James B. Nicholson, Trustee vs. Harmon

David C. Farmer, Successor-Trustee vs. Harmon

(Formerly Woo vs. Harmon & Nicholson vs. Harmon)

U.S. District Court For the District of Hawaii

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DEFENDANT’S WITNESS

ROSEMARY T. FAZIO

Partner in the law firm of Ashford & Wriston, the former law firm of Successor Trustee David C. Farmer; Chair, Judicial Selection Commission.

Email: rfazio@awlaw.com

Rosemary T. Fazio, a partner at Ashford & Wriston, has practiced with the firm since 1978.

Ms. Fazio focuses her practice on real property and complex commercial litigation and arbitration matters. She has served as lead counsel in more than 30 such cases. Her experience includes:

Representing landowners' interests in multi-million dollar real property valuation matters, including condemnation, rent renegotiation, lease-to-fee conversion, partition, and real estate tax appeals for resort, commercial, industrial and residential properties;

Representing the dissenting minority shareholder of one of Hawaii's largest corporations;

Representing Hawaii's largest landowner in a case of first impression involving recovery of delay damages in condemnation actions.

Ms. Fazio has extensive management experience. She has served on the firm's management committee, and leads the firm's attorney recruiting committee.

Professional Activities:

Ms. Fazio has lectured regarding real estate matters and legal ethics at various professional seminars. She currently is the Chair of the State Judicial Selection Commission. She previously served as treasurer and director of the Hawai`i State Bar Association, and the Young Lawyers Division of the Hawai`i State Bar Association. She was appointed by the Hawai`i Supreme Court to serve on the Attorney Disciplinary Board. During her 9 year tenure on that Board she served as Vice-Chair and Chair of the Opinions Committee.

Prior to becoming a member of the Disciplinary Board, she presided as a hearings officer in attorney disciplinary matters for 10 years. She serves as a hearings officer on medical claims conciliation panels. She also is a member of the Advisory Committee for the Mandatory Professionalism Course of the Hawai`i Supreme Court. Ms. Fazio is a director both of the Alumni Association of the University of Hawai`i School of Law and the Friends of the Law School. The U.S. District Court (Hawai`i) appointed her in 2000 to serve as a member of the Court's Judicial Retention Panel....

http://www.ashfordwriston.com/AttorneyDetail.asp?ID=rfazio

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ASHFORD & WRISTON

Firm Profile:

The firm was established in 1955. We currently have twenty-six lawyers and six paralegals.

The firm's practice is real estate oriented with sub-specialties in real estate transactions and development, condemnation, title insurance, commercial leasing (including rent re-openings), condominiums, quiet title and representation of financial institutions in foreclosures, bankruptcies and workouts. The firm also has corporate, intellectual property, employment, estate planning and family law departments. While much of the firm's litigation practice is real estate related, the litigation department also handles a broad range of general commercial litigation, arbitration and mediation cases. The firm's clients include many of Hawaii's largest landowners as well as shopping centers, banks, credit unions and title companies.

Representative Clients:

American Savings; Barnwell Industries; Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; Ford Motor Credit Corp; Hawaii Credit Union League; Hawaii Medical Service Assn.; Hawaii Reserves, Inc.; Hawaii State Federal Credit Union; Kahua Ranch, Limited; Kamehameha Schools; Kaneohe Ranch; Knudsen Trust; Lunalilo Trust; Old Republic Title Co.; Parker Ranch; Queen Liliuokalani Trust; McCandless Ranch; The Queen Emma Land Company; Roman Catholic Church, State of Hawaii; Territorial Savings & Loan Assn.; The Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific; Title Guaranty of Hawaii; Title Guaranty Escrow Services, Inc.; Ticor Title Insurance Co.

http://www.lawyers.com/

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June 8, 1999

Attorney who
defended Bishop
Estate leaders resigns

William McCorriston drew sharp
criticism in dealings with state
investigators and Kamehameha staff

By Rick Daysog, Star-Bulletin

Attorney William McCorriston, criticized for his bare-knuckles defense of the Bishop Estate's majority trustees, has resigned as the charitable trust's outside counsel.

The estate's new, interim trustees recently accepted McCorriston's offer to resign and are shifting his responsibilities to local attorney Rosemary Fazio, estate spokesman Kekoa Paulsen said.

