History

130+ Years in Hawaii

Rooted in Hawaii, the firm now known as Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel has served clients locally and globally for more than a century. We are one of the largest law firms in the state, providing services across the legal landscape, representing a broad spectrum of clients from Hawaii and around the world. The firm provides solution-oriented legal counsel to an extensive list of domestic and international clients—many of them for decades, some for more than a century.

Goodsill’s roots reach back more than 130 years to Francis Hatch, who first hung his shingle in 1878 and soon after opened the law firm of Castle & Hatch—the firm that eventually became Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel. Today our offices are located at Alii Place, overlooking Iolani Palace, the last official residence of Hawaiian monarchy. The view is not without meaning.

Goodsill has played an important role in Hawaii’s transition, from a monarchy to a U.S. territory to the 50th of the United States, and in the growth and prosperity of its businesses and communities. B. F. Dillingham (1878), the Estate of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1885) and Hawaii’s Queen Liliuokalani (1910) were early clients. Some businesses have been clients of the firm from their inception – Bank of Hawaii, Hawaiian Electric Company (now Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.) and others – producing attorney-client relationships that have lasted more than a century.

We take pride in providing quality legal services, wise and innovative problem solving, and integrity. We advance our clients’ interests across industries and borders, from land and water rights to mergers and acquisitions to public utilities and telecommunications. Today, we have more than two dozen practice groups, including many of Hawaii’s finest attorneys, as rated by their clients and peers.