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About Mihiata
Mihiata Pirini (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Whakatōhea) is a lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Otago, having joined the institution in July 2020. She holds a BA/LLB (Hons) from Victoria University of Wellington, an LLM from the University of Otago completed in 2020, and a Level 6 Diploma in te reo Māori from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. Her LLM thesis examined the accessibility of the Māori Land Court through a legal design and Kaupapa Māori research framework. Prior to academia, Pirini worked in public sector legal research and advice roles from 2011 to 2019, first at the New Zealand Law Commission and then as Crown Counsel in the Crown Law Office's Treaty of Waitangi team from 2017 to 2019. She was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the New Zealand High Court in 2010 and continues to maintain strong connections with the public sector through her academic work.
Pirini's research interests encompass public and administrative law, specifically the Treaty of Waitangi's influence on public decision-making, the relationship between tikanga Māori and state law, and legal design. She teaches LAWS 101: The Legal System, 200-level Wānanga, and LAWS 459: Treaty of Waitangi. Key publications include the chapter 'Māori legal issues in the Supreme Court, 2013-2023' in The New Zealand Supreme Court: The second ten years (LexisNexis, 2024); 'Dignity and Mana in the "Third Law" of Aotearoa New Zealand' co-authored with Anna High in the New Zealand Universities Law Review (2021); 'Tort to the environment: a stretch too far or a simple step forward?' with Maria Hook, Ceri Warnock, and Barry Allan (2021); and 'Climate Change and the Claiming of Tino Rangatiratanga' co-authored with Rhianna Morar in the New Zealand Women’s Law Journal (2021). She has contributed to conferences and seminars, including presentations on indigenising the law degree (2024) and the politicisation of tikanga teaching (2025). Pirini received the LLM Scholarship from the University of Otago Legal Issues Centre and Ngā Pae o te Maramatanga, and the Borrin Foundation Travel and Learning Award in 2023 for indigenous law research.
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