Meet Aotearoa's first Pacific Dean of Law

When Professor Leilani Tuala-Warren accepted her new role as Dean of Law at the University of Waikato, Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato, it reminded her of the proverb, ‘O le ala i le pule, o le tautua - to lead you must serve’.

Tuala-Warren also became the first Pacific person to head the prestigious school.

Born and raised in Sāmoa, Tuala-Warren (Lefaga, Falealili, Sapapali’i, and Falelatai) said while the position came with responsibilities to her Pacific community, it also ensured that everyone felt equally valued at Te Piringa (Faculty of Law).

“This is regardless of their ethnicity, nationality, or cultural identity,” she told Pacific Days’ Ma’a Brian Sagala.

Her career accolades include being the state solicitor in Sāmoa, the second woman appointed as a judge in Apia, and establishing the family violence court in the Pacific island nation, to name a few.

While being a judge was not part of her career plan, Leilani says the role has a welcome advantage in that it has drawn her closer to the community.

Waikato University is no stranger to Tuala-Warren because she studied there in the 1990s, completing a Bachelor's and Master of Laws and a pre-admission course at the university's Institute of Professional Legal Studies. She also lectured in the early 2000s before returning to Sāmoa.

Tuala-Warren said her new role would be heavily based on abiding by the founding principles of the law firm given by Tainui iwi “which are professionalism, law and context, and bi-culturalism.

“I will continue to work to give effect to those principles by supporting law academics, teaching law and context to produce professional law students and graduates who acknowledge and recognise the special place that tangata whenua hold in Aotearoa,” she told Sagala.

Law isn’t the only field Tuala-Warren has tried her hand at. She received a University of Waikato Distinguished Alumni Award in 2022 and holds an undergraduate degree in her first passion - economics - from the University of Sydney.

One of the main highlights of her studies, however, has been her Master's thesis in 2002, in which she looked at ifoga, a traditional Sāmoan apology.

She explored whether this cultural practice could be used in the New Zealand criminal justice system, as it is common in Sāmoa.

Tuala-Warren said although she spent the last 18 years of her career in Sāmoa, she was glad to be in Aotearoa.

It allows her to live with her husband Aidan, a Māori Land Court judge, and their four children (Tatiana, Misiviliamu, Mahinarangi, and Philip). The family has lived in Kirikiriroa, Hamilton, since 2016.

Tafaoimalo Tologata Professor Leilani Tuala-Warren with husband Aidan and their children. Photo/supplied