Office of U.S. Trustee vs. Harmon - Witness Jeffrey Portnoy

David C. Farmer, Successor-Trustee vs. Harmon

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

CV05-00030 DAE KSC

U.S. District Court For the District of Hawaii

Judges: David A. Ezra; Kevin S. Chang

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DEFENDANT’S WITNESS

JEFFREY S. PORTNOY

Cades Schutte LLP
1000 Bishop Street / Suite 1200
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813

Tel: (808) 521-9200
Fax: (808) 521-9210
By Email: cades@cades.com

Jeffrey S. Portnoy is a partner in the Litigation Department of Cades Schutte. He is the Chair of that department, and has practiced law as a civil litigator at the firm since 1972.

Mr. Portnoy has extensive litigation and alternative dispute resolution experience in several areas of substantive law, including insurance, employment, mass tort, product liability, media, securities, construction, and professional errors and omissions, including medical, legal, and architectural malpractice. He has tried to verdict more than twenty-five cases in Hawaii and on the mainland.

He has been selected as one of The Best Lawyers in America, has served as a Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, and was Chairman of the United States District Court Advisory (Biden) Committee. He also serves as a Hawaii State Per Diem Judge and was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Hawaii teaching media law for several years.

He has authored several books and articles for legal publications, including Media Law in Hawaii and, for the University of Hawaii Law Review, The Lum Court and the First Amendment Volume 14, No. 1, pages 393-420. He has served as a speaker at numerous State and Mainland legal seminars in areas ranging from employment law to media and insurance issues, and presently serves as the Hawaii State Representative to the Defense Research Institute. He has also served as the Hawaii State Bar Association's representative to the American Bar Association's house of Delegates. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Hawaii Labor Letter.

Mr. Portnoy has been the recipient of several local and national awards, including the Society of Professional Journalists' First Amendment Award, and the Exceptional Performance Award from the Defense Research Institute. He is listed in both Best Lawyers in America and Who's Who in American Lawyers.

Mr. Portnoy is also very involved in community activities. He served, for sixteen years, as President of the Board of Directors of the Manoa Valley Theatre, and is President of the Board of Directors of the Hawaii International Film Festival. He is also the Co-Chair of the United States Olympic Committee's Hawaii Chapter. He has also served as Chairman of the Honolulu Neighborhood Commission.

– From: www.cades.com/atts/AttorneyProfile.cfm?id=22

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NEW DISCOVERY (12-27-08): Undisclosed conflicts of interests between David Farmer, Steven Guttman, Jeffrey Portnoy, Matsuo Takabuki, Mark McConaghy, Dennis Tsuhako, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sam Silverman, Chinn Ho, Stuart Ho, Aloha Airlines, HonFed, Bank of Honolulu, Sukamto Sia, Diane Plotts, Linda Lingle, Bob Awana, Nathan Aipa, Eric Martinson, Chubb Group, Marsh & McLennan, etc:

July 17, 1998

Hawaii
By Dave Donnelly

Portnoy on NBC
on Kimes case

IF you tune in NBC's "Dateline" tonight, you should see Honolulu attorney Jeffrey Portnoy. An NBC crew spent two hours with him Wednesday, interviewing him in reference to the case of Sante Kimes and her son, Kenneth, suspected in the disappearance and assumed death of New York socialite Irene Silverman.

Portnoy had represented an insurance company in an earlier case in which Kimes, already convicted of keeping an alien woman in slavery, was suspected of arson when her home went up in flames. He has videotape of Kimes, something all the networks would love to get their hands on, and he provided it to NBC for "Dateline."

Producers of "20/20" have been after him to give them a copy of the tape, even offering to have Barbara Walters call him personally, but he demurred that he'd given it exclusively to NBC. That network told him the Kimes' story is the biggest thing at the network since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

One unasked and unanswered question in the case is did the Kimes family know the missing socialite when she and her husband, Sam Silverman, were in Hawaii around the time they lived here? I knew Sam Silverman as early as 1970 when he was the financial advisor and longtime friend of local business tycoon Chinn Ho. I posed the question and Portnoy answered, "It wouldn't surprise me a bit." ...

www.archives.starbulletin.com/98/07/17/features/donnelly.html

An Unlikely Revolutionary: Matsuo Takabuki and the Making of ... - Google Books Result

by Matsuo Takabuki - 1998 - History - 237 pages -1998 University of Hawaii Press ... from the eyes of Matsy Takabuki working with Chinn Ho and Sam Silverman, ...

A FAMILY PORTRAIT: A special report.; A Twisted Tale of Deceit ...

Mrs. Silverman, an 82-year-old widow, was probably killed, officials say, ..... Mrs. Kimes filed suit against Chubb and began making threatening calls to Chubb ... were filed in the fire, which was never formally declared to be arson. ... Even before it could be bought, Mrs. Kimes was submitting an insurance claim ...

An Unlikely Revolutionary: Matsuo Takabuki and the Making of ... - Google Books Result

by Matsuo Takabuki - 1998 - History - 237 pages

Mitch Gilbert and Eric Martinson were the number-crunchers. They had computer printouts ... Nathan Aipa, our general counsel, headed our legal side....

