In Loving Memory: Mohan Singh Dhaliwal (Barrister-at-Law)

Mohan Singh Dhaliwal was born in Fiji on 27 November 1930. After achieving his teaching certificate in Fiji in 1949 and working as a primary and secondary school teacher in Fiji for some 5 years, he decided to pursue a career in law.

Following achievement of a certificate of proficiency in Criminal Law at the Auckland University in New Zealand in 1954, he began studying law at Middle Temple at the Inns of Court in London in 1955. Whilst studying for the bar he worked as a court interpreter and achieved various honours along the way including being elected Fellow of the Institute of Linguists in London in 1958. He was called to the Degree of the Utter Bar on 12 July 1960.

In 1960, after qualifying as a Barrister-at-Law, he returned to Fiji where he was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Fiji and opened up his own private legal practice. After a number of years in private practice, he joined the Fiji Public Service where he served as Assistant Registrar General and also performed the duties of Official Receiver, Registrar of Titles, Public Trustee and Registrar of Companies from 1965 to 1969.

From 1969 to 1971 he served as Crown Counsel in the Crown Law Department, conducting criminal prosecutions in the Supreme Court of Fiji and also appearing in the Supreme Courts of Tonga, New Hebrides and New Zealand.

He then won the United Nations Fellowship in Human Rights and visited various countries in Europe to study their legal aid programs and examine their legal aid systems. In 1972, he established Fiji’s first Legal Aid Service and became Fiji’s first Public Legal Adviser in the Social Welfare Department where he worked for a further five years.

In 1974 he travelled to the United States and was a participant in the Asian Workshop on Legal Services to the Poor at the University of California in Berkely.

Following retirement from the Fiji Public Service, he decided to move to Australia and was admitted to practise as a Barrister-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Queensland and as a practitioner of the High Court of Australia in 1976. He commenced working as a Prosecutor in the Australian Federal Government as a Legal Officer in the Prosecutions Section of the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department in Brisbane, representing the Commonwealth in criminal prosecutions in various courts in Australia and conducted Jury trials as Counsel on numerous occasions.

In 1981, he returned to Fiji on secondment and served as a Resident Magistrate where he presided over a wide range of legal matters in Criminal, Civil and Matrimonial Jurisdictions. He served on the bench for some 6 years.

He returned to Australia in 1986 where he resumed duties as a Legal Officer in the Property Section of the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department in Brisbane.

Following retirement from the Department in 1989, he resumed private legal practice as a Barrister in Queensland and as a Barrister and Solicitor (Associate) in Fiji from 1989 to 1992.

Later in life, he devoted his time to assisting in voluntary legal work including serving as Honorary Legal Adviser of the Gold Coast Youth Service Inc from 1994 to 1996.

Mohan Singh Dhaliwal, Barrister, passed away at his home on the Gold Coast, Australia on 11 July 2012. He was 81.