William C. “Bill” Darrah has been a divorce lawyer in Hawaii for nearly fifty (50) years.

As a lawyer representing clients with more complex divorce financial issues for over forty-three (43) years, Bill was counsel of record in such precedent-setting cases as Eaton v. Eaton, 7 Haw. App. 111 (1987), Jones v. Jones, 7 Haw. App. 496 (1989), Aehegma v. Aehegma, 8 Haw. App. 215 (1990), Tougas v. Tougas, 76 Hawaii 19 (1994), Jackson v. Jackson, 84 Hawaii 319 (App. 1997), Carroll v. Nagatori-Carroll, 90 Hawaii 376 (1999), and LaPeter v. LaPeter, 144 Hawaii 295 (App. 2019).

Bill has been a divorce mediator since 1980. Bill mediates agreements for couples with more complex financial issues as part of the Family Court’s Volunteer Settlement Master (VSM) program, which program Bill and others created in 2004. Bill is a longtime volunteer divorce mediator with the Mediation Center of the Pacific, on whose board he sits.

As a lawyer representing divorcing clients, Bill learned firsthand how a family law practitioner can use mediation to consistently achieve quicker, better outcomes for his or her divorcing clients. That knowledge informs every mediation which Bill now conducts.

Bill is an expert on divorce law and practice in Hawaii, and he has been for quite some time. Bill has been the editor (now co-editor) of the Hawaii State Bar Association’s Hawaii Divorce Manual since 1994. The Manual is the undisputed go-to practice resource for judges and lawyers alike. Bill has authored and co-authored numerous articles on divorce law and practice in Hawaii including, most recently, “Divorce in Hawaii – New Law” in the July 2024 issue of the Hawaii Bar Journal. Each year Bill presents a divorce law update at the HSBA bar convention.

Bill is a strong advocate for resolving divorce financial issues through mediation. Bill is the co-author of the Section in the Hawaii Divorce Manual which describes ADR options available to divorcing spouses, including mediation. Bill is the author of “Mediating Divorce Financial Issues – For Quicker Better Outcomes” in the November 2024 issue of the Hawaii Bar Journal. Bill periodically conducts workshops for lawyers and mediators on divorce financial issues, throughout Hawaii.

In mediating divorce financial issues, Bill utilizes both a facilitative approach, and an evaluative approach. In such a mediation, Bill will facilitate the acquisition and exchange of information necessary for each spouse to fully understand their options, he will facilitate an understanding by each spouse of their options, he will facilitate the presentation of settlement proposals best calculated for success, and he will facilitate a full exploration of every proposed outcome. As an evaluative mediator, as appropriate, Bill will express an opinion as to those facts most relevant in a judicial resolution of a particular issue, the presumptively correct outcome on a particular issue, if there is one, and the likely course of a litigation on the unresolved issues in the case, if the couple cannot settle.

Bill supports the Judiciary’s efforts to educate those going through divorce. He co-presents Divorce Law in Hawaii, the monthly public education program sponsored by the Judiciary and the Mediation Center of the Pacific, which program he created in 2002. Bill is also a member of the Hawaii Access to Justice Commission’s “Committee on Maximizing the Use of Available Resources for Separating a Divorcing Families in Hawaii”, the creation of which Bill proposed in 2023.

Bill has been recognized by his peers for his accomplishments assisting divorcing individuals. He is the first ever Best Lawyers in America “Hawaii Family Lawyer of the Year” by ballot of his colleagues. He is a certified fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, a Hawaii “Super Lawyer”, and a Martindale Hubbell AV rated practitioner. He has received numerous awards from the Family Court, the Judiciary, the Mediation Center of the Pacific, and others, for his work.

Bill is a leader in the Hawaii family law community. He is a three-time former chairperson of the HSBA’s Family Law Section, a member of the FLS board, and an active participant in all FLS activities.

Bill is a 1970 Graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (where he was a Morehead Scholar), and a 1975 Graduate of New York University School of Law (where he was a Root Tilden Scholar). He served as a law clerk for Federal Judge Gus J. Solomon in Portland, Oregon, and he was licensed to practice law in Hawaii in 1976.