The
William S. Richardson School of Law is a public, co-educational institution of the
University of Hawaii at MānoaThe University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a public, co-educational university and is the flagship campus of the greater University of Hawaii system. The school is located in Mānoa, an urban neighborhood community of Honolulu CDP, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, approximately three miles east and...
in
Honolulu, HawaiiHonolulu is the capital of and the most populous census-designated place in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Although Honolulu refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and the county are consolidated, known as the City and County of Honolulu, and the city and...
. Named after the beloved
Hawaii State Supreme CourtThe Hawaii State Supreme Court is the highest court of the State of Hawaii in the United States. Its decisions are binding on all other courts of the Hawaii State Judiciary. The principal purpose of the Supreme Court is to review the decisions of the trial courts in which appeals have been granted...
Chief JusticeThe Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Supreme Court of India, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Supreme...
William S. RichardsonWilliam S. Richardson, formally William Shaw Richardson is the former Chief Justice of the Hawaii State Supreme Court. He served as Chief Justice from 1966 to 1982. Prior to his service as the top jurist in Hawaii, Richardson was lieutenant governor under John A. Burns...
, it is the only law school in the
State of HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states, and is the only state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...
. It is fully accredited by the
American Bar AssociationThe American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
and is a member of the
Association of American Law SchoolsThe Association of American Law Schools is a non-profit organization of 170 law schools in the United States. Another 25 schools are "non-member fee paid" schools, which are not members but choose to pay AALS dues. Its purpose is to improve the legal profession through the improvement of legal...
.
The William S. Richardson School of Law has adopted a mission of promoting justice, ethical responsibility and public service with special emphasis on field of law of particular importance to
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states, and is the only state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...
and the
Pacific RimThe Pacific Rim refers to the countries and cities located around the edge of the Pacific Ocean. There are many economic centers around the Pacific Rim, such as Auckland, Busan, Brisbane, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Lima, Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Panama City, Portland, San Diego, San...
region including
environmental lawEnvironmental law is a complex and interlocking body of statutes, common law, treaties, conventions, regulations and policies which, very broadly, operate to regulate the interaction of humanity and the rest of the biophysical or natural environment, toward the purpose of reducing or minimizing the...
, rights of
native HawaiiansNative Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants...
, maritime law and Pacific and
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
n legal systems. There are approximately 270 students with an average of 90 students in each class, taught by 22 permanent faculty.
The William S.
The
William S. Richardson School of Law is a public, co-educational institution of the
University of Hawaii at MānoaThe University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a public, co-educational university and is the flagship campus of the greater University of Hawaii system. The school is located in Mānoa, an urban neighborhood community of Honolulu CDP, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, approximately three miles east and...
in
Honolulu, HawaiiHonolulu is the capital of and the most populous census-designated place in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Although Honolulu refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and the county are consolidated, known as the City and County of Honolulu, and the city and...
. Named after the beloved
Hawaii State Supreme CourtThe Hawaii State Supreme Court is the highest court of the State of Hawaii in the United States. Its decisions are binding on all other courts of the Hawaii State Judiciary. The principal purpose of the Supreme Court is to review the decisions of the trial courts in which appeals have been granted...
Chief JusticeThe Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Supreme Court of India, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Supreme...
William S. RichardsonWilliam S. Richardson, formally William Shaw Richardson is the former Chief Justice of the Hawaii State Supreme Court. He served as Chief Justice from 1966 to 1982. Prior to his service as the top jurist in Hawaii, Richardson was lieutenant governor under John A. Burns...
, it is the only law school in the
State of HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states, and is the only state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...
. It is fully accredited by the
American Bar AssociationThe American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
and is a member of the
Association of American Law SchoolsThe Association of American Law Schools is a non-profit organization of 170 law schools in the United States. Another 25 schools are "non-member fee paid" schools, which are not members but choose to pay AALS dues. Its purpose is to improve the legal profession through the improvement of legal...
.
The William S. Richardson School of Law has adopted a mission of promoting justice, ethical responsibility and public service with special emphasis on field of law of particular importance to
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states, and is the only state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...
and the
Pacific RimThe Pacific Rim refers to the countries and cities located around the edge of the Pacific Ocean. There are many economic centers around the Pacific Rim, such as Auckland, Busan, Brisbane, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Lima, Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Panama City, Portland, San Diego, San...
region including
environmental lawEnvironmental law is a complex and interlocking body of statutes, common law, treaties, conventions, regulations and policies which, very broadly, operate to regulate the interaction of humanity and the rest of the biophysical or natural environment, toward the purpose of reducing or minimizing the...
, rights of
native HawaiiansNative Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants...
