Jamie Shanks, 29, and Ashley Bolger, 28, became solicitors and barristers of the High Court before Justice Susan Glazebrook earlier this month.
The pair also both attended Gore High School, and both completed University of Otago bachelor of science degrees before starting law degrees.
Both are working in regulatory positions in Wellington: Miss Shanks is a complaints officer at the Veterinary Council of New Zealand, and Miss Bolger works in the registration department of the Occupational Therapy Board of New Zealand.
Miss Shanks said she started studying law and science at university, but then decided to pursue the science track.
However, after she finished that she was still keen on studying law, so she started the law degree.
In her last year she volunteered at Community Law Otago.
Part of the work involved helping students who had disputes or issues with their landlords.
She was "passionate" about helping people access justice.
"People don’t understand how many rights they do have in a situation, and it’s great to be able to help people with disputes."
Miss Bolger said when she came to the end of her science degree she was not sure what to do next.
Her sister Laura, who was studying medicine, suggested law might be a possible career for her, as she was good at arguing.
"I took that as a bit of teasing, but I thought ‘could I actually be a lawyer?"’
She knew how hard it was to be accepted for medicine and knew law was also very competitive, but thought she would try.
"It was a kind of a test on myself.
"My ultimate goal with a career is to find something that will be fulfilling for my soul, myself and have some kind of positive contribution to the community or society at large."
Law ticked that box for her.
- By Sandy Eggleston
