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Richard S. Ekimoto

Richard S. Ekimoto

RICHARD S. EKIMOTO is a nationally recognized community association lawyer.  Mr. Ekimoto was admitted to CAI’s prestigious College of Community Association Lawyers (“CCAL”) in October of 1996 during his first year of eligibility.  He is a former member of the CCAL’s Board of Governors.  He is the only attorney from Hawaii to serve on the Board of Governors and one of two attorneys from Hawaii to be admitted to CCAL.  He is the only Hawaii attorney to have been a faculty member for CAI’s National Law Seminar.  Attorneys throughout the United States who wish to learn more about community association law attend these law seminars.  In 1997, he taught the sessions on annual meetings in Arlington, Virginia and Marina del Rey, California.  In 2003, he taught the session in New Orleans, Louisiana on Association Regulation of Conduct and Activity in the Units.  In 2004, he taught the advanced session on Fair Housing in Las Vegas, Nevada.  In 2007, he taught the session on telecommunications in New Orleans.  In 2010, he taught the session on the unlawful practice of law.  In 2022, he was a panelist on the Managing Partner Track session on COVID-19 in La Quinta, California.  From 2014 to 2016, he was responsible for compiling the written summary of community association law cases for the popular Case Law Update sessions.  He has previously served on the Planning Committee for the Law Seminar for many years.

Mr. Ekimoto is also on the faculty of CAI’s Professional Management Development Program (“PMDP”).  The PMDP is a series of courses that community association managers must take in order to obtain the Professional Community Association Manager (“PCAM”) designation.  The PCAM is the highest and most prestigious designation available to community association managers.  As a member of the PMDP Faculty, Mr. Ekimoto teaches community association managers throughout the country about community governance and other legal issues.

Mr. Ekimoto has served as the National Vice-President of CAI National, a member of CAI’s National Board of Trustees for two terms, President of the Hawaii Chapter of CAI, a member of the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Chapter of CAI, Chair of CAI National’s Public Affairs Council and the first chair of the Hawaii Legislative Action Committee for CAI.

The Real Estate Educators Association awarded the 1989 Best REEAction Article to New Federal Law Increases Scope of Fair Housing Act, an article co-written by Mr. Ekimoto.  Mr. Ekimoto has written monthly columns on condominium law for The Maui News, The Garden Island and The Molokai Dispatch, and a quarterly column for the Building Management Hawaii magazine.  Mr. Ekimoto is a member of Community Association Management Insider Editorial Board.  He was a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Community Association Law (“JCAL”).  His article, An Overview of Reasonable Accommodations Under the Federal Fair Housing Act was published in the JCAL Law in July, 2001.  Mr. Ekimoto was a contributor to CAI’s publication, Satellite Dishes & Other Antennas:  Model Rules and Guidelines for Planned Communities.  He is also the co-author of CAI’s Guide for Association Practitioners (GAP) Report No. 2, Design Review:  How Community Associations Maintain Peace & Harmony.

Mr. Ekimoto has received numerous awards from CAI, including the National Outstanding Volunteer Service Award, the National President’s Award for Meritorious Service, the National Award of Excellence in Public Affairs for work in representing the interests of community associations before the Federal Communications Commission, and the National Award of Excellence in Public Affairs for drafting amicus curiae briefs on behalf of CAI.  He also received the CAI Hawaii Chapter Awards for Public Advocate and Committee Chair of the Year.  In 2021, he received the Hawaii Chapter of CAI’s highest honor, the Richard Murray Gourley Distinguished Service Award.  In 2022, Mr. Ekimoto was honored as the 10th recipient of CCAL’s prestigious Don Buck Lifetime Contribution Award. Mr. Ekimoto was included in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® for Community Association Law.