To'abaita student completes Professional Diploma in Legal Practice in Fiji

A To'abaita student is among the two Solomon Islanders at the University of the South Pacific who were admitted to the Fiji Bar Association in Suva with 8 other regional students, last Friday.

He is Mr Flickson Samani who hails from Fulifo'oe Village in North Malaita. Another Solomon Islander who was also admitted is Mr Rodgers Tovosia. The regional students including those from Tuvalu, Samoa, Tonga, Federated States of Micronesia, Australia and Solomon Islands were duly sworn in last friday by the Chief Justice of Fiji, Daniel Fatiaki.

The admission of the students to the Fiji Bar will enable them to represent clients in the High Court of countries of Commonwealth Jurisdictions. The students have completed the Bachelor of Laws Degree at the University of the South Pacific, Emalus Campus in Port Vila, last year. Part of the training requires students to complete six months practical courses. This year the students have completed the Professional Diploma in Legal Practice (PDLP) at the Institute of Applied Legal Studies (IJALS), at the same university in Suva. This achievement has enabled them to be admitted to the Fiji Bar. The students were awarded the Fiji Legal Board Certificate.

In his remarks to the moving ceremony, Justice Fatiaki congratulated and welcomed the newly admitted lawyers to the Bar Association. He encouraged the new lawyers that their learning has just begun. But he expressed concern that a lot of lawyers in the Pacific region had deviated from the ethics of the legal profession. “I hope you will not follow the trend taken by others in the past. The Legal profession is a high calling and the privilege can be taken away if lawyers do not live accordingly,” he told the newly admitted lawyers.

The two Solomon Islanders will return to join the government soon. Mr Flickson Samani is expected to return to Solomon Islands tomorrow after his admission on friday.