Doug Chin

Early life and education

Douglas S. Chin was born in Seattle to Chinese immigrant parents, his mother a librarian, and his father a civil engineer. He grew up studying violin and piano. He earned his B.A. in English from Stanford University and his J.D. degree from the University of Hawaii's William S. Richardson School of Law.

Career

Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle, a registered Republican, hired Chin as a city prosecutor in 1998. Chin spent 12 years at the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney's office and was named first deputy in 2006, during which time Hawaii's prison population increased from roughly 5000 to 6200 people incarcerated. Hawaii's incarceration rate has since been on the decline upon the departure of Carlisle and Chin's from the offices of Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutor.

Chin was an associate attorney at the law firm Carlsmith Ball from 2005 to 2006, a corporate lawfirm that specializes in representing banking corporations and investment firms . Carlisle nominated Chin to be the city's managing director in 2010. In 2013, he returned to Carlsmith Ball as managing partner. During that time he acted as a lobbyist for Corrections Corporation of America, the private prison entity that owns and operates Arizona's Saguaro Correction Center, which currently incarcerates over 1,400 people from Hawaii. Governor David Ige nominated Chin for Attorney General of Hawaii in January 2015. The Hawaii Senate was unanimous in its confirmation of Chin on March 12, 2015.

He unsuccessfully led a suit on behalf of the State of Hawaii against Native Hawaiian homesteaders, arguing that the State is not bound to provide $28 million of sufficient funding for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. On May 9, 2012, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled the state failed to adequately fund the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL), and that beneficiaries can sue the state for sufficient administrative and operational funding. In January 2016, the state Attorney General’s office appealed the First Circuit Court decision, further delaying funds from flowing to the DHHL and its beneficiaries.

Chin also led a suit on behalf of the State of Hawaii against the federal government that, on March 15, 2017, blocked implementation of President Donald Trump's Executive Order 13780 entitled, "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States".

Chin filed a motion asking for clarification on what a bona fide relationship with someone in the United States means. This was in leading the fight against the travel ban imposed by president Donald Trump, after the Supreme Court allowed it to go into partial effect in late June of 2017. An expedited process was requested for the clarification.

Personal life

Chin is married and has two children. He lives in Honolulu. He has two dogs, Aristotle and River.