Faculty Lecture Series Spring 2011

April 12, 3:30pm - 4:30pm
Mānoa Campus, Hamilton Library Room 301

Ke Ala Pono – The Path of Justice

by Melody Kapilialoha MacKenzie

Director, Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law William S. Richardson School of Law

The recent decisions of the Hawai'i Supreme Court show a willingness to open the courts to the Native Hawaiian community and to consider long-standing historical claims to lands and natural resources. In this talk, Prof. Melody Kapilialoha MacKenzie will analyze the most recent decisions by the Court impacting the "ceded" lands trust, the Hawaiian Home Lands trust, and Native Hawaiian traditional and customary rights. She will also examine several cases working their way through the courts that could have a profound effect on the development of Native Hawaiian law.

Melody Kapilialoha MacKenzie is an associate professor and Director of Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law at the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. After receiving her law degree, Prof. MacKenzie served as a law clerk to Chief Justice William S. Richardson of the Hawai‘i Supreme Court. She then joined the staff of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, a public interest law firm protecting and advancing the rights of Native Hawaiians, and served as NHLC’s Executive Director and as a senior staff attorney. Prof. MacKenzie is project coordinator and chief editor for the second edition of the Native Hawaiian Rights Handbook, which she originally edited and helped to write, and is a contributor to the 2005 Edition of Felix S. Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law. She has worked on cases asserting Hawaiian traditional and customary rights, dealing with land issues, and defending the constitutionality of Hawaiian programs. Prof. MacKenzie teaches Native Hawaiian Rights, the Native Hawaiian Rights Clinic, and Second-Year Seminar.


Ticket Information
Free & open to public

Event Sponsor
Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education, Office of Reserch Relations, & UHM Library, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Teri Skillman, 956-8688, skillman@hawaii.edu, http://library.manoa.hawaii.edu/index.php

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