Satyanand attended Sacred Heart College in Auckland, and then undertook the medical intermediate course at the University of Otago in Dunedin. He was not successful in gaining entry to the medical school and later said "in reality I did not do well enough ... (but) ... Looking back over that year, I remembered that one of the things I had really enjoyed was the debating and forum meetings involving students." So instead he turned to law studies, working part-time as a law clerk in Auckland. He worked at Westfield Freezing Works to help fund his studies and developed a friendship with David Lange who also worked there at the same time. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Auckland in 1970. He worked as a lawyer for the next 12 years, some of that with the Crown Solicitor's firm and then as a Partner with the legal firm Shieff Angland. His legal work centred on criminal law and revenue law. He served on the Council of the Auckland District Law Society from 1979 until his appointment as a Judge of the District Court of New Zealand in 1982.