Photo caption:Professor Petra Butler brings a global perspective and passion for human rights to the role of Executive Dean of the Ҷֱ Faculty of Law.
Now, Amo Matua | Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | Ҷֱ, Professor Butler brings her global perspective and passion for justice and promoting human rights to this leadership role.
“What I love about the law is that it’s there to help society to achieve the goals it wants to achieve and to help everyone live a better life. It’s not an end in itself, it’s really a tool to help us be a better society,” she says.
Professor Butler has lived in New Ҷֱ for the last 27 years, but she grew up in West Germany, close to the border with East Germany. She vividly remembers visiting relatives living under the communist regime before the reunification of Germany in 1990 and seeing the impact of restrictions there compared to daily life on the other side of the border. This experience was a huge influence on her decision to study law, and her ambition to promote human rights.
“From the age of 10 it was my job to organise and pack care packages for our relatives in East Germany. One of my cousins was the same age as me and over the years of corresponding with her and, once, being allowed to visit her and her family, I developed an awareness of the inequalities and rights limitations they were subjected to.”
She was studying at the University of Göttingen when the Berlin wall, separating East and West Germany, fell in 1989. “I think you had to have been there, it was a momentous occasion. Everybody with a car in East Germany came over [to West Germany]. Like many others, my parents took in a family who arrived in my hometown without anywhere to go and no real idea what to do with their newly acquired freedom.”
A qualified barrister and solicitor, Professor Butler specialises in international commercial contracts and human rights law and is known as one of New Ҷֱ’s leading human rights scholars. She loves to travel and learn about different cultures and has taught in all five continents, including being a judge’s clerk for six months at the South African Constitutional Court in the mid-1990s, and teaching stints in Montevideo, Uruguay, and at Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia in 2019.
“Living circumstances in Ethiopia were very challenging for my students, they might only have a few hours of electricity each day,” she says. “But they had this drive to get through and get the best education they could, which was very humbling. Those experiences have informed my teaching, in terms of trying to convey tolerance and diversity of thought to my students.”
Before becoming Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law at UC in February this year, Professor Butler worked at Victoria University in Wellington for 23 years and prior to that, at New Ҷֱ’s Ministry of Justice.
She is the Director of the Institute of Small and Micro States, promoting scholarly and governmental research, and is co-author of The New Ҷֱ Bill of Rights Act: A Commentary.
Professor Butler says UC’s Faculty of Law appealed because it does “fantastic work” and is very dedicated to its students. “We are the only law school with an Institute of Law, Emergencies and Disasters that involves a team of multi-disciplinary experts. It’s unique in New Ҷֱ and does impactful work working with the United Nations, as well as other academics and stakeholders. Disaster law is not the only area we excel in – other examples include bio-trade, cultural heritage law, and international law, including laws relating to Antarctica.”
She says the faculty offers excellent internship programmes for its students and works hard to ensure they are prepared for a law career. “We send two students each year to work in Washington with a senator - we’re the only law school in New Ҷֱ that has this kind of internship, it’s an amazing opportunity.
“We have a strong emphasis on the practical aspects of a Law degree with an extensive undergraduate internship programme that gives students a really hands-on experience of working in the field of law and helps them get valuable industry contacts. Our Capstone Project course provides excellent work skills training for graduates because it involves connecting with industry partners.”
The Bachelor of Criminal Justice degree is another strength of the faculty, Professor Butler says. “It’s unusual to have the Criminal Justice discipline sit within a Law faculty as it does at UC but I think our criminal justice colleagues and students bring really interesting perspectives – there’s a fantastic symbiosis between the two programmes.”
Professor Butler says her goal is to make UC’s Law Faculty a vibrant place for students and staff where intellectual discourse is encouraged. She wants to build on UC’s international connections and harness the exciting opportunities that Christchurch has to offer.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 - Peace, justice and strong institutions.
