Two private practice attorneys, a full-time judge and a county litigator made the list of four finalists to replace retired Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Strance.
State Judiciary officials late Thursday released the list of names from which Gov. David Ige will select a nominee within 30 days. That selection is subject to Senate confirmation. Circuit Court judges are appointed to 10-year terms by the governor from a list of not less than four and not more than six nominees provided by the Judicial Selection Commission.
On the list are Oahu attorney Gregory A. Ferren, Third Circuit District Family Court Judge Melvin Fujino, attorney Robert D.S. Kim and Laureen L. Martin, who heads the Hawaii County Corporation Counsel’s Litigation Division.
The annual salary for a Circuit Court judge is $193,248, according to the state Judiciary.
Whomever is selected and confirmed by the Senate will fill a position vacated at the end of March by Third Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Strance, who oversaw the fourth division in Kona. According to the state Judicial Selection Commission, 10 people, which included six women, applied for judgeship, of which five were private attorneys, four were government attorneys, two were per diem judges and one full-time judge.
Fujino has been on temporary assignment since April covering the Circuit Court position vacated by Strance. Prior to filling the open slot in Kona, Fujino was appointed a Third Circuit District Family Court judge in December after serving a 6-year term as a District Court judge in South Kohala. Fujino, who holds a law degree from Gonzaga School of Law, has also served as a deputy attorney general where he was a team leader for the Statewide Wiretap Review Unit and Asset Forfeiture program; a deputy prosecuting attorney for 15 years; and was the supervisor and community-oriented prosecutor for the West Hawaii branch of the Hawaii County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
“I feel very excited and good that they nominated me for the position,” Fujino said Friday. “So, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens next.”
Kim has a private practice in Kona where he concentrates on civil litigation, commercial, real estate, environmental, family and criminal law, as well as public interest litigation. He has practiced law in Hawaii since 1990 and is a graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa Richardson School of Law. Kim is also a former West Hawaii Bar Association president.
Martin currently heads the Hawaii County Corporation Counsel’s Litigation Division. Before working for Hawaii County, she was assigned to litigation and handled a variety of cases, including motor vehicle accidents, roadway defenses, and cases alleging excessive force for Maui County’s Department of the Corporation Counsel. Martin, who holds a law degree from Suffolk University in Boston and has been licensed to practice law in Hawaii since 1993, was in private practice specializing in personal injury matters before she entered the government realm.
Ferren, a 1995 graduate of the Richardson School of Law, has been practicing law for about two decades on Oahu. Born in Kona, Ferren attended Konawaena schools before moving to Oahu in high school. He specializes in general litigation and business transactions, including real estate, contracts personal injury, constitution rights, public sector law and legal ethics.
“I’m real excited about it,” he said Friday, noting that much of his family still lives in the Kona. “I mostly grew up in Kona. … It’s an exciting opportunity for me to maybe return to the Big Island.”
West Hawaii Today was unable to reach Kim or Martin for comment as of press time.
Former Gov. Linda Lingle appointed Strance as a Third Circuit judge in the newly created fourth division in Kona in 2005. She had served since 1999 as a per diem judge for the Third Circuit District and Family Courts and was also a partner in the law firm of Strance and Nakoa.
Strance had petitioned for retention in 2014, however, in a “Notice of Judicial Vacancy” in April, the state Judicial Selection Commission requested nominations for the position. She retired effective March 30, 2015.