McCorriston -- whose firm McCorriston Miho Miller Mukai billed the estate $1.1 million in legal fees for the year ending June 30, 1998 -- headed the trust's defense to the attorney general's two-year investigation into alleged misconduct by trustees.

The state investigation eventually led to suits to remove at least four trustees and indictments against board members Henry Peters and Richard "Dickie" Wong.

McCorriston did not return calls seeking comment yesterday. But several legal observers had expected him to step down after Probate Judge Kevin Chang on May 7 accepted the voluntary resignation of trustee Oswald Stender and ordered the temporary removal of the remaining four board members.

The interim replacement trustees are retired Adm. Robert Kihune, former Iolani School headmaster David Coon, attorney Ronald Libkuman, former Honolulu Police Chief Francis Keala and Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. treasurer Constance Lau.

They are in the process of notifying the probate court of the change of attorneys, Paulsen said.

Paulsen said the McCorriston firm will continue to conduct work for the estate unrelated to the ongoing state investigation.

Fazio, McCorriston's replacement, is a partner with the estate's trust attorney, Bruce Graham, in the law firm of Ashford & Wriston. Fazio previously has represented the estate in various real estate-related litigation, such as the 1993 leasehold dispute and sale of the Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hawaii hotel.

In the past, the attorney general's office complained about legal delays caused by McCorriston. Lawyers there believe McCorriston tried to stonewall their investigation by filing numerous and frivolous challenges to their subpoenas for trust records.

Former trustees Stender and Gerard Jervis, in a 1997 probate court petition, charged that McCorriston kept them in the dark on trust matters and took his instruction from former majority trustees Peters, Wong and Lokelani Lindsey.

Jervis and Stender sharply criticized the McCorriston Miho law firm for its investigation into the release of a Western Association of Schools and Colleges report that was critical of the trustees' management of the estate-run Kamehameha Schools.

Staffers from the McCorriston firm interviewed at least two school staffers with a court reporter present. Employees also were asked if they would agree to take lie detector tests.

A state judge eventually issued a temporary restraining order against the majority trustees for their investigation into the report's release. The full board later agreed to allow school administrators to conduct the inquiry.

McCorriston previously defended his tactics, saying he was exercising his clients' legal rights when he questioned the hundreds of document requests by the attorney general's office.

He added that his firm's investigation into the release of the report was not heavy-handed or unusual, citing the estate's handbook, which says employees could be disciplined or fired if they release confidential information.

Bishop Estate archive

http://starbulletin.com/1999/06/08/news/story5.html

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Rosemary Fazio is expected to testify regarding her business, professional, political and personal relationships with Ashford & Wriston, William S. Richardson, Judge Alan Kay, Judge David Ezra, Judge Kevin Chang, Ray Fuqua, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, Daniel Case, Steve Case, Stephanie Case, The Nature Conservancy, Judge Barry Kurren, Faye Kurren, John Marshall, Aloha Airlines, Colbert Matsumoto, Earl Anzai, Lyn Anzai, Linda Lingle, Bob Awana, John McCain, George Wackenhut, Richard Helms, Barack Obama, Henry Paulson, James Nicholson, Carol Muranaka, Larry Price, Howard Luke, GECC, JAIMS, Honolulu Memorial Park, John Waihee, Steven Guttman, Mary Lou Woo, James Aiona, Judge Samuel King, Randall Roth, Jerrold Gubin, Cutter Ford, Governor Linda Lingle, June Jones, Larry Price, Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA), Hawaiian Airlines, Joshua Gotbaum, Diane Plotts, Sukamto Sia, Ben Cayetano, George Ariyoshi, Walter Dods, First Hawaiian Bank, Cobert Kalama, Dee Jay Mailer, Evan Dobelle, University of Hawaii, Judge Robert Faris, Judge Lloyd King, James Wriston, Judge Ronald Moon, Gensiro Kawamoto, Mark Hemmeter, Peter Savio, Waikiki Improvement Association, Marlene Akau, Jon Van Dyke, David Farmer, Nathan Aipa, Louanne Kam, Colleen Wong, John Goemans, and other entities to be named upon discovery.