UHELP at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa celebrates over thirty years of service to our community. We play a vital role in educating students and in providing qualified legal services to older people and their caregivers in our community. Our goal is to enhance, protect and preserve the autonomy and independence of older persons through education, training and direct legal services. UHELP places particular emphasis on assisting older persons with limited assets and income.
EDUCATION
We offer the following elder law courses to our students: Law, Aging and Medicine, Health Law: Bioethics, and the Elder Law Clinic. These courses provide a foundation for legal practice with the elderly.
These courses are open to second and third year law students and to graduate students with the consent of the instructor. In the clinic, students have the opportunity to work with real clients with real legal issues. In addition to law students, students from the Geriatric Fellows and Psychiatry Fellows Program at the John A. Burns School of Medicine and Doctor of Nurse Practioners at the School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene are provided courses of instruction to assist them with an understanding of legal issues facing health care providers and, in particular, medical-legal issues affecting older persons.
COMMUNITY SERVICES
UHELP is staffed by an attorney/professor, a program administrator/legal assistant and sometimes a student law clerk. UHELP operates throughout the calendar year and provides uncontested legal assistance, advice, information and referral.
UHELP is not permitted to assist with business or criminal law matters or with personal injury or other fee-generating cases. You may qualify for services if you are a resident of Oʻahu and are 55 years or older and have with limited assets and income or if you are a caregiver of an older person and need legal assistance on behalf of the older person. (Each case is evaluated according to its own merits and in accordance with staff capabilities and limited resources.)
Appointments are required as there are no walk-in services. Please call (808) 956-6544 for an appointment. |