SSCR661

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 661

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: GOV. MSG. NO. 508

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 Governor's Message No. 508, submitting for study and consideration the appointment of:

First Circuit Court Judge

G.M. No. 508

CATHERINE REMIGIO,

for a term to expire in 10 years,

begs leave to report as follows:

Your Committee has reviewed the resume and statements submitted by the appointee and finds Catherine Remigio to possess the requisite qualifications to be considered for appointment to the Circuit Court of the First Circuit of the State of Hawaii.

Testimony in support of the appointment of Judge Remigio was submitted by the Department of the Attorney General, Office of the State Public Defender, Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and eighteen individuals. Comments regarding the appointee were submitted by the Hawaii State Bar Association Board of Directors.

Judge Remigio received her Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Service – Comparative Studies and a certificate in East Asian Studies from Georgetown University. She later obtained her Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she received an American Jurisprudence Award for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy and participated on the Jessup International Moot Court Team, American Inns of Court, and Moot Court Board.

Since 2011, Judge Remigio has served as the presiding District Family Court Judge of the First Circuit and currently serves as the presiding judge in the Juvenile Division. Since January 2014, she has handled over two hundred fifty Child Welfare Services cases and over sixty juvenile offenses, and presided over seventy juvenile sex assault cases as well as over fifty bench trials. She served as a presiding judge in the Domestic Division, where she handled more than three thousand civil litigation cases involving pre-decree and post-decree motions, settlement conferences and settlements, divorce trials, and temporary restraining orders and orders for protection hearings and trials; and presided over more than one hundred trials and contested hearings. She was also previously assigned to the Circuit Court of the First Circuit, where she presided over approximately ten jury trials.

Prior to her appointment to the District Family Court bench, Judge Remigio served as a Per Diem Judge with the District Court of the First Circuit, where she handled criminal and civil traffic infraction cases, criminal misdemeanors and petty misdemeanors, arraignments, pleas, small claims trials, regular civil claims trials, and temporary restraining order trials. She was also a partner with the law firm of Bryant and Remigio, LLLC, where she practiced family law and handled divorce, paternity, child protective services, temporary restraining orders, family criminal defense, and appeals. She also was an arbitrator with the Court Annexed Arbitration Program. Prior to establishing her own firm, Judge Remigio was an associate with Stirling and Kleintop, ALS, where she practiced family law. From 1993 to 1996 and again from 1998 to 2004, she served as a Deputy Public Defender with the Office of the Public Defender. Prior to her work with the Office of the Public Defender, she worked as an associate in a law firm in San Diego, practicing plaintiffs' civil and class action suits, water rights, and electricity rate cases.

Judge Remigio has extensive service in the legal and local community. She has served as Chairperson of the Child Support Guidelines Committee, Chairperson of the Family Court Forms Subcommittee, Chairperson of the Family Court Pre-trial Orders Committee, and Member of the Family Court Civil Unions Committee and Family Court Kapolei Working Group Committee. She has served in various capacities with the University of Hawaii, high school mock trial competitions, Hawaii State Bar Association, and American Bar Association.

Testimony in support of Judge Remigio's appointment indicates that as a judge, she is reputed to be a good decision-maker who efficiently handles her caseload and does so with fairness to all who appear in her courtroom. Her reputation in the legal community is that she is exceedingly professional, punctual, practical, compassionate, credible, well prepared, reasonable, and articulate. She has a strong sense of justice and fairness.

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