Supreme Court Justice, Tafaoimalo Leilani Tuala-Warren is calling it a day and will make her exit from the High Court in March, after clocking close to a decade on the bench. 

Justice Tuala-Warren confirmed her decision to resign as Supreme Court Judge effective 24 March 2023 when contacted by the Samoa Observer and cited “family reasons” for her exit. 

The country's second female Supreme Court Judge officially took her oath in April 2016 at the Head of State’s residence in Tuaefu. Prior to being elevated to the Supreme Court she joined the judiciary in August 2013 as a District Court Judge. 

When she was a newly appointed Judge at the time, she was asked to establish the Family Court and the Family Violence Court, the only Court of its kind in the Pacific outside of New Zealand. 

Justice Tuala-Warren was recently awarded a Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of Waikato in New Zealand in recognition of her work in the community. 

The Supreme Court Justice said the Family Violence Court is a therapeutic Court where the process is holistic and focuses on the whole family, including offenders and victims. 

"I find this work really rewarding and enjoy working with the families - they want to heal together, and it’s a process that works well in this country,” she said in a press statement last year.

Justice Tuala-Warren has used her public profile for good by advocating for social issues within the Samoan community and paving the way for women.

She said a career highlight was when she and her fellow Supreme Court Judges worked to protect constitutional law during the 2021 Samoan General Elections.

“We spent a lot of time reading and writing. It lifted me and I thought, ‘this is why I am here’.”

Currently, Justice Tuala-Warren and her husband, fellow law alumnus and Māori Land Court Judge Aidan Warren, manage their work and family life with four children between their respective roles in Samoa and New Zealand.

The Supreme Court Justice graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1997 and a Master of Laws in 1998 before she then returned in 2000 to teach the next generation of lawyers. 

She is an Honorary Lecturer for Te Piringa Faculty of Law.

Since then she has had an exceptional career working as a State Solicitor of the Attorney General and a Family and Commercial lawyer for Tuala & Tuala Law before being appointed the first Executive Director of the Samoa Law Reform Commission in 2008.