Eilís Veronica Ferran, FBA (born 14 March 1962) is a Northern Irish

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

, legal scholar, and

academic administrator Academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the Faculty (academic staff), faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint ...

. As an academic, she specialises in company law,

financial regulation Financial regulation is a form of regulation or supervision, which subjects financial institutions to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, aiming to maintain the stability and integrity of the financial system. This may be handled ...

, and

corporate finance Corporate finance is the area of finance that deals with the sources of funding, the capital structure of corporations, the actions that managers take to increase the Value investing, value of the firm to the shareholders, and the tools and anal ...

. She has been

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of Company and Securities Law at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

since 2005, and its Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional and International Relations since 2015.

Early life and education

Ferran was born on 14 March 1962 in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, Northern Ireland. She was educated at St Dominic's High School, an all-girls

Catholic School Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

in Belfast. In 1980, she matriculated into

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Camb ...

to study law. She was the first member of her family to attend the University of Cambridge. She graduated with a first class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1983; as is the privilege of Cambridge graduates, she was able to apply for her BA to be promoted to a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

(MA Cantab) degree in 1986. In 1992, she was awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) by the University of Cambridge by Special Regulations, that is to say through published works rather than a doctoral thesis.

Career

Legal career

From 1984 to 1986, Ferran was an articled clerk at Coward Chance (now known as

Clifford Chance Clifford Chance LLP is an international law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and a member of the "Magic Circle", a group of London-based multinational law firms. It ranks as one of top ten largest law firms in the world measured bo ...

). She qualified as a solicitor in 1986. From September to December 2012, she was a specialist advisor to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

European Union Committee during its inquiry into banking union.

Academic career

In 1986, Ferran returned to

(her ''alma mater'') as a lecturer in law. She was elected a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of St Catharine's College in 1987. She was also an assistant lecturer from 1988 to 1991 and a lecturer from 1991 to 2000 at the

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

, University of Cambridge. She was Director of the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law from April 1999 to September 2003, and its Co-Director from January 2006 to 2010. In 2000, the university promoted her to

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

in Corporate Law and Financial Regulation. In 2005, she was appointed Professor of Company and Securities Law; this made her the first woman to hold a professorship in Cambridge's Faculty of Law. From April 2012 to 2015, she served as the Chair of the Faculty of Law. Since 1 October 2015, she has been the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional and International Relations. Ferran has held a number of visiting appointments. In April 2002, she was a visiting professor to the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...

. From July to August 2004, she was a

Chapman Tripp Chapman Tripp is New Zealand's largest commercial law firm. It is considered one of the "big three" law firms along with Russell McVeagh and Bell Gully. Established in New Zealand in 1875, it now has around 60 partners and roughly 200 legal staff ...

at the

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

, New Zealand. From July to August 2009, she was a visiting professor at the Law Faculty of the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

, New Zealand. From July to August 2010, she was a visiting professor at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, United States.

Personal life

In 1992, Ferran married Roderick Cantrill, who is the

Bursar A bursar (derived from "bursa", Latin for '' purse'') is a professional administrator in a school or university often with a predominantly financial role. In the United States, bursars usually hold office only at the level of higher education (f ...

of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. Together they have one son and one daughter.

Honours

In 2013, Ferran was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

(FBA), the United Kingdom's

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humanit ...

for the humanities and social sciences. On 11 November 2014, she was appointed an Honorary Bencher of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

Selected works

* * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferran, Eilis 1962 births Living people Solicitors from Northern Ireland Legal scholars of the University of Cambridge Fellows of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Legal scholars from Northern Ireland Finance law scholars Fellows of the British Academy Lawyers from Belfast Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge People educated at St Dominic's Grammar School for Girls