We speak with Bankside’s newest members, husband and wife duo Tiana Epati and Matanuku Kihirini Mahuika, about their respective legal careers, significant milestones as change makers in the law, and their personal passions and interests.

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What were your reasons to pursue a career in law? Tiana, was your father an inspiration for you?

Tiana Epati (TE): Yes, my father was a general litigation lawyer for most of my childhood in Samoa. I grew up watching him help people from all walks of life with complex problems at some of the hardest moments. He also pushed the legal boundaries in some constitutional human rights cases to advocate for clients. Having come from the village and only learned to speak English as a teenager, I was inspired by his courage and commitment to being a top class lawyer. 

Matanuku Kihirini Mahuika (MKM): I often joke that I chose to study law because I lacked the talent required to pursue my preferred career as a professional footballer. Joking aside, I really did come to the law by accident. I had always intended to go to university and I wanted to do something that would lead to a career. I chose to study law because it played to what I thought were my strengths. 

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What have been your top three career highlights to date? 

TE: Being the New Zealand Law Society (NZLS) President through the Covid-19 pandemic, leading the only successful NZLS campaign to increase legal aid rates and presenting recently as lead counsel in the Supreme Court case of Kaitai v R.

MKM: Being involved in the fisheries allocation process at Te Ohu Kai Moana, including going to the Privy Council on the first of the appeals dealing with the definition of "iwi" for the purposes of the Treaty of Waitangi (Fisheries Claims Settlement) Act 1989; founding and being a partner at Kahui Legal; the passing of the Ngā Rohe Moana o Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Porou Act 2019 (which was the culmination of almost 16 years of negotiations). R v Ellis also stands out because it was my first appearance in the Supreme Court.

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Matanuku, just over twenty years ago you founded Kāhui Legal, a specialist law firm working at the forefront of Māori development. Can you tell us more about how this came about?  

Jamie Ferguson and I had been partners at the firm Walters Williams & Co, having been enticed to join the firm by Joe Williams (now, of course, Williams J of the Supreme Court). The firm had a focus on providing legal services to Māori clients and, by doing so, it sought to support Māori development. The Walters Williams partnership dissolved in 2003. When this happened Jamie and I took over the Wellington part of the practice and named the new firm Kāhui Legal. Our desire in starting the firm was to continue the vision of Walters Williams & Co.

It was my father who suggested the name "Kāhui". There were two reasons he made that suggestion. The first is that the word "kāhui" refers to a group of people who have come together for a common purpose (i.e. pursuing legal issues relevant to Māori). It was also a metaphor for the predominant type of work we were doing at the time we started the firm, which was Treaty claims and Treaty settlements. My father's view was that, because this type of work focused on resolving issues from our country's past, it was about bringing people (i.e. New Zealanders) together.

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Tiana, you've been called a 'champion for change'. What are some of the changes you have instigated and/or implemented that you are most fulfilled by?

The most significant change is getting an amendment passed to the Law Society constitution to join Te Hunga Roia Māori and Pacific Lawyers Association as full voting members of the Council. There had been discussion for years about the lack of diversity at the table, so I  changed the seating to ensure we had more voices from the legal community. 

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Outside of the law, what are your passions? 

TE: I have become quite addicted to Iyengar yoga classes in Gisborne. Other than that, we both have a huge passion for travelling to new places in the world. My favourite destinations would be a tie between New York, Cartagena and Havana. But our three young children make travelling a little more challenging these days!

MKM: I love sport and travel, and I periodically combine the two! I of course love my children and I enjoy the time I get with them (despite this often being incompatible with my sport and travel passions). It will be no surprise that I also have a strong interest in Māori development. This sees me getting involved in various community activities and in the affairs of my iwi.

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