Overview
Kalani has spent his professional career representing and advising employers and businesses large and small. His client base includes commercial property managers, large private landholders and developers in Hawai`i, associations of apartment owners, staffing agencies, professional employer organizations, engineering and architectural firms, logistics operations, schools and educational institutions, health and home care organizations, restaurant and retail chains, hospitality and entertainment operations, construction companies and contractors, pest control providers, insurance brokers, and service providers.
His practice focuses on advising and representing clients with legal compliance, collective bargaining, construction contracts, strategy planning, M&A transactions, workforce restructuring, restrictive covenants, employment agreements, compliance manuals, policies, and procedures.
As counsel for a large professional services conglomerate, Kalani was responsible for the corporate legal work for multiple corporate service and holding company entities. He was also for leading multiple HR teams and ensuring employment law compliance for 600+ business and 13,000+ worksite employees across the State of Hawai`i. His corporate practice includes experience with mergers and acquisitions, contract negotiations, and corporate formation, restructuring, and compliance.
A contributing editor for the ABA’s FLSA treatises and other employment publications, Kalani has helped author a number of labor and employment articles and compliance manuals, including the ABA’s The Fair Labor Standards Act.
He is also a regular speaker on labor, employment, healthcare and HR topics at seminars for employers and business leaders.
Representative Matters & Transactions
- Employment counsel for profit and nonprofit organizations with myriad of employment and legal compliance matters.
- Employment counsel advising and representing unionized companies, assisting with collective bargaining campaigns, charges, and elections.
- Counsel and advise chief officers and presidents for conglomerate of multiple corporate entities and parent holding company
- Negotiate and approve healthcare provider agreements.
- Implement and assist with corporate acquisitions and sales (stock and asset purchases) in Hawaii and California.
- Advise on federal and state employment law issues, corporate formations, taxable asset transfers.
- Negotiate and finalize vendor agreements.
- Labor and employment counsel for various entities amidst covered transactions, including sellers of restaurant, construction, and hospitality entities.
- Draft and update service contracts
- Construction project agreements
- Construction litigation
- Land use/Entitlement/Development
- Insurance defense
- Personal injury/tort defense
- Litigated insurance contract disputes
- Lead team of 20+ HR professionals and inside/outside attorneys responsible for delivering compliance services to clients with thousands of employees working across many different industries.
- Advise clients on health care compliance, PPACA, Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Law, workers’ compensation, unemployment claims and appeals, temporary disability insurance laws, pay practices, wage and hour compliance, HIPPA, risk management, disability issues, agency charges, administrative laws and proceedings, etc.
Credentials
Admissions
Hawai`i State Bar (2006)
United States District Court for the District of Hawai`i (2006)
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (2008)
Memberships
Hawai`i State Bar Association (Labor and Employment Law Section)
Board Member: J. Reuben Clark Society
Board Member: SHRM Hawaii
Honors Inductee: Kappa Tau Alpha
Education
J.D. 2005 – J. Reuben Clark Law School
- Editor-in-Chief: BYU International Law & Management Review
- Director: Moot Court Board of Advocates
- Academic Merit Scholar
- American Inns of Court Inductee
- Native Hawaiian Leadership Project Scholar
- Ke Ali'i Pauahi Scholar
M.P.A. 2005 – Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University
- Human Resources/Finance Emphases
- Academic Merit Scholar
B.A. 2001 Brigham Young University
- Public Relations/Business Management
- Academic Merit Scholar
- Native Hawaiian Leadership Project Scholar
- Ke Ali'i Pauahi Scholar
