Bar admission marks start of four-year service for young lawyer
Marshall Islands scholar Glovini Thibon says family support and faith helped her through the challenges of law school.
Friday 21 August 2026 | 17:00
From left: Graduate’s father, Rupeni Fonmanu; her cousin and senior lawyer, Shirley Tivao; graduate Glovini Hatamari Thibon; and her mother during the admission to the Bar ceremony in Suva on August 21, 2026.
Photo: Rariqi Turner
For 23-year-old Glovini Hatamari Thibon, being admitted to the Legal Bar today is the beginning of a promise to return to the islands and serve the people who supported her.
Among 30 students admitted to the Bar in Suva today, Ms Thibon stood out as a young lawyer whose journey has taken her from the Marshall Islands to Rotuma, Fiji and now back home to serve.
Originally from Laura in the Marshall Islands, Ms Thibon has maternal ties to Noatau, Rotuma.
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Her next chapter begins on September 11, when she returns to the Marshall Islands to fulfil a four-year service bond under the Republic of the Marshall Islands Scholarship that supported her law studies.
“I have to go back and serve my bond for four years,” she said.
The achievement comes after years of balancing demanding law studies with family responsibilities and life as an islander.
Ms Thibon began her law studies in 2021 and said managing her final year was particularly challenging as she juggled school commitments and family obligations.
“Law isn’t an easy thing to study,” she said.
But with the support of her family and the scholarship that carried her through four years of study, she pushed on.
She is also following a family path into law, becoming the second lawyer in her family after her aunt.
Her message to other law students is simple: “Keep going.”
“With God’s help, hard work and the support of your family, you’ll be able to do it. Just keep pushing through,” she said.
On September 11, she will leave Fiji carrying her qualification home and four years of service ahead of her.
