Prof David McLauchlan - Associate Member

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Professor David McLauchlan undertakes advisory work mainly in the fields of contract law, sales and secured transactions.

David joined the Law Faculty at Victoria University of Wellington in 1971 and has been Professor of Law since 1981. He is also Honorary Professor at The University of Queensland, where he teaches in the Law School's Graduate Programme, and in 2008 was the McWilliam Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Sydney.

David is the author of two books and has published more than 100 book chapters and journal articles, mainly in the areas of the law of contract and commercial law. His writings have been widely cited in the judgments of leading Commonwealth courts. He has received University awards for excellence in teaching and in research. The students at Victoria have voted him best lecturer in the Law Faculty several times in recent years.

David's recent research has focused on remedies for breach of contract and contract interpretation. In 2007 a New Zealand Supreme Court judgment paid tribute to his "impeccable scholarship" in the interpretation field, saying that "his work to bring some logic and cohesion into the task of contractual interpretation has been as outstanding as it has been tireless'.

  • Areas of practice:
    • Contracts
    • Sales
    • Secured Transactions
  • Admission to Bar:
    • 1971
  • Academic Qualifications:
    • 1973 - LLM (Victoria University of Wellington)
    • 1970 - LLB (Victoria University of Wellington)
  • Appointments:
    • 2008 - McWilliam Professor in Commercial Law, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney
    • 2005 - Editorial Board of the Journal of Contract Law
    • 2004 - Honorary Professor, TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland
    • 2004 - Visiting Professor, TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland
    • 2002 - Visiting Senior Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of Melbourne
    • 1995 - 2009 Editorial Board of the New Zealand Business Law Quarterly
  • Publications (since 2000)
    • (With CEF Rickett) "SAAMCO in the High Court of Australia" (2000) 116 LQR 1
    • "New Bullas in New Zealand - Round Two" (2000) 116 LQR 211
    • "Fundamentals of the PPSA - An Introduction" (2000) 6 NZBLQ 166
    • "The New Law of Contract Interpretation" (2000) 19 NZULR 147
    • "Intention to Induce: Should it be a Requirement for Actionable Misrepresentation?" (2001) 7 NZBLQ 43
    • "Some Further Thoughts on Agreements to Agree" (2001) 7 NZBLQ 156
    • "Contractual Mistakes: The Troubles Continue" (2001) 7 NZBLQ 261
    • "Forfeiture of Deposits: Punishing the Contract Breaker" [2002] NZ Law Rev 1
    • "Forfeiture of Deposits: A Reply" [2002] NZ Law Rev 33
    • "Damages for Misrepresentation under the Fair Trading Act: The Aftermath of Cox & Coxon" (2002) 8 NZBLQ 14
    • "Recovery of Lost Profits for 'Reasonable Grounds' Misrepresentations" (2002) 8 NZBLQ 110
    • "The Contractual Mistakes 'Code': A Polite Response to Mr Dugdale" (2002) 8 NZBLQ 132
    • "The FCE/ECNZ Heads of Agreement: Progress Report or Binding Contract?" (2002) 8 NZBLQ 192
    • "Intention, Incompleteness and Uncertainty in the New Zealand Court of Appeal" (2002) 18 JCL 153
    • "Fair Trading Act Damages: Clarification or Misapprehension Compounded?" (2002) 8 NZBLQ 250
    • "The Legal Status of Heads of Agreement: Recent Developments" [2002] AMPLA Yearbook 518
    • "Contract Damages for Wasted Expenditure" (2003) 9 NZBLQ 3
    • "More on the Contractual Mistakes 'Code'" (2003) 9 NZBLQ 51
    • "An Obvious Case of Offer and Acceptance?" (2003) 9 NZBLQ 109
    • "The Justiciability of An Agreement to Negotiate in Good Faith" (2003) 20 NZULR 265
    • "The Contractual Mistakes 'Code': Professor Sutton's Solutions" (2003) 9 NZBLQ 261
    • "Contract Interpretation - A Return to Judicial Conservatism?" (2004) 10 NZBLQ 66
    • "A Contract Conundrum?" (2004) 10 NZBLQ 189
    • "Interpretation and Necessary Implications" (2004) 21 NZULR 331
    • "Mistake of Identity and Contract Formation" (2005) 21 JCL 1
    • "Parol Evidence and Contract Formation" (2005) 121 LQR 9
    • "Defying Common Sense in Contract" [2005] NZLJ 300
    • "The Agreement to Negotiate in Good Faith: A Non-Justiciable Contract?" (2005) 11 NZBLQ 454
    • "In Defence of the Fourth Category of Preliminary Agreements: Or are there only Two?" (2005) 21 JCL 286
    • "Objectivity in Contract" (2005) 24 UQLJ 479
    • "In Defence of A Role for Subsequent Conduct in Contract Interpretation" (2006) 12 NZBLQ 30
    • "A Reliance Interest in Contract Damages?" [2006] NZLJ 254
    • "Contract Formation, Contract Interpretation, and Subsequent Conduct" (2006) 25 UQLJ 77
    • "Reliance Damages for Breach of Contract" [2007] NZ Law Rev 417
    • "Some Issues in the Assessment of Expectation Damages" [2007] NZ Law Rev 563
    • "Expectation Damages - Mitigation, Compensating Advantages and Subsequent Events" in Saidov and Cunnington (eds), Contract Damages: Domestic and International Perspectives (Hart, Oxford, 2008) 349
    • "Timely Payment but No Settlement: A Necessary Requirement of Notification?"(2008) 14 NZBLQ 37
    • (With N Hegan) "Contract Damages: Fundamental Principle, Fundamental Disagreement" (2008) 46 Can Bus LJ 89
    • "The 'Drastic' Remedy of Rectification for Unilateral Mistake" (2008) 124 LQR 608
    • "Contract Interpretation: What Is It About?" (2009) 31 Syd L Rev 5
    • "Plain Meaning and Commercial Construction: Has Australia Adopted the ICS Principles? Or is Codelfa Still Good Law?" (2009) 25 JCL 7

Email : david.mclauchlan@vuw.ac.nz
Direct Dial : +64 4 463 6352
Mobile : +64 27 440 2756
Postal : Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington