bar h a w a i i journal...global branding success and fame of usc. i pledged sigma phi epsilon...

H A W A I I

BAR JOURNALAN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE HAWAII STATE BAR ASSOCIATION

JANUARY, 2020 $5.00

Interview with

P. Gregory Frey2020 HSBA President

Interview with

P. Gregory Frey2020 HSBA President

4 January 2020 HAWAII BAR JOURNAL

Please give us you and your family’s back-ground, and your educational history.

I was born in the small beach community of Balboa,California to teenage parents (a bit of a rarity in the ‘60s),and along with my twin brother, Grant, was raised by ourpaternal grandmother (after our birth mother vanished)until our father graduated from college and then StanfordLaw.

I entered Hawaii public school in the second grade,until 1975 when I was accepted to Saint Louis High School(“SLHS”). SLHS changed my life in so many ways andcontinues to do so to this day some 40 years later. I im-mersed myself in everything “red & blue.” I was a multi-sport letterman, on the Student Council and EditorialEditor of The Collegian. I was also a member of the Na-tional Honor Society. I graduated with honors in 1979 (top10 in my class of more than 250). Then, it was off to themainland for college, to Santa Clara, California (well be-fore anyone heard of the Silicon Valley. It didn’texist back then).

I N T E R V I E W O F

FreyP. Gregory

2020 HSBA Presidentby Edward Kemper

In 1983, I graduated from Santa Clara University(“SCU”) (B.A., History), and along the way, truly took fulladvantage of a mainland col-lege experience. My familyhas quite a history atSCU, and that’s proba-bly why I chose it overUSC (Fun fact: when Ientered SCU, it wasthen formally known as

The University ofSanta Clara, andbilled itself in Cali-fornia as “the firstUSC,” havingbeen a

Above left: As loyal U.H. football season ticket holders for decades, Greg and Mia often travel to support the team.Above right: Greg planned a surprise renewal of wedding vows, Las Vegas style, May 2014.Bottom right: In 2018, Greg and his 1983 teammates were inducted into the Santa ClaraUniversity Rugby Hall of Fame.

Jesuit school long beforethe Trojans came toSouthern California.)Later, after my wife andI graduated, the schoolformally changed itsname to Santa ClaraUniversity, having to es-sentially concede to theglobal branding successand fame of USC.

I pledged SigmaPhi Epsilon fraternity asa freshman and trav-elled the “world” as afour-year team mem-ber/starter on SCU’srugby team (“SCUTS”),finishing the ‘83 season with a #3 national ranking at 21-2 (still a school record after 37 years). (Fun fact: In 2018,my 1983 SCUTS teammates and I were inducted into theSCU rugby hall of fame).

Best of all, I met and fell in love with my college sweet-heart, Maria “Mia” Fialho (SCU ‘84). We were quite in-separable for most of our college years, and how lucky Iwas to have her by my side then and now and for almost 40years. Having been a high school cheerleader, she natu-rally loved to attend every one of my rugby games, oftentraveling with the team. “Rugger huggers” like Mia were avital part of our team’s success on the national stage. Miawas always there at the final whistle with bottles of

Gatorade in hand.Those were the days.After graduation, Iheaded to the pacificnorthwest to the rathertiny town of Salem,Oregon (whose claim tofame at the time wasthat’s where the Oscar-winning film, One FlewOver the Cuckoo’s Nest, wasfilmed) to attend lawschool, so thankful andgrateful that Mia fol-lowed me there a yearlater, and helped supportme through school, both

financially and emotionally. In 1986, following graduation from Willamette Uni-

versity College of Law, Mia and I got married in a tinylittle catholic church in her (then) tiny little rural, farmingcommunity hometown of Los Banos, California. In fact,we married six days after I graduated from law school, onher birthday. What a grand celebration it was — a fullcatholic mass, and practically the entire town in atten-dance. We have two adult daughters, Samantha (SCU‘10) and Allie (U.H. Hilo ‘12), both of whom are 13-yeargraduates and alumnae of Sacred Hearts Academy. Ourdaughters are the best thing I have ever been a part of,hands down.

