Bridgette Toy-Cronin, Our People, Faculty of Law, University of Otago, New Zealand

Bridgette Toy-Cronin 186

Director, Civil Justice Centre
Co-Director, Otago Centre for Law and Society
Associate Professor

BA, LLB(Hons) (Auck), LLM (Harv), PhD (Otago)

Tel +64 21 279 0488
Email bridgette.toy-cronin@otago.ac.nz
Civil Justice Centre
Otago Centre for Law and Society

Teaching

My aim is to broaden and deepen my students’ understanding of law by guiding them to make connections between the law they study in the books and how it works in the real world. I strive to encourage active and reflective learners who are aware of a range of possibilities in the legal field, understand the diversity of clients and their needs, and who are committed to improving access to justice in their communities.

LAWS 101 The Legal System (Course coordinator)
LAWS 350 Lawyers, Clients, and the Profession

Supervision

I welcome inquiries for students interested in the field of civil justice research. I am not currently employing any new fellows.

Completed students

Margaret Courtney (LLM) (with Professor Jacinta Ruru)
Mihiata Pirini (LLM, Distinction) (with Professor Jacinta Ruru)

Research

My research is focused on improving access to the civil justice system, particularly the areas of that system that people are most likely to come into contact with, and about people who face the most significant barriers.

I research in three areas:

Disputants
Dispute resolution design
Socio-legal methods for civil justice research

In carrying out this research, I:

Focus on aspects of the civil justice system that people are most likely to come into contact with, and about people who face the most significant barriers
Give voice to the people accessing justice through research and engagement
Foster collaboration in recognition of the fact that transformation requires diversity and shared commitment of many players

Disputants

I examine a variety of ways to support people to access the justice system including information and self-help services, advice, and representation.

Some of the projects conducted under this area include:

Dispute resolution design

This work has focused on the future of courts, dispute resolution spaces, adjudication and mediation, and their integration. In doing so I work with and alongside other organisations including the New Zealand Bar Association, the Rules Committee, and the Courts Strategic Partnership Group.

Some of the projects conducted under this area include:

Socio-legal methods for civil justice research

The study of the civil justice system requires using socio-legal methods, which differ from the doctrinal methods most commonly used in the study of law. I study the application of these methods and their ethical implications in the civil justice setting.

Background

I completed my undergraduate education in law and politics at the University of Auckland. Keen to see the world, I spent a year abroad at the University of California San Diego. After graduating with a BA and LLB(Hons) from Auckland, I served as an intern at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. I then had a number of legal roles including as a High Court Judges' Clerk in Wellington, a legal advisor at the Cambodian Defenders Project on Women's Rights in Phnom Penh, and a commercial litigator in New Zealand and Australia. During this period, I also received a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School (2005) and a Diploma in Te Ara Reo Māori from Te Wananga o Aotearoa (2007). I left legal practice in 2010 to raise my children and study for a PhD, which was awarded in 2015. I began working as an academic at Otago in 2016.

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Publications

Toy-Cronin, B. (2023). Access to justice for consumers. In K. Tokeley & V. Stace (Eds.), Consumer law in New Zealand. (3rd ed.) (pp. 669-698). Wellington, New Zealand: LexisNexis.

Toy-Cronin, B. (2022). Responding to abusive litigation: Short v Short. New Zealand Women's Law Journal, 7, 64-76.

Toy-Cronin, B., & Stewart, K. (2022). Expressed legal need in Aotearoa: From problems to solutions. (pp. 1-86). Dunedin, New Zealand: Civil Justice Centre, University of Otago. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/14116

Toy-Cronin, B. (2022). A happy medium? Telephone hearings for litigants in person facing housing eviction. Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law, 44(4), 477-494. doi: 10.1080/09649069.2022.2136710

Toy-Cronin, B. (2022). Arguing about the invoice. New Zealand Law Journal, (7), 241-242, 248.

Toy-Cronin, B. (2023). Access to justice for consumers. In K. Tokeley & V. Stace (Eds.), Consumer law in New Zealand. (3rd ed.) (pp. 669-698). Wellington, New Zealand: LexisNexis.

Chapter in Book - Research

Toy-Cronin, B. (2018). Ethical issues in insider-outsider research. In R. Iphofen & M. Tolich (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research ethics. (pp. 455-469). London, UK: SAGE.

Chapter in Book - Research

Toy-Cronin, B., & Byrne, K. (2017). Medical legal aspects of regional anesthesia: Legal perspective. In B. T. Finucane & B. T. H. Tsui (Eds.), Complications of regional anesthesia: Principles of safe practice in local and regional anesthesia. (3rd ed.) (pp. 483-488). Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-49386-2_35

Chapter in Book - Research

Toy-Cronin, B. (2022). A happy medium? Telephone hearings for litigants in person facing housing eviction. Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law, 44(4), 477-494. doi: 10.1080/09649069.2022.2136710

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. (2022). Arguing about the invoice. New Zealand Law Journal, (7), 241-242, 248.

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. (2022). Lessons from a failed court reform: The cautionary tale of the 2009 New Zealand District Courts Rules. Journal of Judicial Administration, 31, 138-153.

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. (2022). Responding to abusive litigation: Short v Short. New Zealand Women's Law Journal, 7, 64-76.

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B., & Irvine, B. (2022). "Tighten, cull and focus": An experiment examining lay and lawyer claims in a mock online court. Law & Social Inquiry, 47(4), 1234-1263. doi: 10.1017/lsi.2021.75

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. (2021). Power in civil litigation. Policy Quarterly, 17(2), 29-34.

