The Cades Foundation, the charitable affiliate of Hawaiʻi law firm Cades Schutte, has given $500,000 to the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa to support and retain faculty at the only law school in one of the most expensive places in the world.
The Cades Foundation’s gift establishes the Cades Foundation Term Professorships over 10 years. This is one of the largest gifts to UH from the foundation, which is a longtime supporter of the law school, previously funding the Cades Schutte Scholarship endowment and the sponsorship of Classroom 2.
The funds will be spent at the discretion of the 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.”
Since the William S. Richardson School of Law is the sole law school in the state, a high percentage of the attorneys at Hawaiʻi law firms are graduates — 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 Hawaii 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.
Questions? / More Information
If you would like to learn how you can support UH students and programs like this, please contact us at 808 376-7800 or send us a message.
# # #
The University of Hawai‘i Foundation, a nonprofit organization, raises private funds to support the University of Hawai‘i System. The mission of the University of Hawai‘i Foundation is to unite donors’ passions with the University of Hawai‘i’s aspirations by raising philanthropic support and managing private investments to benefit UH, the people of Hawai‘i and our future generations. uhfoundation.org
