Rate My Professor Alex Latu

Alex Latu is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Otago, having joined the faculty in 2020. He completed his BA and LLB degrees at the University of Otago in 2009, with studies encompassing law and politics that provided conceptual frameworks for understanding law's societal role. Latu advanced his legal education by earning an LLM from New York University School of Law on a Fulbright New Zealand Graduate Student Award, where he participated in a program blending law with social and political theory amid a diverse international cohort. Prior to his academic appointment, he clerked for judges in the New Zealand Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. He subsequently practiced as a solicitor in Sydney, Australia, handling litigation in media and intellectual property matters, particularly those at the nexus of traditional legal principles and emerging online technologies.

In his role at Otago, Latu contributes to teaching the Property Law course and leads the Media Law elective paper. His research interests center on media law, legal theory, and law and global governance. He also acts as the liaison for the Pacific Island Law Students' Association (PILSA). Key publications include "Pacific Islands review" in the New Zealand Law Review (2025); "Bad reputation and New Zealand's harm threshold in defamation: On Television New Zealand Ltd v Talley's Group Ltd" in the New Zealand Law Journal (2025); "Plural legal matters: Analysing the overlapping legal materiality in four categories of Whakairo Māori," co-authored with Stephen Young and Marama Turei, in the New Zealand Universities Law Review (2024); "Compelled disclosures and the 'collateral use prohibition'" in the New Zealand Law Journal (2024); "Restricting collateral use of compelled disclosures: The English and Australian approaches, and implications for New Zealand" in the Media & Arts Law Review (2023); and "Class Actions, Crown Negligence, Immunities and Epidemics on Trial," with Stephen Young, in the New Zealand Law Journal (2020). Earlier in his studies, Latu benefited from an Alumni Undergraduate Scholarship.