Rate My Professor Margaret Briggs

Professor Margaret Briggs is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Otago. She holds an LLB (Hons) and an LLM from the University of Otago, completing her master's thesis on 'Mistake of law' in 1994. Her research interests encompass criminal law, property law, and family property law. Briggs has progressed in her academic career at the University of Otago, noted as a Senior Lecturer in 2009 and delivering her Inaugural Professorial Lecture titled 'Criminal Attempts: how close is too close?' in 2017, later published in the Otago Law Review in 2018.

Briggs has authored and co-authored numerous scholarly works. Key publications include 'The Property Relationships Act 1976-2026' with Nicola Peart in the New Zealand Law Journal (2026); 'Criminal law' with Scott Smith in the New Zealand Law Review (2025); chapters on 'Property (Relationships) Act: Parts 2, 4 & 5' in Brookers Family Law: Family Property by N. Peart (multiple editions, 2024-2025); 'Property rights of cohabitants in New Zealand' in Research Handbook on Family Property and the Law (2024); 'Marital Agreements and Private Autonomy in New Zealand' in Marital Agreements and Private Autonomy in a Comparative Perspective (2012); 'The Conduct Requirement in the Law of Attempt: A New Zealand Perspective' in Common Law World Review (2015); 'Relocating Officially Induced Error of Law: Fitting the Remedy to the Wrong' in Common Law World Review (2009); 'Historical Analysis' in Relationship Property on Death edited by Nicola Peart, Margaret Briggs, and Mark Henaghan (2010); 'Which Relationships Should be Included in a Property Sharing Scheme?' in Modern Family Finances (2013); and 'Rethinking Relationships' in Victoria University of Wellington Law Review (2017). Her contributions address property division in relationships, criminal attempt doctrines, and error of law remedies within New Zealand law.