Ross Uehara-Tilton

Ross Uehara-Tilton is an Attorney in the firm’s Tax Planning, Compliance and Audits, Trust and Probate Litigation, Estate Planning, Business and Commercial Law, and Appellate Litigation practice groups. He earned his law degree from the University of Hawaii, William S. Richardson School of Law, where he served as Co-Editor-in-Chief and Staff Writer for the University of Hawaii Law Review.

Ross received his LL.M. (Masters of Laws) degree in Taxation and Certificate in Estate Planning from Boston University, an internationally recognized postgraduate law degree, furthering his practice and skills in tax planning, compliance and audits, and estate planning. Ross competed in the final round of the American Bar Association’s Law Student Tax Challenge, as one of the four teams selected as finalists for the nation-wide competition in the LL.M. division. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed in the State of Hawaii (not in public practice) and the State of Washington (FPTP #6603).

Ross has been named to the 2023 Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America list in the practice areas of Business Organizations (including LLCs and Partnerships, Litigation and Controversy-Tax and Tax Law.

During law school, Ross was awarded the CALI Award in Federal Income Taxation, Corporate and Partnership Taxation, Second Year Seminar, and Legal Practice I for the highest grade in each of those courses, and was a team member on the briefs for the International Environmental Law Moot Court Team. He also served as President and Treasurer of the William S. Richardson School of Law Class of 2017, a non-profit corporation which he helped to organize for fundraising purposes. A portion of the funds that the non-profit raised were used to update classroom technology at the law school.

In 2016, Ross served as a Summer Associate at Damon Key. Prior to that, he was a judicial extern to Susan Oki Mollway, the then-Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, where he conducted extensive legal writing and research for a wide variety of civil and criminal cases in federal court. In 2012, during his undergraduate studies, Ross was a paralegal intern in the State of Hawaii Office of the Public Defender. For nine years prior to joining Damon Key, he served as paralegal at a small local law firm—practicing primarily in the areas of family law, consumer bankruptcy, estate planning, and civil litigation—a job he started while in high school.

Ross received a B.A. in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Hawaii, concurrently with his B.B.A. in Accounting, magna cum laude, from the University of Hawaii West Oahu. He was a member of Pi Sigma Alpha National Political Science Honor Society, Tau Psi Chapter, serving as Vice President in 2012 and 2013.

Since 2011, his community service work has focused primarily on children and family law. He serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (Guardian ad Litem) for children involved in Hawaii’s foster care system through the Family Court’s CASA Program, as well as a Group Facilitator for Kids First, a mandatory program for children and families going through divorce or paternity cases in Hawaii.

Ross and his husband, Devin, also manage The Curb Kaimuki, a multi-roaster specialty coffee shop located on Waialae Avenue in Kaimuki. Ross also serves as a member of the Boards of Directors of the Hawaii Coffee Foundation and the Hawaii Coffee Association, an industry organization representing coffee growers, processors, retailers, and service providers with shared interests in Hawaiian coffee; and as a Director of the Kapena School of Music and Creative Expression, a music and performing arts school founded by the multiple Na Hoku Hanohano award-winning band Kapena.

Professional and Community Affiliations

• American Bar Association: Business Law Section, Family Law Section, Real Property, Trust, and Estate Law Section, Taxation Section

• Hawaii State Bar Association: Probate and Estate Section, Real Property & Financial Services Section, Tax Section, Director (2018), Vice-Chair (2019), Chair (2020)

• Hawaii Estate Planning Council

• Hawaii Coffee Association: Director (2019 to present)

• Kapena School of Music and Creative Expression: Director (2020 to present)

• The Urban Lawyer: Associate Editor (2019)

• Hawaii Board of Accountancy: Certified Public Accountant (CPA) #6103, Not in public practice

• Washington Board of Accountancy: Certified Public Accountant (CPA) #38889, Firm Permit to Practice #6603

News and Publications

• MJ v. CR and Child Support Enforcement Agency, 150 Haw. 23, 496 P.3d 501 (Ct. App. 2021).

• Brief of Amici Curiae Owners’ Counsel of America and Institute for Justice in Support of Petitioner, Violet Dock Port, Inc. v. St. Bernard Port, Harbor, & Terminal District, 2018 U.S. S. Ct. Briefs LEXIS 2549 (July 11, 2018).

• Brief of Amici Curiae National Association of Reversionary Property Owners, Owners’ Counsel of America, The Property Rights Foundation of America, Inc., Pioneer Institute, Inc., and Professor Shelly Ross Saxer in Support of Petitioners, Brott v. United States, 2017 U.S. S. Ct. Briefs LEXIS 4997 (Dec. 14, 2017).

• Waldecker v. O’Scanlon: A Material Change in Circumstances, 21 Hawaii B.J. 22 (July 2017).