A recent University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa law graduate was awarded a national “Design-Your-Own Fellowship” by the nonprofit Equal Justice Works in Washington, D.C., joining a cohort of 76 fellows from across the country.
Henderson Huihui, who graduated in spring 2020, is the first William S. Richardson School of Law student to receive this competitive and creative fellowship. Huihui, who has served as a law clerk with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation (NHLC), will research the rights of the beneficiaries of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL). Throughout the fellowship, he will continue his NHLC work for two years.
“My project will focus on the common issues faced by DHHL beneficiaries, including lease cancellations, foreclosures, successorship rights and complex administrative regulations that beneficiaries often navigate alone and without the benefit of legal and other support and advocacy,” said Huihui. “I hope to assist not only those who have a homestead but even those who are on the waitlist, or those eligible but have yet to apply.”
Huihui said he hopes to empower DHHL beneficiaries by advising them about their legal rights and about procedures that relate to homesteading opportunities, as well as by providing direct legal service, advocating for policy reform and fostering community partnerships and collaboration.
For more information see the UH law school website.
–By Beverly Creamer
