Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 8, 1 August 2012 — Native Hawaiian Law Center's reach is expansive [ARTICLE]

Native Hawaiian Law Center's reach is expansive

Contributed by Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law As an academic center, Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law's expansive educational initiatives reach those both on and off campus. Some of these educational initiatives are collaborations with partners including the Kamehameha Schools and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Laterthis summer, Ka HuliAo will begin publication of 'Ohia, a series of papers researched and written by law school graduates in the Post-Juris Doctor Research Fellowship program, funded through Kamehameha Schools and the Native Hawaiian Education Act. The research papers cover a range of topics including Native Hawaiian self-govemance, native judicial systems, international claims, eeonomie development and land issues. The research papers will be publicly available and provide helpful information to the broader community on these issues. Earlier this year, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs arranged for Ka Huli Ao to develop materials and to conduct a training session, to be held in the fall, for the state's councils, boards and commissions. The training session will provide an opportunity for greater and continued understanding of the state's mandated responsibilities to the Native Hawaiian eommunity. The training sessions focus on four key topics: water, traditional and customary rights, Native Hawaiian grave sites, and the Puhlie Land Trust. OHA and Ka Huli Ao have also published Ola I Ka Wai: A Legal Primerfor Water Use and Management in Hawai'i,

authored by Ka Huli Ao law professor Kapua Sproat. Professor Sproat wanted to do more than just publish a primer; she wanted to make sure it reached the people who needed it most. She has taken the legal primer on the road to rural O'ahu communities and the Neighbor Islands while giving informative presentations at community meetings. Attendance at these community meetings has included farmers as well as government officials eager to learn more about Hawai'i water law. An online version of the water primer is available at http://bit. ly/waterprimerl. Through legal clinics, Ka Huli Ao also has conveyed important information to people and communities on the islands of Kaua'i, Maui, Moloka'i and Hawai'i. These clinics have focused primarily on environmental and quiet title issues impacting Native Hawaiians. (Please see the May edition of Ka Wai Ola for more on the A'o Aku A'o Mai initiative.) Ka Huli Ao also welcomes attorney and community organizer Malia Akutagawa and Kamana Beamer, Ph.D., to its staff. These two new faculty hires were made possible through a university-based interdisciplinary project called Hui 'Āina Momona. Professor Akutagawa and Dr. Beamer will share their time between Ka Huli Ao and Hawai'inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge. At the law school, Professor Akutagawa will co-teach a Hawaiian land issues course, while Dr. Beamer will teach at Hawaiian Studies. On July 19, Ka Huli Ao also began its law school preparation program that will run weekly through the end of September in preparation for the Oct. 6, Law School Admissions Test,

or LSAT. Since 2006, the program has successfully helped many Native Hawaiians, and others interested in Native Hawaiian legal issues, develop into strongly competitive law school applicants. While most program participants have enrolled in the William S . Richardson School of Law, others have enrolled in law schools such as Rutgers University, University of Oregon, Golden Gate University and California Westem. In previous years, Ka Huli Ao has introduced high school students to Native Hawaiian law principles and issues. This has been accomplished by conducting a four- to six-week program at Kula Kaiapuni 'O Ānuenue with students enrolled in the Participation in a Democracy class. The program included presentations by law students and law professors or attorneys covering issues including traditional and customary rights, Native Hawaiian grave site issues and self-govemance. The high school students discuss and debate these issues in class. The program typically concludes with a visit to the Hawai'i Judiciary History Center and a certificate awarding ceremony. Other high school outreach efforts have also been done with Hakipu'u Leaming Center and at Wai'anae High School. Ka Huli Ao's various programs demonstrate a eommitment to education both on and off campus in order to reach and benefit the larger community. Ka Huli Ao ean be reached by e-mail at nhlawctr@hawaii.edu or by phone at (808) 956-84 1 1 . ■ Established with federal funding in 2005 at the William S. Richardson School of Law, Ka Huli Ao is an academic center that promotes education, scholarship, community outreach and collaboration on issues of law, culture and justice for Native Hawaiians and other Pacific and indigenous peoples.