Prof Jean Du Plessis

• Professor (Corporate Law), Deakin Law School, Deakin University (2000-current)
• Extraordinary Professor, Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape, South Africa (2020-current)
• Member of the Deakin Law School Executive Committee 2017-current
• Director, LLM, Deakin Law School (2018-2021)
• Director, International, Deakin Law School (2017-2019)
• Director, Centre for Comparative Corporate Governance (CCCG), Deakin Law School (2016-2017)
• Head of the Deakin Law School, Deakin University (2000-2002)
• Associate Professor, Deakin University (1999)
• Professor of Mercantile Law, Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) (now University of Johannesburg) (1991-1998)
• Associate Professor, Department of Mercantile Law / Centre for Business Law, University of the Orange Free State (now the University of the Free State) (Bloemfontein) (Jan-Jun 1991)
• Senior Lecturer, Department of Mercantile Law / Centre for Business Law, University of the Orange Free State (now the University of the Free State) (Bloemfontein) (1986-1990).

• Head of the Deakin Law School, Deakin University, 2000-2003
• Recipient of the Anneliese Maier Reseach Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2013-2018) 
• Professor of Law at the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg) and Deakin University  (1991 - current)
• One of 8 Members asked to form an International Reference Group to assist the South African Government with its Corporate Law Reform Program (2004-2008)
• National President of the Australian Corporate Law Teachers Association (CLTA), 2007-2008
• Awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Reseachers in 1996.
• Staff Elected Member to the Deakin University Council, 2012 - December 2015.
• Council Elected Member to the Deakin University Council, January 2016 - December 2017.

• Corporate Law
• Directors' duties and liability
• Corporate Governance
• Comparative corporate law and corporate governance
• Corporate Governance and Integrated Reporting
• Codetermination
• Employee participation at supervisory board level

• Member, Australian Corporate Law Teachers Association (ACLTA)
• Senior Editor, 'Corporate Governance, Corporate Responsibilities and Law' of the Company and Securities Law Journal

• Corporate Governance
• Company Law 
• Company Directors
• Business Organisations
• Business Law
• Commercial Law

• MLM706 - Corporate Governance (Postgraduate)
• MLL331 - Corporate Law
• MLC203 - Corporations Law

• Corporate Law
• Directors' duties and liability
• Corporate Governance
• Comparative corporate law and corporate governance
• Corporate Governance and Integrated Reporting
• Codetermination
• Employee participation at supervisory board level

Recent conference papers and public lectures 

• 5 July 2021: Bayreuth Faculty of Law, “Shareholder primacy versus employee democracy: Is there something fundamentally wrong with our corporate law and corporate governance model?”, University of Bayreuth, Germany
• 15 April 2021: FLUIDROCK and Stellenbosch Graduate Institute, “Worker Participation in Boardrooms”, South Africa

• 12 February 2021: Bayreuth Faculty of Law, “Contemporary Corporate Governance Perspectives: Reporting on non-financial matters and the rise and fall of shareholder primacy”, Germany
   
• 27 July 2020: Deakin Law School eSeminar, “The best interests of the corporation and the best interests of stakeholders: Are we entering a new era of Codetermination and Employee Democracy after the COVID-19 crisis?”, Australia

• 9 June 2020: VicBar Seminar, “The race is on again: Shareholder versus Stakeholder Primacy - a New Era for Codetermination and Employee Democracy after the COVID-19 crisis?”, Melbourne, Australia
• 2 March 2020: University of Sydney, Ross Parsons Corporate Law Lecture, “The Purpose of the Corporation Redefined: Recent Developments in Australia and the US”, Sydney, Australia
   
• 24-25 January 2019: "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Corporate Culture, Steinhoff and Carillion Case Studies and Australian Banking Commission’s Interim Report", Comparative Corporate Governance Conference 2019, Singapore
• 4-5 February 2019: "Myths about underlying theories and principles of corporate law and other ways of recognising the interests of all stakeholders", 2019 Annual CLTA Conference, Auckland, New Zealand
• December 2018: Series of Lectures and Seminars in China: Wuhan and Shanghai, China
• 7-8 December 2018: International Commercial Law Center, Shanghai University of Finance & Economics (SUFE): “World Trends in Contemporary Corporate Governance: Evolution for Business and the Way Forward – Chinese State-owned enterprise governance as a focus”, Shanghai, China
• 19 October 2018: Alexander von Humblodt Foundation, "Corporate Governance Codes: Self-determined, but are they fit for purpose?", After Dinner Presentation, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Annual Colloquium, Bonn, Germany
• 21-22 September 2017: International Commercial Law Center, Shanghai University of Finance & Economics (SUFE), "The Corporation in a Changing World: Directors’ statutory duty to act in the best 'long-term' interests of the corporation", Shanghai, China
• September 2017: Series of Lectures and Seminars in Hong Kong to audiences and students: Hong Kong Institute of Company Directors; Hong Kong Institute of Company Secretaries; CPA, Hong Kong and Law Society of HK, Hong Kong

Google Scholar

https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?hl=en&user=rGLTVQEAAAAJ&view_op=list_works

• Anneliese Maier Research Award from the German Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, EUR250,000, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, 2013-2018
• Alexander von Humboldt Research Scholarships Fellowships, 1996, 2003 and 2010
• Medallion Award, President of the Corporate Law Teachers Association (CLTA), 2010.

• The implied social contract to do business, social licence to do business and Social Contract Theory and its application to companies 
• Corporate profit distribution: Executive remunerarton, dividends, share buy-backs and non-executive employee remuneration
• The best interests of the corporation, the purpose of the corporation and inclusive capitalism
• Board structures and corporate governance models
• Stakeholder primacy versus shareholder primacy
• Responsible investment and integrated reporting
• Corporate governance and the long term sustainable economic and social interests of the corporation
• Corporate social responsibility (CSR)