Above and beyond my work as an attorney who prac-tices exclusively in family court (formerly the managingattorney at Coates & Frey, established in 1996, andnow the senior attorney at Coates Frey Tanimoto &Gibson, Hawaii’s largest family law firm, establishedin 2019), my personal passions are varied andeclectic. I co-own Pacific Ink & Art Expo (aka HawaiiTattoo Expo), one of the most popular tattoo expos ofits kind in the U.S., if not the world, now going intoits ninth year (www.hawaiitattooexpo.com). There’s noth-ing more invigorating than hanging out with vision-ary tattoo artists, many of whom star in their ownreality television show. Believe it or not, these folksare just as famous as rock stars and movie actors.It’s been a unique experience. Avid motorcycle andclassic car devotees, Mia and I and my brother rodeSturgis 2013 (appearing on The Travel Channel’s

Sturgis Raw, episode two Chrome & Glory [which still


Greg (right) and brother Grant with their grandmother, circa 1972 (11 years old).

Greg (right) and (twin) brother Grant with their father, Philip (JD776), circa1965 (5 years old).

January 2020 HAWAII BAR JOURNAL 7

plays in “re-runs” to this day]),and we regularly attend Barrett-Jackson and Mecum car andmotorcycle auctions on themainland. Admittedly, I do ownthree classic/vintage cars as wellas several motorcycles. I alsocollect “anything and every-thing” Gilligan’s Island, believeit or not, and even appeared in anewspaper article about myunique “obsession” in the Hon-olulu Star-Advertiser. Anyone whohas been to my office knows thatI collect a lot of rather eclecticstuff.

My decades-long philan-thropic pursuits include: Abra-cadabra 2000 board (Hawaii’sbid for America’s Cup); WaikikiYacht Club (“WYC”) board(commodore and member of theyear, 1997); Sacred Hearts Acad-emy board; Saint Louis AlumniAssociation (“SLAA”) board (president, 2009-2019); SaintLouis School (“SLS”) trustee (vice-chair, 2009-2018), andHawaii State Bar Association board (vice-president, 2018and president-elect, 2019). I also hold an M.A. (psychol-ogy) which has helped me assist Hawaii’s folks in need offamily law and divorce services.

I am particularly proud of my time on the WYCBoard. My late father was WYC commodore in 1988, andI was the first son of a former commodore to be electedcommodore in the club’s over 75-year history. It has beenmy work with SLAA and SLS, however, that has reallydriven me for decades. There are so many legendary busi-ness and community leaders in Hawaii (and beyond our is-land state’s shores) who are alumni of Saint Louis and apart of crusader nation. Over the years, I have been fortu-nate to work closely with many of them, including WalterS. Kirimitsu (former SLS president) and James S. Burns(former SLAA president). In my role as SLAA president,I’ve traveled all over in support of our school and itsalumni, to include New York City (with the SLS presidentand trustees chair) for the Heisman trophy presentations,both in 2014 for Marcus Mariota and again in 2018 forTua Tagovailoa. Along the way, I was inducted to SLS’Gallery of Distinguished Achievers. Although I am still on

the SLAA board (an elected posi-tion I have held for 18 years), Istepped down as SLAA presidentand from the SLS trustees boardin 2019 after more than 10 yearsin each position in order to de-vote enough time, energy, and ef-fort to the HSBA. It was perhapsone of the most difficult decisionsI have ever been forced to make,and it was (and still is) very toughon me. Yet again, our HSBAdoes mean that much to me, andI really want to do a good job asyour HSBA president.

