Following in Ethel Benjamin’s footsteps

Without the mentoring and support of Otago Faculty of Law members, Ethel Benjamin Scholarship recipient Caccia Armstrong doubts she would have applied to study at the University of Oxford.

Five months ago, Caccia (BSc/LLB Hons, 2022) was told by Universities New Zealand that she had been accepted into the one-year Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) at Oxford on an Ethel Benjamin Scholarship (an Otago alumna, Ethel was the first female Law graduate in New Zealand and the second in the British Empire).

Originally studying Health Science at Otago, in her second year Caccia found that Law was her passion.

Caccia tutored for the Legal System course during her final year at Otago and thoroughly enjoyed it.

She also says she did a lot of one-on-one tutoring for Law and Psychology papers with Disability Information and Support, “which was so valuable” and she “really enjoyed making connections and watching students develop and gain confidence”.

Caccia co-coordinated a student-led campaign to fundraise for Ōtepoti-Dunedin Whānau Refuge (formerly Te Whare Pounamu Dunedin Women's Refuge), raising more than $100,000 to support its work.

“I’m so grateful for my time at Otago. It was a very formative six years and I wouldn’t be where I am without the support of the Law Faculty,” Caccia says.

“Associate Professor Anna High was a great mentor to me and my supervisor for my honour’s dissertation. She was very encouraging and always willing to talk through legal issues with me. There are so many others. Danica McGovern, she's now in Wellington, of course. Len Anderson KC taught my advocacy class and he's now passed away, but he was tremendous.

“I think the wonderful thing about the Otago Law Faculty is you do get to know all the lecturers and tutors very well. They create this supportive environment and everyone contributes to you becoming a lawyer or other professional. Doing Torts with Barry Allen and Criminal Law with Professor Margaret Briggs. It was really wonderful, such a great experience.”

“I’m so grateful for my time at Otago. It was a very formative six years and I wouldn’t be where I am without the support of the Law Faculty.” – Caccia Armstrong

After Otago she worked for two years as a Judge’s Clerk at the Court of Appeal of New Zealand for Hon Justice Collins and Hon Justice Wylie.

Originally from Palmerston North, where she attended Palmerston North Girls’ High School, Caccia currently works with several other Otago alumni at South Auckland law firm Kayes Fletcher Walker, where she is a Junior Crown Prosecutor.

“It’s been an amazing experience over the last six months. Being in court and seeing how the law actually works in practice is so valuable to take over to Oxford.

“It’s been great to see some familiar faces from my Otago days.”

In late September she travelled to Oxford, where she will be based at Magdalen College.

“It’s a very, very old college. It was established in the fifteenth century, so there’s so much history there. All the people who have gone through and left all of that knowledge within the walls. There’s a deer park and all kinds of gardens. It looks incredible.”

By pursuing a Bachelor of Civil Law at Oxford, Caccia says she plans to deepen her understanding in the legal and political arenas of domestic and sexual violence. She aims to examine different jurisdictions' approaches to the prevention and mitigation of these issues and, consequently, contemplate how aspects of these systems could provide actionable solutions to Aotearoa's significant burden of intimate partner violence.

And how did she feel to receive the scholarship?

“It’s pretty awesome, very humbling. I wasn't expecting it at all really. And it's quite an honour to be recognised, I guess, in that way. The scholarship itself is quite meaningful, being for the first woman lawyer in New Zealand and also an Otago alumna.

“I remember being at university and parking on Ethel Benjamin Place and was like, wow, she's so cool, how inspiring. So, to be kind of in that realm with her is wonderful,” Caccia says.

– Kōrero by Kerry Dohig, Communications Adviser at the Development and Alumni Relations Office.