Faculty Profile

• LLD, Kyushu University, Japan, 2008
• LLM, Kyushu University, Japan, 2002
• LLB, University of Victoria, Canada, 2001
• BA, University of Manitoba, Canada, 1997
• Barrister & Solicitor (Ontario)

Academic Positions Held

Current Appointment:

• Professor of Law, Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University, Jun 2022 - present
• Director, Centre for Commercial Law in Asia, Singapore Management University, Jan 2023-Present

Other Positions

• Inaugural Director, Asian Corporate Law Forum, 2023 – present
• Advisory Board Member, China International Business and Economic Law (CIBEL) Centre, University of New South Wales, 2023 - present
• Editor-in-Chief, European Corporate Governance Institute, ECGI Blog, 2023 - present 
• Member, Singapore Academy of Law (SAL), Commissioning Advisory Panel, 2023 - present
• Editorial Board Member, National University of Mongolia Law Review, 2022 – present
• Research Member, European Corporate Governance Institute, 2021 – present
• Associate, Asian Law Centre, Melbourne Law School, 2020 – present
• Editorial Board Member, The Chinese Journal of Comparative Law, Oxford University Press, 2020 – present
• Editorial Board Member, Asian Journal of Comparative Law, Cambridge University Press, 2020 – present
• Advisory Board Member, Central Asian Yearbook of International Law and International Relations, 2019 – present
• Supervisory Council Board Member, Seoul National University Asia-Pacific Law Institute, 2019 – present
• Honorary Editorial Board of Advisors Member, Hong Kong Journal of Law and Public Affairs (HKJLPA), 2019 – present
• Visiting Professor & Co-Course Coordinator, The University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law, 2018 – present
• Associate Member, The International Academy of Comparative Law, 2017 – present
• Editorial Board Member, Korea Legislation Research Institute (KLRI) Journal of Law, 2017 – present
• Member of the Board of Advisors, Singapore Law Review, 2014 – present
• The Asian Business Lawyer, Editorial Board, 2012 – present
• Member of the Inquiry Panel, Singapore Legal Profession Act, 2012 – present
• Editorial Board Member, Max Planck Institute’s Journal of Japanese Law, 2010 – present

Past Academic Positions (selected)

• Associate Professor (tenured), National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law, 2014 – 2022
• International Visiting Associate Professor, Stanford Law School, 2019
• International Visiting Associate Professor, Columbia Law School, 2019
• Visiting Professor, Radzyner Law School, Reichman University, 2019
• Visiting Professor, The University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law Summer School, 2019
• Visiting Professor, Chulalongkorn University, Faculty of Law, 2017
• Visiting Scholar of Law, University of Chicago Law School, 2015
• Visiting Professor & Global Challenge Visiting Scholar, Seoul National University, School of Law, 2015
• Visiting Fellow, Oxford University, Harris Manchester College, 2015
• Visiting Professor, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Law, 2014
• Visiting Professor and Open Society Foundations (OSF) Visiting Fellow, Yangon University, Department of Law, 2014
• Senior Fellow, Melbourne Law School, LLM Program, 2013

Honours and Awards (selected)

• Lee Kong Chian Fellow, 2024
• Dean's Teaching Excellence Award, 2024
• Awarded the 2023 Cleary Gottlieb Law Prize for the Best Paper in the ECGI Law Working Paper Series
• Most Outstanding Legal Studies Teacher Award, SMU Yong Pung How School of Law, 2023
• European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI), Appointed as a Research Member, 2020
• ECGI Global Corporate Governance Colloquia, Invited Presenter, 2019
• National University of Singapore, University’s Annual Teaching Excellence Award Honour Roll, 2014 – 2018
• Seoul National University, Global Challenge Visiting Scholar, 2015
• National University of Singapore, University’s Annual Teaching Excellence Award, 2011, 2012, 2013
• National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law’s Annual Teaching Excellence Award, 2011, 2012, 2013
• Annual Corporate Law Teachers Association Conference, Best Paper Prize, 2012
• Corporate Practice Commentator, Article Selected for Reprint, 2012
• Harvard-Stanford International Junior Faculty Forum, Invited Presenter, 2010
• Monbukagakusho Scholarship, 2001 – 2002, 2005 – 2008
• Professor Jim Ellis Memorial Prize for Highest Standing in International Law, University of Victoria Law School, 2001
• Fasken Martineau DuMoulin Prize for Highest Standing in Employment Law, University of Victoria Law School, 2001
• Jean and Joseph McCombe Memorial Prize for Highest Cumulative Graduating GPA in the Bachelor of Arts General Program, University of Manitoba, 1997

