RICHARD E. WILSON, ESQ.

Born December 11, 1964, in Lihue, Kauai.  Mr. Wilson is a solo practitioner, concentrating on construction and commercial litigation.  Mr. Wilson has successfully litigated, arbitrated, and mediated numerous complex construction disputes involving owners, general contractors, subcontractors, architects, design professionals, lenders, and material suppliers.  He has also represented owners, general contractors, and their subs in the pre-litigation stage of disputes with an eye to avoiding litigation.  With 30 years of litigation experience, the last 20 primarily focused on commercial disputes, he has successfully tried cases in both state and federal court.  He is very experienced in addressing and analyzing pretrial discovery, multiple tiered defendants, and complex litigation issues.

While not the primary focus of his practice, Mr. Wilson is also experienced in employment law issues, and has been frequent speaker.  While at the Simon’s firm, 90+% of his emphasis was on employment law matters.  He has given presentations to employers seeking to avoid litigation by providing insights from a plaintiff/former employee’s prospective.

Being a solo practitioner for two decades has provided Mr. Wilson with unique insight into the costs and expenses of proceeding with litigation.  His experience in court (seven civil state and federal jury trials since 2007) has likewise provided him with a boots on the ground understanding of risk.

Lastly, and not to be undervalued, is that Mr. Wilson was born and raised on Kauai.  His outer-island upbringing has in many instances been instrumental in disarming adversaries which, in the mediation context, has allowed participants to focus on the resolution of disputes, as opposed to the non-monetary need to “win.”

Mr. Wilson received his BS in Political Science from the University of Hawaii in 1986, and graduated for the University of Oregon School of Law in 1991.  He became licensed in 1991, initially worked as an associate to Chuck Hurd, then for Perkin & Hosoda, and ultimately ending as a partner at Simons Wilson & Viola where he worked from 1994 to 2000.  He opened his own office in 2001.

He is member of the Hawaii Bar Association, American Bar Association, and the American Inns of Court.  He received his AV rating from Martindale Hubbell in 2014; and in 2019, was named in Best Lawyers in America (Construction Law and Litigation).  He also received ACE20 Cyber Security: A Shared Responsibility, 2020 training, the AAA Arbitration Awards: Safeguarding, Deciding & Writing Awards (ACE001), and Arbitration Fundamentals and Best Practices for New AAA Arbitrators in 2019.