Masterclass with Associate Professor Scott Optican and Jack Oliver-Hood - Evidence 22 October 2025

In the MASTERCLASS™ series leading commentators who regularly contribute to the New Zealand Law Review provide updates on recent developments in their specialist fields. The last few years have seen a proliferation of decisions under the Evidence Act 2006 from the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. In this MASTERCLASS™ Associate Professor Scott Optican and Jack Oliver-Hood will focus on those judgments most significant to the application and development of evidence law in civil and criminal proceedings. They will also discuss recent recommendations for amending the Evidence Act 2006 arising out of the 2024 third (and final) review of that legislation by the New Zealand Law Commission| Te Aka Matua o te Ture.

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 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).