Robert H. Thomas
Joseph T. Waldo Visiting Chair in Property Rights Law
Representative Professional Activities and Achievements
Robert H. Thomas is a director in the firm of Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert, where he specializes in land use, regulatory takings, eminent domain, water rights, and election and political law. He has tried cases and appeals in Hawaii, California, and the federal courts.
Professor Thomas received his LLM, with honors, from Columbia Law School where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and his JD from the University of Hawaii School of Law where he served as editor of the Law Review. He taught law at the University of Santa Clara School of Law, and was an exam grader and screener for the California Committee of Bar Examiners.
Professor Thomas is the Chair (2017-18) of the American Bar Association’s Section on State & Local Government Law, and was the long-time Chair of the Section’s Eminent Domain Law Committee.
Professor Thomas is the Hawaii member of Owners’ Counsel of America, a national network of the most experienced eminent domain and property rights lawyers. Membership in OCA is by invitation only, and is limited to a single attorney from each state. He is also the Co-Planning Chair (with Joe Waldo, of Virginia) of the American Law Institute-CLE’s annual three-day conference on condemnation law, Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation. Professor Thomas is also the Managing Attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation Hawaii Center, a non-profit legal foundation dedicated to protecting property rights and individual liberties.