Could you please describeyour legal career for ourreaders and, if you havespecific area of practice? My father, Philip S. Frey

(JD776), often took my brotherand me to his office, Padgett, Gree-ley, Marumoto & Akinaka, telling

us to “be quiet and behave.” What we heard, of course,was “play and make noise.” Although I didn’t know it atthe time as a mischievous keiki, I learned plenty back thenas I watched my father and many other legendary Hawaiilawyers from under my father’s desk (a vintage desk I nowproudly sit behind every day more than 45 years later).“Work hard and give back.” My “old school” father drilledthis ethic into me. Since those impressionable early “smallkid days,” I have tried very hard to be true to his lesson. Iguess I was destined to “grow-up” to become an attorney,as were my father and his father. I am very proud to be athird-generation attorney, and even prouder to be a Hawaiiattorney who has devoted practically my entire career tofamily law, domestic relations, and divorce. In fact, ifmemory serves, I’m one of the first attorneys who practicesexclusively in the family law arena to be elected HSBApresident. I’m humbled. I’m proud. It means a lot to me.

My first few years as a hardworking associate attorneywere at Cowan & Frey, from 1987-1990, working for StuartM. Cowan (as I had done as a summer [non-licensed] asso-ciate throughout my law school years). In those days, I didwhatever “the boss” wanted, often a “small kine” case for afriend of this famed lawyer (whom my brother and I affec-tionately called “uncle Stu” from “small kid days”). Those

Greg’s favorite photo of his daughters at SHA.


early days as a young attorney were quitetough and unpredictable. Mr. Cowan as-signed me cases “on the fly,” and often atthe very last minute. His style quite liter-ally forced me to “learn the law” excep-tionally fast, think very quickly on my feetand be ready for any and every type ofcase at any time. “Trial by fire,” if youwill. Those were the days when many ofus “entry level” associate attorneys atmany downtown Honolulu law firms car-ried an “entry/access card” to theSupreme Court law library, often headedthere after a full day of work, went intothe building as the sun was setting to dolegal research for an upcoming trial orwork on an appellate brief soon to befiled, only to come out the next day as thesun was rising. The work was difficult.The hours were horrendous. But thelearning we received from so many ofHawaii’s great lawyers before us (even if itwas trial by fire) was truly amazing. I’llnever forget it, that’s for sure. I owe somuch to “uncle Stu,” and to the manyother attorneys who worked for him, in-cluding Robert E. Rau and Steven T.Barta.

My father died entirely unexpectedlyand under extremely tragic circumstancesvery early in my career, some 30 yearsago. Then, “all hell broke loose.” Forover a decade, his estate was tied up in ex-treme and complicated litigation; lawyerssuing lawyers and family suing family. Itwas a dark and rather tragic time. Worstof all, it literally forced me “kicking andscreaming,” against my better judgment ifnot against my will to leave Mr. Cowan’semploy, and that was also very tough andemotional on me. As an absolute loyalist(then and now), I truly never thought I’dmove on, at least not until the famedlawyer decided to retire. Suddenly, Ineeded a job, and fast. I needed to sup-port my family, then with a 2-year old anda newborn. I spent a bit of time at SmithHimmelmann, but truth be told, the work


regularly handled by ElbridgeSmith at the time was so compli-cated and complex that I justcouldn’t keep up and wasn’t pro-ductive enough for the firm. Itwas time to move on, albeit I wasvery grateful for the opportunity.Mr. Smith and John D. Himmel-mann really taught me a lot.They both are great attorneys.

Thankfully, Bradley A.Coates took a chance on me in1990, and I joined his rathersmall boutique family-law firm,Law Offices of Bradley A.Coates, then with about four orfive lawyers. I worked hard forhim for several years as one ofseveral high producing attorneys(alongside some very goodlawyers, including Lyle P. Cread-ick and Raymond E. Engle),and I learned everything Ineeded to know to continue mycareer exclusively in the divorce, domestic relations, andfamily law arena. I owe a lot to Brad, as I often say to himeven after more than 30 years on the job together. In 1996,I was offered the opportunity to formally partner withBrad. Coates & Frey was born and continued as one ofHawaii’s largest family law firms for 22 years, until 2018 (Iwas fortunate enough to be managing attorney for many ofthose years). In 2019, two dedicated and hardworking as-sociates of our firm, Tom S. Tanimoto and Noah H. Gib-son, signed-on as partners. Coates Frey Tanimoto &Gibson was born. Thankfully, these principled and dedi-cated young lawyers, as well as our entire office of 10lawyers and about 13 support staff, are “minding the store”while I dedicate myself to this challenging role as yourHSBA president in 2020. I am indebted to our lawyer‘ohana, including associates Shannon Kim Hackett, JohnD. Hughes, Ann S. Isobe, Paul W. Soenksen, Robert S.N.Young, and Micky Yamatani. They each mean the worldto me.

