Improving Pasifika Legal Education project

Read a welcome to the Improving Pasifika Legal Education Project from Hon Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban.

Welcome from Hon Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban, DNZM, Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Pasifika)

Taloha ni. Malo e lelei. Fakaalofa lahi atu. Talofa. Ia Orana. Ni sa bula vinaka. Kam na mauri. Yokwe. Kia Orana. Gude tru olgeta frens. Talofa Lava and warm Pacific greetings.

Pacific people are over-represented in our courts and prisons but you will not see many Pasifika faces in the legal profession. A small number of Pacific people have excelled to become top lawyers and judges. However, Pacific people are New Zealand’s fastest growing youth population and we want to see more of them studying law and entering the legal profession.

The Improving Pasifika Legal Education Project aims to increase the number of Pasifika students enrolling and graduating with Law degrees by systematically removing the barriers to success. The Project will research barriers to success, identify solutions and explore the themes of equity, belonging and authority. A virtual hub will connect students, graduates and lawyers in a talanoa with academics and policy makers through a series of virtual and in-person fono.

The Improving Pasifika Legal Education Project is complemented by a range of research, for example Legal Systems of the Pacific – Introducing Sixteen Gems, edited by Emeritus Professors Tony Angelo QC and Jennifer Corrin; and the Comparative Law Journal of the Pacific, Volume 26 (2021), which will be launched simultaneously on 30 October 2021.

Our thanks to the Michael and Suzanne Borrin Foundation that has generously funded this project, led by Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, with the participation of law schools throughout New Zealand.

Work is already underway. Dr Mele Tupou Vaitohi has been recruited as the Project’s first Research Fellow and she has been working on the Project with Professor Mark Hickford, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Government, Law and Business at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellingon; Associate Professor Guy Fiti Sinclair, University of Auckland; Wiliame Gucake, Research Assistant, and Tupe Solomon-Tanoa’i, Chief Philanthropic Officer, Borrin Foundation.

We must reduce the number of Pacific people in the criminal justice system. Increasing the number of Pasifika Lawyers and Judges is an important step in achieving that aim. The Borrin Foundation has funded this project to assist in achieving this aim. The Project report will be available in 2022. Then to a prosperous future that will see an increase in the number of Pasifika lawyers and judges. We are determined that this project will see an improvement in the social indicators and an increase in the number of Pasifika in the legal profession.

Hon. Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban
Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Pasifika)
Victoria University of Wellington