An Unlikely Revolutionary: Matsuo Takabuki and the Making of ... - Google Books Result

by Matsuo Takabuki - 1998 - History - 237 pages

Matsuo Takabuki 1998 University of Hawaii Press ... Mark McConaghy of Price Waterhouse headed our tax team along with our staff tax ...

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May 25, 2007

Lawyer's e-mail under scrutiny

By Ken Kobayashi, Advertiser Courts Writer

The Hawai'i State Bar Association's board of directors is considering issuing a statement today that says lawyers play a key role in helping protect constitutional and civil rights, but whether a Honolulu attorney seeking to challenge Kamehameha Schools' Hawaiians-first admission policy violated any ethical rules should be left to the state agency in charge of overseeing lawyer misconduct.

The statement was suggested by board member Hugh Jones at the monthly board of directors meeting, which took up the issue of whether the board should issue a statement in view of the reaction to an e-mail sent by Honolulu attorney David Rosen that some say is damaging to the reputation of attorneys.

Several board members said Jones' proposal is a good start in fashioning a public statement, but at least one board member suggested the members should take more time before making any public pronouncement.

Bar association president Jeffrey Portnoy said he would be circulating among the board members Jones' proposal as well as one suggesting no statement be issued.

Rosen's e-mail said he was trying to put together a group of 10 to 20 plaintiffs for a lawsuit similar to the one by an unnamed non-Hawaiian teen-ager known only as John Doe who challenged the school's 120-year-old admissions policy.

The e-mail followed a settlement in which Kamehameha Schools paid an undisclosed amount of money to the teenager in exchange for the dismissal of the challenge as the U.S. Supreme Court was considering whether to rule in the case.

The e-mail eventually wound up with Kamehameha Schools supporters, who were outraged by the communication. And it raised enough of a reaction that Portnoy placed on the agenda a discussion about the reaction to the e-mail.

Rosen said the e-mail is not a violation of any ethical rules.

He said his motivation behind the e-mail is not to make money, but to "eliminate discrimination."

"This is about principle," he told the board members.

He said although a complaint apparently has been filed against him with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, he's asked for a quick decision.

Some board members made clear that they did not want to get into the merits of whether the e-mail violated any rules, which, as reflected by Jones' suggestion, they felt is a matter for the disciplinary counsel.

But Portnoy said the matter involves a broader issue of the public's view of lawyers. He said if someone or a group believes the image of lawyers has been affected by the actions of a lawyer or group of lawyers, the board would be "remiss" in at least not considering the issue.

Portnoy said he wants to hear from members about proposed statements by noon today, but also indicated the board may decide to issue no statement at all.

At least two members of the board expressed concern about being involved in the matter because they do work for Kamehameha Schools, the state's largest private landowner. One formally declined to take part in any vote on a statement and the other also voiced concerns about participating.

Portnoy works for a law firm in which a partner does work for Kamehameha Schools, but Portnoy said after the meeting that he sees no conflict with him putting the issue on the board's agenda.

As president, he said, he has a responsibility to run the organization, and he had been asked by lawyers and nonlawyers, none of whom was associated with Kamehameha Schools, to address the matter which deals with the larger issue of the public's perception of the way lawyers get clients.

Portnoy said the alleged solicitation of clients for a suit against Kamehameha Schools may have triggered the issue, but indicated he would have done the same if it had involved another institution. He also said he doesn't vote on the matter.

Rosen said he thought the meeting involved a "fair discussion."

He said he believed Jones' suggestion was "completely appropriate."

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Jeffrey Portnoy was also the special master appointed by the court during the Benjamin Cayetano / Earl Anzai administration to monitor the state's compliance with the corruption-plagued Felix consent decree:

www.kycbs.net/School-Vultures.htm

www.kycbs.net/Felix-Transcript-10-06-01.htm

Jeffrey Portnoy is expected to testify regarding the Defendant’s First Amendment Rights to Freedom of Speech as it relates to his so-called “Letter-Writing Campaign” and his rights to publish so-called “Protected Subject Matter” on the internet. Mr. Portnoy is also expected to testify regarding his business, professional, personal and political relationships with former Governor Ben Cayetano, Earl Anzai, Hugh Jones, Lyn Flannigan Anzai, Dave Shapiro, Rick Daysog, Frank Bridgewater, Colbert Matsumoto, Nathan Aipa, Colleen Wong, Louanne Kam, Evan Dobelle, Jeff Stone, Richard Wong, Barry Marr, Kenneth Hipp, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, Mary Lou Woo, Steven Guttman, Michael Heihre, Peter Olson, Peter Hanashiro, Carol Muranaka, George Harrison, Nature Conservancy, John Edmonds, Paul Alston, Malia Zimmerman, Ted Hong, David Farmer, William S. Richardson, Marsh & McLennan, Chubb Group, St. Paul Travelers, and others to be named upon discovery.