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B., Choe, L., & Stewart, K. (2021). “A lot of people are paying like $5 a week for 20 years”: New Zealand lawyers, discounts, and payment plans. International Journal of the Legal Profession, 28(3), 335-349. doi: 10.1080/09695958.2020.1863219

Journal - Research Article

Stewart, K., & Toy-Cronin, B. (2020). What is pro bono and how much do lawyers do? New Zealand Law Journal, (December), 414-420.

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. (2020). Compounding the abuse: Family violence, damages and the Tenancy Tribunal. New Zealand Universities Law Review, 29(2), 201-224.

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. (2019). Explaining and changing the price of litigation services. New Zealand Law Journal, 9, 310-319.

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. (2019). Justice customers: Consumer language in New Zealand justice. Policy Quarterly, 15(4), 57-63. doi: 10.26686/pq.v15i4.5925

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. (2019). Leaving emotion out: Litigants in person and emotion in New Zealand civil courts. Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 9(5), 684-701. doi: 10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1034

Journal - Research Article

Adams, J., & Toy-Cronin, B. (2018). Nurturing tradition in Dunedin: Courthouses, lawyers, and justice. Otago Law Review, 15(2), 257-284.

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. (2018). Beyond “doing a few interviews”. New Zealand Law Journal, (November), 325-329.

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B., Irvine, B., Nichols, D., Cunningham, S. J., & Tkacukova, T. (2018). Testing the promise of access to justice through online courts. International Journal of Online Dispute Resolution, 5(1-2), 39-48. doi: 10.5553/ijodr/235250022018005102005

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. (2017). A defence of the right to litigate in person. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 37(1), 238-254. doi: 10.1093/ojls/gqw027

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. (2017). From litigator to researcher: The burdens and benefits of moving between the profession and the academy. International Journal of the Legal Profession, 24(3), 341-358. doi: 10.1080/09695958.2016.1228532

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. (2016). Counsel's tables? Seating counsel and litigants-in-person in the courtroom. New Zealand Law Journal, 4, 148-151.

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. (2016). I ain't no fool: Deciding to litigate in person in the civil courts. New Zealand Law Review, 4, 723-754.

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. A. (2010). What is forced marriage: Towards a definition of forced marriage as a crime against humanity. Columbia Journal of Gender & Law, 19(2), 539-590.

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. (2002). Waiver of the rule against bias. Te Mata Koi Auckland University Law Review, 9(3), 850-882.

Journal - Research Article

Toy-Cronin, B. (2022). [Review of the book Litigants in person: Principles and practice in civil and family mattes in Singapore. Asian Journal of Comparative Law, 17, 191-193. doi: 10.1017/asjcl.2022.5

Journal - Research Other

Toy-Cronin, B. (2017). [Review of the book Feminist judgments of Aotearoa New Zealand Te Rino: A two-stranded rope]. New Zealand Women's Law Journal, 1, 192-199. [Book Review].

Journal - Research Other

Toy-Cronin, B. (2016). Just an hour of your time? Providing limited (unbundled) assistance to litigants in person. LawTalk, 884, 20-23.

Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles

Toy-Cronin, B. (2015). Searching for a legal oasis: Legal service provision and the "justice gap". Proceedings of the Family Law Conference. (pp. 411-418). Wellington, NZ: NZLS CLE. [Full Paper]

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper

Tkacukova, T., Gee, M., Toy-Cronin, B., & Irvine, B. (2019). Corpus linguistics as a methodological tool for socio-legal studies. Proceedings of the Socio Legal Studies Association (SLSA) Annual Conference. Retrieved from https://slsa2019.com

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Toy-Cronin, B., & Adams, J. (2018). Courthouses, ceremony and the legal profession: A case study on Dunedin's court re-opening. Proceedings of the Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand (LSAANZ), the Canadian Law and Society Association (CLSA) and the Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) of the UK Joint International Conference: Inclusion, Exclusion, Democracy. (pp. 21). Retrieved from http://www.uowblogs.com/lsaanz2018

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Toy-Cronin, B. (2015). A limited welcome: Methods and motives for communicating outsider status to litigants in person. Proceedings of the Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand (LSAANZ): Inside Out. (pp. 49-50). Retrieved from http://www.aomevents.com/LSAANZ2015

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Toy-Cronin, B., Miller, F., & Watson, L. (2019, July). Rethinking civil justice in Aotearoa: How to make it accessible. Panel discussion at the University of Otago Winter Symposium Series, Wellington, New Zealand.

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Toy-Cronin, B., & Irvine, B. (2017, December). Accurate explanation of a dispute in an online court: A study design. Verbal presentation at the Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand (LSAANZ) Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Toy-Cronin, B. (2016, June). Obsessed about obsessives? The challenge of persistent litigants. Verbal presentation at the Law and Society Association (LSA) Annual Meeting: At the Delta: Belonging, Place and Visions of Law and Social Change, New Orleans, USA.

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Toy-Cronin, B. (2013, November). Insights from self-represented litigants: Perceptions of opposing counsel conduct: Rules and realities. Verbal presentation at the Australia and New Zealand Legal Ethics Colloquium (ANZLEC) 4: Challenging Professional Boundaries, Adelaide, Australia.

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Toy-Cronin, B., Pirini, M., Turner, D., & Duncan, D. (2020). An evaluation of legal information chatbots: Useability, utility, and accuracy. Commissioned by Citizen AI, Community Law Wellington & Community Law Centres O Aotearoa. 58p.

Commissioned Report for External Body