Leināʻala Ley

OHA Chief Advocate Leinaʻala Ley has been with the organization since November 2024. She will lead OHA’s Advocacy Division and supervise mission-aligned public policy development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation as well as OHA’s current co-trustee role with the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. She will also be responsible for leading the agency’s federal, state and county policy efforts. Ley came to OHA from Earthjustice, where she has served as a senior associate attorney for the last six years working on Native Hawaiian water rights, endangered species protection, clean energy, and other ‘āina-related issues. She has also worked for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation and in private practice for Lung Rose Voss & Waginald. Ley is a graduate of Punahou School. She has a B.A. in international relations from Brown University and a J.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.