Mrs Jessica Palmer

BCom/LLB(Hons) (Auck), LLM (Cantab), LLM (Auck)

Jessica’s research interests lie in the law of obligations, restitution, equity and commercial law. Her current teaching includes Contract Law, Commercial Equity and Sales and Insurance Law.

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 read for an LLM at Cambridge University.  In 2005, Jessica joined the Otago University Law Faculty as a Lecturer and has received Teaching Awards in 2006 and 2008. She was appointed a Senior Lecturer in 2009.

Jessica is a Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society and a Leonard Cowling Scholar at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

Selected Publications

• "Theories of the trust and what they might mean for beneficiary rights to information" [2010] New Zealand Law Review 541-565
• "Attempting Clarification of Constructive Trusts" (2010) 24 New Zealand Universities Law Review 113-135
• "Remedies for Breach of Fiduciary Duty in Joint Ventures" chapter 16, The Law of Remedies: New Directions in the Common Law, (eds J Berryman and R Bigwood, Irwin Law, Toronto) pp 547-574
• Contributing author to Equity and Trusts in New Zealand, (ed A Butler, 2nd ed, Thomson Reuters, Wellington, 2009), chapters 12, 13 and 15
• (jointly authored with Charles Rickett) “Joint Ventures and Fiduciary Law” in Joint Ventures Law (eds P Joseph and M Chetwin), 2008, The Centre for Commercial & Corporate Law Inc, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, pp 81-94
• "Dealing with the Emerging Popularity of Sham Trusts" [2007] NZLR 81-112
• "Understanding the Director's Fiduciary Obligation" (2006) 12 NZBLQ 315-335
• "Chasing a Will-o-the-Wisp? Making Sense of Bad Faith and Wrongdoers in Change of Position" [2005] RLR 53-81
• "The Availability of Allowances in Equity: Rewarding the Bad Guy" (2004) 21 NZULR 146

Research Interests

 The law of obligations, Restitution, Equity and Company law

Contact Details

Tel: 03 479 8800
Office: 10th Floor - 10C12
e-mail: jessica.palmer@otago.ac.nz