Another milestone for Singh

From starting off her career as a nurse at the Lautoka Hospital in 2016, Manpreet Kaur Singh has achieved yet another milestone in her career — becoming a lawyer.

She was among 42 new lawyers from the University of the South Pacific (USP) who were admitted to the Bar of the High Court of Fiji before acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo yesterday.

Ms Singh started off her career as a registered nurse while studying for her Bachelor of Laws six years ago.

Being unable to fully concentrate on her law studies after two and a half years as a nurse, she made the decision to hand in her resignation in 2019.

“Nursing is a noble profession and I’m very proud to be called a former registered nurse but while studying nursing, it just came to me that I wanted something more in life,” Ms Singh said.

“I couldn’t focus on my law career so I had to take the hard decision to resign and study full time but this journey has been a very marvellous one.

“Overwhelmed with emotions today (Friday) and this wouldn’t be possible without the support of my family and my hardworking father.”

Justice Temo advised the newly sworn in lawyers to adhere to the rules of practice as it would be their compass in their new profession as a lawyer.

“You will meet a lot of challenges in practising as a lawyer, things that are thrown in front of you” he said.

“But my advice to you is to stick with the rules of practice, adhere to them.

“Rule of professional conduct and practice that is your compass in your journey as a lawyer, when you are in doubt look back at it and you will learn how to face challenges.”