John is an experienced trial lawyer. Prior to practicing law, he was the executive director of a non-profit. He was raised by an engineer dad and a pharmacist mom who instilled in him precision, accuracy, and determination. In his extended family, there are four M.D.s, three dentists, many engineers, as many veterans, and entrepreneurs. He proudly presents as the only lawyer.
John’s primary focus is representing injured people, but he enjoys filing lawsuits against insurance companies. He has a record-breaking three-day trial in which the jury awarded millions against a national insurance company for its failure to pay a valid claim. John called Nick from the courthouse steps to thank him and attributes his big verdict to Nick.
Having worked in the government as a Deputy Attorney General, John tried many cases, and one of his appeals was published in a Hawaii Supreme Court opinion dealing with the constitutional issue of the separation of powers between the executive branch and the judicial branch of government.
After leaving the government, John’s first jury trial win was in a criminal grand theft auto case involving a repeat offender. The client fired her public defender, who was trying to get her to plea bargain. She told John that her first two convictions were the same – the public defender talked her out of going to trial and had struck a plea deal. They went to trial and won! John exposed the government’s conflicting trial testimony that revealed the truck owner’s son had lost the truck in a poker game and never told his dad who had reported it stolen. You can’t make this stuff up. They were going to put this lady in jail for 10 years on a false charge. The truck was never stolen.
John was awarded Teacher of the Year at the Princeton Review, his first job out of college. While at UC Irvine, he was inducted into the Order of Omega. In law school, he was selected for the joint degree environmental law program. John also wrote for the Vermont Bar Journal.
While in law school, he was a summer intern at the Hawaii State Attorney General’s Office, where he worked for Larry Lau and Brian Yee, two iconic figures. There, he helped on a Clean Water Act case and with matters dealing with Public Utilities. In Hawaii, John has been a chapter president of the Hawaii Jaycees, Hawaii Christian Legal Society, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Hawaii Association for Justice.
He also represented Hawaii counties in the opioid litigation together with a team of premier lawyers against Big Pharmaceutical companies in a historic $78 million statewide settlement.
John also represents indigent clients pro bono. An 80-year-old grandmother was injured on the city bus, and he represented the grandmother pro bono without a fee.
Away from the courtroom, John enjoys his family time in the ocean, on the golf course, or in the kitchen. He and Michelle have been married for over 25 years. They have two daughters, one in college who competes in NCAA golf tournaments and another still in high school. They also raise a rescue dog from Kauai, a rare barkless Chihuahua. They also enjoy two laying hens, a Legbar and a White Crested Polish.
John speaks Hawaiian Pidgin, Korean, and Spanish.
