To support and retain faculty at the only law school in Hawaiʻi, a gift of $500,000 was given to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law from the Cades Foundation, a charitable affiliate of Hawaiʻi law firm Cades Schutte.
The gift establishes the Cades Foundation Term Professorships over 10 years. This is one of the largest gifts to UH from the Cades Foundation, which is a longtime supporter of the UH law school. The foundation previously funded the Cades Schutte Scholarship endowment and sponsored Classroom 2.
The funds will be spent at the discretion of the UH law school dean to create term professorships which can be used to supplement salaries and to pay for a broad array of expenses, including the cost of travel for scholarly research and presentations, professional development, intellectual exchange, conferences and symposia.
“Hawaiʻi is often listed as one of the most expensive places to live in the world, and our cost of living is one of the highest in the nation,” said Dean Camille Nelson. “This gift allows us to be more competitive with continental law schools which often offer more lucrative faculty compensation. We have many impressive faculty whose myriad contributions are noticed the world over. It is increasingly important that we continue to recognize and support their excellence.”
As the sole law school in the state, UH law school has a high percentage of graduates who are attorneys at Hawaiʻi law firms—including nearly half of the attorneys at Cades Schutte. Many local attorneys are also adjunct lecturers at the law school.
“It is vital for the legal profession in Hawaiʻi that we help our law school faculty maintain a competitive edge,” said Rhonda L. Griswold, partner at Cades Schutte, president of the Hawaiʻi State Bar Association and a 1984 graduate of the law school. “We must make it attractive—and feasible—for the people training our future associates, partners and judges to stay in the islands and grow their academic careers.”
“The Cades Foundation is proud to support the William S. Richardson School of Law as it is the alma mater of so many of our partners and associates at Cades Schutte and our colleagues in the Hawaiʻi legal community,” said E. Gunner Schull, senior counsel to Cades Schutte and president of the Cades Foundation. “We recognize how crucial the law school is to our community and are pleased we can help Dean Nelson in her efforts to bring innovation to the school while retaining the talented faculty that has made Richardson one of the top law schools in the nation.”
The UH law school embraces Hawaiʻi’s diversity and values as part of its collaborative, multicultural community which prepares students for excellence in the practice of law and related careers that advance justice and the rule of law. The UH law school is marking its 50th anniversary in 2023. Its part-time program is rated No. 21 and its full-time program No. 91 in the 2023 U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of law schools.
The Cades Foundation is separate from Cades Schutte’s charitable giving program. The foundation was founded in 1991 by firm partners and brothers Russell and Milton Cades as a separate nonprofit organization to, among other things, foster the improvement of the legal profession and the promotion of justice in the State of Hawaiʻi.
