Otago's Faculty of Law is a leader in legal research in New Zealand, with strong links to international research networks. Our research community consists of top-quality academics and postgraduate students from New Zealand and overseas, with a strong record of publications.
Our research interests engage with a wide range of areas, such as access to justice, animals in the law, bioethics and health law, environmental law, international human rights law, te Tiriti o Waitangi | Treaty of Waitangi, and workers' compensation/ ACC.
We host many multi-disciplinary, local and international research projects.
Faculty of Law journals
We produce and edit a peer-reviewed journal, the Otago Law Review ( OLR ). We also produce the Otago Yearbook of Legal Research ( OYLR ), which includes top honours students' publications.
Otago Yearbook of Legal Research
Faculty of Law students and the New Zealand Law Students Journal
Students from the Faculty are also involved in producing the New Zealand Law Students Journal.
Research collection in the Otago University Research Archive
The Otago University Research Archive (OUR Archive) provides public access to University of Otago research outputs, including Faculty of Law academics and postgraduates.
Faculty of Law research centres
The Faculty of Law is home to the following research centres:
- New Zealand Law Foundation (NZLF) Centre for Law and Policy in Emerging Technologies
- Children's Issues Centre
- Otago Centre for Law and Society
- Civil Justice Centre
Faculty of Law research projects and other initiatives
There are a number of significant current and completed research and other projects based in the Faculty.
Current projects
- Conflict of Laws in New Zealand
- Indigenising the New Zealand Law degree
- New Zealand Legal Information Institute ( NZLII provides free access to New Zealand legal information)
Completed projects
Faculty of Law hosted lectures
The following Faculty of Law lecture recordings are available on YouTube.
| Speaker | Lecture title |
|---|---|
| Alice Irving Downie Stewart Law And Society 2023 |
Activist lawyers: Public Law as a tool for social justice Lecture on YouTube |
| Natalie Coates Downie Stewart Law and Society Lecture |
How can we protect the integrity of tikanga in the Lex Aotearoa endeavour? Lecture on YouTube |
| Anita Chan KC 2022 FW Guest Memorial Lecture |
Children's Rights, Neuroscience and the Family Justice System. Are we getting it right? Lecture on YouTube |
| Honourable Justice Sir Joe Williams 2021 FW Guest Memorial Lecture |
Decolonising the law in Aotearoa: Can we start with the law schools? Lecture on YouTube |
| Susan Lamb United Nations International Criminal Tribunals |
Accountability for serious international crimes committed during the Syrian conflict Lecture on YouTube |
| Salote Kaimacuata Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF Pacific |
Pacific's Small Island Developing States' Child Protection systems Lecture on YouTube |
| Professor Stephen Smith Faculty of Law, McGill University |
Rights, wrongs, and injustices: The structure of remedial law Lecture on YouTube |