Clinton R. Ashford

When Bev Ashford asked me to speak at Tink's services, I was honored but also very nervous. I have never spoken at a funeral. I knew there would be many prominent people in attendance and being a loyal Iolani graduate, I associate being on this campus with losing football games. Besides being an attorney Tink was a patriot and a caring individual. He was in the Navy between 1943 and 1946 retiring as a Lieutenant Commander. He served on the boards of Child and Family Service, and Aloha United Way. I think Tink would want us to acknowledge the tragedy of the terrorist attack, and the grief that families all over the country are dealing with for the dead and missing, some of whom were Punahou students. I'd like to ask us to take just a moment of silence to say a prayer of support for the families of the victims and the rescue workers who are risking their lives.

I was asked to speak about Tink's legal career. Perhaps I was asked to speak about Tink's legal career because I have known Tink since he was in law school. You see, I was born in 1948 in Ann Arbor, Michigan where Tink and my father were attending the University of Michigan Law School. Tink graduated in 1950 order of the coif, which means at the very top of his class. He was also on the Michigan Law Review.

After law school, Tink worked at the State Attorney General's office and the law offices of Peter Lee. In 1955, Tink joined Bill Stephenson and Jim Wriston and started the law firm of Stephenson and Ashford. In 1960, the name of the firm changed to Stephenson, Ashford & Wriston. The firm name changed to Ashford & Wriston in 1966 when Bill Stephenson passed away. Since 1976, I have had the privilege and pleasure of working at Ashford & Wriston with Tink.

As most of you know, Tink was one of the outstanding attorneys not only in Hawai`i but worldwide. Locally, he was the President of the Hawai`i State Bar Association in 1972 and the President of the Hawai`i Justice Foundation in 1996. Nationally, Tink was on the American Bar Association Board of Governors between 1979 and 1982. Internationally, he was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of the Marshall Islands from 1989 and 1996.

Tink was also involved in numerous landmark cases. I'd like to mention just a few. The first is the case of In re Ashford. The case defined the dividing line between public submerged land and adjoining private property. The Hawai`i Supreme Court ruled that the boundary was the upper reaches of the waves as represented by the vegetation line.

In another case, Tink represented Richard Smart, the owner of Parker Ranch. Former Hawai`i Supreme Court Justice Kazuhisa Abe represented several of Mr. Smart's relatives who claimed that John Parker, the founder of the ranch, had intended to leave 50,000 acres to them and not to Richard Smart. Tink won the case for Richard and Parker Ranch continues to be the largest ranch in America under single ownership.

In another case, Tink represented Kamehameha Schools in a trial to establish the amount that the State of Hawai`i would have to pay Kamehameha Schools for its interest in the house lots along the Makai side of Kahala Avenue between Black Point and Waialae County Club. Following a six-week trial, the jury awarded Kamehameha Schools exactly what Tink had argued for and about three (3) times what the state suggested was the value. The total amount awarded Kamehameha Schools was about $150 million. At the time, it was the largest amount ever awarded by a jury in Hawai`i.

Perhaps Tink's most significant case was the one in which he and Rosemary Fazio, on behalf of the Kamehameha Schools challenged the right of the State of Hawai`i to condemn a landowner's interest in the lease of houselots. Tink and Rosemary argued that the State could not take private property from one person and sell it to another person. They argued that when the State condemned land it had to be for a public purpose, like a park, a road, or a school, but not as someone's private property. Abe Fortas, the former U.S. Supreme Court Justice, was co-counsel with Tink and Rosemary and was supposed to argue the case before the United States Supreme Court in Washington D.C. Shortly before the oral argument, Abe Fortas passed away. Tink argued the case before the United States Supreme Court. The Court did not agree with Tink's argument but it was nonetheless one of Tink's finest moments as an attorney.

Significant cases while they are important, were not what made Tink the truly outstanding lawyer that he was. Nor did they give him his greatest pride. When he spoke about his accomplishments--which wasn't often because he was a humble man--they were firm-wide accomplishments, not personal accomplishments.

