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About Jessica
Professor Jessica Palmer is a prominent legal scholar in the Faculty of Law at the University of Otago, where she joined in 2005. She holds a BCom/LLB (Hons) from the University of Auckland, an LLM from the University of Cambridge, an LLM from the University of Auckland, and is a Chartered Member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors (CMInstD). Prior to her academic career, Palmer worked in a large commercial law firm in New Zealand, served as a Judges' Clerk at the Auckland High Court, and tutored in Equity at the University of Auckland. In 2004, she won the New Zealand Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Prize, which enabled her to study at Cambridge University, where she is a Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society and a Leonard Cowling Scholar at Sidney Sussex College. She is a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand and has received the Otago and Southland Emerging Director Award.
Palmer advanced to full Professor of Law in 2018 and held key leadership roles including Dean of the Faculty of Law from 2018 to 2021, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Humanities from 2021 to 2024, and currently serves as Deputy Vice-Chancellor External Engagement since August 2024. She has received multiple university teaching awards and national writing awards for her research, including the 2015 University of Otago Rowheath Trust Award and Carl Smith Medal for outstanding scholarly research achievement across all disciplines. Palmer advised the New Zealand Law Commission on its review of the law of trusts, contributing to the Trusts Act 2019. Her research focuses on equity and trusts, the law of restitution, and the law of contract, particularly their intersections with commercial and contractual dealings. Key publications include her editorship of Law and Policy in Modern Family Finance: Property Division in the 21st Century (Intersentia, 2017), 'The Revolution and Legacy of the Discretionary Trust' (Journal of Equity, 2017, with C. Rickett), 'Implications of the New Rule Against Penalties' (Victoria University of Wellington Law Review, 2016), and 'Constructive Trusts on Express Trusts: Principles under Threat' (Cambridge University Press, 2022). She has taught Contract Law, Wills and Trusts, Commercial Equity, Sales, and Insurance Law, and delivers regular presentations at conferences for practising lawyers and seminars for judges. Palmer also serves on governance boards, including as Deputy Chair of Laidlaw College, Chair of the Wilberforce Foundation, and a member of the National University of Samoa Council.
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