Durante and Mariano Sworn In as District Court Judges on Oʻahu

From left: District Court Judge Kirsha Durante, Chief Justice Vladimir P. Devens, and District Court Judge Simeona Mariano.

Dozens of colleagues, family, and friends packed the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court courtroom at Aliʻiōlani Hale as Kirsha Durante and Simeona Mariano were sworn in as Judges of the District Court of the First Circuit (Island Of Oʻahu) on June 4.

Justice Sabrina S. McKenna, who nominated both judges while serving as Acting Chief Justice, praised their qualifications and character, stating she selected them “not just because of their legal acumen, their strong litigation backgrounds, and their demonstrated work ethic, but also because of their honesty, integrity, kindness, compassion, fairness, humility… their ability to work well with others, their strong sense of justice, and finally, their sense of kuleana as demonstrated by their professional and community involvement and servant leadership.”

Hawaiʻi Supreme Court Chief Justice Vladimir P. Devens administered the oath.

Jude Kirsha Kaulukane Milianani Durante was 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.

Judge Simeona Lynn Liliuokalani Ahuna Mariano joins the bench after working at the Department of the Attorney General since 2007. She was in the Family Law Division, where she handled 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.

Durante and Mariano will each serve a six-year term.