Research Areas / Areas of Specialisation

• Comparative Corporate Law and Governance
• Corporate Law and Governance in in Asia
• Singapore Corporate Law and Governance
• Japanese Corporate Law and Governance
• Asian and Comparative Law

Selected Publications

Please refer to Curriculum Vitae for more details

SSRN author page: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=664455

ARTICLES

• Dan W. Puchniak, The Abolition of Independent Directors in Indonesia: Rationally Autochthonous or Foolishly Idiosyncratic?, American Journal of Comparative Law (forthcoming) (with Royhan Akbar & Nathaniel Mangunsong) (featured on the Oxford Business Law Blog and European Corporate Governance Institute Blog)
• Dan W. Puchniak, The Overlooked Reality of Shareholder Activism in China: Defying Western Expectations, 15 Harvard Business Law Review (Forthcoming) (with Zhou Chun & Zhang Wei) (featured on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and European Corporate Governance Institute Blog)
• Dan W. Puchniak, Climate-Related Shareholder Activism as Corporate Democracy: A Call to Reform “Acting in Concert” Rules, Journal of Corporation Law (Forthcoming) (with Umakanth Varottil) (featured on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance)
• Dan W. Puchniak, Corporate Purpose Beyond Borders: A Key to Saving Our Planet or Colonialism Repackaged? Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law (Forthcoming) (with Roza Nurgozhayeva) (featured on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and European Corporate Governance Institute Blog)
• Dan W. Puchniak, The False Hope of Stewardship in the Context of Controlling Shareholders: Making Sense Out of the Global Transplant of a Legal Misfit, 72 American Journal of Comparative Law, 109-169 (2024) (featured on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance) 
• Dan W. Puchniak, No Need for Asia to be Woke: Contextualizing Anglo-America's 'Discovery' of Corporate Purpose, 4 RED, 14 to 21 (2022) (awarded the 2023 Cleary Gottlieb Law Prize for the Best Paper in the ECGI Working Paper Series) (featured in The Business Times, European Corporate Governance Institute Blog and the Oxford Business Law Blog)
• Dan W. Puchniak, Institutional Investors in China: Corporate Governance and Policy Channeling in the Market Within the State, 35 Columbia Journal of Asian Law, 74-159 (2022) (with Lin Lin)
• Dan W. Puchniak, Singapore’s Puzzling Embrace of Shareholder Stewardship: A Successful Secret, 53 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 989-1021 (2020) (with Samantha S. Tang)
• Dan W. Puchniak, Diversity of Shareholder Stewardship in Asia: Faux Convergence, 53 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 829-880 (2020) (with Gen Goto & Alan K. Koh) (featured in The Economist)
• Dan W. Puchniak, Related Party Transactions in Commonwealth Asia: Complicating the Comparative Paradigm, 16 Berkeley Business Law Journal, 1-43 (2020) (with Umakanth Varottil)
• Dan W. Puchniak, Land of the Falling ‘Poison’ Pill: Understanding Defensive Measures in Japan on Their Own Terms, 41 University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, 687-754 (2020) (with Alan Koh & Masafumi Nakahigashi)
• Dan W. Puchniak, The Enigma of Hostile Takeovers in Japan: Bidder Beware, 15 Berkeley Business Law Journal, 4-42 (2018) (with Masafumi Nakahigashi)
• Dan W. Puchniak, Independent Directors in Singapore: Puzzling Compliance Requiring Explanation, 65 American Journal of Comparative Law, 265-333 (2017) (with Luh Luh Lan)
• Dan W. Puchniak, State-Owned Enterprises in Singapore: Historical Insights into a Potential Model for Reform, 28 Columbia Journal of Asian Law, 61-97 (2015) (with Tan Cheng-Han & Umakanth Varottil)
• Dan W. Puchniak, Japan's Love for Derivative Actions: Irrational Behaviour and Non-Economic Motives as Rational Explanations for Shareholder Litigation, 45 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 1-82 (2012) (with Masafumi Nakahigashi) 
• Dan W. Puchniak, The Derivative Action in Asia: A Complex Reality, 9 Berkeley Business Law Journal,1-28 (2012) (awarded the Annual Corporate Law Teachers Association Conference, Best Paper Prize) 

BOOKS

• Dan W. Puchniak ed., Global Shareholder Stewardship (Cambridge University Press, 2022) (with Dionysia Katelouzou ed.)
• Dan W. Puchniak ed., Independent Directors in Asia: A Historical, Contextual and Comparative Approach (Cambridge University Press, 2017) (with Harald Baum & Luke Nottage eds.)
• Dan W. Puchniak ed., The Derivative Action in Asia: A Comparative and Functional Approach (Cambridge University Press, 2012) (with Harald Baum & Michael Ewing-Chow eds.)