Since you have been involved with the HawaiiState Bar Association for number of years, whathas been your various roles and experiences withthe HSBA?

All too often, we attorneysopine if not truly believe that weare far too busy “being a lawyer”to ever consider volunteeringtime to HSBA, or to any otherphilanthropic pursuit. In manyrespects, it’s quite true. Lawyerswork ungodly hours, to includelate nights and weekends. Moretime seems to be spent at our lawoffices with our partners, associ-ates, staff and office colleaguesthan with anyone else in ourlives, to include our spouses, sig-nificant others, friends and yes,even our own keiki and kupuna.Yet, despite such challenges andpronounced time constraints, Ifirmly and strongly believe thateach HSBA member reallyneeds to “give back” to yourstate bar. Each of us must “dowhat it takes” to get involved andstay involved. Personally, I have

always tried to do what I say and put into action what I be-lieve. In other words, I really try to “practice what Ipreach.”

I have been actively involved with HSBA for decades.Looking back, and truth be told, I wouldn’t trade the expe-rience(s) I’ve had for anything in the world, no matter howmany times my volunteerism may have taken me awayfrom other responsibilities and activities. It truly has beenthat meaningful and that impactful, and I’m proud of thework I have done, to include a “laundry list” of HSBA“stuffs.” Please allow me to share a few of my many roles,as follows: several years as a family law section (“FLS”) of-ficer, culminating as chair in 2002; 17 years (and counting)on the family law section board of directors; elected tothree terms on the HSBA board of directors (2004-2009),having proudly served HSBA past presidents Dale W. Lee,Richard Turbin, Wayne D. Parsons, Jeffrey S. Portnoy, Jef-frey H.K. Sia and Rai Saint Chu; several years later, in2018, our HSBA membership humbled me by electing methe HSBA vice-president (serving HSBA president HowardK.K. Luke), then on to president-elect last year (in supportof president Derek R. Kobayashi, aka “Mr. pro bono”). Ihave proudly worked for eight presidents, many of whomasked me to serve with pride and dignity on countless

Attending SuperBowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium, February 2016.


HSBA committees, whether a standing orad hoc committee, and who put me towork on many other projects alongsideother dedicated HSBA board and com-mittee members.

Now, here I am, talking to ourmembership through the famed and in-formative Hawaii Bar Journal, about tobegin my term as your HSBA 2020 pres-ident. As I reflect on these many yearsvolunteering my time for HSBA, work-ing alongside so many exceptional mem-bers of our HSBA equally devoted togiving of their time, talents, and expert-ise on the many HSBA boards I haveserved, I can honestly and truthfully sayto each and every Hawaii lawyer, “justdo it.” Sure, volunteer work at HSBAlevel isn’t at all easy, but the gratificationand sense of “giving back” is limitlessand timeless (or, as is said in the famedVisa commercials —Priceless). There is

nothing quite like it. Get involved. Stayinvolved.

What do you consider to be themajor issues facing the Bar Assoc-iation this coming year, and whatplans do you have regardingthose issues?

Our HSBA is truly a machine. Afinely tuned and smooth-running ma-chine. It’s “big business” to do what hasto be done to effectively and efficientlymanage a mandatory integrated bar asso-ciation membership as enormous as is ourHSBA, with approximately 4,000 activemembers, about 5,500 total attorneys inHawaii (including government lawyersand judges) and a total overall member-ship count of about 8,000 (including in-active members), not to mentionoverseeing and working with 21 votingmembers of the board (five officers, 15

directors and the YLD president), some15 standing committees, various ad hoccommittees from time-to-time and morethan 20 HSBA sections, to include neigh-bor island bar associations, specialty barassociations and the YLD board. It’s anenormously daunting responsibility.

