Twenty-five-year-old Shahista Saheb’s childhood dream to establish a footing in the family business came to fruition on Friday.

The former Mahatma Gandhi Memorial High School student joined 36 of her classmates to be admitted to the bar.

Now as a fully-fledged lawyer, the eldest of two siblings looks forward to helping her parents run the Formscaff (Fiji) Private Limited.

“There were no lawyers in the family so I decided to study law to help my dad with the legal side of running the business,” she said.

“Before this I was studying medicine under the National Toppers Scholarship but in my second year I decided to switch to law as a private student.”

Ms Saheb said though her heart was not in medicine she pursued the field solely because her Grade Point Average (GPA) met the requirements for medical school.

She shared that initially studying law was challenging because she did not know anyone in law school. However, as time went on she started to enjoy tertiary life.

“At that point in time I did not know anyone in law school so I had to do all the assessments and assignments by myself which was a bit challenging for me but other than that it was a very good journey because the lecturers were very helpful,” Ms Saheb said.

She acknowledges her parents for supporting her both in medical and law school and letting her focus on her studies.

“My parents let me study overnight and I was spared from doing chores so that I could focus on my studies.

“I felt like giving up at times but I always focused on the end result.”

Her advice to law students is to embrace the challenges that come with the career and be vocal.

Edited by Selita Bolanavanua

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