Mr. Shibata has practiced for 33 years, specializing in business and real estate matters. Mr. Shibata has been responsible for numerous real estate transactions, including the purchase of hotels, shopping centers, buildings and land. Mr. Shibata’s practice has involved drafting complex contracts and other real property documents and assisting in real estate developments, including changes in land use classifications, development plans and zoning, subdivisions and consolidations, the development of covenants, conditions and restrictions and the drafting of retail and industrial leases. Mr. Shibata has also represented numerous banks in foreclosures and in drafting loan documents. Representative clients have included and include Inter-Continental Hotels, Marriott Corporation, Ritz Carlton Hotels, Halekulani Corporation, Mitsui Fudosan, The Bascom Group, LLC, iStar, Hyatt Corporation, W.H. Smith, Leucadia, Tesoro Hawaii Corporation, Wallace Theaters, Japan Airlines and Cerberus. Examples of typical large, complex land transactions are the purchase of over 80,000 acres of former Castle & Cook land in North Kohala, the purchase of a retail store chain and the purchase of a theater chain. Examples of recent transactions are the directing of the litigation with respect to the Maui Marriott Hotel and the purchase of the Maui Marriott Hotel, the closing of the purchases of the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua Hotel, Grand Wailea Hotel, the Hawaiian Regent Hotel, Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, Kapalua Bay Hotel, Kauai Coconut Beach Hotel, Aloha Surf Hotel and the Continental Surf Hotel, the purchase of timeshare lots at Koolina for the Marriott Corporation, the purchase of the Lahaina Cannery Mall, Waiakea Shopping Center, Crossroads Shopping Center, Halekuai Shopping Center, Kahana Gateway Shopping and Office Complex, Sunset Villas Apartments and Oasis of Waipahu Apartments, Kilani Apartments and Waikiki Trade Center, the purchase and financing of Hale Kapuna and Leeward Integrated health care facilities, the financing of the purchase of the Ilikai Hotel and Grand Wailea Hotel and refinancing of the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, Moana Surf Hotel, Kaiulani Hotel, Sheraton Maui Hotel and Royal Hawaiian Hotel, and the foreclosure of the Ilikai Hotel and the Kauai Beach Resort.

Mr. Shibata attended Yale University and Stanford University graduating from Stanford University in 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in religion and philosophy. In 1973, Mr. Shibata graduated from the University of California Los Angeles with a Masters Degree in Business Administration with honors with concentrations in finance and marketing. Mr. Shibata then attended the University of California Davis School of Law, where he was a member of law review and the managing and an associate editor of the law review, and graduated with the degree of Juris Doctor in 1976.

After graduation, Mr. Shibata clerked for the Honorable Raymond E. Plummer of the United States District Court of the District of Alaska from 1976 to 1977 and the Honorable James M. Fitzgerald of the United States District Court of the District of Alaska from 1977 to 1978.

Mr. Shibata practiced for approximately three years with Graham & James in Anchorage, Alaska. Mr. Shibata moved to Hawaii in 1980 and joined Rush Moore LLP

Mr. Shibata has been the managing partner of Rush Moore LLP since 2000.

Mr. Shibata is the author of “Negotiating and Documents Commercial Real Estate Transactions” published in the Hawaii Bar Association’s Hawaii Real Estate Law Manual.

In 2009, Mr. Shibata was selected amongst his peers as “Best Lawyer in Hawaii” in the real estate field.