State Senate confirms two Hawaiʻi Supreme Court Justices

The Hawaiʻi State Senate confirmed both Judge Lisa M. Ginoza and attorney Vladimir P. Devens to the position of Associate Justice to the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court.

“The two appointees have taken very different paths to the Supreme Court, but they both have rich professional and personal backgrounds that will serve our State well,” said Senator Karl Rhoads (District 13 – Dowsett Highlands, Pu‘unui, Nu‘uanu, Pacific Heights, Pauoa, Punchbowl, Pālama, Liliha, ʻIwilei, Chinatown, and Downtown), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I am confident that these two justices will serve with intelligence and integrity. Mr. Devens and Judge Ginoza will bring their unique skillsets to the Supreme Court and serve with a sense of decorum and responsibility.”

Lisa M. Ginoza has served as a judge on the State of Hawaiʻi Intermediate Court of Appeals since 2010, rising to the role of Chief Judge in 2018. Prior to her judgeship, Ginoza was the First Deputy Attorney General for the Department of the Attorney General from 2005 to 2010. Her legal experience includes working in the private sector as a litigation attorney at McCorriston Miller Mukai McKinnon, LLP from 1990 to 2005, where she became partner in 1996. Ginoza is a graduate of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, William S. Richardson School of Law.  

Prior to her confirmation, Ginoza served as the chair of the Commission to Promote and Advance Civic Education, a member of the Board of Directors for the Judicial History Center, and a member of the Board of Directors for the American Judicature Society.

Vladimir P. Devens has been the founding partner of the Law Office of Vladimir P. Devens since 2013, where his scope of practice varies from litigation, appeals, labor relations, land use, and more. He was previously a partner at Meheula & Devens, LLP (formerly known as Winer, Meheula, & Devens, LLP) since 1997, having started as an associate when he joined the firm in 1995. Devens’ legal experiences go beyond corporate practice, having represented several labor unions, including the State of Hawaiʻi Organization of Police Officers, the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association, and more. Devens is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

Prior to his confirmation, Devens served as a member of the Disciplinary Board of the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court and as a committee member of Crime Stoppers Honolulu, Inc. His previous public service roles included being a member on the Governor’s Hawai‘i Impaired Driving Task Force in 2013, and as Chair and Vice Chair of the State Land Use Commission from 2007 to 2011.  For six years, he was a police officer with the Honolulu Police Department and has continued to serve the Department as a volunteer reserve police officer.