More than 200 members of the legal fraternity and those in the judiciary are in the country to participate in the first Pasefika Lawyers Collective CPD Conference.

Guided by the theme “Service is the Pathway to Leadership” (O le ala ile pule ole tautua), the three-day conference started on Wednesday with an ava ceremony held at the Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi convention centre.  

Guests included the Supreme Court Chief Justice of Queensland Australia, Helen Bowskill, Court of Appeal Justice of Queensland Justice Philip Morrison, New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Hament Dhanji, Chief Magistrate Janelle Brassington and Chief Magistrate Wendy Cull.  

The judiciary members from abroad were welcomed by the local bench led by Chief Justice, His Honour Satiu Simativa Perese and the Judges of the Supreme Court and District Court. Also present were lawyers from Australia, Fiji, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and members of the Samoa Law Society.  

The conference is a joint initiative by Pasefika legal professionals network associations based primarily in the blue Pacific to connect, share views and learn about their cultural diversity and its impact on the practice of law.

In greeting the guests, the President of Samoa Law Society, Alex Sua spoke about the Samoan proverb 'o le ala ile pule ole tautua' and its cultural context. 

He said the proverb speaks of the very fabric of the Samoan traditional authority. In the legal context, he said, the word tautua is about a lawyer's consistency, resilience, diligence and assistance to the judiciary in the most helpful way through submissions. 

He noted it is always about creating laws and jurisprudence of the law that is good law and about service justice and respect for the rule of law. 

Mr. Sua also spoke about members of the legal fraternity and the judiciary, who had prestigious jobs and attractive remuneration packages abroad, but opted to work in Samoa because of this cultural concept tautua. 

"Overall, tautua is about your love of your family, your people, your country and as lawyers, for being fearlessly an advocate of justice, an agent of change and for inspiring the respect of the rule of law," he said. "We get disillusioned when we think of ourselves as just lawyers.

"But we may not be when we realise and tell ourselves that we are Pasefika lawyers. We serve with love and dignity. In saying that, I quote another famous Samoan proverb 'E manatua pule ae le manatua faalaeo'. Love and mercy will always be remembered but destruction is never."

Mr. Sua then went on to share his story of tautua where he accepted his parents' wish to study law and to become a lawyer. 

"I have always wanted to be a flight attendant," he said. "But I let go, surrendered and sacrificed my desires or dream job to become a lawyer because I loved them. 

"Their wish comes before my desire. I loved them so much that I had to make them happy. They bore witness to that achievement for them and my family. I observed how happy they were and that made me so happy."

The lawyer said now that his parents are no longer around, he always feels that he has achieved that higher calling for them and it continued to elevate him 

"...because such an achievement was from my tautua," he added. "It came from a place of love. It is my love of service. It is also this very understanding of tautua, that this conference has eventuated."