes a competitive advantage rather than a mere formality. The talk argues that next-generation AI networks call not for minor fixes to old rules, but for rethinking how these three issues will be resolved when the infrastructure itself can learn and decide.

12:00-13:00

Break

13:00-13.30

13.30-13.50

13.50-14.20

Presenter 2: Dr Angelica Rutherford, Leeds Beckett University.

Dr Angelica Rutherford is a Lecturer in Law at Leeds Law School, Leeds Beckett University and Co-Director of the Technology, Innovation, and Global Law Research Group (TIG). Adopting both critical and pragmatic approaches, Angelica examines governance and accountability in the global clean energy transition. Her monograph Energy Security and Green Energy: National Policies and the Law of the WTO (Springer, International Law and Economics series) was among the most accessed publications on SpringerLink relating to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7: Affordable and Clean Energy. She is also the editor of the volume Corporate Responsibility and Accountability in Business Law: Regulation and Practice in Emerging Sectors (Routledge Research in Corporate Law series).

Presentation Title: Corporate Challenges for AI Adoption in Clean Energy Technologies: Governance and Regulatory Compliance in the UK

Abstract

This work examines the corporate challenges for an effective AI adoption in the clean energy sector. Adopting the United Kingdom (UK) as a case study, it carries out a systematic review methodology to map the breadth of AI laws and policies applicable to clean energy technologies. Drawing on critical, exploratory, and bibliographical methodology, it then explores the challenges that corporations face when implementing AI within the clean energy industry. Since existing literature on AI governance and compliance in the clean energy sector is rare, this study seeks to offer insights that may inform the development of a more coherent regulatory architecture, which may assist corporate decision-makers. This work finds that corporations need to act in a fragmented regulatory framework that lacks a coordinated, sector-specific approach for AI in clean energy technologies, relying on a patchwork of laws, policies, and guidance that are not sufficiently comprehensive to address the full spectrum of AI-related risks and opportunities. This fragmented approach risks creating regulatory overlap, legal uncertainty, and accountability gaps, thereby limiting the potential of AI to contribute effectively to the clean energy transition and negatively impacting corporate strategic decision-making.

Presenter 3: Dr Luca Lamanna, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.

Luca Lamanna is a researcher specializing in commercial law, corporate insolvency and the regulatory impact of emerging technologies. He holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, Commercial Law and Insolvency Law from Sapienza University of Rome and collaborates with the Chair of Comparative Corporate Governance at the European University of Rome. His academic background includes research periods at the Max Planck Institute in Hamburg, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Professionally, he has advised on banking and financial regulation at international law firms and collaborated with R&D companies on AI compliance. His research has been published in journals such as the International Company and Commercial Law Review and the European Insolvency and Restructuring Journal. He has presented his work at conferences hosted by institutions including UNIDROIT and the European University Institute. Luca serves as Deputy Secretary of the European Conference on Restructuring and Insolvency Law (CERIL) and is a member of the Italian Society of Law and Economics.

Presentation Title: From Early Warning to Procedural Trust: AI, Digitalisation and the Legal Usability of Digital Outputs in European Preventive Restructuring

Abstract

European insolvency law is undergoing a twofold transformation. First, the Preventive Restructuring Directive has shifted the regulatory centre of gravity from ex post liquidation to early intervention, viability preservation and preventive restructuring. Secondly, Directive (EU) 2026/799 (“Insolvency III”) introduces a new layer of targeted harmonisation that, although not framed as a digitalisation instrument, presupposes increasingly digital infrastructures for asset tracing, pre-pack sales, creditor participation and access to standardised insolvency information. In parallel, the AI Act, the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice, the 2026 draft guidelines on high-risk classification and transparency obligations, and European best practices on AI in judicial settings are shaping the conditions under which algorithmic systems may be deployed in legally sensitive environments. This study argues that the central issue is no longer whether AI can improve distress prediction or procedural efficiency, but whether digital and AI-generated outputs can become legally usable inputs in insolvency proceedings. The proposed analytical category is “procedural trust”: the set of conditions—covering traceability, intelligibility, human review, contestability, and cyber-resilience—that allow digital outputs to be integrated into restructuring decision-making without displacing legal responsibility, creditor protection or judicial control.

Presenter 4: Nkem Amadike,PhD Candidate at Nottingham Trent University

I am currently a full – time PhD researcher in law at the Nottingham Law School supervised by Professor Rebecca Parry, Dr Hakan Sahin and Dr Akrum El Menshawy. I am currently in the third year of my doctoral studies and my PhD thesis is titled, ‘Crypto Assets Crypto Businesses and the Cross – Border Insolvency Issues: A Nigerian Perspective.’ It seeks to offer an unprecedented and detailed analysis of the Nigerian perspective on the emerging cross – border insolvency issues presented by insolvent centralised exchanges with stablecoin holdings in cross – border insolvencies.

Prior to the start of my research degree, I obtained an LLB degree as well as an LLM degree in Corporate Law and Finance, both from Kingston University, London. I was subsequently, admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. I was also recently called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in March 2026.

Presentation Title: Cryptoassets, Crypto Businesses and the Cross-border Insolvency Issues: A Nigerian Perspective

The research seeks to offer an unprecedented analysis of the Nigerian perspective on cross – border insolvency issues posed by crypto – assets in insolvencies. Crypto – assets like stablecoins are a digital innovation, cryptographically secured and digitally represent value or a right; they utilise a form of distributed ledger technology and can be transferred, stored, or traded electronically. As its name implies, the distributed ledger technology is designed in a ‘distributed’ or ‘decentralised’ way such that it enables data to be recorded and shared in a distributable, verifiable and immutable manner; it operates via peer – to – peer networks of independent computers (nodes) across the globe. The unique distributed feature of the distributed ledger technology accounts for the cross – border trading of crypto – assets.

The wide adoption of crypto – assets like stablecoins and the distributed ledger technology, has given rise to the development of crypto – businesses like the centralised exchanges. With the proliferation of exchanges coupled with the susceptibility to cyber – attack insolvencies in this sector are likely. Considering also the cross – border nature of these crypto businesses and assets, the court will be increasingly confronted with some cross – border insolvency issues:  the proprietary nature of crypto assets, choice of jurisdiction and governing law, foreign judgment recognition and fair distribution of crypto assets

As private international law differs from one country to another, the issues have been approached from different perspectives with much discussions coming from the US and EU perspectives. This calls for further research on other jurisdictional perspectives like Nigeria which is a major crypto investing jurisdiction. Of this, the research seeks to critically assess the cross – border insolvency issues in the light of the Nigerian context. In achieving its objective also the research uses stablecoin as a selected crypto asset and centralised exchanges as a selected crypto service provider.

14:20-14:50

Joint discussion of issues arising and collaborative applications.

14:50-15:00

Giving of Thanks and Conference Close