Acting Chief Justice Appoints District Court Judges

News Release from Hawaii Judiciary,  Mar 12, 2026

HONOLULU – Acting Chief Justice Sabrina S. McKenna today appointed two individuals to serve in the District Court of the First Circuit (island of Oʻahu), and one individual to serve in the District Court of the Third Circuit (island of Hawaiʻi). The appointees are:

District Court of the First Circuit

Kirsha Kaulukane Milianani Durante. Durante is currently the Litigation Director at Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, where she has worked since 2021. Prior to that she worked as a Deputy Public Defender with the Office of the Public Defender in Honolulu and as a law clerk to First Circuit Judge Marcia Waldorf. Her practice has been in both civil and criminal law across the state in administrative, agency and regulatory law; environmental law; complex civil litigation; land use; Native Hawaiian affairs focusing on rights and entitlement; land acquisition and claims; trust law; contracts; and criminal defense. She is a graduate of the William S. Richardson School of Law and was admitted to the Hawaiʻi State Bar in 2004.

Simeona Lynn Liliuokalani Ahuna Mariano. Mariano has been a Deputy Attorney General with the Department of the Attorney General since 2007; currently in the Family Law Division handling family court matters statewide, child welfare matters, juvenile law violations, truancy, guardianships, and involuntary hospitalization hearings. Prior to that she was in its Criminal Justice Division, prosecuting felony cases at Honolulu International airport, welfare fraud cases, grand jury matters, and probation revocations proceedings. Mariano previously served as a Special Prosecuting Attorney with the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney on Kauaʻi handling district, family, and circuit court cases. Mariano is on the HSBA Board of Directors, a member of the Hawaiʻi Access to Justice Commission, the HSBA Judicial Administration Committee, and the Hawaiʻi Filipino Lawyers Association. She is a graduate of the William S. Richardson School of Law and was admitted to the Hawaiʻi State Bar in 2004.

District Court of the Third Circuit

Andrew Michael Kennedy. Kennedy is a partner with the Kailua-Kona law firm of Schlueter, Kwiat & Kennedy, where he’s worked since 2018. Prior to that, he served as a Deputy Public Defender with the Department of the Public Defender in Kealakekua, as an associate with the law firm of June & Vasser in Kona, and as an attorney in New York and New Hampshire. He is a past president of the West Hawaiʻi Bar Association and currently serves as HSBA’s West Hawaiʻi Director. Kennedy is also a member of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaiʻi Criminal Justice Act Panel, a member of the Hawaiʻi Criminal Law Jury Instructions Committee, HSBA’s Diversity Equality and Access to Law Committee, and the Task Force of the Hawaiʻi Correctional Oversight Commission. Kennedy earned his law degree from Suffolk University School of Law in 2002 and was admitted to the Hawaiʻi Bar in 2012.

The Acting Chief Justice made these appointments from nomination lists presented to her by the Judicial Selection Commission on February 11, 2026. The appointments are subject to Senate confirmation, and if confirmed, each will serve a term of six years.