Global law firm supports four students from UPNG

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has awarded its Papua New Guinea 2018 legal scholarship to law student Bathsheba Pora, with three other students also receiving prizes as part of the programme.
Pora, from Southern Highlands, is a fourth-year law student at the University of PNG.
The scholarship provides the recipient with up to K10,000 in payments and reimbursements for study related costs and a reward for high achievement in their final year of studies.
Norton Rose Fulbright created the scholarship programme last year to support PNG law students who were committed to their undergraduate studies.
The judging committee reviewed applications based on an essay on ‘The importance of contract law and fair trading protections to the economic development of PNG’.
The judging committee also met with all short-listed applicants to discuss their applications and studies as part of their evaluation.
In addition to the scholarship, the judging committee also decided to award a ‘highly commended’ prize, which is a discretionary award that is only made when quality of the applications warrant it.
Vincent Suapi, another law student, has been named recipient of this year’s ‘highly commended’ award, which includes a payment of K1000.
The judging committee was also impressed with the quality of the other two short-listed applicants, Singke Maibawa and Faylin Tiki, who were awarded K500 each.
There will be an award ceremony held at the Norton Rose Fulbright offices in Port Moresby later this week, followed by a celebration lunch for all the four prize winners and the judging committee.
The judging committee consisted of principal of Norton Rose Fulbright PNG Karo Lelai, senior legal counsel at ExxonMobil PNG David Prest, and senior instructor and lawyer at the PNG Legal Training Institute Tania Tokam.
Lelai said the judging committee was impressed by the quality of the submissions received for this year’s scholarship.
“Having launched the scholarship last year, it was pleasing to see it develop in 2018 and attract a larger pool of talented applicants, who provided some truly excellent analysis in their essays and have shown a real commitment to their legal studies to date,” she said. “It was difficult choosing among the four short-listed finalists, but the other judges and I found Bathsheba’s submission to be most deserving of the prize.
“We wish all the finalists the very best as they further their studies and interest in the law.
“I would also like to offer Norton Rose Fulbright’s thanks to David Prest and Tania Tokam for providing valuable insights into the evaluation of the applications.”
Alison Kult, a final-year law student, got the first Norton Rose Fulbright scholarship last year.
Norton Rose Fulbright PNG is an associated office of Norton Rose Fulbright Australia.
It has a long history globally in working on cross-border transactions and projects involving Papua New Guinea assets and interests.