HILO — Former County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi has been suspended from practicing law for misusing client funds.
The June 9 order was signed by all five members of the Hawaii Supreme Court. The 150-day suspension begins July 8. In addition, Kawauchi is required to pass the Multi-State Professional Responsibility Exam and may not resume the practice of law until reinstated by the court, according to the order.
The court noted Kawauchi stipulated that she “withdrew from her client trust account client funds for her own use and benefit that she had not earned, failed to inform the client of the withdrawals, allowed the balance of the client trust account to fall below the level of funds to which clients had a claim, failed, over a five-month period, to promptly refund monies that were the property of the client,” and other violations of the Hawaii Rules of Professional Conduct.
Kawauchi further stipulated that “she committed further misconduct during the disciplinary process, and her conduct had a dishonest or selfish motive and represents multiple violations” of the rules of conduct, the court order says.
The Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which prosecuted the case, stipulated that Kawauchi “had a clean disciplinary record, made full and free disclosures and displayed a cooperative attitude toward the proceedings.” She also, after five months, fully refunded the requested amount, the office said.
Kawauchi, who served as county clerk from 2010 to 2012 while former Hamakua Councilman Dominic Yagong was chairman, resigned that post when Yagong left office.
Her tenure as clerk was marred by controversy after she fired four Elections Division staff when evidence surfaced of staff drinking alcohol and running a private business out of the elections warehouse. Problems with late poll openings during the primary election resulted in the state Office of Elections taking over operations during the 2012 general election.
Kawauchi and Yagong earlier this year won a protracted lawsuit before the Intermediate Court of Appeals, after they were sued for defamation in 2012 by Elections Administrator Pat Nakamoto and another elections worker. The county is not providing legal counsel, requiring Kawauchi and Yagong to hire private attorneys.
The three-judge appellate panel in the lawsuit agreed with a 3rd Circuit Court judge that civil lawsuits against employers are pre-empted by workers compensation law except in the case of sexual assault. The panel also agreed that comments made in the newspaper by Yagong and Kawauchi weren’t defamatory.
Hilo attorney Ted Hong, representing Nakamoto and former elections specialist Shyla Ayau, is still pursuing the case. He’s filing an application for a writ of certiorari, a legal maneuver asking the appellate court to review the case and order the circuit court to deliver its records for a fuller review. Hong has until July 10 to file the motion, according to court documents.
Kawauchi, Yagong, Hong, Kawauchi’s attorneys Thomas Yeh and Calvin Young and Deputy Corporation Counsel Laureen Martin did not return phone messages by press time Wednesday.