Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 1, 1 January 1992 — OHA attorney Sherry Broder-- Hawaiʻi Bar Association president [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA attorney Sherry Broder-- Hawaiʻi Bar Association president

by Clayton H. W. Hee, Chair Trustee

Sherry P. Broder, attorney for OHA, was recently elected president of the Hawaii State Bar Association whieh includes all lawyers and judges in the State of Hawai'i. Broder is the first

woman attorney elected president of the Hawai'i Bar. "I intend to make the legal system more accessible to all of Hawaii's people and to ensure that justice is available to all," Broder said. Broder has been an attorney for OHA since its establishment. She was the attorney for Trustee Frenchy DeSoto's Committee on Hawaiian Affairs at the 1978 Constitutional Convention whieh created OHA. During her tenure as attorney for OHA, she has represented OHA in court, achieving several significant legal victories. In a case challenging the power of the trustees, the Hawai'i Supreme Court upheld the principle that the courts should defer to the trustees as representatives of the Hawaiian people. Broder points out that "this victory was especially significant because it affirmed the right of Hawaiians to determine for themselves who may or may not be Native Hawaiian." This right, Broder says is "crucial because it frees Hawaiians from the domination of others and vests them with the power of self-determina-tion. " In addition to her commitment to Hawaiian rights, Broder has other notable achievements to her credit. She is prosecuting the largest human rights case ever certified in U.S. courts. The case involves claims for just compensation against the estate of Ferdinand Marcos for tor-

ture, murder, and disappearance during the Marcos dictatorship. The plaintiffs include approximately 10,000 victims who suffered under the Marcos regime. Broder has flown to New York to depose Imelda Marcos and to the Philippines to hear the testimony of victims and their families. Recently, Broder obtained a worldwide freeze on the transfer of any cash, real estate, or assets of the Marcos estate. The Marcos estate has more than $320 million that was allegedly hidden in foreign bank accounts. Others have speculated that Marcos was worth $3 billion and $5 billion. "The injunction is crueial to ensure that a judgment in these human rights cases ean be collected," Broder said. Broder has already won a judgment of $4.4 million for one victim's family — Archimedes Trajano, who belonged to a student group opposed to the Marcos regime and who was brutally tortured and executed in 1976. The judgment was against Imee Marcos-Manotoc, daughter of Ferdinand Marcos. Broder says that this historic human rights case is a natural evolution of her law practice. "Our system enables us to compensate victims," explains Broder. "This human rights case is the classic case the system was designed to handle." Broder's law practice primarily involves the representation of victims who have been injured by dangerous products, malpractice, maritime accidents and car accidents. Discussing these cases brings out Broder's competitive nature. Tve enjoy a hard-fought case and succedding on behalf of my clients," Broder states. Broder has handled other high profile cases. She sued the dairies, pineapple companies, ehemieal companies, and State of Hawai'i after milk contaminated with the pesticide heptachlor was sold; she filed a class-action suit representing 850,000 people — everyone who drank milk during 1981-1982. By the end of the suit,

Broder had as many as 60 defense attorneys working against her. The case ended with a $4 million settlement. For her work on the heptachlor contamination case, Broder was named outstanding Woman Lawyer of the Year in 1985 and received the 1985 National Wildlife Federation Conservation Service Citation. Broder received her law degree with highest honors from Boalt Hall, University of California at Berkeley in 1975 and has had her own law firm in Hawai'i since 1979, concentrating on civil litigation. She is married to Professor Jon Van Dyke who teaches at the University of Hawai'i William S. Richardson School and has headed the University of Hawai'i Peaee Institute. She has three children. OHA takes great pride and pleasure in eongratulating and commending Sherry Broder as the newly elected president of the Hawai'i State Bar Association.

Sherry Broder