Messages from our Alumni

As we celebrate 100 years of service and the growth of our firm from just two attorneys, our founders Arthur G. Smith and Urban E. Wild, to over 80 attorneys today, we are proud to remain connected with our alumni who have come and gone. Many have left to become judges, work in-house at leading organizations, or enjoy retirement. We took some time to ask them about their time at Cades Schutte, what they have been doing since they left our firm, and any messages they have for future generations.

James H. Ashford

23 1/2 years (March 1990 to September 2013)

What are you doing post-Cades Schutte?

I have been a judge for the last seven-plus years, initially in District Court and now in the Circuit Court of the First Circuit.

What is your fondest memory from your time at Cades Schutte?

I sure liked talking with the “old timers” among the nonlegal staff. What makes Cades Schutte “Cades Schutte” or, put differently, what is that “Cades Schutte” quality all the attorneys and staff have in common?

I believe there is a genuine commitment to quality and integrity, top to bottom. That results in superior work product and typically satisfied clients.

8 years (2006 to 2014) What are you doing post-Cades Schutte?

Hawai’i Community Foundation, Senior Vice President & General Counsel.

What is your fondest memory from your time at Cades Schutte?

Summer Associate trip to the Big Island. What makes Cades Schutte “Cades Schutte” or, put differently, what is that “Cades Schutte” quality all the attorneys and staff have in common?

Exceptional work ethic and drive.

If you refer friends and family to Cades Schutte, why?

Top attorneys in the state who are experts in their field and care about their clients.

Nick C. Dreher

40 years (1973 to 2013)

What are you doing post-Cades Schutte?

Serving on the boards of three non-profit organizations, traveling and enjoying time with my wife, Koren, and my four children and eight grandchildren.

What is your fondest memory from your time at Cades Schutte?

Chicken hekka parties in the lounge with the money from the coke machine, time spent with mentors and co-workers, playing hearts at lunchtime, softball games on the weekends, plate lunches on the grass by the Iolani Palace bandstand at Friday performances of the Royal Hawaiian Band, and pau hana get-togethers at Arthurs. What makes Cades Schutte “Cades Schutte” or, put differently, what is that “Cades Schutte” quality all the attorneys and staff have in common?

A willingness to help each other unselfishly.

Do you have any advice or a message for current attorneys and staff as the firm enters the next 100 years?

Be proud of our history but don’t be afraid to change for the better.

Gino L. Gabrio

37 years (1981 to 2018)

What are you doing post-Cades Schutte?

Exploring the mainland U.S. and Canada by small motorhome/ van six months per year. Planning trips and designing vans the remaining six months. Enjoying four grandkids, walking and riding my bike and Peloton.

What is your fondest memory from your time at Cades Schutte?

Meeting Bill Swope and Doug Prior at my 1980 interview in North Beach San Francisco. Bill still hired me even though he had to teach me how to twirl pasta with my fork and spoon. Do you have any advice or a message for current attorneys and staff as the firm enters the next 100 years?

Accept only the best of everything.

37 years (June 1973 to June 2010) What are you doing post-Cades Schutte?

Left with wife Dorothy in June 2010 to sail around world. Red Sea piracy caused us to go to Europe from New Zealand. We then spent three years in the Mediterranian and came back in July 2015. Dorothy was then found to have cancer of the appendix. After four years of home care and hospice she died two years ago. I now enjoy the Cades retiree group, lots of exercise, hiking, adult enrichment courses, grandchild help, and spending time with my friend Susan Mollway.

What is the biggest change you saw during your time at the firm?

Technology-- In early days lots of mainland travel and broad authority to act; less oversight by unqualified mainland firms and less work done by them. No fax, email, computer research, internet, word processing programs, etc. Many attorneys did not competently type. Work expected on Saturdays or at least morning. Many spouses stay-at-home made working too much easier.

What makes Cades Schutte “Cades Schutte” or, put differently, what is that “Cades Schutte” quality all the attorneys and staff have in common?

Collegiality, professional development, ethics, sharing of work and credit. A sense many clients were an inheritance and belonged to the firm. Attorneys like Russell Cades, Milton Cades, Fred Schutte, Dick Griffith, Jimmy Campbell, etc. had interests outside the law and did not expect youngers to spend all their lives on time sheets.

Edward Kemper

3 years (1968 to 1971)

What are you doing post-Cades Schutte?

Started my practice with other attorneys in a firm which focused on personal injury and other areas.

What is your fondest memory from your time at Cades Schutte?

Tax lunches at the Pacific Club. An attorney would speak on a topic to the group during the lunch. If you refer friends and family to Cades Schutte, why?

Cades Schutte has specialized attorneys that I refer clients to.

Do you have any advice or a message for current attorneys and staff as the firm enters the next 100 years?

Keep up the good work.

Bernice Littman

43 years (1971 to 2014)

What are you doing post-Cades Schutte?

In-house counsel for National Housing Corporation of Hawaii, Inc. Taking one course per semester at UH. Picking up my grandson Jaaz at school. Pilates three times a week.

What is your fondest memory from your time at Cades Schutte?

There is not a single one. Becoming a partner was exciting. Working with so many clever and interesting people was the greatest pleasure. What makes Cades Schutte “Cades Schutte” or, put differently, what is that “Cades Schutte” quality all the attorneys and staff have in common?

I’m not sure there is anything “all” have in common. Most have a devotion to providing the best client service.

If you refer friends and family to Cades Schutte, why?

