Susan Ichinose, Esq. is a civil litigation advocate, arbitrator, and mediator. She concentrates her practice in these areas and in the following fields of law: employment-related claims, contract actions, real estate disputes, business torts (including fraud), antitrust, breach of trust, and appeals.

After 20 years of practice as a litigation partner in downtown Honolulu commercial law firms beginning with Mukai Ichiki Raffetto & MacMillan (joined in 1977), Susan established her own sole proprietorship in 1999 to focus on ADR, litigation and employment consultation, as well as on commercial litigation.

Susan has been selected for inclusion as one of The Best Lawyers in America (1995-2007 editions, inclusive), in the fields of "Business Litigation" and "Labor and Employment Litigation" in Hawaii. For the past 15 years she has been rated "AV" by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating that law firms can achieve based upon legal expertise and professional reputation.

She has also served as an Adjunct Professor in Appellate Advocacy and in Pretrial Litigation at Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii for several years; has been a speaker and panelist at dozens of law seminars; and has authored numerous articles on the law.

Representative litigation cases: pro bono representation of plaintiff in Parnar v. Americana Hotels, which in 1984 established in Hawaii the right of an at-will employee to sue for a wrongful termination of employment; representation of Plaintiff Kay Austen in Austen v. State of Hawaii, the first sex discrimination case in Hawaii to be successfully tried and upheld on appeal; representation of the Trustee in the bankruptcy adversary action, In re Airwest International, Inc. dba Air Hawaii (actions for securities fraud, professional malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, and racketeering); successful defense of USA v. ORS, Inc., et al. (criminal antitrust action); defense of the sublessee in The Queen Emma Foundation v. Poseiden Limited Partnership, et al. (commercial lease dispute); representation of plaintiff in Discovery Airways, Inc. v. Sanwa Bank (business fraud); representation of the intervening charging party in EEOC v. The Queen’s Medical Center; representation of two widows of decedents in the Xerox killings, in Kanehira et al. v. Uyesugi, et al., and other cases.

Representative arbitration and mediation cases include public record cases (e.g., appointed by First Circuit Court in employment-related cases Sharon Black v. Honolulu Police Department, et al., and Kornya v. HSI, Inc., both successfully mediated; an appointment by the U. S. District Court of Saipan to arbitrate issues in Hollman v. Imeong, between heirs to the billion dollar estate of the founder of DHL Larry Hillblom), and private confidential cases, with references submitted on request. She is also a member of the Mediator Panel for Federal Court in Hawaii.

She is presently a Board member of the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii, a Bencher of the American Inns of Court (Aloha Inn), and chair of the Employment Law subcommittee of the Supreme Court’s Civil Jury Instructions Committee. She is a former elected Board member (2000-2001) of the Hawaii State Bar Association, President (1997-98) and Board member (1996-00) of the Hawaii Women Lawyers, Board member of the YWCA of Oahu (2002-04), founding Chair of the Hawaii Library Foundation (1993-97),and Lawyer Rep to the 9th Circuit Court Judicial Conference Executive Committee (2002-05).