Maui attorney Lance Collins fights for underdogs

Maui has a long tradition of maverick lawyers, but the underdog has seldom had a better friend than attorney Lance D. Collins.

In solo practice for 15 years, Collins, 39, characterizes himself as a “good government lawyer,” by which he means “making decisions in a transparent manner while aiming for a rational outcome.”

He is best known for taking difficult and complex cases for people with slim financial resources. Frequently, despite long odds, he achieves a favorable verdict. His clients are often of Native Hawaiian ancestry, and their legal needs are as diverse as water rights, title to kuleana lands and protection of native burial sites.

Collins has made a particularly strong mark in the field of environmental law, where he has represented clients seeking to stop cane burning and achieved settlements in a variety of beach-access situations in West Maui. He has been in the news lately for representing opponents of the Na Pua Makani wind project in Kahuku, who say it’s located too close to homes, farms and schools.

He also pleaded on behalf of homeowners to obtain a judgment establishing that the administration of former Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa wrongly allowed developers to dump thousands of cubic feet of fill in Sand Hills in Wailuku and Palama Drive in Kahului.

Last October, the Hawaii Bar Association and Hawaii Supreme Court recognized Collins for his pro bono counsel work that included advocating for Front Street Apartment residents seeking to keep affordable rents for their low-income complex in Lahaina, as well as his efforts to challenge state Office of Elections practices that disenfranchised voters and the Department of Health for failing to protect senior citizens in care homes. He also contested agency practices that confined nonimmigrant fishermen to their boats when docked.

Though it might appear that most of his work is either pro bono or for very low rates, Collin said most of his income derives from “transactional law.” “This,” he said, “is legal work that does not take place in a courtroom,” such as reviewing contracts and negotiating agreements.

In September he was one of four members of the legal profession nominated to fill the judicial vacancy in the 2nd Circuit Court created by the June retirement of Joseph Cardoza, who was Maui’s first Environmental Court judge. (It was announced Thursday that Gov. David Ige had appointed Maui District Court Judge Kelsey Kawano for the post.)

Collins became a full-time Maui resident while still in elementary school. He was educated at St. Anthony School and Maui Community College, where he was student body president. He obtained his degrees from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. In addition to a law diploma, he also holds a master’s degree and doctorate in political science with an emphasis on the Philippines.

Currently he lives in Kalihi and commutes to his law practice on Maui. “I’m usually on island three to five days a week,” he said.

The Philippines plays an important role in his life: His mother is from Batangas province, and he maintains his family and cultural ties to that country. Since getting his doctorate his field of research has been “the comparison of the legal systems of Hawaii and the Philippines during the American period 1898-1946.”

One of his more notorious cases on Maui was a disagreement in which he ended up suing his own parents. “It’s true,” he said. “It was a business dispute and we resolved it.”

As a younger person Collins had a keen interest in electoral politics. He ran unsuccessfully for the Board of Education and the Maui County Council twice. Today he pronounces himself “totally cured” and is doubtful he would ever seek public office again.

Most recently he co-edited with Bianca Isaki a new book titled “Social Change in West Maui” (North Beach-West Maui Benefit Fund, distributed by the University of Hawaii Press). He has one article in the volume: “Fast Tracking the Luxury Housing Crisis in West Maui.”

Commenting on his contribution, Collins said, “Waivers are available to virtually all units that are 100% affordable, but I don’t see any reason to allow cutting corners for building of vacation rentals, second homes and fake farms.”

Also included in the new book are contributions by other authors on subjects as diverse as “Saving Honolua Bay,” “The Honokahua Burial Site Controversy” and “Problems of the Gentlemen’s Estates in West Maui.”

Though the scholarly nature of the book might keep it off the bestseller list, it should prove a valuable reference for those interested in the transition that occurred in West Maui in the years following Pioneer Mill’s final sugar cane harvest in 1999 and the sale of property formerly held by AMFAC and other large landowners.

Asked what the future has in store for him, Collins replied: “I like to be a part of helping to resolve real problems and steering outcomes in a better direction. I find it rewarding.”