COVID-19 has made us realise the importance of excellent legal education which is a necessity now and not a luxury.
The Acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Fiji Professor Shaista Shameem said this after the Bachelor of Laws students of the university were admitted to the Bar by the Chief Justice the Kamal Kumar at the Grand Pacific Hotel this week.
Professor Shameem said she was honoured to have been asked to move two petitions- of Ratu Sailosi Dawai of Narewa and of Joseph Rao of Taveuni.
According to a statement by the university, Ratu Sailosi is the President of the University of Fiji Students Association and a member of the University Senate and Council while Joseph scored the highest marks in LLB at the School of Law.
Prof Shameem said the occasion of admission to the Bar was always a proud moment not only for the School of Law and the University but also for the families of the graduates.
“Many families had made tremendous sacrifices so that their children could attend law school and become lawyers,” she said.
She said that the Justice Devendra Pathik School of Law emphasised the importance of both hard and soft skills in its law programme as it wanted to train students to be both good lawyers and good citizens.
“Employers were looking for graduates who were at the top of their game”
Meanwhile the formal ceremony was presided by Justice Kumar.
Senior Judges of the Fijian Court, the newly elected President of the Fiji Law Society, Wylie Clark, the Director of the Legal Aid Commission, Shahin Ali and other senior lawyers of Fiji were also present to witness the admission formalities.
