Mayor Jeremy Harris announced the appointment today, saying Arakawa will replace Corporation Counsel Darolyn Lendio. It's the mayor's first cabinet appointment since his re-election Nov. 5.

Harris said Lendio, who promised him only two years when she became corporation counsel, is leaving to have a baby and return to her partnership at the law offices of McCorriston, Miho, Miller and Mukai.

"We were thrilled with the job Darolyn did. She really turned around the Corporation Counsel's Office. She made so many improvements there and raised the credibility of the city's law firm over the last two years," Harris said.

He said he asked her to come up with "an equally qualified replacement" and her choice was Arakawa, who was the leading candidate in a three-way primary race for city prosecutor and won 48 percent of the general election vote.

"We are very pleased to get him," Harris said. "I think he's going to do a fine job. His background is tailor-made for this."

Arakawa said the offer surprised him. "That was special to me, that I didn't seek the job, that I was recommended for it."

"I'm very excited about it and I look forward to it," Arakawa said.

"I see it as a challenge. Hopefully, I'll be able to use my talents in a broader spectrum."

As corporation counsel, Arakawa will head a $5.9 million legal operation with a staff of 84 people, including 37 attorneys.

"He will be taking over an office that has become a law firm of fine reputation in the community," said Carol Costa, city spokeswoman.

"It's a very busy law office and Darolyn ...has been able to save the city literally millions and millions of dollars in not only litigation but in the special property tax appeals unit she put together."

Arakawa said the position "is broader than what I would have been doing at the prosecutor's office and it gives me more of an opportunity to help the public."

He will be working with all city agencies, the City Council, administration and the mayor, he said. Although some issues might be different, he said, his new role won't be completely new to him because he has worked with city agencies for 15 years in his practice.

Arakawa said he will probably phase out his Law Offices of David Z. Arakawa, which he opened in 1993. Two other attorneys with him are looking at their options, he said.

Arakawa graduated in 1981 from the University of Hawaii Richardson School of Law and was a deputy city prosecutor from 1981 to 1984, serving with the Career Criminal and Organized Crime units.

He was a partner with Fujiyama, Duffy & Fujiyama from 1984 to 1993 when he started his own firm, handling civil and criminal defense cases and business law.

He also helped with Arakawa's of Waipahu, his family's general store, until it closed last year.

He said his office was in a phase-down mode after months of election campaigning and he was just starting to reactivate it when he got the mayor's offer.

Married and father of two children, he said he "told the family it would mean somewhat of a change in our lives again. But they have also been involved in public service over the years, so they understood some sacrifices will have to be made."