STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1599

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    JUD. COM. NO. 7

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred Judiciary Communication No. 7, submitting for study and consideration the appointment of: 

 

District Court of the First Circuit

 

J.C. No. 7

TRISH K. MORIKAWA,

for a term to expire in 6 years,

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     Your Committee has reviewed the resume and statements submitted by the appointee and finds Trish K. Morikawa to possess the requisite qualifications to be considered for appointment to the District Court of the First Circuit.

 

     Testimony in support of the appointment of Judge Morikawa was submitted by the Attorney General; Retired Judge Richard K. Perkins, Circuit Court of the First Circuit; and forty individuals.  Comments regarding the appointee were submitted by the Hawaii State Bar Association Board of Directors.

 

     Judge Morikawa received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania where she was a team member of the Varsity Volleyball team for four years and a member of the Friars Senior Honor Society.  She subsequently obtained her Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.  She currently serves as an Associate at Gallagher, Kane & Amai, where she represents businesses and individuals in commercial, automobile, and homeowner insurance litigation in state and federal courts, mediation, and arbitration.  She also currently serves as a Per Diem District Family Court Judge of the First Circuit, where she presides over temporary restraining order and protective order hearings and trials, petitions for guardianships and adoptions, preliminary hearings, juvenile detention home hearings, juvenile trials and motions, and divorce trials and motions.

 

     Judge Morikawa previously served as a County Housing Coordinator for the Office of Housing of the City and County of Honolulu, where she was responsible for assisting in the Honolulu Affordable Housing Prevention Initiative, working on the Pathways Project, and coordinating many county agencies, departments, and service providers in the enforcement of the stored property ordinance.  She also served as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney at the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu.  As a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, she prosecuted misdemeanor and traffic cases in District Court and Family Court, prosecuted felony cases in Circuit Court, and was assigned to the Sexual Assault Unit and Career Criminal Unit.  She previously served as a Deputy Attorney General for the Department of the Attorney General, where she was the Lead Prosecutor and Assistant Grant Coordinator for the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit and High Technology Crimes Unit.

 

     Judge Morikawa has extensive community service experience.  She currently serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the Alignment Hawaii Initiative, Board member of the Partners in Development Foundation, and member of the Daughters of Hawaii.  She previously served as a Commissioner for the Hawaiian Homes Commission.

 

     Testimony in support of Judge Morikawa's appointment indicate that she is highly regarded for her competence, experience, intelligence, and civility.  She understands the importance of working together and using common sense.  These qualities, along with her respect for the legal system and her desire to experience all of its aspects, are evidenced by her comprehensive legal experience as an attorney and Per Diem Judge.  She has the reputation for being a person of integrity who treats everyone equally and fairly and has the ability to relate to and be respectful toward everyone – attributes that are especially important at the District Court level, where the public is more likely to come into contact with the court system.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee, after full consideration of the background, experience, and qualifications of the appointee, has found the appointee to be qualified for the position to which appointed and recommends that the Senate consent to the appointment.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

 

 

 

____________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair