Elyze J. McDonald , Partner

Elyze McDonald is a partner in the firm's Guam office. She concentrates her practice on all phases of litigation in commercial, employment, admiralty and maritime, insurance, real estate and construction, and corporate and banking disputes.  She has an international litigation practice spanning the Pacific Rim, and serving a broad range of corporate and commercial clients. 

Highlights of Ms. McDonald's litigation practice include consistent victories in employment and labor law, including multiple Title VII summary judgment motions and trials.  Ms. McDonald successfully argued before the Guam, Supreme Court to uphold the employment-at-will doctrine in Guam.  See Quijano v. Atkins Kroll, Inc., 2008 Guam 14.  In a lawsuit involving the Family Medical Leave Act, Ms. McDonald's litigation strategy compelled a plaintiff to dismiss the lawsuit on her own merit prior to trial.  Ms. McDonald has also defeated union petitions before the National Labor Relations Board. 

Within the admiralty and maritime sector, she has developed expertise on maritime arrests and seizures in Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau.  She has teamed up with members of Carlsmith Ball LLP's maritime litigation group in defending vessel groundings and marine pollution.  She has litigated at trial purse seiner disputes.  Her experience further includes litigation before the federal courts of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas on Jones Act seamen suits, cargo claims, tariff disputes, and wharf damage actions.  Her broad-ranging maritime and admiralty experience in the Pacific is unparalleled.

Ms. McDonald has also successfully defended clients through summary judgments and trial verdicts in the realms of commercial, insurance and real property law.  Recent victories include Fenwick v. Watabe Guam, Inc., 2009 Guam 1.  She has developed a practice in aviation law, litigating, for example, the scope of the Warsaw Convention and TSA security breaches.

Ms. McDonald also pursues appellate issues with sophisticated writing skills.  She has presented argument before highest courts of Guam and Hawaii, as well as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.  In addition, she has contributed to appeals before the highest courts of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.  Before these high courts, Ms. McDonald has briefed issues pertaining to aviation law, administrative law, jurisdiction, statutory interpretation, government contracts, and attorney-client conflicts. 

In addition, Ms. McDonald's practice includes experience in resolving cases through alternative dispute resolution processes such as mediation.

Prior Work Experience

• Ms. McDonald served as law clerk to the Honorable John S. Unpingco, former Chief Judge of the District Court of Guam.

Publications/Speeches

• Ms. McDonald is a regular contributor to the Marianas Business Journal.  Her monthly columns on legal topics are widely read and circulated throughout the Pacific Region.
• Ms. McDonald has also presented during Guam Chamber of Commerce Small Business Seminars on the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Distinctions

• Guam Business Magazine's "Top 35 Under 35"

Affiliations

• Guam Bar Association
• State Bar of California
• Hawaii State Bar Association