Nicola Taylor

Nicola Joy Taylor is a New Zealand academic, and a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand. She is a full professor at the University of Otago, holding the Alexander McMillan Leading Thinkers Chair in Childhood Studies, where she researches child and family law.

Academic career Taylor earned a Bachelor of Social Work degree with honours from Massey University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree with first-class honours from the University of Otago in 1998. From 2001, she undertook doctoral research at the University of Otago's Children's Issues Centre, supervised by Anne Smith and Mark Henaghan, with her 2006 PhD thesis titled Care of children: families, dispute resolution and the Family Court at the University of Otago. and full professor in 2021. Taylor holds the Alexander McMillan Leading Thinker Chair in Childhood Studies, Taylor was appointed to the Expert Reference Group formed in 2018 to assessing the reforms, and her research findings contributed to Andrew Little's 2020 Family Court Legislation Bill.

Selected works