Join us for the Annual Conference!

The session will begin with Jesse Souki talking about the state of affordable housing in Hawai`i and focusing on existing regulatory programs and issues confronting affordable housing in Hawaii from a land use perspective. In light of the tragedy in Lahaina, he will urge us to start thinking now about how to address the issues communities are concerned about with development in a more efficient and streamlined process so that we (as a community) can put roofs over people's heads quickly to meet demand.

Andrea Boyack will then discuss ideas from three articles she has written on this topic. In her article, Sustainable Affordable Housing, Andrea addresses “the specific issue of how housing affordability can be made more sustainable, both in terms of sustainable financial structures and sustainable tenure for residents. Sustainable affordability requires a flexible housing supply system that can be responsive to demands as well as a method to keep housing costs (purchase prices or rental rates) steady and reasonable.”  In Responsible Devolution of Affordable Housing, Andrea criticizes the federal affordable housing policy.  “The federal government’s responsibility to address persistent housing inequity arises in part from decades of its own harmful, racist housing policies. Although the inherently local nature of housing markets suggests that the actual implementation of housing assistance programs should continue to devolve, responsibility for ensuring fair access to quality housing ultimately lies with the federal government.” Andrea advocates for limiting the exclusive practices in communities in her article, Limiting the Collective Right to Exclude, observing that “By limiting a community’s ability to exclude, courts may be able to break through the land-use stalemate that currently renders America’s housing system unsustainable and unfair and may allow market forces and individual owner self-interest to increase housing supply, affordability, and equity.”

Shelley Saxer will summarize proposals about affordable housing and deregulation from three top land use articles  in 2022-23.

The panel will then discuss how these ideas may be applicable, or not, to Hawai`i’s current affordable housing crisis and take questions from the attendees.

Professor Andrea Boyack recently joined Mizzou Law from Washburn University School of Law where she was the Norman R. Pozez Chair of Business & Transactional Law and co-director of the school’s Business and Transactional Law Center. Professor Boyack has written and published extensively in the areas of consumer law and housing issues, including pieces on tenant rights and eviction, consumer bankruptcy, housing integration and affordability, the Foreclosure Crisis, common interest community governance, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Professor Boyack is the co-author of a widely used casebook, “Real Estate Transactions: Problems, Cases, and Materials” (Aspen, 6thed.), and is currently working on a book that explores six different conceptions of housing: “Framing Housing Law and Policy.” Professor Boyack has published numerous additional scholarly articles in law reviews and journals.

Professor Boyack was named the William O. Douglas Professor of the Year at Washburn University and was an invited visiting professor at University of Iowa, Fordham University School of Law, and George Washington University School of Law. Professor Boyack has taught Property and Contracts for over 15 years. She also teaches multiple other courses that pertain to real estate, transactional, finance, and bankruptcy law.

Before she entered academia, Professor Boyack clerked for Judge John Gleeson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York before practicing corporate, commercial real estate, capital markets, and finance law for more than 13 years in New York City and the Washington, D.C. area. She worked with several large law firms and as regional counsel to a publicly traded national real estate developer. Professor Boyack received her JD from the University of Virginia School of Law, a MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and a bachelor’s degree with honors in Russian and International Relations from Brigham Young University.


Shelley Ross Saxer, Laure Sudreau Endowed Chair in Law, Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law



Jesse K. Souki, Associate General Counsel University of Hawai‘i System

Jesse Souki has spent the last two decades helping public and private landowners navigate the complexities of land use and planning policies, laws, and regulations in the state of Hawai‘i.  His work has included advising clients on a variety of land use matters across the state, including affordable housing. 

As the past director of the State of Hawai‘i Office of Planning and executive director of the Hawai‘i Community Development Authority, his work included affordable housing policy and developing projects.  He has successfully defended land use related matters before the Hawai‘i Supreme Court, and enjoys presenting on land use matters to help landowners, lawyers, and development professionals work through Hawai’i’s complex regulatory framework.  

He currently advises the University of Hawai‘i on land use matters related to development that supports the University’s mission, such as student housing projects organized as public-private partnerships.

