New lawyer admitted into bar after rejection

 By DEMAS TIEN 

ONE of the three new lawyers from the Legal Training Institute, who was refused admittance into the Supreme and National Courts last Friday, was admitted yesterday in Waigani after his lawyer made an oral submission.

Kong Peter Kongisi, 36, from Tegipo village in Nipa district, Southern Highlands, was refused admission last Friday because the PNG Law Society raised issues that his application was deficient and not met all the requirements of becoming a lawyer.

One particular requirement that caused the refusal of Kongisi was that the Office of the Attorney General did not serve him his certificate of fit and proper person to be a lawyer. 

Kongisi’s lawyer Philip Feareka made a oral application in court on Monday before Justice Nicholas Kirriwom and challenged the decision of the court that had refused the admission. Kirriwom, in his ruling yesterday, said the Attorney General’s decision to refuse certifying Kongisi as a fit and proper person to practice law was illegal. Kirriwom granted Kongisi’s application and admitted him into the bar.

Applications for the other two lawyers will be made this week.