The Staff of Lawyers for Equal Justice


Victor Geminiani
Executive Director
Phone: (808) 587-7605
victor@lejhawaii.org

Upon graduating from law school in 1969, Victor Geminiani began his legal services career as a Vista Volunteer lawyer with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society. He has served as the Director of Litigation and Law Reform with Bedford-Stuyvesant Community Legal Services and as Executive Director of the Legal Services of Western Massachusetts, the Legal Services of Northern California, the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii, and the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. He has also worked in the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) as Associate Director of Support and Finances responsible for LSC funding policy and as the South East Regional Director overseeing the 75 legal services programs located in the 10 Southern states.


Victor has served in a variety of capacities with the boards of several of national associations including the executive committee of the National Legal Aid and Defenders Association, as founding board member and President of the Management Information Exchange and as a board member of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association (ABA). He is currently a member of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services and has previously served on the ABA’s Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Public Service Responsibility, as Chairperson of the Litigation Section’s Pro Bono Committee and founder of the Section’s Legal Services Project. He has been recognized for his contributions to legal services delivery by being presented with the Litigation Section’s John Minor Wisdom Award.



victor.JPG
Diane Haar
Staff Attorney
Phone: (808) 587-7605
diane@lejhawaii.org
Passionate about giving a voice to the voiceless, and with an extensive background in the sciences, Diane spent her law school years working with non-profits, private law firms, and the United States Justice Department advocating on behalf of those injured due to exposure to environmental contamination. After law school and interested in the issues in our 49th state, Diane clerked for Chief Justice Alexander Bryner on the Alaska Supreme Court. From there, she moved to Eritrea practicing war crimes litigation in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in conjunction with her other duties overseeing the Eritrea office as the Deputy to the Legal Advisor to the Office of the President.

A few years later when Diane returned to the United States with her military husband, reflecting on lessons learned while working in Eritrea as well as growing up in a special needs family, Diane found her passion in the culmination of her life’s events and committed herself to disability law. Today at LEJ, Diane is the primary disability attorney, representing individuals for Veterans and Social Security benefits, as well as working on ADA and other related issues in LEJ’s class action lawsuits. However, with a breadth of experience and a continued devotion to helping others, Diane can also be found lending a hand in the firm’s other practice areas.
Diane Haar

Practice Areas

  • Veteran's Disability Benefits
  • Social Security Benefits
  • Disability Law
  • Poverty Law

Admitted to Practice

  • Hawaii
  • California
  • Nevada
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims

Education and awards

  • Yale Law School, J.D. 2003

.
William Durham
Staff Attorney
Phone: (808) 779-1744
william@lejhawaii.org

William Durham began advocating for the low income community in Hawaii in 2004. As a guardian ad litem for numerous of foster children and youth, he developed a reputation as a formible advocate within the courts and administrative processes on behalf of foster children.

In 2005, Mr. Durham broadened his practice and litigated a number of cases on a variety of poverty law topics. He fought to maintain client's public benefits, to obtain custody and visitation in family cases, and agressively litigating cases on substantardard housing and unfair and deceptive practices.

In May of 2007, Mr. Durham joined Lawyers for Equal Justice and is involved in all impact litigation efforts of LEJ.

will.jpg

Practice Areas

  • Poverty Law
  • Child Welfare
  • Education
  • Housing

Admitted to Practice

  • Hawaii
  • Oregon
  • North Carolina










Education and awards

  • Georgetown University, J.D. 2004; Magna Cum Laude, Order of the Coif.

publications

  • Strict Contruction in Ad Valorem Cap, 8 St. & Loc. Tax Lawyer 141 (2003)
  • Antitrust: A Road to Chiropractic Equity, 4 Fl. St. Bus. Rev. 279 (2005)
.
Deja M. Ostrowski
Americorps Attorney
Phone: (808) 587-7605
deja@lejhawaii.org

Deja Marie Ostrowski is AmeriCorp staff with Lawyers for Equal Justice. Beyond her work with Lawyers for Equal Justice, she works with Hawaii Immigrant Justice Center providing interpretation and translation for Thai clients. Prior to joining Lawyers for Equal Justice, Deja clerked with the Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu. She also clerked with the Defence Support Section for the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Tribunals in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Her interest in impact litigation and community organizing came from her Organizing for Social Change class in law school, a life changing experience.

She is most passionate working with youth and immigrants. She has presented papers on issues of land reform, and transitional justice in Cambodia, and worked teaching constitutional law modules in local public schools, encouraging high school students to exercise their freedom of speech and speak up. Before beginning her legal career, Deja was an educator, teaching mathematics at Assumption College in Bangkok, Thailand. Deja is a graduate of International School in Bangkok, Thailand.

deja.jpg

Practice Areas

  • Poverty Law
  • Education
  • Child Welfare
  • Veterans' Benefits

Admitted to Practice

  • Hawai`i












Education and awards

  • William S. Richardson School of Law, J.D. 2010