Sure, the HSBA staff (led by execu-tive director, Patricia A. Mau-Shimizu,and assistant executive director Iris Ito) goabove and beyond the call of duty eachand every day to handle the “heavy lift-ing” needed to properly administer andmanage the numerous tasks, assignments,duties, responsibilities, programs andcommittees necessary and required byour gigantic HSBA membership. But,more than anything else, what the entirededicated HSBA staff really needs is thecooperation, understanding, support, andinvolvement of all HSBA members.Each year, the HSBA staff and the board


does everything they collectively can toenergize the bar members.

We often discuss ways to highlight toour members the genuine benefits ofhelping. It’s a major issue, and one weall take seriously. We need involvement.We need volunteers. We need commit-tee members and chairs. We need sec-tion members and chairs. It simply isn’tenough to believe that “the same folks”will continue to do the work and volun-teer the time again and again as theyhave year-after-year. Rather than leavethe work to “the usual suspects,” Ihumbly ask our membership to join inand to get actively involved in anythingand everything HSBA. We welcomeyour philanthropic and volunteer spirit,energy and effort. In fact, we genuinelydepend upon it. It’s a big thing to us,and we want it to be a “big thing” toyou, our HSBA members.

Are there any special programs orfeatures of the HSBA that you wantto modify or work on or highlight?

The cooperative and collaborativerelationship between Chief Justice MarkE. Recktenwald, the Supreme Court ofHawaii and our HSBA staff really needsto be more fully featured if not openlycelebrated as often as we can do so. OurChief Justice openly and repeatedlyopines and discusses just how importantour HSBA staff (to include our board andcommittees and sections) is to the workand responsibilities of our SupremeCourt. It’s almost symbiotic in manyways. The supportive role of our HSBAstaff is pronounced and constant, but per-haps a bit of a secret to most HSBAmembers. It’s my hope, wish, and intentthat our membership becomes muchmore familiar, if not extremely apprecia-tive, of just how much work our HSBA

staff does day in and day out, not only forour members but for and with and in sup-port of our Supreme Court (as it adminis-ters to and manages and monitorsHawaii’s lawyers).

Stated more directly, our dedicatedHSBA staff quite frankly acts in manyways as the “administrative arm” of ourHawaii Supreme Court, doing the tasksand handling the many responsibilitiesthe high court needs to have done inorder to properly administer to and prop-erly monitor the thousands of lawyers inHawaii, but which realistically can’t possi-bly be handled alone by a court which isso busy with its own incredibly importantwork as the highest court in our islandstate. Our HSBA staff does so much im-portant work which touches and affectsnot only all Hawaii lawyers, but also helpsour Supreme Court as needed and as re-quested. Pat Mau-Shimizu has begun


work to properly andaccurately documenteverything ourHSBA staff does forus as a mandatoryintegrated bar, work-ing alongside theSupreme Court/ju-diciary to properlyadminister our pro-fession. This de-tailed work willhopefully be lauded,celebrated, dissemi-nated, discussed, andappreciated by all ofus for years to come.As it should be, in myhumble opinion.

Are there anylong-term proj-ects or programsthe Bar Associa-tion is working on that might be implementedduring your administration? If so, can youplease discuss?

If my vision, hope, wish, and desire that more andmore HSBA members step up to get proactively involvedwith the numerous aspects and facets of our HSBA be-comes a reality, then long-term, the HSBA committees andsections and specialty bars and even the HSBA itself will bepopulated with far greater numbers. In my “mind’s eyeview” of a perfect HSBA world, existing committee chairsand board members will have protégés in waiting in orderto train and guide and counsel to someday assume leader-ship duties over time, and the stable of lawyers willing tovolunteer time to the here-to -stay access to justice cam-paigns and programs will greatly increase. It surely andwithout a doubt takes time to develop the energy and pas-sion needed and necessary to persuade and convincelawyers who are already (at least in their own minds andopinions) “too busy” to step outside their individual com-fort zones to boldly step forward into the world of philan-thropy and volunteerism. But, that’s exactly what yourHSBA staff and leadership continues to try to do, day inand day out. As I have said before, HSBA not only wel-comes your philanthropic and volunteer spirit, energy

and effort, we gen-uinely depend on it.Let me say yet again,“just do it.”

