Education

J.D., Pacific Asian Legal Studies Certificate with a Specialty in Native Hawaiian Law, William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

B.A., Journalism with a Certificate in Intercultural Studies, Pepperdine University

Clerkships

Chief Justice Ronald T.Y. Moon

Affiliations

Board Member, Kahalu’u Kūāhewa

Board Member, Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden

Board Member, Hawai’i Island-Pacific & Asia Cultural Celebrations

‘Olapa, Hālau Ka’eaikaheleani

Ashley Obrey

Senior Staff Attorney, Lāhui Services

Ashley Obrey is a Senior Staff Attorney in the Lāhui Services practice group at NHLC. Ashley’s practice at NHLC includes handling matters to protect Native Hawaiian land and water rights, cultural resources, sacred places, and traditional and customary practices; enforce the State’s trust responsibilities to Native Hawaiians and public trust resources; and ensure that the State upholds its constitutional duty to provide access to Hawaiian immersion education. Ashley has also often assisted clients in amending their birth certificates to correctly document their genealogy, as required to access many Hawaiian programs and assert Hawaiian rights.

Ashley previously served as associate editor of the Native Hawaiian Law, A Treatise (2015) and is currently assisting with drafting for the next edition of the Treatise. She is also a former law clerk to retired Chief Justice Ronald T.Y. Moon of the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court.

Based out of Kona, Hawaiʻi Island, Ashley serves on the board of directors of Kahaluʻu Kūāhewa, Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, and Hawaiʻi Island-Pacific & Asia Cultural Celebrations. She is a mom, an ʻōlapa of Hālau Kaʻeaikahelelani, and a proud supporter of the normalization of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi in her community.

Publications

Native Hawaiian Law, A Treatise (2nd Edition), co-author, Ali‘i Trusts Chapter (awaiting publication).

Native Hawaiian Law, A Treatise, Associate Editor (2015).

M. Haia and A. Obrey, O‘ahu Rail: Archaeological Survey Gives Sacred Iwi Their Due Respect, Honolulu Star-Advertiser (Sept. 2, 2012).

S. Lee, A. Obrey, and E. Yamamoto, Prospects for Reconciliation: The United States and Native Hawaiians, 6 World Association for Island Studies Journal 73 (2012).

A. Obrey and E. Yamamoto, Reframing Redress: A “Social Healing Through Justice” Approach to United States-Native Hawaiian and Japan-Ainu Reconciliation Initiatives, 16 ASIAN AM. L.J. 5 (2009).

A. Obrey and E. Yamamoto, From Heart Mountain to Iraq: Lt. Watada and a Continuing Line of Resistance, UCLA AMERASIA JOURNAL, Volume 13, Number 3 (2007).

Broken Promise? A Brief Update on the U.S. Role in Native Hawaiian Reconciliation Since the 1993 Apology, Ka Heʻe, Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law, Issue 3 (Aug. 2007).