Firm Profile
Calvo & Clark advises clients across the Pacific Rim on their most important legal and business matters. The firm has a broad-based litigation and transactional practice with special expertise in complex cross-border litigation. Firm lawyers also have extensive experience representing Japanese companies in litigation and transactional matters in the United States.
Founded in Guam in 1992, Calvo & Clark represents some of the Pacific region’s most successful companies. The firm’s general commercial practice embraces complex civil litigation, international law, finance, real estate, land use and development, communications, business licensing, bank regulation and licensing, and government regulations.
For complex international matters, lawyers in San Francisco and Guam provide high-level strategic advice and effective partnering capabilities in Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Australia, Micronesia, and other Pacific Rim jurisdictions as part of the firm’s client representations. The firm’s litigation team has extensive experience in federal, state, and territorial court, including class actions (plaintiff and defense), environmental law, fiduciary litigation, unfair competition, international law, and the resolution of complex commercial disputes.
Lawyers at Calvo & Clark have represented clients in a number of significant and complex litigation matters. For example, the firm was counsel to the probate estate of the late Larry L. Hillblom, founder of DHL, which was the largest probate case in the history of the region and included the administration, liquidation, and distribution of hundreds of millions of dollars in worldwide assets.
More recently, Calvo & Clark led the successful representation of the Japan bankruptcy trustee of EIE International, a failed multi-billion dollar international real estate developer, against Shinsei Bank in complex civil litigation with proceedings in Saipan, Guam, California, and Tokyo. The effort culminated in a $200 million settlement for EIEI in June of 2004. Calvo & Clark was the first — and to date, remains the only — U.S. law firm ever to be retained for such a representation in Japan.
The firm’s diverse client base includes leading Japanese companies and major U.S.-based multinational companies and financial institutions. Calvo & Clark also represents government agencies and many of the largest and most successful businesses on Guam. Clients include the Governor of Guam, the Guam Economic Development and Commerce Authority, real estate developers, banks, television and radio stations, telecommunications and cable service providers, and large wholesale and retail distributors throughout the region. The firm also represents major Japanese companies, such as DoCoMo NTT, in the acquisition of property in the United States.
Calvo & Clark has extensive experience in dealing with most issues related to the hotel and hospitality industry. On behalf of hotel clients, firm lawyers have handled real estate transactions involving acquisition, ground leases, development and permitting, and retail leasing, including for example, the acquisitions of the Guam Hilton and Saipan’s Aqua Resort Club. Representative hotel clients include the Hyatt Regency Guam, the Outrigger Guam Resort, the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa, the Pacific Islands Club, and the Guam Reef Hotel. The firm has also represented clients in complex Wall Street financing transactions, including securitizations and private bond financings. Calvo & Clark also represents hotel clients for service and supply contracts, OSHA matters, employment law issues, general licensing and regulatory matters, and major property damage and business interruption insurance claims.