Law and LucÍa: Graduate hits law degree for six

Veronica Kirisome found out she was pregnant around the same time she was accepted to study law at the University of Auckland.

The thought of raising a newborn and studying full-time was a daunting one, she says.

"I was so keen to pursue law, but I thought I might have to hold off on it. I was sitting there thinking, what the heck do I do?"

It was in the silence of lockdown that Veronica decided, actually, she could pursue law and motherhood.

"That's when I decided to call my baby LucÍa, meaning light," she says. "She was the light I needed to see that I could do both."

Although staff told her it could take until 2026 to finish her degree, Veronica set herself a personal deadline: graduate before LucÍa turned five. And on September 10, 2025, one month before her daughter's fifth birthday, she crossed the stage.

Veronica was born in Aotearoa into a traditional Sāmoan home; her parents both spoke mainly Sāmoan, and had strong connections to their faith, family and friends.

"My parents worked very, very long hours, in these hard, laborious factory jobs. They did this to support my older siblings and me in going to school. In a way, education was very foreign to my parents because they weren't able to pursue it themselves. But it was what they wanted for us, and they did everything they could to make it work," she says.

When she was around 14, Veronica saw a pile of mail on the kitchen table in her Glenn Innes home. There were several bills for education-related expenses, and she says she had a bit of an epiphany.

"I had this really tangible evidence in front of me about how much education costs, and I thought, ‘Okay, they're really invested in this. They really believe in me.’ From then on, school became even more important; I knew how much of my parents' money, sweat and tears were going into it."

Veronica's value for education continued throughout high school, where she excelled. She then enrolled at the University of Auckland in a conjoint Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. Partway through, she decided to focus solely on her arts degree, majoring in criminology and sociology. And following her graduation, Veronica stepped into an office management job.

"Everything was great; it was a great job, with great colleagues, but for some reason my cup wasn't full, and I realised it was because I wanted to go back and finish my law degree."

Soldiering on

Veronica gave birth to her daughter in 2020, and at times, the pressure of study and parenting felt overwhelming. "I was getting my grades, but I was doing too much," she says. "Sometimes I thought people weren't open to my ideas, and I would dwell on this. I would think I wasn't smart enough, and I had negative self-talk."

After a "mini breakdown" midway through law school, Veronica rebuilt her life around a routine. She would wake at 4.45am, first humbling herself through prayer, then starting the day with her hardest task: running five kilometres with her Labrador, Soldier.

She keeps to this routine today.

"I would tell myself: I've already clocked the hardest thing today. Lectures aren't harder than that. Criticism isn't harder than that."

Veronica deliberately chose papers outside her comfort zone, including company law, consumer law, and employment law. "At first, it felt like another language. But I wanted to challenge myself. Now I can walk into a room in those fields and contribute."

She credits family, friends, faith and faculty for helping her get through her law degree. "I couldn't have gone through these years without my parents, my siblings, my church and my friends. They really saw that I was made to be a lawyer and a mother," she says.

Veronica’s mentors and professors at Auckland Law School were a great support too. "Jodi Gardner gave me boss energy. Mark Henaghan, though not one of my teachers, helped me sort out a payment plan for my last two papers. Without him, I would have had to delay my graduation. And Annette Sykes inspired me with how she loves and works so hard for her people."

Meanwhile, professional teaching fellow, Simon Schofield, inspired Veronica's interest in employment law. "Simon was so cool. He opened my eyes to this area where I can help my people.

"Some Pacific people who come to New Zealand don't know their rights at work. Seasonal workers are especially vulnerable. I want to make sure people in these positions aren't coerced, that bargaining levels are equal," says Veronica, who's currently volunteering at a community law centre and as a migrant advocate.

Sports law also interests her: a rugby and rugby league fan and lifelong kilikiti player, she hopes to one day run her own sports law agency.

Kilikiti is a Sāmoan version of cricket, and Veronica has been playing for around 26 years. "We play with a ball made out of rubber tree and a triangular bat. I love it. I play every summer, and my team, the St Pius GI Girls, have had two international tours to Brisbane. We've taken them out both times!"

The sport, she says, disciplines her mind; "it teaches me when to lead, when to perform, when to strategise. And when I'm on the pitch, I can let off steam."

Keeping it in the family

When she passed her final law exam, Veronica's daughter LucÍa delivered the news to her grandparents, who now live in Brisbane, Australia, along with her older siblings.

"I asked LucÍa to tell them that I passed my last exam because I knew they would be very emotional, and I couldn't face them. After LucÍa told them, all I could hear was my mum crying and telling LucÍa to say thank me because I made their dreams come true. Their dream was for their daughter to be a lawyer."

At her graduation dinner, Veronica presented her parents with her law and arts degrees.

"It only makes sense that I give them my certificates," she says. "It's their tears, hard work and dedication that allowed me to do this. My name might be on them, but it's definitely their achievement too."