Overcame past to follow family tradition
‘‘I think I’ve surprised a lot of people because if you met me five or six years ago, you definitely wouldn’t have expected to see me here.’’ James Inder said given that his father, grandfather and greatgrandfather were lawyers, there were high hopes that he, too, would become involved with the law.
And he did, from an early age — just not in the way his parents would have liked.
‘‘I ended up dropping out of school in year 12 and becoming a mechanic.
‘‘I was getting into quite a bit of trouble with the police because of the kind of cars that I was driving.’’
Somewhere along his journey to the wrong side of the prison bars, Mr Inder came to his senses and decided to follow in his family’s footsteps and become a lawyer.
Today, the 25yearold will graduate with a law degree from the University of Otago.
‘‘It’s quite surprising that I ended up coming down to Dunedin and wanting to study law.
‘‘Having a taste of the other side of the law played a part in that, but I think it was also a desire for more mental stimulation — knowing that I could do something better with my life.’’
His family association with the law has spanned almost 120 years.
Mr Inder’s greatgrandfather served in World War 1 while studying for his law degree at Victoria University (beginning in 1910 and completing it in 1917), and his grandfather served in World War 2 (Italy and Japan) while completing his law degree in the New Zealand Army, finalising his degree in 1947 upon his return to New Zealand.
Mr Inder’s father Craig also graduated with a law degree from Otago in 1984.
Being the fourthgeneration lawyer in the Inder family meant a lot, not only to Mr Inder, but his wider family, because of his rocky start. It was a major shift in his life and he had grown to become a sensible and reliable young man.
In a bid to keep his student loan to a ‘‘manageable’’ size, he started his own DJ business at the same time he started his degree, and he had been providing music in Dunedin nightclubs.
Now that he was graduating, he said he would continue to do DJ work while he did his professional legal studies.
‘‘It’s just one more box that I have to tick before I can sit the Bar exam.
‘‘I’ve been studying for five years — it’s been a long time coming.’’
He said going from the nightclub scene to a law office would be ‘‘quite a culture shock’’.
‘‘Going from a 10pm3am to a 9am5pm office job — it’ll be a lot quieter.
‘‘I’m really looking forward to it though because I’m in my mid20s now and I can’t keep staying out until 3am anymore. ‘‘It’s too hard on the body. That’s a bit sad, eh.
‘‘The good thing is, I think I’ve got all the partying out of my system, which will make me a good and responsible lawyer — potentially,’’ he joked.
He planned to practise law in Australia, he said.