Practice Areas
- Hotel and Resort
- Workouts, Restructuring and Deleveraging
- Leasing
Darren has practiced law in Honolulu, Hawaii, Tokyo, Japan and Sacramento, California for over 25 years. Since February 2008 Darren has worked at Sullivan Meheula Lee, providing full service representation to a wide range of hotel and resort owners and commercial property owners and lenders. Recent representative transactions include the acquisition of The Ritz-Carton Kapalua, The Westin Maui Resort & Spa and the Grand Wailea, and the financing of various major and mid-range hotel, resort and condominium properties. Darren also maintains an active California practice, representing hotel owners, shopping center owners and other commercial property interests in connection with financings, work-outs, leasing, purchases and sales, and development matters.
From 2005 to 2007, Darren was at the Sacramento firm of McDonough Holland & Allen where he represented institutional and private lenders, borrowers, and a major pension fund in connection with a wide variety of real estate finance transactions. His practice also included representing commercial landlords in connection with leasing and property management matters.
Prior to moving to California, he worked for five years in Tokyo, Japan at Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu, the then largest law firm in Japan. His practice in Japan focused on joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, workouts, real estate finance and securitization projects. During this time, representative clients/transactions included: Mitsui Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. (workout of Hawaii real estate loans in excess of $1 billion); Eastman Kodak (¥42 billion joint venture with Sanyo Electric Company); Lehman Brothers (build-out of Tokyo headquarters); and Trinity Investment Trust (establishing United Urban Investment Corporation, a ¥63 billion J-REIT).
Darren started his law career in 1992 at a major Honolulu law firm where his practice included a broad range of real estate and business matters, as well as commercial and real estate litigation. On the real estate and business side, Darren worked on the acquisition of controlling interests in the five-star hotel Kea Lani Hotel Suites and Villas, and the reorganization/rehabilitation of The Hawaiian Insurance & Guaranty Co., Ltd. On the litigation side, Darren defended insurance companies, developers, resort owners and land trusts in major litigation before Hawaii state and Federal courts.
Recognition
Super Lawyers 2021
Education
J.D., University of California, Boalt Hall School of Law, 1992
Production Editor, California Law Review, 1990-1992
International Tax and Business Lawyer, 1989-1990
B.A. with Honors, Economics, University of California , Davis, 1988
UC Davis Departmental Citation in Economics
Omicron Delta Epsilon
Admissions & Courts
Hawaii (all state and federal courts)
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
California (all state courts)
United States District Court for the Eastern District of California
Memberships
Hawaii State Bar Association
The State Bar of California
Sacramento County Bar Association
Legal Publications
The Sanction for Violation of California’s One-Action Rule, 79 CALIF. L. REV. 1601, 1991 (cited in Restatement (Third) of Property: Mortgages §8.2 (1997); 4 H. Miller & M. Starr, Current Law of California Real Estate (2d ed. Supp. 1992))
Real Property Tax Law in Hawaii, Seminar Manual for the National Business Institute, 1995 (co-author)
Some Tips on How to Avoid Tax Liens on Your Property, Honolulu Advertiser, Feb. 10, 1993
How State’s Laws Regulate Underground Storage Tanks, Honolulu Advertiser, Apr. 7, 1993
Here’s the Rundown on Hawaii’s Lemon Law, Honolulu Advertiser, June 2, 1993
Unordered Items Sent Through the Mail are Yours for Free, Honolulu Advertiser, July 14, 1993
The No-Smoking Laws as They Now Stand in Hawaii, Honolulu Advertiser, August 11, 1993
Was Customer Taken for a Ride on Automobile Repairs?, Honolulu Advertiser, Sept. 8 1993 (co-author)
