NEWLY appointed Magistrate, Hayniel Max, never dreamt he would one day end up on the Bench.
The 33-year-old had another career path in mind but that all changed when two lawyers visited his village during the festive season in 2015.
“I wasn’t motivated as I am now with the aim to do further studies and practice law,” Magistrate Max told Solomon Star in an interview.
“Instead, I was planning for another career pathway but things changed when two lawyers and a few NGO officers walked into the village church compound one day.
Magistrate Maxi is from the New Tenabuti Village in North East Guadalcanal.
The village is just a few hours walk upstream from the Bokokibo Bridge.
“In 2005, after completing Form Three education, I went back to the village for the festive season and in my anticipation for the final results, I got this chance of a life-time to witness first-hand two lawyers speaking and interacting with villagers at that time.
“Their wry smiles, arrogantly smart looks and of course their intelligent contributions made me change my mind from that day on. Since then, I put it to heart that I am going to be a Lawyer one day,” he added.
Magistrate Max attended Tenakoga Adventist Primary School from 1998 to 2003.
He did his secondary education at the Tenakoga Adventist High School, Betikama Adventist College and King George Sixth National Secondary School.
Magistrate Max did his four-year law studies (LLB) at the University of the South Pacific (USP) Emalus Campus in Vanuatu from 2012 to 2016.
He also did his Professional Diploma in Legal Practice (PDLP) in 2017 at USP.
“After graduating from the USP Emalus Law School in 2016, I was a bit unlucky in finding a new job.
“I would wander from an office to another, one firm to the next with numerous letters of interest with the aim to land a job but nothing was forthcoming then.
“It was not until the yesteryear of 2019 when I got a call for an Interview and thereafter got a direct employment at the National Finance, a loan lending firm.
Magistrate Max said he went for the interview and was recruited the next day.
He told Solomon Star that he initially would go to work for around three days only but later realised a clause within his contract that he was even required to work on weekends, especially on Saturdays.
“I tried to negotiate with my employers but to no avail.
“With the issue regarding my religious belief, I then quit the job and started looking for another place to work.
A few months later in 2020, he was accepted to be a Legal Officer Intern (Vice Chancellor’s Office) at the Solomon Islands National University.
He said the offer was as made on contractual basis, with options for extension and permanent employment.
“I was just into the final fifth month of employment when I received yet another call from the Ministry of Finance and Treasury for the offer of Internal Audit Principal Investigator, a role I undertook with the JANUS Team at Rove.
“I took up the offer in May of 2020 up until Mid-February of 2020 when I was finally recruited to practice law at the Office of the Public Solicitors in Honiara, Magistrate Max further added.
“That day on, I took up the challenge here in Honiara and was later posted to the Gizo Sub-Office from February of 2021 up until March of this year, 2023.”
Magistrate Max said amongst other reasons, he took up this new job as magistrate is his heart and passion to deliver justice sufficiently, fairly and cleanly.
“People would argue that I am in it for bigger things but I am indebted to the new challenges ahead, the ability to try new things and or be able to involve in shaping the jurisprudence of this country, especially within the ambit of magistracy,” he said.
When asked if he has any advice for other young men and women out there, he said, “I represent the grass-root pikinini, those of whom who were raised right from the village life setting.
“My parents are commoners and so I am as I was born just like that.
“They are ordinary villagers who earn their living from vegetable farming and small-scale Cocoa and Coconut Plantations.
“Our origins should not be the reason for our failures.
“That does not define us, nor our abilities, neither our dreams to achieve what’s in store for us.
“We are meant for bigger things and we can still fight and survive like many others before us,” the young magistrate said.
“And to those of whom who are planning on the same Career pathway, Please! Believe you can also do it.”
Magistrate Maxi said one is already there even when he or she believes he or she can do it from the outset.
“Above all, GOD over everything. Believe in him (God) the one before, above and beyond everything else,” he added.
Magistrate Max’s appointment and that of two others brings the total number of magistrates in the country to 12.
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
Solomon Star, Honiara
