Elena Yamane

Elena Kau'i Yamane was born and raised in Honolulu. As a high school student, she took her first job as a file clerk at Leavitt, Yamane & Soldner. She holds a B.A.Sc. in Communications from the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 2010, she earned her J.D. from the University of Hawaii at Manoa's William S. Richardson School of Law, with certificates in Native Hawaiian Law and Environmental Law. She began her legal career as a deputy prosecutor in Honolulu's Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, preparing and presenting felony cases for Grand Jury indictment and preliminary hearings, and successfully represented the State of Hawaii in felony and domestic violence jury trials. After nearly four years with the prosecutors' department, she took time to start a family in Washington, DC, where she served in the Volunteer Lawyer Project helping domestic violence survivors obtain protective orders. In 2020, she returned to Hawaii and joined Leavitt, Yamane & Soldner as a personal injury attorney.