Rate My Professor Struan Scott

Professor Struan Scott serves as a Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Otago and holds the position of Convener of Student Experience. He earned his LLM from the University of Otago and an SJD from Duke University in 2001, with a doctoral thesis titled "A Corporate Opportunity Doctrine for Anglo-New Zealand Law." Scott began his legal education at the University of Otago, was admitted as a barrister and solicitor, and practiced as a staff solicitor in a medium-sized firm serving a mid-sized town and its farming community. In 1990, he returned to the University of Otago as a permanent faculty member and was promoted to full Professor in 2012.

His research specializations include banking law, property law—particularly indefeasibility of title—unjust enrichment, and corporate governance. Scott teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses such as Property Law, Banking Law, Company Law, and the Law of Restitution. He is a recognized media expert in commercial and corporate law, including banking law, company law, property law, and unjust enrichment. Among his extensive publications are recent contributions such as "Directors' duties: Section 131's important role as a mechanism for change" (Otago Law Review, 2025), "Title to land" and "The extent of the landholder's rights" in Hinde McMorland and Sim Land Law in New Zealand (2nd ed., 2025), "Wrongly placed structure: Collow v Body Corporate 171766" and "Sale of land: Vanifatova v Wang" (Butterworths Conveyancing Bulletin, 2025). Earlier works include "The Corporate Opportunity Doctrine and Impossibility Arguments" (Modern Law Review, 2003), "Duress and the Variation of Contracts: Looking Beyond General Statements of Principle to the Results in Particular Cases" (Otago Law Review, 2010), "Recovery of Misappropriated Trust Money from Third Parties" (Otago Law Review, 1996), "The Evolving Corporate Opportunity Doctrine: Is New Zealand Law Being Left Behind?" (New Zealand Business Law Quarterly, 2005), and "Interested transactions - fair value and disclosure" (New Zealand Business Law Quarterly, 2023).