Pierre Sinclair de Gioia Ca

Associate Professor of Business Law, Heriot-Watt University

I am currently Associate Professor of Business Law at the School of Management and Languages at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, where I started as lecturer in 2008. I was appointed Associate Professor in 2012. I have a permanent basis contract and I work full-time.

I am currently course-leader of International Banking and Financial Law (fourth your, honours’ level) and Employment Law (third year). In the past I have also been in charge of courses in Company Law at the Dubai Campus (2008/2009), International Trade Law (2012/2013) and a course of Law in HR Management (2008 to /2015). I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA; since 2010) and a member of the Scottish Graduate School of Arts and Humanities (since 2014).

In 2012, I won the student award at HWU for ‘Best Lecturer, Innovative Feedback’ and in 2014 I was awarded the prize as ‘Most Supportive Lecturer’ in the Business Management Department. In 2015, I have just completed the ‘treble’: I won the University special ‘Suave Award’. Prior to my appointment at Heriot-Watt University, I was tutor at the University of Edinburgh – Law School, in both contract law and tort, and visiting lecturer in Business Law I and Business Law II at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Graduating in Law from the University of Bari, Italy (summa cum laude) I then went on to complete my Ph.D. in Banking and Financial Law (Siena). I also have an LL.M. in European and International Trade Law (with distinction; Glasgow Caledonian University), a MSc in Banking and Finance (Siena) and a PGCAP (Post-graduate Course in Academic Practice; Heriot-Watt University). Additionally, I have a Diploma in Classical Studies (Lyceum Gymnasium 60/60). I am qualified as a lawyer in both Italy (Avvocato) and Scotland (Solicitor and Notary Public).

Following the completion of my Law degree I worked as a lawyer in the legal department of a number of large corporate banking and financial institutions (IMI, SAN PAOLO IMI, Deutsche Bank, where I was the head of the Corporate and Investment Banking Legal Department) as well as for the international Law Firm Baker & McKenzie (where I was Senior Associate in the Practice Group Banking, Finance and Securities). Latterly, I have worked and I am still working independently as a legal advisor and advocate providing legal assistance in the negotiation of international commercial and financial contracts (derivatives, credit derivatives, loans, syndicated loans, securitizations) to a number of corporations and financial institutions in Europe. I also provide advice in structured finance (securitizations) and capital markets transactions (M&As, take-overs, IPOs).

To date, I have contributed to more than 50 publications in the area of Business Law, with topics spanning Banking and Financial Law, Company Law, Employment Law and the Comparative Analysis in law. In 2014 I wrote with Matthias Haentjens, professor of Banking Law at the University of Leiden Law School, a textbook in European Banking and Financial Law; the book has been published by Routledge UK in June 2015. I am a member of the Editorial Board of both the Rivista Trimestrale di Diritto dell’Economia.

At Heriot-Watt University, I have been the Director of the Business Management Degree Programme since 2011. In the last 7 years, I have promoted and finalised the conclusion of partnerships with a number of Universities, among the others: Carlos III; Ca’ Foscari University of Venice; Ludwig Maximillian University Munich.

I have been Visiting Scholar in Banking and Financial Law at the law school of the University of Leiden (Hazelhoff Centre for the Financial law) since July 2014. I am also Professor of the Ph.D. School in Employment Law and Human Capital Formation at the University of Bergamo and Adjunct Professor of International Financial Law, at the University of Padua (‘MASCI’ post-graduate programme in International Commerce). In academic year 2014/2015, I was appointed visiting lecturer in labour law at the Law School of the University of Stirling, where I delivered an entire course to 20 students. At Ca' Foscari, University of Venice, I have been Visiting and Adjunct Professor in Mergers and Acquisitions (Law) since 2015.

I am fluent in English and Italian and conversant in both French and Spanish and I am dual citizen (British and Italian). I learned Latin and Ancient Greek for five years when I was at the Gymnasium. I still love the reading of the Roman classics in their original languages.