More in JD (Juris Doctor) Program:
JD Full Time Program
Overview
At Richardson Law School, we are committed to learning as a collaborative enterprise. Our program challenges students to grow intellectually and professionally. Faculty members engage with students as partners as well as serve as sources of knowledge. A foremost concern of the Law School is to provide assistance in “learning how to learn.” Students prepare for a challenging and rewarding professional life equipped with skills in legal counseling, advocacy, and decision-making. Students are encouraged to study law and legal institutions as integral parts of larger social, political-economic, and ecological systems.
Classroom experiences include vigorous discussion in traditional Socratic classroom settings, as well as lectures, seminars, informal small group discussions, and individually supervised field and library research projects. Writing skills are honed in small groups and on a one-to-one basis with experienced faculty and practitioners. Students participate in experiential clinical courses that provide a wide array of opportunities including real courtroom experience, simulation clinics and externship opportunities. All students in the full-time Juris Doctor (JD) program must enroll for at least 12 credits during the three-year program. A normal semester course load is 14 to 16 credit hours. Through rigorous, stimulating, and challenging study, the Law School’s graduates are well-prepared to work in any jurisdiction in the country.
Objectives and Methods
Our Juris Doctor program provides degree candidates with the opportunity to equip themselves for active and effective participation as professionals in legal counseling, advocacy and decision-making. Whether the context be in a courtroom or at a legislative hearing, attorney’s office, corporate boardroom, state agency, federal commission, community center or international conference table, our graduates are prepared. Students are encouraged to study law and legal institutions as integral parts of larger social, political-economic, and ecological systems.
Techniques of instruction include the traditional “Socratic method” (in which an instructor rigorously questions individual students in a large group setting), lectures, problem-based learning, seminars, informal small group discussions, individually supervised field and library research projects, and a variety of experiential methods. “Clinical” components, in the form of real or simulated lawyers’ tasks, are an essential part of the program. Small-group work, especially in the first year, is organized around hypothetical client problems. Second- and third-year small-group seminars and clinical workshops permit students to develop lawyering skills in areas of their practice interests.
The Law School is committed to the view that learning is an enterprise in which members of the faculty should function as facilitating participants as well as sources of knowledge. Accordingly, students are expected to develop their own legal skills and abilities and to clarify their values. Successful performance of those tasks depends on the inclination and ability to learn continuously and on one’s own. Therefore, a foremost concern of the school is to provide assistance in “learning how to learn.”
Full-Time Curriculum
First-year students build a strong foundation of core knowledge and fundamental skills as they learn to analyze legal problems. In a typical fall semester, full-time first-year students take the following courses: LAW 516 Civil Procedure I (3 credit hours); LAW 506 Contracts (4 credit hours); LAW 522 Torts (4 credit hours); and LAW 504 Lawyering Fundamentals I (3 credit hours). In addition to the above courses, Ulu Lehua Scholars in the Fall will take LWUL 501 American Legal Systems (1 credit hour).
In the typical spring semester, full-time first-year students take the following courses: LAW 517 Civil Procedure II (3 credit hours); LAW 505 Lawyering Fundamentals II (2 credit hours); LAW 518 Real Property I (4 credit hours); LAW 513 Criminal Law (4 credit hours); and LWLR 501 Legal Research (2 credit hours).
The second and third year experience is flexible, allowing each student to design a course of study specifically tailored to her or his interests and career goals. Students may choose from a broad array of elective courses, workshops, and clinics.
Writing skills are sharpened in a required Second Year Seminar in which students engage in an in-depth exploration of a legal topic to produce a scholarly paper. Examples of seminar topics include: Family Law, Native Hawaiian Rights, Property, Labor Law, Electronic Commerce, Race, Culture and Law, Intellectual Property, International Law, and Environmental Law.
Second- and third-year students may also choose to pursue certificates within the Law School or a dual degree or graduate certificate in such areas as Business, Asian Studies, and Public Policy within the University.
By the time our students graduate, they are in demand for jobs nationally and internationally. Many of our graduates secure prestigious judicial clerkships upon graduation.
STudent learning outcomes
The Law School is accredited by the American Bar Association and a member of the Association of American Law Schools. In compliance with ABA Standard 301(a) for the Objectives of Program of Legal Education, the Law School strives to “maintain a rigorous program of legal education that prepares its students upon graduation, for admission to the bar and for effective, ethical, and responsible participation as members of the legal profession.” In accordance with ABA Standard 301(b), the Law School has established and publishes the following learning outcomes designed to achieve these objectives.
