Lauren M. Akitake is the first Executive Director and Legal Counsel to the Maui County Board of Ethics. She previously practiced law in private practice, served as a per diem District Court Judge for the Second Circuit, State of Hawaiʻi, and taught Business Law at the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College. Born and raised on Maui, she graduated as a Valedictorian of Baldwin High School's Class of 1999. She attended Pomona College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Policy Analysis/Politics, a Master of Science degree in Applied Social Research from the University of Stirling, Scotland, while on a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Kansas School of Law spending her third year at the William S. Richardson School of Law as a visiting student.
Akitake has nearly two decades of experience in diverse areas of law, including estate planning, probate and trust litigation, estate and trust administration, civil litigation, business law, collection law, and representing clients in conservatorship and guardianship proceedings. Before starting her own law office, Akitake practiced in state and federal courts for law firms on Oʻahu and Maui, served as a law clerk for the Honorable Shackley F. Raffetto, completed the Elder Law Clinical Program at the University of Kansas School of Law, and interned in the office of the late U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye.
A 2020 Ka Ipu Kukui Fellow, 2020 Hawaiʻi State Bar Association Leadership Institute Fellow, and 2016 Hawaiʻi Emerging Legal Practitioners Access to Justice Fellow, Akitake is a current board member of the American Association of University Women of Maui and a former board member of Women Helping Women and the Maui County Bar Association.
Having played tennis for Pomona College and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Akitake is also a 1998 Hawaiʻi High School Athletic Association tennis doubles champion. She enjoys working out, running, swimming and spending time with her sons.