Joy Yanagida formed the law firm on Maui in 1991, after practicing international law in Washington, D.C. for ten years. The firm specializes in real estate and business litigation, and family law.

NOTABLE CASES OF THE FIRM INCLUDE:

Cybersquatting

• Hawaii Tourism Authority v. Pacific Motivation Advisers, John Hendrickson, et alia (Maui businessman wins cybersquatting lawsuit and secures ownership over HawaiiConventionCenter.Com)

Multi-state business disputes

• Onaka v. Onaka (Hi. 2001) (husband wins all his Hawaii and Las Vegas business assets in divorce case, and wife must pay his legal fees)

Creditors’ remedies in bankruptcy

• Onaka v. Onaka (Utah, 2002) (husband wins reversal of federal bankruptcy discharge obtained by his ex-wife)

Real estate and securities fraud

• Fujimoto v. Au, 95 Hawai'i 116, 19 P.3d 699 (Hawai'i 2001) (Hawaii families, putative investors in limited partnerships, win decision that “innocent” general partners are liable to them for the criminal conduct of other general partners)

Multi-state custody battles

• Savage v. Savage (Hi. 2002) (father wins custody over his two sons who live in Hawaii and Oregon)

Constitutional law

• State v. Sandoval (1997) (immigrant wins reversal of 48- count conviction for sex assault)
• State v. Vinge, 916 P.2d 1210 (1996) (Hawaiian wins reversal of his sentencing on First Amendment grounds)
• State v. Kekona, 886 P.2d 740 (1994)(Hawaii Supreme Court exhorts police to tape confessions in the stations house).

Representative clients

• City Bank, Hawaii National Bank, AOAOs of Kihei Kai, Kalama Terrace, Waiehu Terrace, Iao Parkside, Irrigations Systems, Inc., Hawaii Meeting Builders (owners of HawaiiConventionCenter.com)

• Baldwin High School in Wailuku (1973)
• Stanford University (A.B. with Distinction, 1977)
• Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley (J.D. 1980).

• Specializing in real estate and business litigation, and family law.

• Griffel v. Egyptian Arab Republic (Ras Burqa Massacre) , with Leonard Garment, obtained $1.2 million for the American and Israeli victims. She coordinated judicial, congressional, diplomatic and media aspects of the case in the Middle East, as well as in the United States.
• General Counsel to the Burma America Fund, an eleemosynary organization of which Ezra Solomon of Stanford University was the first President.
• Advised Alitalia and Kuwait Airways on all U.S. legal matters
• Represented generic pharmaceutical industry re administrative, Congressional and criminal investigations

• Staff attorney in President Reagan's Tower Commission (the late Senator John Tower, Senator Ed Muskie and National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft), appointed by the President to examine the role of the NSC staff in the Iran-Contra Affair.
• Office of the White House Counsel regarding Iran-Contra matters.

• Renegotiation of bilateral aviation agreements with Japan and China
• Aviation Sanctions on the Soviet Union for the invasion of Afghanistan
• Aviation Sanctions on Poland for the imposition of martial law
• U.S. and European Aviation Sanctions against the Soviets upon the shoot down of KAL OO7.
• South Pacific fisheries disputes
• lead article in The American Journal of International Law re U.S. treaty Indian, non-Indian and Canadian interests over salmon fishing rights.

• Adjunct professor, International Environmental Dispute Resolution

Jean-Claude Mademba-Sy, the firm's business manager since 1995, brings his business acumen and managerial experience to the firm's litigation projects. He is also the architect of the law firm's highly automated infrastructure.

Mr. Mademba-Sy moved to Maui following a distinguished career in Toronto, Canada at Philips Electronics, Ltd. As manager of Philips' Financial Business Systems Division, he designed and marketed electronic systems to the financial institutions across Canada. Among his accomplishments at Philips Electronics:

• 1987 Self-Service Banking Man of the Year (Worldwide)
  "In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the world-wide development of the Self-Service Banking business"
• 1988 Member of the World Top 21 Club
• 1985, 1986 and 1987 President's Club (for achieving or exceeding yearly sales objectives)
• 1989 Sales Manager of the Year - Record sales and record profits for the Division of Financial Business Systems
• 1989 Award - Diebold International Corporation (for excellent sales accomplishments)

Mr. Mademba-Sy also served as the Directeur Général Adjoint of Les Prévoyants du Canada, S.A., Montreal, Canada (1980-1981), a medium-sized general insurance firm, overseeing its Departments of Analysis and Programming, Systems and Methods and its Computing Data Center.

Mr. Mademba-Sy began his career at IBM Canada (1974-1980), initially as a system engineer and later as an account manager. Mr. Mademba-Sy was conferred membership in:

• The 1979 IBM World Trade Americas/Far East 100% Club (for outstanding achievement)
• The 1976, 1977 and 1978 IBM World Trade Americas/Far East 100% Clubs (for marketing achievement)

Mr. Mademba-Sy's education includes:

• Juris Doctor, Willam S Richardson School of Law (2006)
• Canadian Securities Course (with Honors) (1988)
• BS Industrial Relations, University of Montreal, Canada (1974)
• IBM Basic Technical Training School (1974)
• Classes Préparatoires, Lycée Jacques Decours, Paris, France. (1971)
• Baccalauréeat Ecole Saint Martin de France (Pontoise), France (1969)