Dr Mohd Hwaidi

• Doctor of Philosophy, Nottingham Trent University (2014)
  PhD title: "An evaluation of the efficacy of UCP 600 within English and Jordanian legal offers and Jordanian commercial practices"
• Master of Laws (International commercial law), Northumbria University Newcastle
• Bachelor of Laws, The University of Jordan

Dr Hwaidi has published many articles in world leading peer-reviewed law journals. He has published articles on the role of law and sociology on designing Blockchain platforms for commercial transactions. He is a founder of 'The Advisory Network For The Future of Blockchain (ANFB)'. Dr Hwaidi has a track record of publications in the area of the law of documentary letters of credit. He is the author of the book of Al-Hwaidi in the law of Documentary Letters of Credit which is as a functional comparative study between English law and Arabic as well as other national laws as a scholarly reference to courts and academics. 

Dr Hwaidi is the Head of LLM (Master in Law) Programme at Dubai Campus. He was the course leader of LLM Competition Law and taught LLM Cyberlaw at Edgbaston Campus. He is an Honorary Research Associate at University College London UCL- Centre of Blockchain and a Fellow of UK Higher Education.

Before joining the University of Birmingham, he was a Lecturer in Law (teaching & research) at the University of Dundee leading both the Principles of E-Commerce Law and the International Sale of Goods at the LLM (Master) Programme. He was the Representative of Law for international recruitment. He was a Senior Lecturer in Law and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Business and Insolvency Law at the Nottingham Trent University. In addition to his extensive experience as an academic lawyer, he has experience as a practicing lawyer admitted to the Jordanian Bar where he represented clients at different classification of courts, and he was the legal advocate of the World Islamic Science and Education University. He holds a PhD in law, LLM (Master) in International Commercial Law and Bachelor’s Degree in Law.

Dr Hwaidi is the module leader of LLM Competition Law, LLB Equity and Trusts Law and he teaches LLM Cyberlaw. He has designed many modules in different universities including LLM E-Commerce, LLM International Sale of Goods, LLM Cyberlaw, International Trade Law and Banking Law.

Dr Hwaidi currently accepts PhD candidates in the following areas: • Commercial law • International trade law • Law and technology • Contract law/ tort law • International finance and banking law • Law and sociology • Arbitration • Maritime law He has supervised PhD students in the areas of the law of blockchain, drafting arbitration clauses in commercial contracts, carriage of goods by sea and privacy law.

Find out more - our PhD Law  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

I am an international commercial lawyer. My main research’s interest is on understanding the interplay between social norms and legal rules in the context of transnational commercial transactions. My particular interest lies in the transition of transnational trade transactions and documents from traditional paper based to digital format. I aim to analyse the impact of this transition on social norms and legal rules pertaining such transactions, to evaluate the trustworthiness and the efficacy of transition.  My evaluation may help the design of digital platforms that supports the functionality of social norms underlying trade documents to enable an effective transition from paper to digital format. It may also help the change of legal policies to address trustworthiness challenges, such as introducing licencing system for providers of peer-to-peer trading virtually.

By transnational commercial transactions I mean those commercial transactions that: (1) involve parties who are domiciled in different countries and (2) are supported by trade norms between business communities (the members of which are individuals or private institutions) across borders.

An example of this is bills of lading. In a carriage of goods by sea, the carrier issuing the bill of lading represents that the described goods have been received and shipped on-board for immediate carriage. Bills of lading gained recognition and enforcement in the international business community through trade usages, establishing that the sea carrier should only deliver goods to the holder of the bill of lading (exchanging goods for the original copy of the bill). This functionality as a document of title transfers possession rights by surrendering the original copy, allowing for finance raising via pledge. Bills of lading emerged in the international business community and, for many years, were enforced through trade usages (norms), often with passive sanctions such as boycotts against norm-defectors. They were subsequently recognised and enforced by conventions and national laws. Their functions are enforced concurrently by national laws and trade usages. My research identified essential elements of the social structure of bills of lading that enable these norms: (A) forming cooperative groups, (B) features for norm production and maintenance (e.g., reciprocal informal powers, gossip networks, social roles ensuring noticeability of norm-defectors), and (C) the dynamic interplay of practice and law.

I argued that these elements are crucial in designing a digital platform for a successful transition from paper to electronic bills of lading, as it is essential to enabling the enforceability of trade usages on digital platforms. I proposed a conceptual design of a suitable available technology (i.e. Hybrid of Permissioned and Permissionless Distributed Ledger Technology) to facilitate the functionality of the above essential elements in light of obstacles in some national laws and regulations.  

I have published on the following areas:

• Documentary letters of credit
• The legal aspects of Blockchain technology
• Technology and Sociological perspectives of trade norms (applied to electronic bills of lading)
• International Sale of Goods and Sharia Law
• The nature and role of Transnational Commercial Law (Law of Merchants, Trade Usage and self-regulatory rules such as the UCP)
• Methodology of Empirical Study in Commercial Law
• Comparative legal studies in contract law and commercial law