, maritime law and Pacific and
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
n legal systems. There are approximately 270 students with an average of 90 students in each class, taught by 22 permanent faculty.
Establishment
The William S. Richardson School of Law was established by an act of the Hawaii State Legislature in 1968 and welcomed its first
doctor of jurisprudenceJuris Doctor is a first professional degree.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century as a degree similar to the old European doctor of law degree...
candidates in 1973. There were fifty-three students in the first class, including
John D. Waihee IIIJohn David Waihee III served as the fourth Governor of Hawaii from 1986 to 1994. He was the first American of Native Hawaiian descent to be elected to the office from any state of the United States. After his tenure in the governor's office, Waihee became a nationally prominent attorney and...
, future
Governor of HawaiiThe Governor of Hawaii, also called Ke Kiaaina o Hawaii, is the chief executive of the State of Hawaii and its various agencies and departments, as provided in the Hawaii State Constitution Article V, Sections 1 through 6. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of...
. In 1974, the American Bar Association granted provisional accreditation and then full accreditation in 1982. In 1983, the William S. Richardson School of Law moved into new facilities on the campus of the University of Hawaii at Mānoa.
Recent developments
- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Kennedy visited in Spring of 2006 as part of the school's Jurist-in-Residence program.
- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Breyer visited in Spring of 2008 as part of the school's Jurist-in-Residence program.
- The William S. Richardson School of Law was ranked in the top tier as one of America's Top Law Schools in 2004 by Law School 100.
- The U.S. News and World Report ranked it as one of America's Best Graduate Schools for 2005.
- In 2003, Aviam Soifer
Aviam Soifer is currently the Dean of the William S. Richardson School of Law, the only law school in Hawaii.Soifer earned his BA at Yale University in 1969, and a Master of Urban Studies at the same institution in 1972. He also earned his Juris Doctor at Yale Law School, in 1972, where he was an...
became the law school's newest Dean.
- The William S. Richardson School of Law was ranked 82nd among the top 100 law schools in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American newsmagazine published in Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek, it was for many years a leading news weekly, although it focused more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
.
- The William S. Richardson School of Law, one of two NALSA teams, composed of Anosh Yaqoob and Scott Hovey, captured the 2007 National Native American Law Student Association Moot Court National Championship in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. Mr. Yaqoob also garnered the 2nd Place Best Oralist Award. The team composed of Moani Crowell and Greg Schlais placed in the Top 8.
- On February 23, 2008, the William S. Richardson School of Law's NALSA Moot Court team, captured four out of nine awards (placing in all three categories) at the annual moot court competition held in Tempe, Arizona at the Sandra Day O'Connor School of Law at Arizona State University. The duo of Moani Crowell & Greg Schlais was awarded First Place in the Best Brief category and Anosh Yaqoob won First Place in the Best Oralist category. Scott Hovey & Anosh Yaqoob garnered Third Place in the Best Advocate category (overall) and Edward Hu & Derek Kauanoe captured Second Place in the Best Advocate category (overall). Other participating Hawaii students include Ann Kanoelehua Otteman & Richard Wallsgrove (ranking in the Top 16), Christopher Santos & Terrence Thornburgh, and Rafael Renteria.
- On February 28, 2009, third year law student, Ann Otteman and second year law student Jesse Smith, from the William S. Richardson School of Law, won Second Place at the 17th Annual National Native American Law Students Association's moot court competition held in Boulder, Colorado. This award marks the third consecutive year that the Hawai'i law school placed in the final round. Four other Hawaii law school teams, consisting of 8 students; third year-law students: Rafael Renteria, Christopher Santos, and Terrence Thornburgh and second-year law students Lahela Hite, Chasid Sapolu, Scott Shishido, Kaupena Soon and Kaui Yamane, also competed. Three of these teams also placed in the top 16 bracket of the elimination rounds. These students were also accompanied by second year law students Joni Domingues and Uilisone Tua.
- Being the sole law school in the state, the William S. Richardson School of Law has produced a number of community leaders. The Lt. Governor, Duke Aiona, is a graduate of the school. Senate President Colleen Hanabusa is also an alumna. In June 2009, a 2007 graduate of the law school, Nathaniel Kinney filed to run in the special election for the District 5 Seat of the Honolulu City Council. The seat became vacant after the untimely and unfortunate death of Dr. Duke Bainum. Although perceived as a newcomer to Hawaii politics, Nathaniel Kinney established his online presence immediately with what has been described by an observer as the best political candidate website for the position. Nathaniel established a strong online presence with his website VoteforKinney.com,, a Facebook group page, a Twitter page,, and membership with niche social networking sites: Moiliili Matters, Makiki Talks, and Tech Hui,
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