The Twin Lawyers With Equal Passion For Maori Legal Issues

Maori law, LawFuel

The twin  23-year-old girls inspired by their non-lawyer father’s arguments for Maori Land Rights has seen them develop their respective legal careers, recently reported in the Southland Times.

The twins, who grew up in Bluff and attended high school in Invercargill, are of Kāi Tahu and Kāti Māmoe descent.  Their father was on the Titi/Mutton Bird Islands committee with a strong interest in Maori land issues.

They did not intend to go to university, and both wanted to be actors, so never imagined they would both study law.

“Our parents suggested we go to university and if we didn’t like it, we could always do something else. So we went along to Otago’s University open day and entering the elevator in the Richardson Building, headed for an Anthropology introductory lecture, an arm stopped the elevator door from closing. It was Professor Mark Henaghan, who we would come to admire very much. He said ‘where are you two going? Come to my law lecture, you will never look back!’, and that’s exactly what we did.”

A synopsis of whether an historic case of survival cannibalism was justified hooked them, and they signed up to study law.

Both girls have an interest in Maori legal issues.  Their great-great grandmother Mere Te Kaehe was the last full-blooded Māori in Bluff and both remain stalwart Southlanders.

Katrina handles criminal work at Eagles, Eagles & Redparth while Makareta works in business and civil law at Cruickshank Pryde.

 

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