Serving on the CGL Reporter Editorial Board
during 2004–2007, Mr. Van Etten contributed first-party property,
construction, and completed operations summaries to this publication.
After graduating from law school, Mr. Van Etten served as a law clerk to
the Honorable William S. Richardson, Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme
Court. He then practiced with the Law Offices of Douglas S. Page and with
Fong & Miho. In 1983 he became legal counsel to the Chair of the Honolulu
City Council. In 1984 he returned to private law practice, emphasizing
plaintiff contingency civil litigation, in what later became the firm of
Edmunds, Verga, Van Etten and O'Brien, and in 1990, he joined his current
firm.
Selected for listing in The Best Lawyers in America, Mr. Van
Etten's practice concentrates in civil litigation, with an emphasis on
insurance law and litigation (representing both policyholders and insurers in
coverage and bad faith cases), representing plaintiffs in personal injury
work (he is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum), and representing
plaintiffs and defense in employment law and commercial torts. He has written
and spoken extensively on insurance law and litigation. In 1993 and 1994, at
the Law School's request, he was Adjunct Professor (Advanced
Torts/Insurance Law) at the University of Hawaii's School of Law. He is a
vice chair of the ICLC TIPS.
Mr. Van Etten received his BA degree in history from Yale University and
his juris doctor degree from the Boalt Hall School of Law, University of
California at Berkeley.