Cheryl L.M.T. Itagaki

Hawaii

Cades Schutte LLP
1000 Bishop Street
Suite 1200
Honolulu, HI 96813

Tel: 808.521.9338

Email: citagaki@cades.com
Web: www.cades.com

Professional Biography

Cheryl’s experience in public accounting and employee benefits provides her with invaluable insight into her clients’ legal issues.

Cheryl advises and counsels clients in Employee Benefits, ERISA, and Executive Compensation, including the design, establishment, maintenance, and compliance of qualified retirement plans.

Cheryl obtained her B.B.A. in accounting, with distinction, from the University of Hawai‘i Shidler College of Business. She received her M.B.T. from the University of Southern California Leventhal School of Accounting, and her J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law with a Certificate in Business Law. As a law student, she served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Derrick H.M. Chan, Circuit Court of the First Circuit, State of Hawai‘i. She was also the recipient of a USC Law Merit Scholarship and served as a Production Editor of the Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice.

Prior to attending law school, Cheryl worked in public accounting as both an auditor at an international firm and a tax accountant at a local firm. She was previously licensed as a CPA in Hawai‘i.

Representative Experience

  • Advised employers with regards to compensation and retirement planning matters, deferred compensation arrangements, 401(k) and profit-sharing plans, defined benefit and cash balance plans, and ESOPs
  • Drafted estate plans ranging from simple to complex to meet client needs
  • Advised clients on various state and federal tax issues relating to the estate tax, income tax, and general excise tax
  • Successfully drafted private letter rulings to request a determination from the Internal Revenue Service
  • Prepared tax returns for all types of business entities as well as individuals
  • Prepared accounting books to bring business clients up-to-date and within compliance
  • Audited various entities including non-profits, government organizations, and for-profit businesses

Employee benefits are an important component of the compensation package of many companies in Hawai‘i, whether they are corporations, partnerships, LLCs, tax-exempt organizations, or proprietorships. Some benefits, such as bonuses, vacation, and severance pay, are subject to little regulation, but Hawai‘i and federal law, most notably the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), heavily regulate both pension and welfare benefit plans.

Whether your company wishes to adopt or administer such plans for the good of your employees, or to remain competitive, or to comply with union demands, or simply to provide incentives and tax benefits to the owners of the company or its key management employees, it is essential to consult attorneys, accountants, and other professionals in order to maximize benefits, achieve design goals, and avoid costly missteps.

Cades Schutte is one of the very few law firms in Hawai‘i to have attorneys concentrating in Pensions & ERISA. Moreover, as a large full-service firm, we also have tax, corporate, employment, health care, estate planning, and litigation attorneys to work with our Pensions & ERISA lawyers in dealing with all of the challenges that plan sponsors may face.

Cades Schutte is a full-service law firm with around 80 attorneys, providing superior service in over 40 practice and industry areas from our main office in Honolulu and offices in Kona, Waimea, Kahului, and Līhuʻe. Since the founding of our firm in 1922, Cades Schutte attorneys have been called on to serve as counsel in some of the most notable cases and transactions in the State of Hawai‘i.

We offer a wide range of corporate and personal legal services with an emphasis on business counseling. We are proud to serve local, national, and international clients, and regularly handle estate planning, tax, and personal litigation matters.

Cades Schutte is organized into four departments—Finance, Real Estate, and Corporate; Litigation; Tax; and Trusts and Estates—but departmental lines are fluid. Cades Schutte attorneys from different departments routinely collaborate on projects to benefit our clients. This approach provides a full array of our firm’s expertise and experience. Utilizing a ‘firm first’ mentality, we’ve adopted a democratic style of management in which the strategic direction and vision for the firm is developed by its partners, and headed up by its Management Committee.

Together, this Committee serves as the firm’s key visionary, and is specifically charged with implementing the direction and mission of the stakeholders.

“Cheryl is the top ERISA and retirement benefit attorney in Hawaii. We are grateful to her for her expertise.”
Chambers & Partners, Client Testimonial