How do you give back to your community?

I have sought to help organizations and public officials who advance healthy communities. In my view, a healthy community is one in which residents have good health, appropriate education, fulfilling occupations, and housing which is affordable, safe, and clean.

More recently, I have focused on development and implementation of projects which specifically advance healthy communities.

What does giving back mean to you?

It means helping people through various vehicles:  

• As stated above, it means advancing healthy communities.
• It also means helping individuals to achieve their specific goals when I am in a position to help them.

What do you love most about your job? 

I love my colleagues who are good people. The lawyers are super talented professionals. My colleagues in the administrative group are incredibly skilled, and fun to be with.  

I also love that my law partners allow me independence to pursue my passion to do projects which advance healthy communities, and also to work with great clients.

What are some of the biggest challenges facing your industry?

I don’t see major challenges facing the legal profession. However, a challenge for many lawyers is achieving a healthy balance between investing excessive time on performing legal work, and spending time with family. But I do believe that attorneys possess skills and capacity which can be used to advance healthy communities. 

What has been the biggest sacrifice you’ve made for your career?

I have invested a large amount of time, hard work, and focus to develop my capacity to serve clients well. However, from my perspective, that investment is not a sacrifice. It is simply a requirement all people must make to live a life which is meaningful, productive, and fulfilling.

What has been the biggest reward?

My life has been blessed. I have a great wife, children and family. My friends are a source of joy.  People are very kind to me. My work and projects have made my life meaningful and fulfilling.

What failure taught you the biggest lesson?

My biggest lessons came from my mother. My mother inspired her 10 children by how she lived her life. She was totally dedicated to the care and well-being of her family. She attended Mass every day. She helped innumerable people, strangers, and friends alike, who were in need of help. She was courageous, totally principled, hard-working, spiritual, strong, and passionately independent. The Sisters of St. Francis dedicated a statue of St. Francis of Assisi at its Liliha campus to my mother. The caption under the statue states: “Valentina Lang Lui-Kwan…her love of God, family and friends continues to inspire.”

I strive every day to live my life the way my mother lived her life. I will have failed if I do make a genuine effort to live life as my mother lived her life.

What makes you stand out as a leader?

I try not to stand out. But I do try hard to advance healthy communities in Hawai‘i by living life as my mother lived her life.

If you could tell your younger self some bit of advice, what would it be?

I would share the story my mother shared with me about her father who was a physician. As a child, she spent time with her father in his medical office as he interacted with his patients. She observed that his sole interest was to cure his patients. He had no interest in acquiring wealth.  Poor patients did not pay for medical care he provided. He frequently made up reasons to give them money. She used to ask him, “Papa, why do you give money to your patients? I work in your office, and you do not pay me. They do not work, and you give them money.” He replied, “They need money to care for their families.”

What have been the biggest turning points in your career?

I had a few mentors who taught me a lot. Chief Justice William S. Richardson, for whom I clerked on the Hawaii Supreme Court, taught me fairness is the key to jurisprudence and probably to living a meaningful life. From Senator Dan Akaka, for whom I was campaign manager when he first ran for Congress in 1976 in Hilo, and for whom I was campaign chair when he first ran for the U.S. Senate in 1990, taught me the essence of aloha. He believed strongly that Hawai‘i can play an important role in advancing world peace by building bridges among nations because Hawai‘i’s indigenous culture embodies aloha. The Queen’s Health System chair Kenny Brown, with whom I worked as board vice chair and eventually COO at Queen’s, taught me the value of making Hawai‘i a better place through building healthy communities.