Trio of Northland women officially admitted to bar

Renee Reilly and Maia Moukharris were admitted to the bar in the Whangārei High Court. Photo / NZME

Three aspiring Northland lawyers completed the final step in their journey to the courtroom as they were formally admitted to the bar at the Whangārei High Court in front of a large crowd of supporters.

Maia Moukharris, of Whangārei, Renee Reilly of Hokianga and Abigail Parker of Whangārei all completed their bachelor of laws over the past 12 months and were sworn in before Justice Michael Victor Robinson.

Renee Reilly was raised in Ōmanaia in the Hokianga and studied at Auckland University of Technology and has worked as a legal executive at Rune Law and with Kaikohe Lawyer, Douglas Blaikie. She is currently working for Noela Fidow and has a passion for family law, she plans to continue to give back her services to the Te Tai Tokerau region.

Abigail Parker studied at the University of Otago and currently works for WRMK Whangārei in property law.

Abigail Parker was officially admitted to the bar at the Whangārei High Court.

Maia Moukharris studied at the University of Waikato and was recently employed by Regent Law in Whangārei specialising in estates and wills. She is currently looking for employment in either Auckland or Hamilton and wants to pursue family or employment law.

Moukharris said she was inspired to get into law as a way to share her knowledge, help her people and give back to the community.

“The hardest part was the late nights and not quite knowing what I was doing in my first two years,” she said.

She had some advice for young women looking to get into law to be strong and recognise there will be challenging times.

“To any young wāhine out there ... never give up, even when it gets really hard, and there will be a point where you do want to give up, just keep going.

“Make sure you look after your health too, eat well, drink plenty of water and not too many late nights.”