Students admitted to the J.D. program must have an undergraduate degree, among other requirements. In Hawaiʻi, and nearly every other state, a J.D. degree from an accredited school is essential to become a licensed attorney. The Law School necessarily focuses substantial attention on those learning objectives aimed at preparation to pass the bar exam and to practice law ethically and effectively. The school also emphasizes areas of law of importance to Hawaiʻi and to the school’s mission.
J.D. Graduates will gain a foundational understanding of Hawai‘i’s unique history and traditions, including traditional Native Hawaiian values and knowledge systems, and will be aware of how these influence and inform Hawai‘i law and legal practice.
Comment: This SLO can be satisfied in many ways, including through the ability to:
- become familiar with key events in Hawaiʻi’s legal history and understand their effects on Hawaiʻi’s legal system;
- understand the laws that safeguard the unique legal rights of Native Hawaiians; and
- understand the tensions and possibilities for reconciliation between certain aspects of Anglo-American law and important Native Hawaiian values and governance principles, such as Kuleana, Aloha ʻĀina, Kapu Aloha, and Mālama ke kahi i ke kahi.
J.D. Graduates will possess a foundational body of knowledge and understanding of substantive and procedural law.
Comment: This SLO can be satisfied in many ways, including through the ability to:
- understand the fundamental concepts, rules, and principles of law, including alternative formulations across jurisdictions, in all required subjects;
- understand the legislative, administrative, and judicial processes through which substantive and procedural law develops;
- contextualize substantive and procedural legal developments in their historical, social, and political contexts;
- understand how differing judicial philosophies, principles of constitutional and statutory interpretation, and the roles of different institutions within the legal system influence how substantive and procedural legal rules and principles are formulated, interpreted, and applied in actual disputes; and
- understand how legal concepts are developed and applied in the domestic, comparative, transnational, or international contexts.
J.D. Graduates will develop practice-ready proficiency in legal analysis and reasoning, legal research, and problem-solving that will help to serve their life-long learning needs and enable them to provide leadership in law.
Comment: This SLO can be satisfied in many ways, including through the ability to:
- structure and plan work on an analytical task to be performed, being cognizant of the audience for whom the work product is being generated, the purpose to which the work product will be put, and applicable time and cost constraints;
- identify, locate, and synthesize pertinent legal materials, including, as applicable, constitutional provisions, statutes, legislative history, cases, and administrative regulations;
- identify, locate, and use secondary sources to efficiently develop an analytical framework through which to approach an assigned task;
- assess and rank the relative authoritative weights of different legal materials;
- detect and where appropriate resolve ambiguities or inconsistencies among various authoritative legal materials;
- gather, organize, and master problem-relevant facts;
- apply authoritative legal rules and principles to the facts; and
- generate legal predictions, arguments, or strategies.
J.D. Graduates will develop practice-ready proficiency in written and oral communication in the legal context.
Comment: This SLO can be satisfied in many ways, including through the ability to:
- structure and plan a written or oral communication task, being mindful of the audience to whom the communication is directed, the goals of the communication, and any applicable time, billing, or length constraints;
- write a variety of legal documents, such as emails, letters, memoranda, motions, briefs, contracts, or licensing agreements;
- write objective and predictive analyses that can be used in strategy formulation or the provision of advice to clients;
- write clear, accurate, and persuasive legal arguments;
- craft and deliver clear oral explanations of legal predictions or arguments;
- communicate effectively with clients or witnesses; and
- deliver clear, accurate, and persuasive oral arguments in such settings as court proceedings at the trial or appellate levels, legislative or administrative hearings, or in other private or public settings where decisions are being made.
J.D. Graduates will understand their ethical and professional responsibilities as representatives of clients, officers of the court, and public citizens responsible for the quality and availability of justice, the integrity of the legal profession, and the maintenance of the rule of law.
Comment: This SLO can be satisfied in many ways, including through the ability to:
- demonstrate knowledge of a lawyer’s professional and ethical responsibilities and understand the role of a lawyer in promoting justice;
- recognize the most common ethical and professional liability dilemmas and know methods for resolving them under the highest professional standards;
- understand the importance of integrity, honesty, diligence, civility, accountability, maturity, and commitment to excellence in interactions with clients, the public, governing bodies, and other lawyers;
- recognize the importance of service to others to help to increase better and more equal access to justice;
- manage time (including submitting assignments in a timely manner), effort, available resources, and competing priorities; and
- understand the importance of the role of lawyers and advocates as leaders in the community.
