Mr. LaPorte has more than 30 years’ practice as a litigator and more than two decades of experience as an arbitrator in Hawaii.  He graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center and began practicing as a litigator in Honolulu in 1994 at Cades Schutte LLP, where he served as Chairman of its Litigation Department.  Mr. LaPorte has represented a wide variety of individual, business, and trust entity clients as both plaintiffs and defendants in diverse matters.  He has litigated, mediated, and arbitrated claims large and small, ranging from personal injury matters to complex intellectual property disputes. He is also a graduate of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution.

In construction matters, he has represented both owners and contractors, and has substantial working knowledge of construction, design, and insurance issues arising in such disputes.

In his practice, Mr. LaPorte has routinely represented clients in mediating and arbitrating disputes, assisting his clients in reaching amicable resolution of disputes with an emphasis on avoiding wasteful litigation.

Mr. LaPorte has received an AV Preeminent Peer Review rating from Martindale-Hubbell since 2004; has been identified as Litigation Star in General Commercial Litigation by Benchmark Litigation since 2009; has been listed as Best Lawyers in areas of Construction Law and Litigation, Real Estate Law and Litigation since 2014; and Chambers & Partners place him in Band 1 for General Commercial Litigation.

Court Annexed Arbitration Program

Mr. LaPorte has periodically served as an arbitrator for several decades in arbitration cases referred by Hawaii’s First Circuit Court to the Court Annexed Arbitration Program.