The Law School of the University of the South Pacific has been working to identify appropriate program outcomes for its Bachelor of Laws degree, but no research had been undertaken to determine the knowledge, skills and capabilities needed by lawyers in the South Pacific.A project has now been commenced which sophie allport zebra seeks to identify contextually appropriate outcomes for lawyers in the region.This article reports on a pilot study conducted in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands as a first step in this project.It reports both the data and the process issues arising from the pilot study, and sets out proposals for the next stage deus gorras of the research.