J.D. Graduates will understand their responsibilities as legal professionals to help serve the legal needs of diverse communities, to engage in service to the public as a whole, and to improve the quality of justice for all people, irrespective of ethnicity, national or regional origin, race, language, indigeneity, dis/ability, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, or socioeconomic status.
Comment: This SLO can be satisfied in many ways, including through the ability to:
- develop the cross-cultural competencies needed to engage inclusively with clients, colleagues, adversaries, and others across differences of ethnicity, national or regional origin, race, language, indigeneity, dis/ability, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, or socioeconomic status;
- develop the skills and sensibilities that strengthen the ability to understand and work effectively with others across differences of viewpoint, ideas, values, and life experience;
- develop the ability to recognize issues and generate solutions relating to systemic and institutional forms of bias and discrimination in and beyond the legal profession;
- develop the ability to recognize and mitigate in oneself subtle forms of intergroup bias that can impair one’s ability to provide the highest quality legal services;
- develop the communication and dispute resolution skills needed to help lessen intergroup conflicts and promote intergroup harmony and solidarity;
- develop the ability to identify strategies for increasing access to the legal system and improving the quality of justice in society; and
- develop the professional habit of regularly providing pro bono legal services.
J.D. Graduates will learn to develop and sustain the creative and entrepreneurial mindsets required to engage and lead in innovation-driven lawyering.
Comment: This SLO can be satisfied in many ways, including through the ability to:
- develop the diligence, tenacity, and adaptability required for a lifetime of collaborative and individual learning about how new and transformative technologies function;
- develop foundational abilities to contextualize and creatively apply understandings about new and transformative technologies to law, lawyering, legal institutions, and quality of justice concerns;
- develop the basic information literacy skills required to critically evaluate legal and business research materials, media accounts, and legal and policy proposals relating to emerging technologies and innovations;
- develop a basic understanding of the formation and funding of new organizations (including for-profit and not-for-profit corporations, partnerships, and unincorporated associations), and a foundational understanding of organizational behavior, strategic planning, financial management, communications (including marketing), and leadership skills;
- develop basic skills for analyzing market strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and learn to use these tools to identify new opportunities for constructive innovation;
- engage in reflective practice toward continuous improvement of all aspects of legal practice; and
- develop the capacity for professional, ethical, and socially responsible judgment in externships, simulations, clinical experiences, and other educational contexts.
In the study of law, I will conscientiously prepare myself;
To advance the interests of those I serve before my own,
To approach my responsibilities and colleagues with integrity, professionalism, and civility,
To guard zealously legal, civil and human rights which are the birthright of all people,
And above all, to endeavor always to seek justice.
This I do pledge.
LAW STUDENT PLEDGE
FAQs
The full-time JD program requires students to enroll for at least 12 credits per semester during the three-year program (a normal semester course load can range from 14 to 16 credit hours.
Each year, the Admissions Committee selects up to twelve full-time students from the entering class to join the Ulu Lehua Program. These students have overcome adversity and demonstrated their academic potential, leadership ability, and commitment to social justice.
Admitted full-time JD students may apply for conditional admission to the Shidler College of Business. See JD/MBA Joint Program.
Admitted full-time or part-time JD students may apply for admission to the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work. See JD/MSW Dual DegreeProgram.
Certificates & Concentrations
Richardson law students have the option to build subject knowledge and relevant skills through the pursuit of certificates or dual degrees during their course of study.
Certificate Programs
The school offers robust programs in the areas of Environmental Law, Native Hawaiian Law, Pacific-Asian Legal Studies, and International Law.
Dual Degree Programs
At Richardson, law students may earn another graduate degree or certificate in any degree program offered at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Some of the more popular dual degrees include JD/MBA with Shidler College of Business and the JD/MSW with Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work.
Business Concentration
Students can also choose a concentration in Business Law if this is an area that meets their interest.
Certificate
Checklist
Course Descriptions
KEY FACULTY
8:1
Student-to-faculty
The ratio of student to faculty members is 8:1. Faculty members engage with students as partners as well as serve as sources of knowledge. A foremost concern of the Law School is to provide assistance in “learning how to learn.”