Meet our Attorneys

Jerry M. Hiatt graduated with honors from Harvard University in 1973. He received his J.D. from the University of Hawai‘i, William S. Richardson School of Law in 1977 under a grant from the East-West Center. During his final year of law school, he attended Harvard Law School and was selected as an editor of the Harvard Environmental Law Review. Mr. Hiatt clerked for the firm of Baker and McKenzie in Hong Kong in 1975 and then for the firm now known as Carlsmith Ball LLC in 1976. He joined the Carlsmith firm in 1977 as an associate. He became a partner there in 1983 and assisted in directing the Real Estate and Business Litigation section of that firm, before leaving in 1986 to help found the firm of Bays Deaver Hiatt Kawachika & Lezak. Mr. Hiatt founded his own firm, now known as Hiatt & Hiatt in January 2001 and he and Mahilani Hiatt now have a general civil litigation practice with offices on the Big Island of Hawai‘i.

 

Mr. Hiatt has very extensive trial and arbitration experience in estate, corporate, partnership, construction, medical malpractice, legal malpractice, real property, banking and labor and employment matters for both management and individuals.

Mr. Hiatt is rated "Av" in the Martindale-Hubbell Legal Directory (a peer rating which denotes very high to preeminent legal ability). He has been included in the publication, Best Lawyers in America, each year from 1994 through the present and he is presently listed in Best Lawyers in the following eight areas: (1) Arbitration, (2) Bet-the-Company Litigation, (3)Commercial Litigation, (4) Employment Law – Individuals, (5) Litigation – Labor & Employment, (6) Mediation, (7) Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants, and (8) Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs. Best Lawyers has also named Jerry M. Hiatt as the “Honolulu Best Lawyers Litigation - Labor & Employment Lawyer of the Year” for 2012.

Mr. Hiatt is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates ("ABOTA") and has received Board Certification in Civil Trial Advocacy from the National Board of Trial Advocacy ("NBTA"). Mr. Hiatt is a trained mediator and arbitrator for Dispute Prevention & Resolution, Inc. ("DPR"), a mediator for the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and a mediator and arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association.

Some of the cases Mr. Hiatt has personally either tried, arbitrated and/or handled on appeal include: Mathewson v. Aloha Airlines, Inc., 82 Haw. 57, 919 P.2d 969 (1996); Calleon v. Miyagi, 76 Haw. 310, 876 P.2d 1278 (1994); Stratton v. Hawai‘i Electric Light Company, No. 95-16142 (9th Cir., Dec. 16, 1996); Morishige v. Spencecliff, 720 F.Supp. 829, U.S.D.C. (D. Haw., 8/4/89); Mailhiot v. Grand Wailea Co., 85 Haw. 83, 937 P.2d 924 (1997); Pancakes of Hawai‘i v. Pomare Properties Corp., 85 Haw. 286, 944 P.2d 83 (App. 1997); Finley v. Home Insurance, 90 Hawai‘i 25, 975 P.2d 115 (1998); Gonsalves v. Nissan, 58 P.3d 1196 (Hawai‘i 2002); Morita v. County of Hawai‘i (Third Circuit Court trial completed in March, 2004); In Re the Matter of The Marilyn Mueller Goss Family and Marital Trusts, T. No. 03-1-0023 (First Circuit Court 2003); In Re The Ferdinand John Henry Schnack and Mary Pearson Schnack Trust, S.P. No. 92-0268 (First Circuit Court 1992); and Jaz, Inc. v. Foley, 85 P.3d 1099 (Hawai`i App. 2004); Metzler Contracting Co. LLC v. Paul Stephens, et al. (9th Cir. Appeal No. 11-15749).

 

Hiatt & Hiatt's current clients include, Hyatt Hotels, Hawaiian Electric Company, Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company, Inc., the Land Company and the CKW Group. Clients for whom work has been concluded include Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Four Seasons Hualalai, the County of Hawai‘i, the State of Hawai‘i, the University of Hawai‘i, Pomare, Ltd., the Queen’s Hospital, Kamehameha Schools, Norman Fogelsong, the Managing Director and General Partner of Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), Arthur Levinson, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Genentech, Inc., Jack Gifford, former President of Maxim Integrated Products, Continental Pacific, LLC, and the Kohala Ranch Community Association.

Mahilani E.K. Hiatt is a partner in the firm. She concentrates her practice on civil and commercial litigation, with a focus on labor and employment law. She has extensive experience in discovery, arbitrations and trial preparation. Ms. Hiatt graduated from the Kamehameha Schools, Kapalama campus, in 1980. She attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs and received her B.A. in History in 1984. Ms. Hiatt received her J.D. from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa in 1993. During law school, Ms. Hiatt served as the Student Body Association President, and as a member and Executive Managing Editor of the Law Review. She was a co-author, along with David L. Callies and Donna H. Kalama, of The Lum Court, Land Use, and the Environment: A Survey of Hawai‘i Case Law 1983 to 1991. Ms. Hiatt received numerous awards while attending law school including the Michael P. Porter Dean’s Scholastic Award, two American Jurisprudence Awards for Civil Procedure and Commercial Transactions, the Law Alumni/Friends Golf Tournament Award and the National Association of Women Lawyers Outstanding Law Student Award. She is active in the community and has served on the Law School Alumni Association, both as a member and as President, the Hawai‘i State Bar Association Committee on Civility and Professional Conduct, Hawai‘i Special Olympics, the American Youth Soccer Association, and Planned Parenthood of Hawai‘i.