Jeffrey Portnoy

Jeff has extensive litigation and alternative dispute resolution experience in several areas of substantive law, including insurance, employment, mass tort, product liability, media, securities, and medical and legal professional errors and omissions.

He was President of the Hawaii State Bar Association in 2007. He is also a past President of the Hawaii Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, and he served a three year term as Hawaii’s representative to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Advisory Board.

Jeff has served two three-year terms as a Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit, and was Chairman of the United States District Court Advisory (Biden) Committee. He also served as a Hawai‘i State Per Diem Judge and was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Hawai‘i teaching media law for several years. He is a member of the Hawaii ABOTA chapter. Jeff has served as the Hawaii State Representative to the Defense Research Institute. He has also served as the Hawaii State Bar Association’s representative to the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates. He is presently a vice chair of the University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents.

He has been named Best Lawyers® Lawyer of the Year for Legal Malpractice Law – Defendants (2016), Bet-the-Company Litigation (2013), and Insurance Law (2011).  He has also been recognized by Best Lawyers in America in several practice areas, including Commercial Litigation, Litigation – First Amendment, Insurance Law, Legal Malpractice Law – Defendants, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, Litigation – Labor and Employment, and Bet-the-Company Litigation.  Jeff is listed in Who’s Who in America, and he has been the recipient of several local and national awards, including the Society of Professional Journalists’ First Amendment Award, and the Exceptional Performance Award from the Defense Research Institute. Among other state and national recognitions, he has been selected as one of the leading litigators in Hawaii by Chambers USA and several other publications. In 2016, he was recognized as the top Civil Litigation Lawyer by Hawaii Super Lawyers List.

In his spare time, he has served as President of Manoa Valley Theatre’s Board of Directors for 25 years and is the color analyst for University of Hawaii basketball on ESPN 1420. Jeff has served as visiting Professor of Law at the Debrecen School of Law, Debrecen, Hungary, in Tartu, Estonia, and in Warsaw, Poland.