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This session will focus on the inverse condemnation claim asserted in at least one of the lawsuits against Hawaiian Electric Company as a result of the devastating wildfires in Lahaina. Shelley Saxer, who has written about the inverse condemnation claims in California that resulted in the bankruptcy of a major electricity supplier, will set the stage for a discussion of these claims and their applicability to Hawai`i’s jurisprudence. David Callies and Robert Thomas, experts in both land use and Hawai`i’s laws will discuss the potential judicial response to inverse condemnation claims as well as comment on other aspects of the litigation.

For more than four decades, David L. Callies has taught law at the University of Hawaiʻi’s William S. Richardson School of Law where he was the Benjamin A. Kudo Professor of Law and taught land use, state and local government, and real property law.

Professor Callies is a prolific scholar and author(21 books, including Regulating Paradise:  Land Use Controls in Hawaii, and Regulatory Takings After Knick) and has mentored generations of lawyers. Known especially for his work in property, land use, takings, administrative law, and state and local government law, he has also been presented with numerous awards including William and Mary's Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize, and the Owner's Counsel of America's Crystal Eagle. 

Robert Thomas, Director, Property Rights Litigation Pacific Legal Foundation Joseph T. Waldo Visiting Chair in Property Rights Law William and Mary Law School

After more than three decades in private practice in Hawaii and California representing property owners in takings, eminent domain, and land use cases, Robert joined Pacific Legal Foundation in 2021, where he serves as the Director of Property Rights Litigation. On his watch, PLF has argued and won several landmark Supreme court property rights cases, including Tyler v. Hennepin County (takings), Sackett v. EPA (Clean Water Act), Wilkins v. United States (Quiet Title Act), Pakdel v. City and County of San Francisco (takings), and Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid (takings).

He also serves as the inaugural Joseph T. Waldo Visiting Chair in Property Rights Law at William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he teaches upper-division courses in eminent domain, land use, property rights, and property law. An elected member of the American Law Institute, Robert received his LLM, with honors, from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and his JD from the University of Hawaii School of Law, where he served as editor of the Law Review.  In addition, he recently completed a year as the Chair of the American Bar Association Section of State & Local Government Law and was the long-time chair of the section’s Eminent Domain Law Committee. Robert also has served as editor-in-chief of the section’s scholarly legal journal on municipal law issues, The Urban Lawyer. He is also the co-Planning Chair of the American Law Institute-CLE’s long-standing three-day national conference on property and condemnation law, Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation.

Robert also regularly publishes scholarly and practical articles in his area of practice, including most recently, Hoist the Yellow Flag and Spam® Up: The Separation of Powers Limitation on Hawaii’s Emergency Authority, 43 U. Haw. L. Rev. 71 (2020) and Evaluating Emergency Takings: Flattening the Economic Curve, 29 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 1145 (2021).

He also publishes a  blog on land use, property, and takings law, inversecondemnation.com, one of the most widely read blogs on those subjects.

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A general discussion of what banks across the nation are doing, including our local banks, in regards to recent bank failures.

• History of dual banking - how states are involved with charters and supervision. 
  
• Leading up to the recent bank failures 
  
• Bank failures- difference at the banks
  
• Regulatory response 
  
• Ongoing supervision changes
  
• Steps banks are taking in response to the bank failures 
  
• Congress proposals in response to bank failures

Lawrence Okinaga, Partner, Carlsmith Ball, LLP 

Lawrence Okinaga is a Partner in the firm's Honolulu office and a member of its Transactional practice group. He concentrates his practice in the areas of corporate, financial institutions, real estate, and administrative law. Mr. Okinaga has developed this deep experience in representing corporations, partnerships and individuals for more than 38 years. He regularly advises clients on business matters and supervises the firm's litigators in clients' disputes.  

Mr. Okinaga is listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2023 for Corporate/Commercial:  Finance. Chambers said:   "Lawrence Okinaga is an outstanding attorney who is sought after by financial institutions for his expertise, with clients highlighting his provision of high-level strategic advice. He knows the insurance regulation process very well and has the relationships necessary to complete the matter."  Mr. Okinaga was named Lawyer of the Year for Litigation - Banking and Finance for 2019.  He was also named Lawyer of the Year - Banking of Finance Law - Hawai`i by The Best Lawyers in America 2018. Best Lawyers also named him Lawyer of the Year for Administrative/Regulatory Law in 2015. 

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