Invitation to an Evidence Masterclass with Associate Professor Scott Optican and Jack Oliver-Hood
New Zealand Law Review - Evidence

Date: Wednesday 22nd October 2025

Time: 4:45pm, for a 5:00pm start concluding at 7:30pm

Venue: Russell McVeagh, Vero Centre, Level 30, 48 Shortland Street, Auckland

Registration fees:

Members  $95 incl GST

Non-Members  $125 incl GST

Academics  $45 incl GST

bookings are essential as the venue is limited in space

Enquires: julia@legalresearch.org.nz

In the MASTERCLASS™ series leading commentators who regularly contribute to the New Zealand Law Review provide updates on recent developments in their specialist fields.

Evidence Masterclass

This session will be covering selected topics in evidence law for both civil and criminal law practitioners. Discussion on sections of the Evidence Act 2006 and accompanying case law to engage with the audience an understanding on how evidence law works.  The topics will be a mix of civil and criminal – and will be designed to elaborate evidence law on a principled basis (reviewing with the audience how courts and lawyers think or should think about various rules of evidence under the Act).

Scott Optican BA (Berkeley), MPhil (Cambridge), JD (Harvard)

Associate Professor Scott Optican teaches evidence, criminal procedure and criminal law and policy at the University of Auckland Faculty of Law. He has published extensively in those fields and served on the expert panel for the second and third reviews of the Evidence Act 2006 conducted by the New Zealand Law Commission| Te Aka Matua o te Ture. Scott is also the contributing editor in evidence law for the New Zealand Law Review and a regular presenter on evidence law to the Criminal Bar Association and The Law Association. He is a General Editor and co-author of Mahoney on Evidence (2d ed, Thomson Reuters, Wellington, 2024).

Jack Oliver-Hood LLB (Auckland), LLM (Columbia)

Jack Oliver-Hood is a barrister specialising in intellectual property and commercial litigation. He also regularly advises clients on matters touching on tikanga Māori and te tiriti o Waitangi – and maintains a legal aid practice dealing with criminal cases involving miscarriages of justice. Jack previously taught evidence law at the University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology law schools. He was also a member of the Law Commission's expert advisory group for the third review of the Evidence Act 2006. Jack is former Judges’ Clerk for the Auckland High Court – where he clerked for (now) Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann and (now) President of the Court of Appeal Mark Cooper. He is a co-author of Mahoney on Evidence (2d ed, Thomson Reuters, Wellington, 2024).