Our Services

NHLC provides legal services to confront the problems facing Native Hawaiians, including the threatened loss of their ancestral lands, the unfulfilled-promises made by state and federal government to hold Hawaiian land in trust for their betterment, and the preservation of their indigneous way of life.

If you have a legal issue and would like to see if we can help you, please call our office at (808) 521-2302 or contact us using our Contact Form.

Quiet Title Defense

We encourage families to contact us if they are named in a quiet title action or threatened with a quiet title claim.

Family/Land Trust Creation

Native Hawaiian families can take a proactive approach to protect family lands by forming trusts.

Access Rights

NHLC defends the use of traditional access routes to the ocean and forests to gather, fish, and practice as their ancestors did.

Burial Protection

The protection of na kupuna `oiwi (Native Hawaiian burials) is also a priority for NHLC and it is at the forefront of the battle to ensure that mandates are met.

Traditional and Customary Practices

NHLC stands with practitioners in their legal battles to have their traditional and customary practice rights upheld.

Water Rights

The right to adequate water for traditional Hawaiian crops attached to land awards issued during the mid-1800s by the Hawaiian Kingdom. State statutory law safeguards these rights.

Ceded Lands Trust

NHLC provides legal services to confront the threatened loss of their ancestral lands, the unfulfilled promises made by state and federal government to hold Hawaiian land in trust for their betterment, and the preservation of their indigenous way of life which includes traditional means of resolving disputes.

Hawaiian Home Lands

NHLC assists Hawaiian Homes beneficiaries with a wide range of problems including lost applications, arbitrary decreases in lot size, evictions, construction defects, successorship criteria, and community-based planning and economic development.

Cultural Intellectual Property, Traditional Knowledge, & Data Sovereignty

Cultural practitioners and traditional knowledge stewards, including Native Hawaiian serving organizations, can request NHLC’s assistance with intellectual property concerns regarding protection or abuse.

Published On: December 18, 2024
What is the kuleana of the Island Burial Councils to protect iwi kūpuna?
By Terina Fa‘agau, NHLC Staff Attorney To promote the “sensitive treatment of Hawaiian burial sites through cooperative and shared decision making with representatives of the Hawaiian community,” the Hawaiʻi State Legislature established the ...
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Published On: December 2, 2024
Kauaʻi County Planning Commission Finds in Favor of Kilauea Cultural Practitioners to Protect Nihokū
The Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation (“NHLC”) recently represented client Nā Kiaʻi o Nihokū before the Kaua‘i County Planning Commission (the “Commission”) at its November 12, 2024 meeting. Nā Kiaʻi o Nihokū includes ...
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Published On: November 15, 2024
What is a DHHL RWOTP lease? Is that a homestead lease?
By Henderson Huihui, NHLC Staff Attorney In 2021, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) began offering Hawaiʻi Island waitlisters and those with an Undivided Interest homestead lease a rent-with-option-to-purchase rental (“RWOTP”) agreement. ...
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