Advocate for Pacific earns Master of Laws with distinction

Lawyer Siobhan Patia marked a major milestone on 4 May, graduating with a Master of Laws with distinction alongside full‑time legal practice, motherhood and Pacific advocacy.

Of Cook Islands Māori and Sāmoan heritage, Siobhan connects to Mitiaro (Nukuroa) on her mother’s side and Faleasi’u, Sāmoa, on her father’s.

She completed her Masters studies part-time, while managing full-time work and raising her first-born son with fiancé Liam Ratana.

Siobhan credits her parents, Ritua Patia-Samuelu and Ioelu Samuelu, as central to her journey. “My parents are my rock and I have inherited their work ethic” she says.

“Now I am graduating with distinction. I am truly grateful because this milestone is as much theirs as it is mine."

"I also have many other wider family that have supported me through my journey including my late grandparents Lolenese Lafoa’i, Laumua Lafoa’i, my late uncle Limasene Lafoa’i and Tautega Lafoa’i."

Siobhan completed a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws conjoint degree in 2015, combining her studies with work and active involvement in campus and community life, including the Pacific Island Law Students Association.

After several years working outside traditional legal practice, she returned to law, first in criminal defence in Auckland, then Crown prosecution in Northland, and later practising in family law. It was this experience in practice that drew Siobhan back to academia in 2022.

Undertaking her Masters degree while embedded in legal practice gave her research a sharp, grounded lens, shaped by the daily realities faced by Indigenous and Pacific families, navigating the legal system.

“Coming from practice to academia informed the areas of research and inquiry I wanted to focus on. The Masters degree allowed me to ask research questions that I believe are critical to our communities, especially our most vulnerable children and young people.”

Her research focuses on family and child-centred legal frameworks, including care and protection and family violence legislation, and comparative approaches to child wellbeing, with particular attention to Indigenous and Pacific contexts.

For Siobhan, academia became a space of reflection, a place to interrogate systems she encounters in courtrooms and communities.

Key support

Central to her academic journey has been the encouragement and mentorship of University of Auckland academic and lecturer Dr Ash Gillon, whose support played a key role in Siobhan’s decision to continue with postgraduate study.

“Ash consistently encouraged me to foster a Pacific approach to my research,” Siobhan says. “That belief, that my questions mattered and that Pacific voices belong in these academic spaces, made a real difference, especially during the more challenging parts of study.”

Motherhood

Becoming a parent partway through her studies added another dimension to her journey. Balancing postgraduate research while caring for her son required discipline, resilience and the support of aiga. She recalls late nights and early mornings studying, and raising her son, now two years old, while continuing to work full-time.

“I would not have been able to complete this without the support of my family and friends, particularly my mum, dad and Liam, who helped care for my son,” she says.

“This degree was never something I did in isolation. It was made possible by my parents, my family, and the people around me who enabled me have the time and space, so I could keep going.”

Now working at the Māngere Community Law Centre, Siobhan appears regularly in the Manukau Family Court. She hopes to develop a dual practice across family and criminal law and remains open to returning to academia in the future.

“A PhD is something I’m thinking about,” she says. “If I do pursue it, it would be with the same intention, to keep the work connected to real people, real communities, and meaningful change.”