In 2025, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation was honored to complete its 51st year of service to the lāhui. NHLC’s kūlana is to serve as legal advocates for Native Hawaiian ʻohana, communities, cultural practitioners, and kiaʻi in legal matters where threats to Native Hawaiian identity and culture are at stake. We are proud to release our 2025 Annual Report to share the nature of this work and the stories of our clients, the places they mālama, and the practices they perpetuate.

A Year in Numbers

In 2025, NHLC provided legal services across a broad range of matters that touch the everyday lives of Native Hawaiians:

• 560+ matters serviced
• 170+ cases managed
• 6,900+ legal service hours provided

Behind each of these numbers is an ʻohana, community, cultural practitioner, or kiaʻi steadfastly asking for justice that uplifts the lāhui and enables the protection and perpetuation of Native Hawaiian traditions, customs, and lifeways.

Cases That Mattered

Each year, the lāhui faces serious challenges to the stewardship of our ʻāina, wai, and culture.  This year was no different. Here are just a few of the areas where NHLC partnered with our clients to advance Hawaiian justice:

• Steadfast Advocacy Against Military Destruction at Pōhakuloa
• Challenging Unlawful Stream Diversions in East Maui
• Protecting Against the Criminalization of Traditional Birthing Practitioners
• Enabling Access to ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi Immersion Education in Public Schools
• Holding the Line with Community Against Over Development of Nihokū
• Advocating for a Pono and Disaster Resilient Recovery in Lāhaina
• Ensuring Hawaiian Homes Retention and Succession for Homestead ʻOhana
• Enabling ʻOhana to Retain Ownership of Ancestral Lands 
• Safeguarding Spiritual Practice Rights for Paʻahao in Hawaiʻi and Arizona prisons and jails

Mahalo

The work documented in this report is only possible because of the community that surrounds and supports NHLC, including our clients who trust us with what matters most, our donors and partners who make this work sustainable, and our staff who bring both legal expertise and deep aloha to everything they do.

We invite you to read the full 2025 Annual Report to learn more about the work we have done together.

Check out the Annual Report Here!