Defense Clinic

This class teaches litigation skills through the representation of indigent criminal defendants. Students appear in court and try real cases. After classroom lectures, discussions and simulations, students defend people charged with misdemeanor cases. Deputy Public Defenders teach this course and provide the in-court supervision on the cases. The classroom component meets throughout the semester.

Elder Law Clinic

Students in this clinic work under the direction of an elder law specialist in assisting Hawai`i's senior citizens in a variety of legal areas including public entitlements, estate planning, living wills, elder abuse, etc. The course typically does not involve litigation, but rather the delivery of other kinds of legal services and education to the elderly.

Environmental Law Clinic

Students work in teams on projects assisting clients in contested cases before state environmental, land use and natural resource agencies, and county planning commissions. Projects may involve preparation of public comments for community groups and assisting attorneys who represent public interest groups on environmental issues.

Family Law Clinic

Students in this clinic work under the direct supervision of a family law specialist providing legal services to actual clients.

Immigration Clinic

Students in this clinic work under the direction of an immigration specialist providing legal services to actual clients.

Native Hawaiian Rights Clinic

Students in this clinic work under the direction of a Native Hawaiian Rights specialist providing legal services to clients. Each semester, the clinic focuses on one or two major cases involving issues such as traditional and customary rights, the ceded lands trust, the Hawaiian Home Lands trust, and water rights. Students will aid attorneys in identifying and researching significant issues, gathering evidence, interviewing clients, and drafting pleadings.

Prosecution Clinic

This class teaches litigation skills through the prosecution of real, minor criminal cases and the simulation of a major mock civil case. After classroom lectures, discussions and simulations, students prosecute real traffic and misdemeanor cases for the Prosecuting Attorney's Office. The classroom component meets through out the semester and is designed to meet the needs of students interested in both civil and criminal litigation.

SIMULATION COURSES:

Environmental Litigation Seminar

A seminar on the techniques, law, and strategy involved in federal and state court environmental litigation.

Estate Planning Workshop

In this workshop students will devise estate plans for hypothetical clients involving wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, insurance, class gifts, charitable transfers, and powers of appointment.

Lawyering Skills Workshop

This workshop is a mix of lectures, demonstrations, film clips and exercises in Interviewing, Counseling and Negotiations. Students are videotaped and critiqued in individual sessions.

Mediation Workshop

Students in this workshop receive training in mediation and alternate dispute resolution techniques and simulated experience in the mediation of community disputes.

Negotiation and Alternative Dispute Resolution

Lawyers negotiate settlements in almost all their cases. This class presents a "hands-on," skill-building approach to the newest ideas, as well as centuries-old techniques, about the skill lawyers will use most often in their practice - negotiation. The class also examines the rapidly developing field of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), including mediation, facilitation, arbitration, and court-annexed ADR.

Pretrial Litigation

This course is designed to teach the theory and practice of civil pretrial litigation skills and focuses on pleading, discovery, and pretrial motions. The course is graded on a credit/no credit basis.

Trial Practice

With the assistance of members of the Hawai`i trial bar, students examine sequential stages of pre-trial and trial practice in a problem setting. Topics include investigation, pleadings, motions, discovery, voir dire examination, opening statements, direct and cross examination, closing argument, selected evidentiary problems, post-trial motions, and appellate practice. Students engage in simulated exercises and their work is critiqued. The course is graded on a credit/no credit basis.

EXTERNSHIPS:

Externship (Hawai`i)

Students perform research, drafting, investigation, and other lawyering tasks for judges and attorney supervisors in public agencies, the State Legislature, and private law firms.

Externship (Pacific/Asia)

Students perform research, drafting, investigation, and other lawyering tasks for judges and attorney supervisors in the Pacific Island and Asia jurisdictions. The course is graded on a credit/no credit basis.