Is HSBA makingsuggestions orhave any plans tohave the barmembers performmore or addi-tional pro bonoservices?

The HawaiiJustice Foundation,the access to justicecampaigns and pro-grams, and the nu-merous serviceproviders (to includethe Mediation Centerof the Pacific andVolunteer Legal Serv-ices Hawaii) all no

doubt depend upon our HSBA membership to do moreand more pro bono work, and hopefully as HSBA mem-bers decide to get more and more proactively involved atand in all levels of our HSBA, each of us will in fact domore pro bono work (no matter how busy we believe our-selves to be handling “for pay” legal work). In my mind,however, I’d be personally thrilled, if not outright over-joyed, if each active HSBA member did far more than justaspire to do 50 hours of pro bono work each year, as is al-ready required. Just think about how the folks in our 808-island state not otherwise able to afford/have access to legalservices would positively benefit if every HSBA memberperformed those 50 hours each year? Those 50 hours per-formed might over time increase to 60 or 70 or more hourseach year for every HSBA member. Who knows? Perhapsthe possibilities are limitless. No, your HSBA doesn’t haveany present plans to force our membership to provide morepro bono services or hours than already required by aspira-tion, but perhaps if everyone gets more proactively in-volved, those hours will dramatically increase on avoluntarily basis.

Is the HSBA planning to provide more programsor services to the neighbor island attorneys

Greg and Mia regularly campaign their classic cars at shows.

including providing live CLE pro-grams on the neighbor islands?

“That was then, this is now.” WhenI initially served on the HSBA board wayback when, the work done to unite andmore fully involve dedicated neighbor is-land attorneys was nowhere near as pro-nounced or as cutting edge as it is today.Currently, our HSBA staff and board and15 committees and 20 Sections do every-thing they can to help our neighbor islandmembers to have every opportunity thelawyers who practice on Oahu nowenjoy. The HSBA board travels to neigh-bor islands for board meetings, oftencombined with live CLE programs. Pro-nounced discounts and other benefits areoffered to neighbor island practitioners toprovide incentives for their participationand involvement at HSBA programs,CLE programs, fundraisers, and otherHSBA sponsored and/or endorsed eventson Oahu. Our HSBA board mandatesmembers be from our neighbor islandbars. Surely, more can be done. Anyideas or suggestions, especially from ourneighbor island members? Just let usknow. Your HSBA staff, board, commit-tees, sections and leadership are here tolisten, to learn and to help.

What has been your inspirationthroughout the years to find thetime to do what you have done andwill continue to do?

I can hear the words and wisdom ofmy paternal grandmother in my mind’seye as if spoken only moments ago.“Greg, always remember this. If youwant to get something done, ask a busyperson.” Almost never a day went bywithout my twin brother and me beingmentored, counseled, and guided by thisgreat woman. Our grandmother inher-ited the role of mother not by choice,but by circumstance. Although not apretty story, our birth mom literallydropped us off at our grandmother’s

home on a Friday, said she’d be back onMonday, but never returned. With noone else available to care for two ex-tremely mischievous boys of about fiveyears old (because our Dad was off at col-lege at the time), there was only ourgrandmother. Our stability. Our rock.Our reason for living. This is where it allstarted; where my keen and absolute andunwavering respect, dependence uponand partnership with strong-willed, smartand efficient women was born. Here wasa remarkable lady who graduated in threeyears from UCLA when women werenever expected, if not frowned upon, toattend let alone graduate from college. Iknew then, even as a rather confusedkeiki, that women are exceptional leadersand are damn good at it. I’ve been luckyenough to surround myself both profes-sionally and personally with exceptionallytalented, skilled, devoted, loyal, brilliant,and amazing women (as well as giftedmen, for that matter). I have dependedupon and clearly benefited from years offantastic associations and linkages withamazing people, thankfully both in myprofessional and my personal life. Eachhas guided me to where I am today.

As almost everyone who knows mewell can attest and verify, without myright (and left) hand, (CFTG paralegal)Miki Tsushima, I simply couldn’t do whatI need to do daily. Along the way, lawyersat our firm (to include our predecessorfirm, C&F) such as Andrea J. Armitage,Richard E. Dunn, Jr., Thomas D. Farrell,Jessi L.K. Hall, David M. Hayakawa,Na`u A. Kamali`i, Scott M. LaFountaine,R. Barrie Michelsen, Traci Rei G.Morita, Sheila Sue Noguchi, Karl E.Phillips, Ellen Politano, James R. Rouse,D. Bradley Russell, Evans M. Smith,Dean A. Soma, Jo-Ann K. Takara,Christopher D. Thomas, Paul A. Tomar,Mark A. Worsham, Darren L. Wu, Kim-berly Van Horn, and many others haveguided and helped both me and the suc-


JudgeDaniel R. Foley (ret.)wMediation wArbitrationwMoot court wMock trial

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cess and stabil-ity of our long-establishedfamily lawfirm. Each ofthese fine folkshas helpedmake it possiblefor me to dowhat I havedone and whatI will do. Mywife, lovely in-dependentdaughters,brother andother membersof my `ohanasupport my en-deavors withoutquestion and without reservation.

Are there any other words of wisdom that youwould like to share with bar members?

“Back in the day,” the tradition as implemented andfollowed by the FLS board of directors was to gift the out-going FLS chair with “words of wisdom” in the form of aplaque or certificate of sorts, oft-times with an inspirationalphrase or two. Famed FLS leader, back then and throughthe decades, William “Bill” C. Darrah, told me as I endedmy 2002-2003 term as FLS chair that these words very ac-curately described my leadership style:

True leaders are not those who strive to be first butthose who are first to strive and who give their all for thesuccess of the team. True leaders are first to see the need,envision the plan, and empower the team for action. Bythe strength of the leader’s commitment, the power of theteam is unleashed.

Looking back and, truth be told, looking ahead to myterm as your HSBA president, I’m convinced Bill was cor-rect. I regularly surround myself with dedicated folks all ofwhom are far brighter than I, and then repeatedly “cheer-lead,” feature and vault their work and their philanthropicefforts. It’s rarely ever “about me,” but always about allthose talented and dedicated folks around me. It is theHSBA staff, board, committee members, committee chairs,section members, section chairs and in fact the entireHSBA membership who are the true heroes. You’ll hear

this from methroughout2020, in mytypical “cheer-leader” and“rah-rah” fash-ion. I’m notcertain my styleequates to“words of wis-dom.” But Ican honestly tellour entireHSBA mem-bership that ithas alwaysworked well forme. Together,let’s give it a try.

The Slopesof Kalaepohaku are all about legacy, pride and tradition.The alumni of Saint Louis (High) School are Crusadersfor life. It’s a mantra we live by. I see and truly believethat our calling as attorneys and as members of the HSBAis no less important. It is a lifetime calling which each ofus simply must embrace forever, for life. It too is amantra. As a third-generation attorney, I guess I do getemotional when I wonder if and hope that both my latefather and grandfather are proud of my efforts and the po-sition I now hold thanks to the faith and support of ourHSBA members. I can hear them both, “Boy, you did it...now, do it right.” I promise our HSBA to do just that. Infact, let’s all do it together.

Greg proudly walks his eldest daughter, Samantha, to the chapel on her wedding day, 2019.

Greg & Mia’s Wedding Day, May 17, 1986.

bar h a w a i i journal...global branding success and fame of usc. i pledged sigma phi epsilon...

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