Hardwicke, two other lawyers are newest NMI Bar members

The CNMI Supreme Court admitted Chief Public Defender Adam Hardwicke and two other attorneys as the newest members of the local Bar association Friday.

Also admitted to the CNM Bar during the same ceremony was assistant attorney general Kathryn Browning Fuller, who is currently the legal counsel for the Division of Environmental Quality and other resource agencies such as the Coastal Resources Management Office and the Division of Fish and Wildlife.

Attorney Shane A. Intihar, a member of the Guam-based Calvo and Clark law firm, likewise took his attorney’s oath to become a new member of the CNMI Bar.

Hardwicke, Fuller, and Intihar recently passed the CNMI Bar Examination, a comprehensive two-day exam testing the applicant’s analytical abilities and knowledge of local laws. In addition, the applicants satisfied a variety of character and fitness requirements.

“I feel good and satisfied,” Hardwicke told Saipan Tribune after the ceremony.

Hardwicke, who finished law at the Williamette University College of Law, said he wanted to continue his job being the chief public defender.

Hardwicke decided to take the local Bar examination as his four-year waiver to practice law in the CNMI will expire in September 2009.

Fuller has been working with the Office of the Attorney General for four years now. She said the CNMI offers a lot of opportunity for lawyers like her who loves environmental work.

“It’s a lovely place,” said Fuller, who also used to work in Palau and Indonesia before moving to the Commonwealth. She completed law at the Northwestern University School of Law.

Intihar took law at the Washington University School of Law. He has been a member of the Calvo and Clark law firm in Guam since October 2007.

Intihar said he took CNMI Bar Examination because it is a standard practice of their law firm and even their San Francisco branch to have their members admitted in the CNMI Bar.

“I’m so excited to practice law in the CNMI,” said Intihar whose expertise is civil cases that deal mostly with commercial transactions.

Chief Justice Miguel S. Demapan, who administered the oath of attorney, welcomed the new admittees to the CNMI Bar.

“I cannot belittle the nature of the exam you just took. It is a difficult one and as lawyers, or human beings, we promise ourselves to do it just once and no more,” Demapan said.

The chief justice said as the CNMI is facing the most difficult challenges in the Commonwealth history everybody has to all pitch in so that everyone knows how important this third branch (Judiciary) is.

“Without a functioning judicial branch, I do not need to impress upon you of the adverse effects it will have on the practice of law. Legal work within the law offices will grind to a stop,” he noted.

Demapan underscored the importance for lawyers to continue to spread the word of the need to maintain a functioning court system.

Aside from Demapan, present during the ceremony were Victoria Dalit who is the designated chief justice from the Man ‘Amko Center, associate justices John Manglona and Alexandro Castro, Superior Court associate judge Perry B. Inos, and NMI Bar Association president Maya B. Kara.