2 minute read
Enhancing opportunities for our Pasifika tauira
from V.Alum 2021
by FacultyofLaw
The ‘Equity, Belonging and Authority/Power—How can Law, Policy and Practice support Pasifika in Aotearoa New Zealand— Improving Pasifika Legal Education’ project is a research project that aims to identify barriers to the success of Pasifika law students and law practitioners.
The overarching goal is to increase the number of Pasifika students enrolling and graduating with law degrees by systematically removing the barriers to success.
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The project is funded by the Michael and Suzanne Borrin Foundation and is led by Hon. Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, with the support and participation of law schools across New Zealand.
The research work will involve a literature review and analysis of data collected from talanoa (conversations) in New Zealand that will be compiled into a final report. The process will capture the ‘lived experience’ of Pasifika students’ learning journey towards becoming Pasifika legal professionals by way of talanoa. It will also build our capacity for generative dialogue to create knowledge and envision new possibilities and solutions by way of a virtual hub that will connect students, graduates, and lawyers with academics and policymakers through a series of virtual talanoa. The hub will focus on themes of equity, belonging, and authority relating to Pasifika in Aotearoa. The research is supported by two advisory panels. The Academic Advisory Panel is chaired by Associate Professor Guy Fiti Sinclair from Auckland Law School, and the Students and Law Practitioners Advisory Panel (Komiti Poto) is chaired by Ms Tania Sharkey. Each university’s Faculty of Law is represented in the advisory panels as well as Pasifika law practitioners.
This collaborative project was launched on 30 October 2021 by the Minister for Pacific Peoples and Courts, and the Associate Minister of Justice, Foreign Affairs, Health (Pacific Peoples), and Education (Pacific Peoples), Hon. Aupito William Sio. The Improving Pasifika Legal Education Project is complemented by a range of research, including, 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 launched simultaneously on 30 October 2021.
The Project’s website will not only be a medium for information relating to the project but also serves as a multidisciplinary research network and a tool to connect students, graduates, and lawyers with academics and policymakers through virtual talanoa. In the short term, the project hopes to establish coordinated action across Aotearoa’s universities and bring together students, practising lawyers, academics, and policymakers to collectively work out the barriers and interventions to Pasifika students’ and lawyers’ success.
The Pasifika Law Research Fellow of the project, Dr Mele Tupou Vaitohi, says, “We hope this research will shed light on the voice, experiences, and realities of the Pasifika law students and law professionals in order to bring about informed and meaningful changes.”
The long-term vision of this project is to improve legal education to increase the number of Pasifika in the legal profession, and to improve the experience and success of Pasifika students who pursue a legal degree. Ultimately it will build a pathway for Pasifika into the legal profession and legal academia.
From left: Mr Wiliame Gucake, Ms Tupe Solomon-Tanoa’i, Dr Mele Tupou Vaitohi, Professor Mark Hickford, Associate Professor Guy Fiti Sinclair
