UH law school’s incoming class sets record

With 99 candidates this fall, the University of Hawaii law school Monday welcomed its largest incoming class in its 41-year history.

This is while law schools across the country are again facing declining enrollments, according to a news release from the UH law school.

Enrollment for the full-time program at William S. Richardson School of Law this fall is nearly double the size of the class a year ago, with 99 incoming law degree candidates compared with 53 last year.

“We are very excited to have so many students taking advantage of our personalized instruction and our relatively low tuition; they can expect the rare experience of a rigorous legal education that students actually like,” said law school Dean Avi Soifer.

“And the word is out that our students actually support each other and that they can expect to get challenging legal jobs.”

Landowners could get more time to build

LIHUE >> Owners of nonresidential land on Kauai may get more time to build additional dwelling units (ADU) on their properties.

The practice was discontinued about seven years ago. But the Garden Island reports that property owners can build if they submitted the proper forms and permit paperwork before that time.

Many proposed projects slowed when the economic recession hit in 2008. There were nearly 460 proposed but only 130 got off the ground.

“This is an opportunity for people to be able to build and keep stimulating the economy through carpenter and cement jobs,” County Council Chairman Jay Furfaro said.

The deadline to finish those projects is in December, but county officials are considering giving property owners more time if they pay a $750 annual fee.

That fee would be too much to handle for some residents. They say it would hinder long-standing ambitions to build on land that has been with their families for generations.

Patricia Lyons, 52, of Kapaa, said her father purchased land in 1967 so that family members could build an additional dwelling unit when they became older.

“I am asking on behalf of my late father, who had a dream for his children, to please extend the ADU deadline indefinitely,” Lyons said. “This will allow the dream for me, my mom and my two brothers to become a reality.”