Contact
Biography
Professor Colin Mackie is Chair in Law in the School of Law, where he specialises in corporate law and environmental law.
He joined the School of Law in August 2024, having worked previously at the University of Leeds (2017-2024) and the University of Aberdeen (2013-2017).
Professor Mackie has acted as advisor to a variety of private and public sector organisations, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), energy and environmental regulators, financial institutions and prominent non-governmental organisations. Since 2021, he has played a central role in an International Energy Agency (IEA) working party on wind turbine blade recycling, focusing on the legal and regulatory aspects of this.
His research been published in leading journals, including Legal Studies, Journal of Environmental Law, Journal of Corporate Law Studies, Energy Policy and the Environmental Law Reporter.
Professor Mackie is an Editor of the Environmental Law Review (case notes).
He obtained an LLB (Hons) in Law, with first class honours, from the University of Manchester and an AHRC-funded PhD from the University of Aberdeen. He is a non-practising solicitor, having undertaken a training contract with the international law firm, Pinsent Masons LLP.
Expertise Summary
Professor Mackie's specialism is corporate environmental liability. His interest in this area derived from his doctoral thesis where he examined the role played by environmental principles, such as the polluter-pays and prevention principles, in legal frameworks of environmental liability and how they interact with corporate law doctrine.
He has worked with the OECD, providing advice and knowledge exchange on the implementation of the EU Environmental Liability Directive in Armenia, Moldova and Kazakhstan.
He has written extensively on the theorisation of financial assurance, a regulatory tool that requires corporations to evidence ability to pay for their environmental obligations, including the remediation of environmental damage and the decommissioning and site restoration at the end of a project's life (e.g. through bonds, guarantees and/or cash deposits). He was commissioned to prepare a report on this area, Reclamation Security Requirements for Power Plants in Alberta, by the Alberta Utilities Commission and provide evidence at public inquiry. He has co-authored two reports, Financial Provision for Environmental Liabilities: practical guide and Financial Provision: protecting the environment and the public purse, as part of a project team headed by representatives of the Environmental Protection Agencies of Scotland and Ireland.
He was also commissioned by a coalition of prominent environmental NGOs to prepare a report, Environmental Due Diligence in Global Value Chains: A study to inform interpretation of key terms within a cross-sectoral EU directive.
Teaching Summary
Professor Mackie teaches Issues in Company Law and Principles of Corporate Insolvency Law at undergraduate level and International Aspects of Corporate Law and Corporate Governance at postgraduate… read more
Selected Publications