Ron Heller, MBA '79, JD '80; has been named by The Best Lawyers in America®, 2025 Lawyer of the Year for Honolulu, Hawaii, in two categories: Tax Law and Litigation & Controversy – Tax. Ron continues to practice law, although he recently went back to school and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in theatre from the University of Hawaii. Congratulations! [EST. 8.2024] 

Ron also received the 2020 Po’okela Award from the Hawaii State Theatre Council, as Director of a Play, for The Mountaintop at TAG (The Actor’s Group). The show was presented in February/March of 2020, and is an imagined version of the last night in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., dealing with some of the themes that are now part of the Black Lives Matter movement. After 40 years practicing law, Ron enrolled as a grad student at the University of Hawaii, working on an MFA in Theatre (directing). He is keeping his day job at the Torkildson Katz law firm in Honolulu, handling contested tax cases and business/commercial litigation.  [EST. 9.2020]