Kenneth Kupchak, Diane Hastert, James McWhinnie and Douglas Smith have been named Best Lawyers of 2009 by the vote of their peers. The 2009 listing is based on more than 2.2 million evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers nationwide. The Hawaii list appears in Honolulu magazine.
The research firm of Woodward/White, publishers of The Best Lawyers in America, has conducted this research for the past 12 years to compile the list of the Best Lawyers in Hawaii.
As Best Lawyers explains, “Voting lawyers were provided this general guideline for determining if a nominee should be listed among “the best”: If you had a close friend or relative who needed a real estate lawyer (for example), and you could not handle the case yourself, to whom would you refer them? All votes and comments were solicited with a guarantee of confidentiality.
“Ultimately, a lawyer’s inclusion is based on the subjective judgments of his or her fellow attorneys. While it is true that the lists may at times disproportionately reward visibility or popularity, the breadth of the survey, the candor of the respondents and the sophistication of the polling methodology largely correct for any biases.”
Ken Kupchak, Diane Hastert and Jim McWhinnie have practices involving complex litigation. Doug Smith’s practice is in the area of estate planning.
