Monash Law brings Asian corporate law scholarship to Malaysia
Monash Law has marked a significant moment in its regional engagement with the successful co‑hosting of the 2026 Asian Corporate Law Forum (ACLF) Conference at Monash University Malaysia.
Held from 13 to 15 April 2026, the conference brought leading corporate law scholars from across the Indo‑Pacific to the Monash Malaysia campus for three days of close, focused academic exchange. Monash Law co‑hosted the forum with Monash Business School, working alongside the School of Business at Monash University Malaysia.
For Monash Law, the conference confirmed its standing as a central contributor to corporate law scholarship in Asia and underscored its long‑term commitment to the region.
Professor Jennifer Hill, Director of the Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies (CLARS) at Monash University and the inaugural Bob Baxt AO Professor of Corporate and Commercial Law within the Faculty of Law, said Asia has become an economic powerhouse in recent years.
“Twenty-five years ago, it was assumed that corporate governance initiatives would come from the West, particularly the United States, but that is no longer true. ACLF is a unique network/organisation, whose research members seek to address some of today’s major social problems, including climate change. Monash University is honoured to be a Founding Member of ACLF and to be hosting this year’s conference at Monash University’s Malaysia campus,” Professor Hill said.
Professor Hill also noted that CLARS now has a hub in Kuala Lumpur, at the invitation of the Malaysian government.
A forum with regional reach and academic weight
The Asian Corporate Law Forum was established in 2023 by a group of leading law faculties in Asia. It was created to provide a dedicated space for sustained, comparative scholarship on corporate law and governance in the region.
ACLF is co‑sponsored by the European Corporate Governance Institute, the leading global academic organisation in corporate governance. Together, the two bodies bring Asian and global perspectives into conversation through an annual conference and associated public events.
There are 11 founding institutional members of ACLF. Monash University holds a distinctive place among them as the only Australian university in the forum, represented by both Monash Law School and Monash Business School. That position came into clear focus in Malaysia this April.
The Founding Institutional Members of the ACLF are:
- Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Law
- City University of Hong Kong School of Law
- Jindal Global Law School
- Monash University Business School
- Monash University Faculty of Law
- National Taiwan University College of Law
- Peking University Law School
- Seoul National University School of Law
- Singapore Management University Yong Pung How School of Law
- Universitas Gadjah Mada Faculty of Law
- University of Tokyo Graduate Schools for Law and Politics
Hosting ACLF 2026 at Monash University Malaysia
The 2026 conference took place at Monash University Malaysia, reinforcing Monash Law’s regional footprint and the University’s long‑standing presence in Southeast Asia.
Across the three days, participants examined a wide range of issues shaping corporate law and governance across Asian jurisdictions. The program reflected the forum’s core purpose: to create time and space for sustained scholarly discussion, with every paper receiving close feedback from peers who work deeply in the field.
Sessions addressed issues including corporate governance and climate risk, cross‑border regulation, board decision‑making, investor protection, and the interaction between domestic legal frameworks and global market pressures.
Discussion was detailed and candid. The small, invitation‑only format allowed contributors to engage with ideas at a level of specificity that is rarely possible in larger conferences.
Monash Law’s leadership role
Monash Law played a central role in shaping and delivering the 2026 conference.
Associate Professor Steve Kourabas, Deputy Director of the Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies at the Faculty of Law, and a member of the ACLF Board representing Monash, contributed to the program and participated in sessions. Dr Tamara Wilkinson also took part as a speaker and commentator, bringing Monash Law expertise directly into the scholarly exchanges.
“This year’s conference provided an opportunity for Monash to highlight its unique position within the region. Collaboration between the Business and Law faculties in Australia together with the Business School at our Malaysia campus in a forum comprising leading law schools in the region builds on efforts to establish Monash as an important University in the Indo-Pacific. Our involvement in the ACLF contributes to our embeddedness in the region, helping to foster important connections in corporate law and beyond,” Associate Professor Kourabas said.
Through these roles, Monash Law was visible not just as a host, but as an active intellectual contributor to conversations about how corporate law is responding to economic, social and environmental pressures across the region.
The conference also highlighted the Law School’s close collaboration with Monash Business School, demonstrating the value of cross‑faculty approaches to complex questions of governance, regulation and business conduct, as well as the potential for collaboration across Monash University's international campuses.
A public seminar on business and social impact
Alongside the invitation‑only conference, ACLF 2026 included a public seminar titled Beyond the Bottom Line: Business as a Force for Good, held on 13 April at the Monash Malaysia campus.
The seminar opened the forum’s work to a wider audience and focused on how corporate law and business practice intersect with pressing social challenges, including poverty and inequality.
Datin Wira Goh Suet Lan, President of Women of Will Malaysia, delivered a keynote address reflecting on collaborative approaches that support women and families facing entrenched disadvantage in Malaysia. Drawing on local knowledge, her remarks grounded broader governance debates in lived experience.
The second keynote was delivered by Philip Koh, Senior Partner at Mah‑Kamariyah and an advisor to the School of Business at Monash University Malaysia. He spoke from the perspective of legal practice and industry, reflecting on the role lawyers and boards play in shaping social outcomes.
A multi‑jurisdictional panel followed, offering perspectives on how corporate law frameworks across different Asian countries engage with social impact and responsibility.
For Monash Law, the seminar reinforced the importance of connecting doctrinal scholarship with real‑world effects, particularly in jurisdictions where legal and economic change is moving at speed.
Dialogue that goes beyond formal papers
One of the defining features of ACLF is its emphasis on discussion rather than presentation alone.
Each paper presented at the 2026 conference was given structured time for commentary and debate. Participants were expected to engage deeply with each other’s work, testing assumptions, challenging comparative claims, and sharing insights from their own jurisdictions.
This approach created a collegial but rigorous environment that many participants described as one of the forum’s strengths. For early‑career scholars, it offered unusually direct access to senior figures in the field. For established academics, it provided space to refine ideas before publication.
Monash Law academics were part of these exchanges throughout the program, contributing both as presenters and as commentators.
Corporate law scholarship in a changing region
Across the conference and public seminar, a recurring theme was the pace and unevenness of legal change in the region.
Participants discussed how regulators and courts are responding to new pressures, including climate risk, shifting investor expectations, political uncertainty and economic inequality. While legal traditions differ across jurisdictions, many of the challenges are shared.
These conversations placed Asian experiences at the centre, rather than treating them as peripheral to developments elsewhere. That perspective aligns closely with ACLF’s original purpose and with Monash Law’s approach to comparative legal scholarship.
Looking ahead
The conclusion of ACLF 2026 does not mark an endpoint for Monash Law’s involvement with the forum.
The ideas tested in Malaysia will continue to develop through published research and ongoing collaboration. Relationships strengthened during the conference will feed into future projects, visits and joint work across the member institutions.
For Monash Law, co‑hosting the 2026 Asian Corporate Law Forum was both a milestone and a statement of intent. It reflected a sustained commitment to regional scholarship, collaboration across disciplines, and engagement with the evolving role of corporate law in Asia.
As the forum moves on to its next host, University of Tokyo, Monash Law remains firmly embedded in the ACLF community, contributing to conversations that shape how corporate law responds to the region’s economic and social realities.