Two examples that I recall Tink frequently mentioning were in 1966 when Bill Stephenson died. It was shortly after Campbell Estate had become a client of the firm, Tink met with Alan Davis who was a Campbell Estate Trustee, to discuss whether Campbell Estate was going to remain a client or look for a new firm to represent it. Tink was about 40 years old and the oldest attorney in the firm, which was then about 6-7 attorneys including Jim Wriston, Albert Ogawa, John Jubinsky, Charley Dwight, and Galen Leong. Tink convinced Mr. Davis that the firm could do the job without Bill Stephenson and for the next 30 years Ashford & Wriston proudly served as Campbell Estate's primary law firm.

The other example of the firm-wide accomplishment, which Tink was very proud of, was the valuation trials involving landlords' interests in the houselots. There were trials like the Kahala Beach case for every subdivision in which the lessees wanted to buy the lessors' interest and they couldn't agree on the price. The lessees were represented by several prominent law firms, Carlsmith, Hoddick Reinwald, Kemper Watts, and Paul, Johnson & Alston. The trials were scheduled one a month for about 18 consecutive months in 1985 and 1986. The lessees' attorneys would rotate handling a case about every fourth month. Ashford & Wriston had to try a case every month.

Tink created trial teams of three (3) attorneys per trial including Charlie Dwight, Wayne Nasser, Rosemary Fazio, Paul Aoki, Frank Hogan, Kirk Caldwell and Lorrin Hirano. While the trial teams were hard at work on the condemnation cases, the other lawyers were doing all the rest of the work assisting other clients.

After about a dozen trials, the Ashford & Wriston trial teams were doing so well that the cases began to settle at close to the values they were arguing the landlords were entitled to be paid.

It was not only the excellent result, but the dedicated work of receptionists, messengers, business office staff, secretaries, paralegals, associates and partners that Tink was most proud of.

For many of us "younger" lawyers what made Tink so special was his integrity, courage, and compassion. If a Hawai`i Supreme Court decision was controversial, Tink was willing to publicly express his opinion either criticizing or supporting the decision. If the President of the Marshall Islands attempted to influence a decision that Tink's Court was about to render, he would put the President in his place, and threatened to resign rather than follow the President's preferences. Tink would want to be remembered as a person who made a commitment to excellence and common sense at the same time. He was a problem solver who viewed litigation as a last resort.

Tink encouraged lawyers in the firm to get involved in local, state and national bar activity. Tink encouraged us to serve on community non-profit boards and committees. But most importantly, he led by example, working for so many bar and non-profit organizations.

I believe that Tink's unique accomplishments can ultimately be traced to his love of Hawai`i, its ocean, its lands, and its people. He was an accomplished fisherman participating in the Billfish Tournament with Dudley Lewis, Freddy Gartley and my Dad; in the Lahaina Jackpot Tournament with Buddy McGuire; and fishing out of Kaneohe Yacht Club with Tommy O'Brien and Peter Nottage. Tink was also an excellent sailor. Bev and Jim Ashford, his brother, sailed all over the State of Hawai`i and the South Pacific.

Tink also loved the land. He knew the names of the ahupuaa, the streams, and the mountains. Whenever Tink had a land case he would make a point of going out and looking at the property and learning the history of the area if he didn't already know it.

But most of all Tink loved the people of Hawai`i. He was as comfortable in the bars of Kaunakakai as he was in the boardrooms of Bishop Street. He constantly encouraged us to get to know our clients' secretaries, receptionists, staff people, cowboys and plantation workers. Tink frequently went to his clients' homes and places of business. He was not only their lawyer, he was their friend and adviser.

Tink was our moral compass and our leader. Tink, we will all miss you, but we will not forget the lessons you taught us or the principals which you stood for. Aloha Tink, until we meet again, and God Bless America.

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