Sara M. Hayden is an associate in the firm’s litigation department.  Her practice includes complex civil litigation, insurance defense, construction litigation, and commercial litigation.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, Sara graduated from Hawai‘i Baptist Academy.  She received her Bachelor of Arts in English and Master of Arts in English from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.  Prior to law school, Sara worked at the Hawai‘i State Legislature for Representative Scott Saiki and Representative Chris Lee before working at the University of Hawai‘i Office of the Board of Regents and at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa College of Education.

Sara graduated from the University of Hawai‘i William S. Richardson School of Law, Evening Part-Time Program, in 2017.  While in law school, Sara served as a Senior Editor for the Asian-Pacific Law and Policy Journal, as a member of Phi Delta Phi, and as a William S. Richardson School of Law Student Ambassador.  She received the CALI Excellence for the Future Award for Children, Parents & the Law.  Her Second-Year Seminar paper, entitled “Electing the Bench: An Analysis of the Possible Negative Effects of Judicial Elections on Hawaiʻi’s Legal Community,” won the law school’s 2017 Best Overall Second Year Seminar Paper Award and was published in Volume 18, Issue 1, of the Asian-Pacific Law and Policy Journal.

Following law school, Sara clerked for the Honorable Karen T. Nakasone on the criminal calendar and for the Honorable Gary W.B. Chang on the civil calendar at the Circuit Court of the First Circuit.  Sara also clerked for Judge Nakasone following her appointment as Associate Judge at the Intermediate Court of Appeals.

• Hawai‘i, 2019
• U.S. District Court, District of Hawai‘i, 2019

• J.D. (2019) University of Hawai‘i, William S. Richardson School of Law
• Master of Arts in English (2012) University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
• Bachelor of Arts in English (2007) University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Electing the Bench: An Analysis of the Possible Negative Effects of Judicial Elections on Hawaiʻi’s Legal Community, 18 ASIAN-PACIFIC L. & POL’Y J. 114 (2016).

Administrative Law, Regulatory and Government Affairs

Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution

Construction

Creditors’ Rights, Business

Foreclosure

Employment Law

Real Estate and Real Estate Development

White Collar Criminal Defense

Construction

Real Estate

Insurance