I know the talents of more Cades Schutte people than those of any other law firm. The partners who hired me in 1971 assured me that Cades Schutte is the best law firm in Hawai‘i and I have never had reason to doubt them.

15 years (part time in 1977, then full time from 1978 to 1992) What are you doing post-Cades Schutte?

Currently retired. Formerly, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.

What is your fondest memory from your time at Cades Schutte?

The really nice going away dinner they had for me when I left the firm. Didn’t realize they were so happy to see me go!

What makes Cades Schutte “Cades Schutte” or, put differently, what is that “Cades Schutte” quality all the attorneys and staff have in common?

Demand the highest quality of legal work from your lawyers — do not accept or settle for anything less. Keep in close touch with the needs and preferences of your clients. Watch your billings to be sure they’ll be viewed as fair and reasonable from the client’s perspective. Loyalty to, and mutual support of, one another, are important qualities in a strong and successful law firm.

Do you have any advice or a message for current attorneys and staff as the firm enters the next 100 years?

Providing the highest quality of legal representation. Cades Schutte recruits the best of the best legal talent, and expects their lawyers to perform accordingly. More importantly, the lawyers themselves expect and demand that they personally perform at the very highest level in the state.

April Lee

3 years (2007 to 2010)

What are you doing post-Cades Schutte?

In-house counsel at First Hawaiian Bank.

What is the biggest change you saw during your time at the firm?

Associates allowed to split time between different legal practice groups to allow younger attorneys to explore other areas beyond their assigned area of practice.

If you refer friends and family to Cades Schutte, why?

Solid professional reputation for having attorneys with incomparable legal expertise, who are also genuinely good people to work with.

Do you have any advice or a message for current attorneys and staff as the firm enters the next 100 years?

The Cades Schutte culture is a strategic asset that should remain constant in terms of maintaining a level of professional excellence beyond compare and also evolve over time to meet the needs of the firm’s internal stakeholders and clients in order to ensure the firm’s continued longevity for another 100 years.

Caryn H. Okinaga

10 years (September 2003 to April 2013)

What are you doing post-Cades Schutte?

I am currently the Director of Commercial Operations at American Savings Bank.

What is your fondest memory from your time at Cades Schutte?

The smart, hard working, ethical attorneys who were all great people. My fondest memory includes the lasting relationships.

What makes Cades Schutte “Cades Schutte” or, put differently, what is that “Cades Schutte” quality all the attorneys and staff have in common?

Eric Roose

Intelligent, hard working, and for the most part, humble.

10 years (1987 Summer Associate, then 1989 to 1999)

What are you doing post-Cades Schutte?

I have held positions at several international law firms: White & Case, Tokyo Office 1999 - 2011 (Partner/Head of Taxation Group for APAC Region), Morrison & Foerster, Tokyo Office 2011 - 2013 (Partner), and Singapore Office 2013 - 2015 (Partner and Head of Tax Group for APAC Region), Withersworldwide 2015 - Current (Managing Partner Tokyo Office, Head of International Tax Group for APAC Region).

What is your fondest memory from your time at Cades Schutte?

I shared secretaries with Harold Wright as a junior associate on the 15th floor. Russell Cades would still come to work every day in his office on that floor. It provided me the opportunity to engage in small chat with Harold and Russell around the coffee maker. Two perfect gentlemen, who despite their stature, always took the time to give you a warm smile and say hello to a young associate.

Do you have any advice or a message for current attorneys and staff as the firm enters the next 100 years?

Count yourself very lucky to be there. It truly is a special firm in a very special place.

Sheree N. Stewart

Approximately 9 years (2002 to 2011) What are you doing post-Cades Schutte?

Post-Cades Schutte, I worked for 3 plus years at a boutique law firm in Honolulu, then went in house as General Counsel to JN Group, and now am General Counsel to MacNaughton Inc.

What makes Cades Schutte “Cades Schutte” or, put differently, what is that “Cades Schutte” quality all the attorneys and staff have in common?

When I was at Cades Schutte, the firm was proud of the fact that nearly all of its partners had begun their careers at Cades Schutte as summer associates. There was a certain comfort in knowing that those who I worked with and for had all come up through the ranks at Cades Schutte and had shared that same experience and path. Cades Schutte breeds excellent lawyers, in large part because the associates are nurtured and mentored by partners who were once in their shoes. I still consider those partners at Cades Schutte who I began my career with to be my “lawyer-parents” - they raised me as a lawyer and passed their knowledge and experience down with generosity and a sincere desire to make me the best lawyer I could be. I remain very thankful to these people today, they know who they are.

Do you have any advice or a message for current attorneys and staff as the firm enters the next 100 years?

I am proud to be a Cades Schutte alumni, and to have been raised as a lawyer by and amongst the best. Wishing the firm continued success for the next 100 years!

Larry T. Takumi

37 years (1973 Summer Clerk, then 1974 to 2011, taking a year leave in 1974 to clerk for Federal District Court Judge C. Martin Pence) What is the biggest change you saw during your time at the firm? What makes Cades Schutte “Cades Schutte” or, put differently, what is that “Cades Schutte” quality all the attorneys and staff have in common?

Becoming more racially diverse. I was the third Asian American to make partner, but in January 1981 I was the only Asian American partner and there were six Asian American associates among 51 attorneys. Look at the firm today. It’s so much more diverse with excellence. It’s been ten years since I retired, but our office has long been respected for its “creative thinking, legal reasoning, superb drafting and practicality.”

What is your fondest memory from your time at Cades Schutte?