User:Oughtta Be Otters/Phil uipi

Filia (Phil) Uipi is a Tongan-American lawyer, real estate broker, and politician in Millcreek, Utah.[1] He was the first Pacific Islander to be elected to the Utah state legislature and remains the only Tongan to have been elected.[2] As of 2010,  only Tongan elected to statewide office in the country.

Early Life
The youngest of eight children, Uipi was born in 1949 in Fotuha'a, Tonga, and grew up in Fakakakai, on the island of Haapai.

Education
He attended Liahona High School, where he was elected student body president and was also valedictorian of his graduating class. These achievements earned him a scholarship to Brigham Young University–Hawaii. For his final year of college he transferred to Brigham Young University's main campus in Provo, Utah. He graduated with a degree in zoology. Uipi attended the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law and graduated with a law degree in 1986.[4] He was admitted to the Utah Bar in the same year.

Career
He served as a Republican in the state legislature from 1991 to 1994.[3]

In 2014 Uipi was appointed to the Utah State Advisory Committee U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. A Republican, he was elected to two terms in the state legislature, representing District 36 from 1990 to 1994. He chaired the House Judiciary Committee during his second term. His voice was among those rallying for the establishment of the state Office of Polynesian Affairs (OPA). After leaving elected office, he served as the first chairman of the OPA's Polynesian Advisory Council. He served on other advisory boards, and by mid-1999, he was the only Tongan lawyer with a private practice in Utah.

References "FOLLOWING IN HER FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS | @TheU". attheu.utah.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-08. "Bev Uipi, Marc Roberts, Jake Fitisemanu Jr. — Pacific Islanders in Utah politics". 2018-04-18. Retrieved 2019-05-08. "Like Father, Like Daughter | Continuum". continuum.utah.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-08. "FOLLOWING IN HER FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS | @TheU". attheu.utah.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-08.