Rate My Professor Simon Connell

Associate Professor Simon Connell is a member of the Faculty of Law at the University of Otago, where he joined the faculty in 2014 after completing his LLM and PhD at the institution. He holds an LLB, LLM, and PhD from the University of Otago. Prior to academia, Connell worked for the Accident Compensation Corporation. He teaches Contract Law (including Advanced Contract Law), Accidents and the Law, and Insurance Law. His research focuses on contracts and accidents, with insurance law representing an intersection between these areas. Within contract law, Connell examines interpretation and associated doctrines, alongside unique characteristics of Aotearoa New Zealand contract law. His studies address the doctrine of non est factum, the rule against penalties, online contracting by consumers, interpretation of registered documents, and the relationship between contract law and contractual practice. Connell's Accidents and the Law research investigates responses across legal fields to identical accident events—including no-fault accident compensation, workplace health and safety prosecutions leading to reparation, and tort claims for exemplary damages—the conceptions of justice underlying these responses, and conflict resolution.

Connell's publications have been cited by New Zealand appellate courts and other scholars. Key works include Community insurance versus compulsory insurance: competing paradigms of no-fault accident compensation in New Zealand (Legal Studies, 2019), contributions to Consumer Law in New Zealand (LexisNexis NZ Limited, 2023), his PhD thesis Justice for Victims of Injury: The Influence of ACC on the Civil and Criminal Law in New Zealand (2011), Not my doctrine? Finding a contract law explanation for non est factum (Victoria University of Wellington Law Review, 2016), and recent New Zealand Law Journal articles such as Requirements for statutory relief for contractual mistake (2025), Forfeiture-in-lieu-of-notice clauses in employment agreements (2025), and Prior negotiations and subsequent conduct in the interpretation of a collective employment agreement: New Zealand Steel Ltd v E Tū Incorporated (2024). He also produces short pieces for public-facing outlets and holds expertise in contract law, insurance law, accident compensation, workplace health and safety, tort law, contract interpretation, and private law theory.