ELP STUDENTS ENJOY A WEALTH OF OPPORTUNITIES to learn from the top environmental and land use attorneys in Hawai‘i and the U.S., and to share their scholarship and knowledge about Hawai‘i’s environmental issues with professors, law students, and practitioners across the country. For some of the students’ stories, check out the “Students on the Go!” page of the ELP website. To expand opportunities for students outside the traditional classroom setting, the ELP has created a diverse program of grants and awards that supports law student scholarship and participation in regional and national conferences. The Wayne C. Gagne Memorial Award provides funding for an officer of the Environmental Law Society to attend the Western Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (WPIELC) held each March at the University of Oregon School of Law. With funding from alumni and other donors, the ELP sends students to Washington, D.C. for the ALI-ABA Environmental Law Conference held in February of each year. This practitioners’ conference is widely attended by leading government and private environmental attorneys. The Pohaku Fund of the Tides Foundation has supported ELP student travel to other cutting-edge conferences, such as the Rocky Mountain Annual Land Use Institute and the “Environmental Justice Through NEPA” Conference held in Denver, Colorado, for indigenous resource managers working with the environmental impact statement process.

To promote student scholarship, in September 2000, the ELP launched two student paper series. The first, He Mau Mo‘olelo Ka na wai o ka ‘Aina (Stories of the Law of the Land), is published both in print and on the ELP website, and is mailed to a targeted audience of attorneys and policymakers. In addition, ELP web-publishes outstanding student papers on environmental law topics written for various courses at the School of Law. These two series represent a selection of the best scholarship produced by our law students each year on environmental, land use, and indigenous peoples’ law issues.

To further encourage excellence in learning and scholarship among law students, the School of Law and ELP have established several awards specifically for academic achievement and scholarship in environmental, property, and land use law. For example, the Honolulu law firm Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing gives a cash award each year to the best second-year environmental law paper. Encouraged by ELP faculty, School of Law students have successfully competed for local and national writing awards, and published their papers in a variety of legal journals.

Students also expand their legal skills by working as Research Assistants for ELP faculty on a variety of projects, including: Professor Antolini’s 2004–05 grant with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to educate mariners sailing through Hawai‘i’s waters about its special environmental and navigational safety issues; Professor Van Dyke’s historical research on ceded lands and Native Hawaiian rights; Professor Jarman’s recent book on administrative law practice in Hawai‘i; and Professor Callies’ ongoing comparative research on U.S.-Japan-Asia property rights and takings law. Students also work as Research Associates for the ELP, maintaining the web site and ELP library; editing the Mo‘olelo series and on-line papers; writing grants; and assisting in program research and administration.

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