Robert Thomas

Robert Thomas focuses on issues involving appeals, regulatory takings, eminent domain, water rights, land use (zoning and planning), shoreline issues, navigational servitudes, and voting rights. He has tried cases and appeals in all levels of Hawaii courts and administrative agencies including county planning commissions, county zoning boards of appeals, and the State Board of Land and Natural Resources. He has also tried cases and appeals in California and the federal courts, including the Court of Federal Claims. Mr. 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 served as editor of the Law Review. Robert has been selected by his peers to be included in Best Lawyers in America in eminent domain and condemnation law, and is a frequent speaker on land use and eminent domain issues nationwide. He has published articles in the Journal of Legal Education, the University of Hawaii Law Review, and other scholarly journals. His latest publications are Arrow of Time: Vested Rights, Zoning Estoppel, and Development Agreements in Hawaii, 27 U. Haw. L. Rev. 17 (Feb. 2006), and the Hawaii chapter in Law and Procedure of Eminent Domain in the 50 States. Robert is the Managing Attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation Hawaii Center, a non-profit legal foundation dedicated to protecting property rights and individual liberties.