Hawaii Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald appointed Mahilani E.K. Hiatt and Wendy M. DeWeese to the District Family Court of the 3rd Circuit on Hawaii Island, the state Judiciary announced Friday.
Hiatt currently is a partner at Hiatt &Hiatt, where she concentrates on commercial litigation and employment law. She also serves as a per diem judge in the District and District Family Courts of the 3rd Circuit. Hiatt previously served as human resources administrator at Hawaii Electric Light Co., and was an associate attorney at Bays Deaver Hiatt Lung &Rose in Honolulu. She is a graduate of the William S. Richardson School of Law and was admitted to the Hawaii State Bar in 1993.
DeWeese has been a deputy public defender in Kona for the past 11 years. Before that, she served as a law clerk for now-retired Kona Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra. Before moving to Hawaii, DeWeese worked for 11 years in private practice in California handling personal injury, civil and family law cases. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Southwestern University School of Law, a member of the California State Bar since 1993 and was admitted to the Hawaii State Bar in 2006.
If confirmed by the state Senate, Hiatt and DeWeese will each serve a term of six years.