Mr. Bagia attended the University of Bombay in 1972 for his BA and the University of Auckland in 1979 for his LLB – regarded as equivalent to a Bachelor of Laws degree. He would also later attend the Rutgers School of Law at Camden.
Born on the Fiji Islands (June 24, 1948), Mr. Bagia would later be admitted to the New Zealand and Supreme Court of Fiji bars in 1980. In 1984, he would be admitted to the Pennsylvania state bar and the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania a year later.
Before he established his own law firm – Bagia & Associates, P.C. – Mr. Bagia was associated with Samuel & Ballard, P. C. and Berger & Montague, P. C., both in Philadelphia, from 1981 to 1984. In addition, Mr. Bagia was associated with Chauhan & Co., Attorneys at Law in Suva, Fiji from April 1980 to May 1981. He would also be associated with Tappoo, Krishna & Co., Attorneys at Law in Lautoka, Fiji from May to June 1981, as Attorney in general legal practice under British Common Law and Commonwealth Legal System. This position, which requires a complete understanding of complicated local and international laws, allowed him to conduct criminal, civil, and divorce trials in Magistrates Court. Mr. Bagia also presented Civil Litigation arguments in Supreme Court of Fiji. In 1985, Mr. Bagia established his own Immigration Law practice before forming the partnership of Bagia & Morley from July 1998 to April 2003.
Mr. Bagia currently holds membership to the Philadelphia Bar Association, the Fiji Law Society, the Asian American Bar Association (member of the Philadelphia Chapter), and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He has held memberships in the past at the Association of Indians in America (Vice President of the Philadelphia Chapter), the Council for Indian Organizations in the Greater Delaware Valley (Of Legal Counsel), the Indo American Club, and the Coalition Against Abuse by Professionals as a Board Member.
Mr. Bagia’s professional background also includes numerous applications not directly related to an association with a law firm. He is the author of “Legal Practice in Fiji”, an article in The Shingle of the Philadelphia Bar Association Quarterly (Spring 1984 issue). He has also been a featured or guest speaker for various seminars, occasions, and legal education opportunities, many of which were sponsored by the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Asian American Bar Associations and Community organizations. He has also lectured at Rutgers University and the University of Pennsylvania on Immigration Law. Some of his dissertations and lectures of particular note include “Legal Practice in Fiji” (International Law Committee and Philadelphia Bar Association), “Credentialing and Licensing Foreign Nurses in America” at Pace University for American Nurses’ Association of Accreditation, “Immigration, Asylum and U. S. Law” for the Eighth Annual Paul Robeson Festival, “Business as Usual?” speaker on “H-1B Strategies when Facing Reductions in Work Force” at the Marriott in Philadelphia for the AILA Philadelphia Chapter.
