Thirty-three law graduates from The University of the South Pacific (USP) were admitted to the bar as legal practitioners in an admission ceremony at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva today.
What took a lot of sacrifice, perseverance and hard work has now paid off for the young lawyers who celebrated with their family and friends as they took their oath of allegiance and legal practitioners’ oath.
A programme that would normally take young people four to five years to complete, took seven years to complete for William Lomaloma.
While completing his Bachelor of Law (LLB) in Labasa, Mr Lomaloma also worked for the Water Authority of Fiji in a mini call centre at their operations department.
Mr Lomaloma said he started his law journey back in 2012 and it was not an easy journey, working and studying at the same time. He started a family a few years into the law programme, so he had to re-shuffle his commitments because he had a young family to also support.
“I think my main motivators were my parents, and then when I started my young family my biggest motivators were my parents and my wife and daughter. I would admit it wasn’t easy, late nights and sometimes it was tough, but thinking of them and the sacrifices that they made, really motivated me to continue with this journey and here I am in the final lap being admitted to the bar,” he added.
For Sho’yab Rehman, breaking the norm and becoming the first lawyer in his family was the greatest achievement not just for him but also for his parents.
Mr Rehman said, “It was quite an amazing journey. I got to know a lot of new people, I got to learn about their struggles and share my struggles with them as well. And as you can see, this day is very fruitful for all of us.”
He has also advised young people studying in law and other fields to persevere and continue to have gratitude throughout their educational journey at USP.
“Once you get into the field, you must remember your families. They are going to be your main driving factor forward. Your families, your mother, your father, your siblings, they will be the main people motivating you,” he added.
