Professor Tuala-Warren is the current Dean of Te Piringa Faculty of Law at the University of Waikato and is the first Dean of Law of Pacific descent in Aotearoa and the first Pacific woman to be a Professor of Law in Aotearoa. Her career has spanned various roles, including serving as a state solicitor, a lawyer in private practice and the first Executive Director of the Samoa Law Reform Commission. She was the first Family Court and Family Violence Court Judge in Samoa in 2013. and the second woman to be appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court in Samoa in 2016, a role she held until 2023. She continues to hold temporary warrant as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Samoa.
In recognition of her achievements, she was awarded the University of Waikato’s Distinguished Alumni Award in August 2022.