Few paper records exist of Narokobi's early life, but it appears that he started primary education at around the age of ten or twelve, roughly around 1952. He began school at the Dagua Catholic Mission and then attended Brandi High School in Wewak, East Sepik Province. In 1959 he was taught by Michael Somare who later became the first Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. From Brandi High School he went on to matriculate at the then Kerevat Senior High School in East New Britain Province, where he met another future Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Rabbie Namaliu. In 1966 Narokobi went off to Australia where he undertook a degree in law at the University of Sydney, where he received an LLB in 1972. In that same year he was made a barrister in the New South Wales. Narokobi was amongst the first few Papua New Guineans to receive education abroad. In those days, preparations were underway for Papua New Guinea to gain political independence from Australia. Soon after completing his law degree, Narokobi was recruited to become the Permanent Consultant to the Constitutional Planning Committee that was chaired by his former teacher Michael Somare. Narokobi thus had a personal hand in the writing of what became the Constitution when Papua New Guinea gained independence in 1975.