Ann H. Aratani
Partner Email: ann.aratani@hawadvocate.com
Ms. Aratani is a General Partner in the law firm of Chong, Nishimoto, Sia, Nakamura & Goya, LLP, and has been practicing law in Hawaiʽi since 1980.
Her practice has included complex construction defect and design litigation, fatalities on construction sites, general fatalities and catastrophic injuries, product liability involving construction equipment, construction materials or fixtures, OSHA/HIOSH investigations, shopping mall and airport security services involving fatalities or personal injuries, dram shop, homeowners’ association mediation and litigation, real estate, commercial lease, and contract disputes.
Her practice has included complex construction defect and design litigation, fatalities on construction sites, general fatalities and catastrophic injuries, product liability involving construction equipment, construction materials or fixtures, OSHA/HIOSH investigations, shopping mall and airport security services involving fatalities or personal injuries, dram shop, homeowners’ association mediation and litigation, real estate, commercial lease, and contract disputes.
Education
Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago, Illinois, Juris Doctor, 1980.
University of Hawaiʽi, political science major, graduated with Honors, 1977.
Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies.
Experience
Ms. Aratani has been practicing civil litigation since 1988, when she joined her current firm then known as Libkuman, Ventura, Ayabe, Chong & Nishimoto. She has extensive experience in preparing cases for jury trials with the goal of alternative dispute resolution. During the decades she has been with this firm, she has had one federal fatality jury trial defense verdict, settled an assault case during a jury trial, and settled a construction case before opening statement. She has practiced in all Circuit Courts in the State of Hawai`i on the different islands, and in federal court in Honolulu.
She initially obtained her jury trial experience as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu for over six years. She tried forty felony jury trials to verdict, including numerous murder and attempted murder cases. In addition, she tried a dozen jury-waived felony trials, and was a supervisor of a felony trials team.
She practiced general real estate law with a law firm formerly known as Case, Kay & Lynch between 1981 and 1982.
Ms. Aratani was a law clerk for Hawaiʽi Supreme Court Justice Thomas S. Ogata from 1980 to 1981. She also was a law clerk for then retired and substitute Hawaiʽi Supreme Court Justice Masaji Marumoto in the summer of 1979, and a clerk for the Hawaiʽi Supreme Court staff attorney in the summer of 1978.
She initially obtained her jury trial experience as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu for over six years. She tried forty felony jury trials to verdict, including numerous murder and attempted murder cases. In addition, she tried a dozen jury-waived felony trials, and was a supervisor of a felony trials team.
She practiced general real estate law with a law firm formerly known as Case, Kay & Lynch between 1981 and 1982.
Ms. Aratani was a law clerk for Hawaiʽi Supreme Court Justice Thomas S. Ogata from 1980 to 1981. She also was a law clerk for then retired and substitute Hawaiʽi Supreme Court Justice Masaji Marumoto in the summer of 1979, and a clerk for the Hawaiʽi Supreme Court staff attorney in the summer of 1978.
Licenses
State of Hawaii, 1980United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, 1980United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1994
Affiliations
Ms. Aratani is a member of the Hawaiʽi State Bar Association. She also serves an Arbitrator with the Court-Annexed Arbitration Program in the Circuit Court of the First Circuit, State of Hawaiʽi.