A legal property officer at Western Bay of Plenty District Council has topped New Zealand by achieving the highest aggregate marks among all law students at the College of Law in 2013.
Kylie Thorne, 31, joined the council in 2006 as a law school graduate from the University of Victoria.
Ms Thorne works with the legal team within the council's strategic property department and during the past year she combined council work, family and motherhood with five months of intensive study at the College of Law to complete her professional legal studies.
In December last year Ms Thorne was admitted to the High Court. To practice law in New Zealand a person must gain a law degree and then undergo Professional Legal Studies (Profs) be admitted to the High Court as a barrister and solicitor.
However, it wasn't until a phone call from the College of Law last month that Ms Thorne learned of her outstanding success in Profs. She achieved the highest aggregate overall marks for all subjects out of about 600 students in New Zealand; 1st in Writing and Drafting (Litigation) nationwide and 1st = in Elective Practice (Litigation) nationwide, as well as the highest aggregate marks in Hamilton and topping her class in several subjects - including a mark of 96 per cent for Property Practice.
