Professor John Birds

John Birds began his academic career at Queen Mary College London and then taught at the University of Sheffield for 28 years before moving to the University of Manchester in 2006. He was Professor of Commercial Law at Sheffield from 1989 to 2006 and Head of the Department of Law from 1987 to 1999 and from 2002 to 2005. He was Professor of Commercial Law at Manchester from 2006 to 2010 and Honorary Professor there from 2010 to 2011. He is now Emeritus Professor at Manchester and Honorary Professor at Sheffield, where he still does a little teaching.

He has published many books, articles and book chapters in company law and insurance law and held editorial positions in leading company and commercial law journals. He has lectured widely to both academic and professional audiences in both the UK and abroad.

He has acted as consultant to government and private bodies. He was a member of the Training Committee of the Law Society, a member of the Law Panel for the Research Assessment Exercise 2001 and a member of the Law Sub-Panel for the Research Assessment Exercise 2008. In 2003-04 he was President of the Society of Legal Scholars. Currently he is a member of the Project Group and Drafting Committee for the Restatement of European Insurance Contract Law and of the Advisory Panel for the Law Commission project on Insurance Contract Law.