BCom/LLB(Hons) (Auck), LLM (Cantab), LLM (Auck), CMInstD
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, External Engagement
Email dvc.ee@otago.ac.nz
Jessica joined the Otago University Law Faculty in 2005. She has received university teaching awards and national writing awards for her research. She was appointed to advise the New Zealand Law Commission on its review of the law of trusts that led to the new Trusts Act 2019. In 2015, she won the University of Otago Rowheath Trust Award and Carl Smith Medal for outstanding scholarly research achievement across all disciplines.
Jessica sits on several governance boards primarily in the for-purpose (not-for-profit) sector and has strong skills in strategy, organisational structure and risk management. She is currently Deputy Chair of Laidlaw College, Chair of the Wilberforce Foundation and a member of the National University of Samoa Council.
She was Dean of Law from 2018 to 2021 and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Humanities from 2021 to 2024, when she was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor External Engagement.
Jessica has previously worked in a large commercial law firm in New Zealand and as a Judges' Clerk at the Auckland High Court. She also tutored in Equity at the University of Auckland. In 2004 she won the New Zealand Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Prize enabling her to study at Cambridge University. Jessica is a Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society and a Leonard Cowling Scholar at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
Research interests
Jessica’s primary areas of research are equity and trusts, the law of restitution and the law of contract. She is particularly interested in how equity and restitution impact upon commercial and contractual dealings. Recently, she has written about the validity of modern trusts with significant power resting in one party who treats the trust assets as its own; and the appropriate reach of Court interference in contracts. Her publications have been influential on the approach taken by courts to these issues in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. She has spoken regularly at conferences for practising lawyers and in seminars for judges.
Jessica has taught courses in Contract Law, Wills and Trusts, Commercial Equity, Sales and Insurance Law.
Publications
Palmer, J. (2022). Constructive trusts on express trusts: Principles under threat. In R. C. Nolan, M. Yip & T. H. Wu (Eds.), Trusts and private wealth management: Developments and directions. (pp. 264-284). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009049399 Chapter in Book - Research
Palmer, J., Peart, N., Briggs, M., & Henaghan, M. (Eds.). (2017). Law and policy in modern family finance: Property division in the 21st century. Cambridge, UK: Intersentia, 420p. Edited Book - Research
Palmer, J., & Rickett, C. (2017). The revolution and legacy of the discretionary trust. Journal of Equity, 11, 157-184. Journal - Research Article
Palmer, J. (2016). Unjust enrichment, proprietary subrogation and unsatisfactory explanations. Singapore Academy of Law Journal, 28, 955-983. Journal - Research Article
Palmer, J. (2016). Implications of the new rule against penalties. Victoria University of Wellington Law Review, 47(2), 305-326. Journal - Research Article