HAWAIʻI SUPREME COURT ASSOCIATE JUSTICE NOMINEES

Under the Constitution of the State of Hawaiʻi, Article VI, Section 3: “The Governor, with the consent of the Senate, shall fill a vacancy in the office of the chief justice, supreme court, intermediate court and circuit courts, by appointing a person from a list of not less than four, and not more than six, nominees for the vacancy, presented to the Governor by the Judicial Selection Commission.”  

The Judicial Selection Commission is pleased to announce the list of nominees for the impending vacancy in the judicial office of the Associate Justice, Supreme Court, State of Hawaiʻi upon the mandatory retirement of Associate Justice Simeon R. Acoba, Jr. in March 2014.  

The list of nominees selected by the Commission to fill the judicial office of the Associate Justice, Supreme Court, State of Hawaiʻi is, in alphabetical order:  

• Derrick H. M. Chan
• Jeffrey P. Crabtree
• Craig H. Nakamura
• Richard K. Perkins
• John M. Tonaki
• Michael D. Wilson

Statistics:

• Total Applicants: 16 - Females: 2; Males: 14
• Government Attorneys: 3
• Private Attorneys: 5
• Judges: 9
• Age Range: (41-50) 3; (51-60) 8; (61-70) 5
• Years Licensed Range: 14 years to 35 years  

To be placed on the Judicial Selection Commission’s mailing list, send your request to JudSelect.Comm@courts.state.hi.us and provide your name and business.

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SA: The six candidates are...

» Craig Nakamura, 57, chief judge of the Intermediate Court of Appeals. Naka­mura, a graduate of ‘Iolani High School, the University of Hawaii and Harvard Law School, served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Hawaii before Gov. Linda Lingle named him a state appellate judge in 2004 and later appointed him chief appellate judge in 2009. He is the only candidate among the four judges on the list appointed by a Republican governor.

» Derrick Chan, 58, chief circuit judge for Oahu. Chan graduated from Kalani High School, the University of Hawaii and Cali­for­nia Western School of Law. He served as a deputy attorney general, deputy public defender and first deputy prosecutor for Kauai before Caye­tano appointed him as a circuit judge in 2000.

» Richard Perkins, 63, circuit judge. Perkins is a graduate of Kame­ha­meha Schools, the University of Hawaii and the University of Southern Cali­for­nia law school. He has been a private attorney but also served as a deputy public defender in the 1970s and at the state Senate as an assistant clerk, majority attorney and the Senate president's administrative assistant. He was appointed by Caye­tano as a circuit judge in 1994.

» Michael Wilson, 60, circuit judge. Wilson graduated from Kai­lua High School, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Antioch School of Law. He was a partner in Pavey Wilson & Glickstein and Hart Wolff & Wilson. He served as Caye­­tano's director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Caye­tano appointed him a circuit judge in 2000.

» John Tonaki, 53, state public defender. Tonaki graduated from ‘Iolani High School, the University of Hawaii and the Hastings College of Law. He spent his career with the public defender's office as a deputy, head of the felony division, then head of the office since 2000.

» Jeffrey Crabtree, 59, a consumer protection lawyer, the only candidate without judicial experience. He was born in Maine and graduated from Punahou School, the University of San Francisco and New York University School of Law. He spent his career in private practice and was with Bronster, Crabtree and Hoshi­bata before he started his own practice in 2007.

read ... Governor receives list of 6 candidates for high-court post.