AI-powered cultural guidance for justice, education, and research
Va-I Justice helps judges, lawyers, corrections officers, probation staff, and government practitioners understand Pacific cultural behaviour accurately — grounded in peer-reviewed scholarship. Free to use. Book a consultation for specialist advice.
Two resources for New Zealand schools — one for staff, one for Pacific students. Helping teachers understand Pacific learners, and helping Pacific students understand their rights. Targeting secondary schools across Aotearoa.
Understanding Pacific students accurately. Why a Pacific student goes silent when called out. How family obligation affects attendance. How shame operates collectively. How to talk with a Pacific family without shutting them down.
Coming soon — subscribe for updates
Your rights at school. What to do if you feel treated unfairly. How to talk to a dean or counsellor. How to get support without feeling like you are betraying your family. Written by a Pacific student, for Pacific students.
Coming soon — built by Salote
Va-I Education is available to secondary schools across New Zealand as an annual subscription. Includes access to both Va-I Staff and Va-I Student, plus a 30-minute introductory session with our specialist.
NZD $200–$500 per school per year — contact us to discuss your school's needs.
The scholarly engine behind Va-I. Peer-reviewed Pacific legal scholarship, constitutional law expertise, and criminal justice research — made accessible to practitioners, funders, and institutions.
Project grant application in progress. Funds research into Pacific cultural competency in the NZ justice system — paying the Va-I research team including research assistants.
Application in progressPacific Projects Fund. Va-I's focus on Pacific justice outcomes connects directly to Pacific health equity — a core HRC funding priority.
Preparing applicationThe Ministry of Justice has a Pacific Strategy and documented need for exactly what Va-I provides. Direct approach — not a grant process.
Meeting requestedCorrections' Pacific responsivity framework is acknowledged as underdeveloped. Va-I addresses this gap directly across all 18 regional sites.
Pilot proposal plannedThe Borrin Foundation Te Pae Tawhiti Postgraduate Scholarship (up to NZD $80,000) supports LLB graduates from underrepresented communities pursuing postgraduate legal study. Salote — as a young Tongan woman who co-founded Va-I and led Va-I Education — will be an exceptional candidate when she graduates. Her work on Va-I today is the foundation of that application in 2031.
The sacred space between people in Pacific culture. Where trust, respect, and care live. Our family name. The foundation of everything Va-I does.
The technology that makes our knowledge work at scale, on demand, for every practitioner who needs it. Va-I makes specialist knowledge accessible.
The Tongan word for writing. Our quill pen is not just a logo — it is a word in our language. Together: Va + I + tohi = Vaitohi. Our name, written in the brand.
Va-I is a family business built on more than twenty years of Pacific legal scholarship. Our lead specialist holds a PhD in constitutional law from the University of Otago, is Senior Lecturer in Law at Victoria University of Wellington Te Herenga Waka, is affiliated with the Pasifika Legal Education Hub, and holds a Distinguished Senior Research Fellowship in Constitutional Studies at the University of Texas at Austin (2025–2027). Va-I is run by the Vaitohi family — built from our knowledge, run by our hands, and left for our future.
Va-I provides cultural and educational guidance grounded in peer-reviewed scholarship. It does not provide legal advice. For complex matters, book a specialist consultation.
Speak directly with our Pacific legal and cultural specialist. One hour, by Zoom or phone. Available to justice practitioners, law schools, government agencies, and Pacific families.
NZD $350/hr — payment by bank transfer or Wise