Biography

In his work as a legal scholar, Duncan Fairgrieve is a leading comparative lawyer, with research interests spanning both private and public law issues. He has a specific expertise in comparative law of obligations (in particular product liability and the law of torts), comparative administrative law (with a particular interest in state liability), and international dispute resolution / litigation topics (comparative civil procedure, collective redress, litigation funding) as well as comparative law methodology. He was educated at King's College London, Oxford University and the Sorbonne, Université de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

In the academic world, Duncan has held many senior appointments, including at Oxford (junior research fellowship at The Queen’s College), and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) as well as in France (successively at Sciences Po Paris and then Université de Paris Dauphine).  He is Professor of Comparative Law at Université de Paris Dauphine PSL in France and also holds a contemporaneous position as Senior Research Fellow in Comparative Law and Director of the Product Liability Forum at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law in London. 

At Université de Paris Dauphine PSL (“Dauphine”), Duncan teaches comparative law to undergraduate and masters students on topics as diverse as law of contract, comparative public law and comparative legal reasoning. He is also active in international matters at Dauphine, co-directing the Dauphine-BARBRI programmes, preparing French and European students and lawyers to double qualify as a US attorney or English solicitor. This unique programme has featured in the French media as an innovative training including articles in Le Monde and Les Echos. At Dauphine, he also heads up the recently created English Track in Law which allows international student to follow a full year studying comparative and international law topics at Dauphine entirely in English. 

Duncan is also known for running high-profile international events and conferences, he co-organised a series of event in London to celebrate the bicentenary of the French civil code in 2004, and runs regular events on topics as diverse as product liability, comparative liability issues, cross-border litigation topics, collective redress, comparative tort law and comparative public law.  He is also the co-convener of the European Legal Dialogues group, which brings together judges and senior academics from across Europe, including the UK judiciary, European Court of Human Rights, Court of Justice of the European Union, German Constitutional Court, French and Italian Consiglio di Stato.

Mini-Bio