Bankside Chambers barrister obtains doctor of civil law degree in Oxford first

Bankside Chambers barrister Peter Watts KC has obtained a doctor of civil law from Oxford University – the first New Zealander to do so by examination.

Watts was granted leave to supplicate for the degree for his work on the law of agency. He received the higher doctorate after an evaluation of 12 of his publications by both internal and external examiners. Among the articles submitted for review was Bowstead & Reynolds on Agency, on which Watts served as general editor.

Watts has been teaching law at Oxford University as a visiting professor since 2017. He has advised on matters involving the common law of agency in the UK, Australia, New York and Denmark.

His practice in New Zealand encompasses banking, insolvency, company, equity and trusts, restitution, and contract law. In addition, he has been involved in international arbitrations.

Watts joined Bankside Chambers full time in 2017. He spent over 30 years as a member of the law faculty at the University of Auckland. He has also been a door tenant at Fountain Court Chambers, a Magic Circle chambers focusing on commercial disputes, in London since 2010. In addition, he is a senior research fellow at Harris Manchester College in Oxford and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand (Te Apārangi).

According to Bankside Chambers, in awarding the doctor of civil law degree judges evaluate the evidence submitted according to criteria such as:

• if the evidence demonstrates excellence in academic scholarship
• if the evidence is of the absolute highest quality
• if the evidence is substantial in scale and in the contribution it has made to knowledge
• if the evidence is sustained over time and showing current and continued contribution to scholarship
• if the evidence is authoritative, being able to demonstrate impact on the work of others
• if the evidence is of global reach and international importance within the field
• if the evidence is of such breadth or covering such branches of knowledge appropriate to the field and in line with disciplinary norms and expectations.