The Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation is proud to welcome its Summer 2026 Huʻeaʻo interns and law fellows.

NHLC’s Huʻeaʻo experiential learning program provides law students from across the globe with the opportunity to learn about Indigenous legal advocacy within an Indigenous-led, Indigenous rights legal practice. Participants contribute to substantive legal projects, engage with the community, and take part in cultural practice trainings that build cultural competence and deepen their understanding of the law, Native Hawaiian culture, and the knowledge essential to effectively advocate for the lāhui.

NHLC is honored to work alongside these emerging leaders and is grateful for their commitment to serving Hawaiʻi and its Native Hawaiian communities through law and advocacy.

More information about this term’s participants is provided below:

Isaac Aoki
University of Utah

Isaac Aoki is from Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, and is a graduate of ʻIolani School. He is currently a rising junior at the University of Utah, majoring in Applied Economics and minoring in Legal Studies. Isaac previously interned with the Hawaiʻi State Judiciary and has recently begun conducting research on the economic and housing challenges faced by Kānaka Maoli. This experience, along with a growing sense of purpose, motivated him to pursue a position with NHLC. Isaac is passionate about increasing Native Hawaiian representation in both the state and federal judiciary, and he looks forward to working with NHLC this summer to help advance this effort. 

Puanani Apoliona-Brown
Fordham University School of Law

Puanani Apoliona-Brown ‘28 is a rising 2L and Stein Scholar in Public Interest Law and Ethics at Fordham University School of Law. She holds an A.B. in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard University and an M.A. in Food Studies from New York University. Her undergraduate thesis on Native Hawaiian food sovereignty and water rights received Harvard’s 2018 Thesis Prize in Ethnicity, Migration, Rights, and her master’s thesis is published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. Before law school, she worked to advance Indigenous food sovereignty and environmental justice, most recently serving as a policy consultant for the First Nations Development Institute’s Native Farm to School Program and previously as Director of Operations and Strategic Relations at Real Food Generation/Uprooted & Rising. Puanani cares deeply about safeguarding cultural practices and Native rights. She is honored to begin her legal career at NHLC, where she looks forward to learning from the organization’s extraordinary team.

Elizabeth Gardner
Stanford Law School

Liz is an Alaska Native (Yupʼik) first-year student at Stanford Law School, where she is a member of the Native American Law Students Association, the Native Law Pro Bono Project, and the Environmental Law Journal. Born in Alaska and raised on Oʻahu, Liz brings a deep personal connection to Hawaiʻi and its indigenous communities to her legal work. Before law school, she spent two years as a paralegal at the Innocence Project, where she contributed to the exoneration of four wrongfully convicted clients — including a man wrongfully convicted in Hilo — and subsequently served as an Executive Assistant at the New York State Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct, where she helped build the foundational infrastructure of the newly created accountability agency. Liz comes to NHLC with a deep commitment to Native Hawaiian rights and Indigenous justice, and looks forward to contributing to the important work of protecting and advancing the rights of the Native Hawaiian community. 

Jarrod Mock
The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law

Jarrod Mock is a rising 2L at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Prior to law school, he worked in the finance industry and completed an internship with a federal magistrate judge. He is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California and will be practicing intellectual property and technology transactions law at a Silicon Valley law firm after graduation from law school. Jarrod seeks to use his legal expertise to give back to his community, and he is looking forward to learning about how expertise in intellectual property law can be used to help protect the intellectual property of indigenous communities from being incorrectly appropriated. In his free time, Jarrod enjoys playing guitar, going on long walks, and learning new languages. 

Chloe Devere
University of California, Santa Barbara

Chloe Devere is from Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, and is a graduate of Punahou School. She is currently an undergraduate at the University of California, Santa Barbara, double majoring in Political Science and Environmental Studies. She has interned with both Hawaiʻi state and federal legislators, gaining experience in policy research and constituent advocacy. In the fall, she studied abroad in Chile, engaging with social-ecological issues through Mapuche perspectives and strengthening her commitment to Indigenous-centered environmental justice. Her academic interests focus on environmental and Indigenous politics, particularly the role of law in protecting our ʻāina, wai, culture, and community. After volunteering with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation last summer, she looks forward to returning and continuing to explore how legal strategies can expand Native Hawaiian rights and advance environmental justice. 

Liv Devere
Dartmouth College

Liv Deeley is a junior at Dartmouth College studying English and Native American and Indigenous Studies. This summer she will work as an undergraduate intern with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, where she will assist with archival and research projects. At Dartmouth, Liv is involved in the Hokupa'a pan-Pasifika Club, Natives at Dartmouth, and women's club soccer. She is interested in public interest law and indigenous rights.   

Baylee Goeas Galdeira
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Baylee Goeas Galdeira is an undergraduate student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, majoring in Political Science with a minor in Hawaiian Studies. She is from Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu, and is passionate about advocating for the betterment of Hawaiian culture, its people, and ʻāina, as well as perpetuating ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi in everyday life. She is especially interested in learning how to meaningfully support Hawaiʻi’s communities and Native Hawaiian people through education, advocacy, and service. With aspirations to pursue a career in law, she is eager to gain experience that will strengthen her ability to advocate for the future of Hawaiʻi and the growing lāhui.

Nathaniel Ho
Brown University

Nathaniel Ho is a member of the Class of 2029 at Brown University, where he is pursuing a degree in English and Native American and Indigenous Studies. He grew up in ʻAiea, Hawaiʻi, and attended Kamehameha Schools, where he was a mathlete, cross-country runner, and debater. At Brown, he plays on the ultimate frisbee team, participates in the Brown Hawaiʻi Club, and enjoys reading and writing in his free time. He plans to attend law school in the future and pursue a career as a lawyer, and is currently exploring potential areas of focus.

Willow Alejandra Mikiʻoi Heim
University of Redlands

Willow Alejandra Mikiʻoi Heim is from Pauoa and is currently a junior at the University of Redlands. She is pursuing a major in Philosophy with a minor in Sociology and Anthropology and plans to graduate in Spring 2027. She is a member of a sustainability-focused sorority, where she actively works to live sustainably and give back to the land that has given her so much.

Miki Sampaio
Wellesley College

Miki Sampaio is an incoming junior at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She was born and raised in Koʻolaupoko on the island of Oʻahu and graduated from Kamehameha Schools, Class of 2024. She is interested in land rights and indigenous law.