Joanna joined Our Children’s Trust as a staff attorney in 2022. Joanna primarily works on State Cases filed by Our Children’s Trust, including Navahine v. Hawaiʻi Dept. of Transportation, Layla v. Commonwealth of Virginia, and Sagoonick v. State II, while also working to develop new cases in other states.
Before joining Our Children’s Trust, Joanna worked as a litigation associate for over five years at a Honolulu law firm, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert. She also clerked for two years for the Honorable Lisa M. Ginoza at the Hawaiʻi State Intermediate Court of Appeals (Justice Ginoza is now at the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court). Joanna earned her JD with a certificate in environmental law from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi, and a BS in environmental science from Humboldt State University.
In working as an attorney with Our Children’s Trust, Joanna also draws from field work experience before law school to guide her motivation to protect children’s and future generations’ right to a safe climate. Joanna worked as a field technician for the U.S. Forest Service in Oregon measuring the effects of cattle on streams throughout the state. As an Ameri-Corps field technician in Hilo, Hawaiʻi, she assisted in the native habitat restoration of the Palila, an endangered bird native to Hawaiʻi. She has also taught outdoor education for youth and engaged in river advocacy as a raft river guide on several rivers in California.