Pacific Law graduate follows in mother's footsteps

Following in the footsteps of her pioneering mother and ‘prayer warrior’ grandmother, Law and Arts graduate Siobhan Sharkey was destined to aim high.

The University of Auckland graduate was awarded a conjoint degree in Law and Arts majoring in linguistics on 15 May. She was among a cohort of 25 Law graduates with Pacific heritage graduating from Auckland Law School week.

The daughter of Auckland Law School alumna Judge Tania Sharkey, New Zealand’s first District Court Judge of Tongan descent, and granddaughter of Kalolaine Fotu Sharkey; Siobhan says her parents and Mama have been some of her biggest supporters throughout her university studies.

“My parents cheered me on every step of the way, they never failed to remind me how proud they were, and were very understanding of my stress induced mood swings, my siblings too actually,” she laughs.

Her Mama (grandmother) plays a major role in her life and has been Siobhan’s very own prayer warrior.

“She never fails to wake up early in the morning and pray over me and my family, and I have no doubt in my mind that her prayers have played a huge part in getting me to where I am today.”

Siobhan's heritage has roots in the village of Houma, Tongatapu in Tonga, and the town of Strabane in Northern Ireland where late maternal grandfather William Sharkey hailed from.

Having been raised in the Catholic Church, Siobhan says faith has guided her through life's challenges and triumphs.

Siobhan’s parents were determined she and her siblings wouldn’t miss out on their Tongan language and culture. She spent a year living in Tonga with family in Fanga, on the island of Tongatapu near the capital of Nuku’alofa.

"When I was younger, I lived with my family in Fanga, attending Fanga GPS (government primary school) my parents wanted me to deepen my understanding and connection to our culture and family.”

Siobhan and her siblings continued to spend most summers in Tonga throughout their schooling years.

“I’ll always be grateful for the experience of living there. The love and hard work of my family in Tonga continues to ground and motivate me to work hard, so that one day I will return the same love they have always shown me."

The decision to study Law came about after her mother invited Siobhan to a Pacific Island Lawyers’ Association conference, she sat in on a panel discussing: ‘What you can do with your law degree?’ 

“I had just returned to New Zealand after living abroad, with no idea what I wanted to study but just the knowledge that’s what I was going to do. 

“Long story short, I enjoyed what I heard... My decision to study linguistics was because of my time overseas—I enjoyed experiencing other cultures and I wanted to keep learning about other languages and maintain the French language. Thankfully that’s worked out fairly well,” she says. 

She describes the university experience as a major learning curve, both academically and personally. 

Learning to juggle studies around her other commitments, especially in her final year was overwhelming. Siobhan was determined to graduate and also continue with her role on the executive team of Pacific Island Law Students’ Association (PILSA). 

“I put a lot of pressure on myself to graduate and carry out my role on PILSA’s executive team in a way that I could be proud of, but it just clouded everything else going on in my life, and the burn out was really hard.” 

Throughout it all Siobhan says she relied on the support of her family and prayed A LOT! 

“I wish I had a better blueprint for how I got through it, but it came down to the support from my loved ones, trusting the process, and remembering that it was all a means to an end.” 

She says one of the biggest highlights from Auckland Law School is the network of friends made over the past several years. 

“As cheesy as it sounds, the biggest highlight was the friends I made, since my first year of Uni, right up until my last. I owe a large part of that to PILSA.” 

Currently completing her professional legal studies course with the Institute of Professional Legal Studies (IPLS) Siobhan hopes to be admitted to the bar in September. 

“I’m currently interning at a Criminal Defence law firm and I am looking forward to what life looks like without assignments!”