As of 1 September 2008 Professor Hugh Beale has been appointed as visiting professor at the Centre for the Study of European Contract Law.

His working address will still be the University of Warwick and he will fly over in case of special occasions, like giving lectures, or attending important seminars and conferences of the Centre.

Hugh Beale's knowledge of European Contract Law is expected to greatly contribute to the research conducted within the Centre. Furthermore, he will teach a course on Anglo-American Contract and Tort Law and occasionally give lectures in other courses of the Centre's European Private Law Master Programme.

Hugh's research interests are in contract and commercial law.
From 1987-1999 he was a member of the Commission on European Contract Law and with the founder of that group, Ole Lando, he edited the Principles of European Contract Law: Parts I & II (2000). He is a member of the Study Group on a European Civil Code and heavily involved in the preparation of a draft Common Frame of Reference as part of the European Commission's Action Plan of a European Contract Law.

Hugh Beale has been a Professor of Law at Warwick since 1987. Before that he taught at the University of Bristol, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, and the University of Connecticut. He has been a visiting professor at the Universities of North Carolina, Paris I and Utrecht.
From 2000 to 2007 Hugh was on leave from the University while he was a Law Commissioner for England and Wales, with responsibility for the Commercial and Common Law Team. During this time the Team worked on projects such as Limitation; Unfair Contract Terms; Illegality in Contracts and Trusts; Registration of Security Interests over Property other than Land; and Insurance Contract Law.
Hugh was appointed Honorary QC in 2002. He was elected as an Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2001 and a Fellow of the British Academy in 2004.