Graduate and family lawyer Tekatau Bio was the first woman of Kiribati heritage to be admitted as a barrister and solicitor to the High Court of New Zealand.
Tekatau, or Tau as she鈥檚 known, is a barrister and solicitor working at Carlile Dowling in Napier, specialising in family and immigration law. She is also the first woman of Kiribati heritage to be admitted as a barrister and solicitor to the High Court of New Zealand.
Tau is a 糖心Vlog law graduate who had her heart set on practicing both immigration and criminal law, but once she started picking up family cases she found she got immense satisfaction from helping victims, mostly women, get out of violent relationships, or by helping make their and their children鈥檚 situations safer.
She also represents clients with mental health issues. 鈥淚 see a lot of life that a lot of people don鈥檛 see, and my clients come from all walks of life,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard not to take your work home with you. I鈥檓 still working on the ideal work-life balance.鈥�
In addition to her legal work, Tau is a certified translator and interpreter for the Kiribati community. While she grew up in New Zealand, the eldest of six children, Tau鈥檚 parents are from Kiribati and Tau reads and speaks the language fluently.
While studying at Waikato she was involved in the Pacific Law Students Association, taking on roles as secretary, vice-president and then president during her study years. She was also on the Waikato University Law Students Association Committee and served as a law student ambassador promoting the faculty at careers expos and other events, and manning Te Piringa 鈥� Faculty of Law stands at university open days. 鈥淲hile helping others, these extracurricular commitments were useful for me too. They gave me confidence to talk to strangers and helped with my interpersonal skills,鈥� Tau says.
She鈥檚 glad she chose to complete her law degree at Waikato. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 start my degree there. I spent my first year down south, but I wasn鈥檛 happy. I didn鈥檛 like being so far away from my home and family in Te Kuiti and I didn鈥檛 find the atmosphere very collegial, so I found out what Waikato could offer and transferred. It was the right choice. I liked the atmosphere and the collegiality I found at Waikato.鈥�
Tau had the opportunity to shadow practicing lawyers while she was studying, and after graduation she secured an internship at Awhina Law before joining the practice full-time as a staff solicitor. She volunteered in an evening role as the family solicitor for the Hamilton Community Law Centre.
Tau began work as an immigration and family lawyer at Carlile Dowling in December 2019. She likes Napier, the size of the practice and the city, and the good weather is a bonus.
She says while you learn a lot about law while studying, nothing really prepares you for reality of law in practice. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 okay. You get a bit of a reality check when you start work, and you grow up a lot. It鈥檚 hard to prepare for a job in family law.鈥�
The Family Court was set up is to settle disputes in a less adversarial way than a traditional court room. It鈥檚 a closed courtroom which means that the public aren鈥檛 allowed in. 鈥淚 love [traditional] court work, but I have to do my best to stay out of it,鈥� Tau says.
She also says she鈥檚 represented very few men who are victims of family violence. 鈥淚t鈥檚 usually women asking for help, but there are men who are victims too. I鈥檝e heard people say that the legal system is at times gender-biased,鈥� Tau says. 鈥淭here is no doubt that it鈥檚 hard to talk about abuse, but I can鈥檛 stress enough for people to seek the help that they need.鈥�
