DEELEY KING PANG & VAN ETTEN - Key Persons
Alan has written and spoken extensively on insurance law and litigation. In 1993 and 1994, at the Law School's request, he was Adjunct Professor (Advanced Torts/Insurance Law) at the University of Hawaii's School of Law. He frequently speaks, writes and teaches on the subject of Hawaii Insurance Law; he has co-written the materials for, and been a panel presenter on, more than thirty (30) insurance coverage and bad faith seminars just since 1997. Attendees at the seminars are other attorneys and insurance professionals. Because his teachings contribute significantly to establishing the standard of practice of insurance claims handling in the State of Hawaii, he has been retained several times as an expert witness on that standard for both insureds and insurers.
Alan co-founded the Insurance Coverage Litigation Section of the HSBA in 2006, was its first chairperson, and is currently again its chair. He is a Vice-Chair of the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee (ICLC) of the Tort & Insurance Practice Section of the ABA and was Program Chair for ICLC's Annual Meeting in February, 2009. He is the only policyholder counsel in Hawaii who is a Fellow of the American College of Coverage and Extracontractual Counsel (ACCEC).
Alan also serves his profession. He is a past President of the Hawaii State Bar Association. He was the Hawaii State Representative to the American Bar Association House of Delegates for nine years, where he was a member of that body's Nominating Committee. He served a 3-year term serving as one of the 15 members, nationally, of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which evaluates proposed federal court nominees for the White House. He is currently serving the third year of a 3-year term on the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association.
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, possessing the highest ("AV") rating by Martindale Hubbell, and chosen as a national Superlawyer in Insurance Coverage Litigation, Alan's practice concentrates in civil litigation, with an emphasis on insurance law and litigation, representing primarily policyholders in insurance coverage and insurance bad faith cases. He also represents plaintiffs in personal injury work (he is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum) and litigates commercial torts on behalf of both corporate plaintiffs and corporate defendants.
Alan regularly represents individual and commercial policyholders, has also represented the State of Hawaii, and has recovered many millions of dollars for his clients, both in insurance coverage and in bad faith cases.
Education
Yale University (B.A. History, 1967)
University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall, J.D. 1972)
Alan Van Etten joined the firm as a partner in 2010. He established the firm's well known insurance litigation practice group and continues to contribute substantially to the profession as a former President of the Hawaii State Bar, a member of numerous American Bar Association committees, and a knowledgeable lecturer on insurance law.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Hawaii State Bar Association
An attorney with 40 years of experience, and co-founding partner of the firm, Dennis W. King concentrates his Honolulu based legal practice on the resolution of commercial, construction, contract, trust and estate, employment, and real property disputes. Mr. King also draws on his knowledge of corporate law, real estate transactions, commercial leases, personal injury, products liability, and fraud and unfair and deceptive trade practices, to provide a wide variety of clients with efficient and effective legal representation throughout the State of Hawaii.
Mr. King is a graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa and received his law degree from Indiana University Bloomington. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Mr. King is a member of the Hawaii State Bar Association. He is admitted to practice before all Hawaii circuit and appellate courts (1976), the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii (1976), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (1979), the United States Court of Federal Claims (1993), and the United States Supreme Court (1991).
Practice Areas
Arbitration/Mediation
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Member of the Hawaii State Bar Association
Associate Attorney Erik A. Rask works on resolution of insurance coverage and insurance bad faith disputes, primarily representing policyholders, and other select civil litigation.
Mr. Rask received his Juris Doctor from William S. Richardson School of Law in 2017, where he was Law Review Outside Articles Editor and interned with the Honorable Carl K. Sakamoto (Ret.) for one semester.
Mr. Rask is a member of the Hawaii State Bar Association and is admitted to practice before all Hawaii state courts and the United States District Court and United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Hawaii.
Practice Areas
Insurance Litigation
F. Steven Pang, a partner in the firm, and one of Hawaii's most experienced Korean speaking attorneys, writes a weekly column for the Korea Times Hawaii newspaper and the Koreatimeshi.com (over 915 articles) and concentrates his legal practice on business law, contracts, commercial transactions, corporate law, real estate law, international transactions, and selective litigation, arbitration, and mediation.
Mr. Pang is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with honors) and received his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
Mr. Pang provided transactional assistance for the first international auto show in Seoul, Korea titled the "World of Dream Car" at Lotte World Hotel in 1993.
From time to time, Mr. Pang selects and works on impact cases. From 1992 to 1997, Mr. Pang and partner Dennis W. King by prevailing on Motion for Summary Judgment on the day of the trial and later by appellate brief successfully established that the firm's client Pony Taxi maintained independent contractual relationships with all of its drivers and thus the doctrine of respondeat superior did not apply to independent contractors. Even to this date, most taxi drivers in Honolulu operate as independent contractors.
By engaging in a complex federal class action lawsuit in 1999, Mr. Pang and partner Dennis W. King successfully represented hourly employees against their Honolulu based supermarket employer and recovered the damages for the employer's failure and refusal to pay overtime pay in violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. On the eve of the trial, Mr. Pang secured a favorable Offer of Judgment from the employer's counsel. Since that employment case, Mr. Pang has represented many hourly employees against various businesses and obtained favorable results for wage and overtime payments. Representing the underrepresented and the powerless is one of the salient reasons why Mr. Pang, with his immigrant background, became a lawyer.
In 2021, Mr. Pang received an email which stated: "I THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH for helping me complete my Grandfather's last wishes before he passed away. 25 YEARS in the making is pau!!! Now I can put that all to rest and look forward to my Beautiful Life Journey that awaits me!" from an appreciative client for the case that he worked on with senior associate John Winnicki. This was a challenging case where her Grandfather was initially represented by a chain of diverse, several lawyers over the decades beginning in 1992 regarding complex disputes involving numerous real properties. Years before Messrs. Pang and Winnicki took over the case in 2016, an adverse judgment with a significant monetary award had been previously entered against the Grandfather. When the opposing counsel aggressively resumed to collect on the award by attempting to re-record the judgment and foreclose on the property-family residence, the Grandfather sought assistance from Mr. Pang. When the Grandfather client passed away a year later in 2017, the email writer became the client. Thereafter, Messrs. Pang and Winnicki utilized the appellate process to aggressively advance the client's best interests and successfully obtained a Summary Disposition Order from the Appellate Court that effectively invalidated the adverse judgment award. Hence the forgoing self-explanatory email.
Mr. Pang is also a former Vice President of the United Korean Society of Hawaii (1993-1994).
Mr. Pang's direct line is 808-599-5199 and direct email is fsp@dkpvlaw.com.
James A. Kawachika is Of counsel to the law firm. His practice concentrates on civil and commercial litigation, including business, real estate, estates and trusts, and professional liability litigation, as well as serving as a mediator and arbitrator in legal disputes. He regularly advises lawyers and law firms on legal ethics and professional responsibility matters and represents lawyers in disciplinary proceedings and bar admission and reinstatement cases. He also serves as an expert witness in legal ethics.
Mr. Kawachika is a past president of the Hawai ̒i State Bar Association and a former chair of the Disciplinary Board of the Hawai ̒i Supreme Court. He is a past president of the Hawai ̒ i Justice Foundation and is the current chair of the Hawai ̒i Judicial Selection Commission. Mr. Kawachika has also served on the board of directors of the Legal Aid Society of Hawai ̒i and is a current director of the American Judicature Society. He has been appointed by four separate American Bar Association presidents to the editorial board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct, the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, and the Standing Committee on Professional Discipline. Mr. Kawachika also represents Hawai̒ i in the American Bar Association's House of Delegates.
James A. Kawachika joined the firm, as counsel, in 2016. Mr. Kawachika is a past president of the Hawaii State Bar Association and a former chair of the Disciplinary Board of the Hawaii Supreme Court. His addition expands the firm's capabilities in legal ethics and professional responsibility and trust and estate litigation, among others.
Associate attorney Monika Wurlitzer concentrates her Honolulu-based legal practice on the resolution of insurance coverage, insurance bad faith, trust and estate, commercial, construction, contract, employment, and real property disputes.
Ms. Wurlitzer is a graduate of Punahou School. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics from the University of San Francisco and her law degree, cum laude, from the University of Hawai‘i, William S. Richardson School of Law. While in law school, Ms. Wurlitzer served as a staff writer for the University of Hawai‘i Law Review, was a member of the Intellectual Property Moot Court team and the Immigration Research team, participated in the Hawai‘i Federal Trial Academy, and served as coordinator for Courts in the Community. Ms. Wurlitzer also served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Sabrina S. McKenna, Associate Justice of the Hawai‘i Supreme Court and the Honorable Shirley M. Kawamura, Circuit Court of the First Circuit, State of Hawaii.
Ms. Wurlitzer is admitted to practice before all Hawai‘i circuit and appellate courts and the United States District Court for the District of Hawai‘i.
Practice Areas
Contact Information
R. Russell Scarlett, Of Counsel to Deeley King Pang & Van Etten, was admitted to the Hawai‘i bar in 1976.
Russ is admitted to practice before all courts of the State of Hawai‘i (district, circuit, and appellate), as well as the United States District Court for the District of
Steven D. Mewha is an Associate Attorney at Deeley King Pang & Van Etten. Prior to attending law school, Mr. Mewha managed several stores for a high-end retailer before being promoted to an Analyst and overseeing operations for the company. He moved to Hawaii in 2016 and worked as an administrator for the state's art agency. Steven attended law school at University of Hawai'i at Mānoa where he was an editor for the Asian-Pacific Law and Policy Journal. During law school, Steven volunteered at the Kapolei Juvenile Detention Center, the Public Defender's office, and the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce; he also worked for state Senator Glenn Wakai as a legislative aide. Steven studied abroad in South Korea and Japan and had his Externship at the Tokyo Roppongi Law and Patent Office. In late 2020, he published his thesis in the Penn State Journal of Law and International Affairs.
Job Titles:
- Partner at Deeley King Pang
Tristan Andres is a partner at Deeley King Pang & Van Etten. For nearly a decade, his practice has primarily focused on recovering insurance benefits on behalf of policy holders. Tristan has recovered insurance benefits owed to his clients under numerous types of first and third-party insurance policies, including property, flood, fire, title, health, commercial general liability, errors and omissions, directors and officers, professional malpractice, condominium/community association liability, employment practices liability, and others. Tristan has also successfully litigated bad faith claims against insurers based on mishandling of claims.
Tristan is admitted to practice before all Hawaii circuit and appellate courts along with the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Education
Northern Arizona University (B.S. Economics, 2010)
William S. Richardson School of Law (J.D., 2013)
Tristan S.D. Andres was promoted to partner in 2019. Glenn S. Horio joined the firm as partner in 2020.
William J. Deeley received his BA degree in 1970 from Adelphi University, where he graduated magna cum laude, and his law degree in 1975 from Hofstra University while working as the managing editor of The Nassau Lawyer. Upon graduation Bill served for two years as law clerk to the Hon. Mario Pittoni of the New York State Supreme Court. He is admitted to practice in all courts of the state of Hawai'i as well as the United States District Court for the District of Hawai'i, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.
Bill practiced law in Hawai'i since 1979, except for a three year leave of absence from June 30, 2013 to June 30, 2016, during which time he served in dual capacities as the Hawai'i State Tax Collector and the Branch Chief of the Collections Branch of the Hawai'i State Tax Department.
He represented and advised clients in a wide range of business and real property matters including time share and condominium development, financing and governance, in addition to all manner of business contract and tort disputes as well representing clients before the Public Utilities Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals, Department of Land and Natural Resources and other administrative agencies.
Bill was a founding member of the Real Property and Financial Services Section of the Hawaii State Bar Association and served as its Chairman. He established the Section's annual Real Property Litigation Update Seminar and has been a presenter at the seminar numerous times.
Deeley King Pang & Van Etten, LLP was founded in 1985 by William Deeley and Dennis W. King on two key principles. First, that business and people can best navigate the legal system when their rights and obligations are understood and their goals and expectations are clearly understood. Second, a law firm should deliver high quality legal services in a timely manner, and at a reasonable fee. Based on these basic underlying principles the firm has grown through a combination of dedication, dependability, fearlessness, and results.
F. Steven Pang joined the firm as a partner in 1990 and is one of Hawaii's most experienced bilingual Korean attorneys, with substantial experience in both transactional and selective litigation work, internationally and locally. He has been involved in several of the firm's highest impact cases and is a committed advocate for justice.
Yun W. Kim is an associate attorney at Deeley King Pang & Van Etten where he concentrates his Honolulu-based legal practice on the resolution of commercial, construction, contract, employment, trust and estate, and real property disputes.
Yun is a graduate of Willamette University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Philosophy and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He later received his law degree, cum laude, from the University of Hawai‘i, William S. Richardson School of Law. During law school, Mr. Kim served as a staff writer and Managing Editor for the Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal and volunteered for the Honorable R. Mark Browning, Chief Judge of the First Circuit Court, State of Hawai‘i. Yun was awarded the CALI Excellence for the Future Award for the highest grade in the Lawyering Fundamentals I and Business Associations courses.
Yun is admitted to practice before all Hawai‘i circuit and appellate courts, the United States District Court for the District of Hawai‘i, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Education
Willamette University (B.A. Economics, Philosophy, 2018)
William S. Richardson School of Law (J.D., 2021)
Senior Associate Attorney Zhongli ("Jolie") Yu concentrates her Honolulu based legal practice on immigration law and selective cases involving civil litigation, business law, corporate law, and international trade. Ms. Yu is licensed to practice law in the State of California, which also allows her to represent clients before the Honolulu Immigration Court. She is fluent in both spoken and written Mandarin Chinese.
Ms. Yu is a graduate of Ningbo University in Zhejiang Province, China where she received an LL.B. in International Business Law. Ms. Yu also earned an LL.M. in International Comparative Law from the University of San Diego School of Law.
Between 1995 and 2000, Ms. Yu practiced business law in Shanghai, China. She represented large national and local banks, financial institutions, and international companies in business negotiations, arbitrations, and litigation. Ms. Yu was in-house counsel for Bank of China (Shanghai) between 1996 and 2000.
Practice Areas
Business Law