California Law Students Provide Pro Bono Help To Struggling Maui Residents After Wildfires

Fox News, California Law Students Provide Pro Bono Help to Struggling Maui Residents After Wildfires:

A group of law students at Pepperdine University's Caruso School of Law are helping with the legal side of recovery after the devastating wildfires in Maui in August.

The students are volunteering through the Pepperdine Caruso Law Pro Bono Program, which is part of the school's Clinical Education Program.

"Under the leadership of Professors Jeff Baker and Peter Fendel, about 20 Pepperdine Law students volunteered their time and legal skills to assist Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation (NHLC) in providing assistance to citizens of Maui who lost their homes and/or businesses in the wildfires," Caruso School of Law student Matteson Landau told Fox News Digital. ...

Pepperdine's students were particularly inspired to assist those in Hawaii in part due to the school's recent history. "The Pepperdine community knows firsthand the tragic effects of wildfires, as our own campus and city was affected by the Malibu Woolsey Fire in 2018," said Landau. Pepperdine University is located in Malibu. 

After that fire, Baker "was inspired to develop a legal aid program for disaster relief, and students at that time learned how to file FEMA applications and draft appeal letters," Landau said. ...

"The Hawaiian people are our Pacific neighbors, and we will always offer support and Aloha, just as the people of Hawaii would do for us," Fendel, executive director of externship and pro bono programs at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law, said in a press release. "We are honored as a university and a law school to serve the Native Hawaiian population of Maui."

Under the supervision of NHLC lawyers, "Pepperdine Law students worked in pairs to help clients file FEMA applications and draft FEMA appeal letters," Landau told Fox News Digital.