Peter Watts

Peter Watts QC FRSNZ
Barrister, Arbitrator

Peter Watts joined Bankside Chambers on a fulltime basis in 2017, having been a door tenant at the Chambers since 2009. He had been teaching for over 30 years at the University of Auckland in commercial law subjects. Throughout his career he has been a regular provider of legal opinions, writer of submissions, and adviser on pleadings, for the profession on a wide range of commercial topics, including in litigation before all levels of New Zealand courts and the Privy Council. Since 2010 he has also been a door tenant at Fountain Court Chambers, The Temple, London, where he has provided opinions in litigation, including for cases in the England and Wales Court of Appeal and several times in the United Kingdom Supreme Court.

Peter is currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford, and a Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College, Oxford. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand (Te Apārangi).

Peter has broad expertise in commercial law, including agency law, company law, contract law, equity and trusts, the law of restitution, and insolvency law. He is available to act in all these areas, either as counsel or arbitrator. In particular, Peter is one of the world’s leading authorities on the law of agency, and is the General Editor of Bowstead & Reynolds on Agency (21st ed, Sweet & Maxwell, 2018). His other books include Watts, Campbell and Hare Company Law in New Zealand (2nd ed, LexisNexis, 2014) and Directors’ Powers and Duties (2nd ed, Lexis Nexis, 2015). He is also a contributing author to Morison’s Company & Securities Law and Heath & Whale on Insolvency.—Bankside Chambers