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Background

Michael Schouten graduated from the University of Amsterdam in 2003 and worked as a corporate lawyer at the law firm of De Brauw, Blackstone Westbroek from 2004 to 2008. 

In 2008, he became a visiting research fellow at Columbia Law School in New York. At the UvA, he lectures a course in Corporate Governance to students in law and economics. He is currently a visiting fellow at the Centre for Business Research at Cambridge University and a teaching fellow at Duisenberg School of Finance.

Research

Michael's PhD research, to be completed in 2011, explores the impact of decoupling of financial interests and voting rights on corporate governance.

Current projects:

• The Influence of Proxy Advisors on Institutional Investors: Evidence from a Clinical Study
  
  
• The Law and Economics of Insider Trading in Europe (chapter in The Law and Economics of Insider Trading, Stephen Bainbridge, ed., Elgar Press, forthcoming 2012) 

Key publications:

• Why Governance Might Work in Mutual Funds, Michigan Law Review First Impressions, forthcoming 2011
  
  
• The Mechanisms of Voting Efficiency, 2010 Columbia Business Law Review 763 (2010), Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge, Working Paper No. 411;  Harvard/Stanford International Junior Faculty Forum 2010
  
  
• The Evolution of Ownership Disclosure Rules Across Countries (with Mathias M. Siems), 10 Journal of Corporate Law Studies, 451 (2010)
  
  
• The Case for Mandatory Ownership Disclosure, 15 Stanford Journal of Law, Business & Finance 127 (2010)
  
  
• The Political Economy of Cross-Border Voting in Europe, 16 Columbia Journal of European Law 1 (2009)

Other publications in English:

• Corporate Governance in the Netherlands, International Congress on Comparative Law, Washington, 2010 (Intersentia) (co-authors J. van Bekkum, S. Hijink & J. Winter)
  
  
• Fourth Symposium of the European Company and Financial Law Review, Tijdschrift Ondernemingsrecht 2010-2, 104-107
  
  
• Rebuilding Financial Supervision and Regulation in the US , Tijdschrift Ondernemingsrecht 2009-14, 594-601
  
  
• [Takeover Regulation in] The Netherlands , Chapter 20 of: European Takeovers, the Art of Acquisition, Jeremy Grant (ed.), 2005 Euromoney Books, p. 279 (co-authors Prof. J.W. Winter and Prof. M. van Olffen)
  
  
• Debt Restructuring Through Parallel Bankruptcy Proceedings in the Netherlands and the U.S., New York International Chapter News, New York State Bar Association,summer 2004, vol. 9, no. 2, p. 29 (co-author N.B. Spoor)

Other publications in Dutch:

• Loyal to Self-Interest, Tijdschrift Ondernemingsrecht 2010-14, p. 579-580
  
  
• Increasing Transparency Obligations for Shareholders, Tijdschrift Ondernemingsrecht 2010-2, p. 96-103
  
  
• Disclosure is Coming! – Foreign Regulators Increase Transparency of Equity Derivatives, Tijdschrift Ondernemingsrecht 2008-17, p. 638
  
  
• Cross-Border Tender Offers, Chapter 4 in: Openbare biedingen en beschermingsmaatregelen [Takeover bids and defensive measures], serie Onderneming & Recht, Kluwer 2008
  
  
• The New Takeover Rules in the Netherlands , Bedrijfsjuridische Berichten   2008-6, p. 69
  
  
• Delaware Supreme Court Confirms Disney Ruling, Tijdschrift Ondernemingsrecht 2006-14, p. 520
  
  
• The Risk-Taking, Innovative, Wealth Creating Engine that is the Delaware Corporation, Tijdschrift Ondernemingsrecht 2006-3, p. 122
  
  
• Second Consultation of the European Commission Regarding the Exercise of Shareholders' Rights, Tijdschrift Ondernemingsrecht 2005-10, p. 360
  
  
• Proposed New Changesin the Fourth and Seventh EEC Directive Regarding (Consolidated) Annual Accounts, Tijdschrift Ondernemingsrecht 2005-10, p. 360
  
  
• Consultation of the European Commission Regarding the Exercise of Shareholders' Rights, Tijdschrift Ondernemingsrecht 2004-16, p. 636
  
  
• On the Possibility of Supreme Court Litigation Regarding Violation of the Corporate Governance Code, Vennootschap & Onderneming 2004 no. 9, p. 142

Publications in popular press:

• Transparency of Major Share Ownership Should Be Increased [in Dutch], Het Financieele Dagblad, 23 December 2009

Media attention:

• The Political Economy of Crossborder Voting in Europe, cited in "Overcoming obstacles to shareholder engagement", The Financial Times, September 3, 2010.