Legal Services & Lawyers

Joy Yanagida started Yanagida & Associates in 1991, specializing in business law, real estate disputes, and family law. She received her J.D. from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley and her A.B. with distinction from Stanford University.

She is admitted to practice law in Hawaii, the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She also is an inactive member of the California and District of Columbia bars.

Before starting Yanagida & Associates, Ms. Yanagida served in these positions:

* Associated with Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin in Washington, D.C.
* Of counsel, Center for International Environmental Law, Washington D.C.
* Staff attorney, Task Force on Iran Contra Matters (Tower Commission)
* Attorney-adviser, U.S. State Department Office of the Legal Adviser

Jean-Claude Mademba-Sy is admitted to practice in Hawaii and the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii. He earned his J.D. at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii and his B.S. in industrial relations at the University of Montreal, Canada.

Mr. Mademba-Sy has been the firm's business manager since 1995, bringing his business acumen and managerial experience to the firm's litigation projects. He is the architect of the firm's highly automated infrastructure.

Before joining Yanagida & Associates, he was the manager of Philips Electronics' Financial Business Systems division in Toronto, the Director General Adjoint of Les Prevoyants du Canada, S.A. in Montreal, and a system engineer and account manager for IBM Canada.