Retirement is not in Walter’s vocabulary. He proved that by recently adding “Master of Kamehameha Schools” to his list of responsibilities. In his new position, Walter will oversee the trust and its trustees under the direction of a probate judge. Bottom line, he’ll be evaluating all of the estate’s processes, which includes trustee selection. Kamehameha Schools was established by the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate and its mission is to educate children of Native Hawaiian descent, pre-school to grade twelve. A five-member Board of Trustees of the Estate of Bernice Pauahi Bishop administers the Schools.
Walter grew up in the Kalihi-Palama neighborhood, so he’ll return to his hometown in this new position. After over 25 years in private practice handling cases related to personal injury, insurance, and international law and finance, Walter was appointed by then Governor Cayetano as an associate judge to the state’s Intermediate Court of Appeals where he served for five years. He was then called to service at the University of Hawaii as its first general counsel and VP for Legal Affairs. He then made history when he was appointed as the first non-clergy President of Saint Louis School until he left the position in 2015 (can’t say ‘retire’ because he doesn’t know what that is). Walter also maintains a mediation and arbitration practice, but manages to play golf once a week as well.
Walter was President of the Hawaii Bar Association in 1990, is an Elected Fellow in the American Board of Trial Advocates and the American College of Trial Lawyers, and serves on numerous other community organizations.
Oh, and by the way, if you ever need a stand-in vocalist, Walter is your guy. He is an accomplished karaoke singer, and he’s also a captivating storyteller. Congratulations Walter!