Four people were officially launched into their law careers in a unique admission of barristers and solicitors at the High Court in Napier yesterday.
No one present could remember as many as four being admitted in one of the time-honoured ceremonies in Napier before, the formalities being less frequent throughout the country with the advent of audio visual links which have meant less travelling by the mainly major-city based judges in the High Court.
Among the graduates was Chris Williams, a 26-year-old who was born into a Ruatoria farming family. The former pupil of Hereworth School in Havelock North and Wanganui Collegiate would have been sworn-in at Whanganui had an admissions date been available in the city.
The High Court does not usually operate in Masterton, where he's employed by long-established firm Gawith Burridge.
Sponsored in his admission by cousin and barrister Hanna O'Connor, he was happy however to be with family and friends. The fellow new barristers each had their own story to add after the formalities conducted by red-gowned and long-wigged Auckland-based Justice Mark Woolford, in a break from the week's other tasks as a duty judge in the High Court in Napier.