Gov. Josh Green plans to nominate First Deputy Attorney General Matthew Dvonch to take over Hawaii's top legal post once Anne Lopez's term ends on Dec. 7. The 43-year-old Dvonch has served as Lopez's deputy since January 2023, and if confirmed, he would inherit an office juggling some of the state's highest-profile prosecutions and a string of major settlements.
The planned nomination, reported by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, is subject to confirmation by the state Senate. Green told Lopez on Nov. 4 that he would not renominate her for a second four-year term, and he thanked her for her work the following day, according to the same report. The governor has not publicly disclosed a reason for declining to reappoint her.
Dvonch's path to the department runs through both government and private practice. He joined the state Department of the Attorney General in April 2011 and served as a deputy attorney general for more than nine years, advising the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., state lawmakers, and the Governor's Office on matters ranging from open meetings law and procurement to real estate transactions and land use, per the Star-Advertiser's report. He also drafted and revised bills and testimony and testified before the state Legislature himself.
From Pandemic Quarantine Reviews to the AG's Front Office
During the pandemic, Dvonch managed a team of more than 30 deputy attorneys general and staff reviewing the state's COVID-19 travel-quarantine exemption requests, working with the Governor's Office, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, and state and federal partners on the broader pandemic response, the Star-Advertiser reported. He left state service in January 2021 to join the Honolulu Office of the Prosecuting Attorney as special counsel, where he advised the prosecuting attorney on criminal justice policy and oversaw the office's legislative division before returning to state service as Lopez's first deputy in January 2023.
His resume also includes three years as a commercial-litigation associate at the Honolulu firm Paul Johnson Park & Niles, working on complex civil litigation in state and federal courts, and a year as a research analyst for the state House Committee on Finance after earning a bachelor's degree in political science from New York University. He later earned his law degree from the University of Hawaii's William S. Richardson School of Law and is a graduate of Punahou, according to the newspaper's reporting.
Lopez's Tenure Leaves Big Cases in the Pipeline
Lopez became attorney general in 2022 after earlier serving as special assistant to then-Attorney General David M. Louie and later as chief operating officer and general counsel for Hawaii Health Systems Corp. Her tenure included supervising the state's independent investigation into the government's response to the August 2023 Lahaina wildfire and leading Hawaii's partnerships with other state attorneys general challenging Trump administration policies and executive orders to protect federal funding, per the Star-Advertiser.
Her office also oversaw 12 years of litigation that ended in a $700 million settlement with Bristol Myers Squibb and three Sanofi subsidiaries in June 2025, the newspaper reported. More recently, Hawaii secured $76 million in August 2026 from a class-action matter against Meta that alleged Instagram used addictive features, knowingly exposed youth to mental health harms, and misled the public about platform safety, according to the same account.
In October, the state settled claims tied to polychlorinated biphenyls in Hawaii waterways and their local environmental impact. That settlement guarantees an initial payment of $10 million and could provide the state with an additional $35 million depending on the outcome of an indemnity action that Monsanto and affiliated companies are pursuing against various historic PCB purchasers, per the Star-Advertiser's reporting.
An Ongoing Bribery Case Awaits Dvonch's Attention
Perhaps the most consequential matter awaiting whoever leads the department is the bribery case built by Lopez's Special Investigations and Prosecution Division. An Oahu grand jury indicted Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, state airports administrator Ford Fuchigami, former state Department of Human Services director Ryan Yamane, and former Public Utilities Commission chair Leo Asuncion Jr. following an investigation into an alleged conspiracy to secure state money for pandemic-era COVID-19 testing, the Star-Advertiser reported.
A no-bail warrant was issued for the arrest of lobbyist Tobi J. Solidum, who has evaded capture by law enforcement, per the same report. If confirmed, Dvonch would oversee one of the department's highest-profile prosecutions as that case continues to unfold.
Separately, Honolulu Civil Beat reported that the administration was expected to formally announce several other staff changes before the inauguration, as Green moves to finalize his cabinet after winning reelection earlier this month. Under Article V, Section 6 of the Hawaii State Constitution, the governor must obtain the Senate's advice and consent for covered appointments, according to the Hawaii State Senate's own description of that process.
