Matthew J. Viola became a First Circuit Court judge on December 20, 2017.  Prior to becoming a First Circuit Court judge, he was a Family Court judge, where he served as the presiding judge of the Juvenile Drug Court of the First Circuit.  Prior to his appointment as a Family Court judge in 2010, Judge Viola was in private practice as a lawyer, primarily handling employment law and general civil litigation cases.  While working as a sole practitioner, Judge Viola also served as a Family Court per diem judge from 2002 to 2010.  He was also an adjunct professor at the William S. Richardson School of Law (2002 to 2005) and a lecturer at Kapi`olani Community College, Legal Education Department (2002-2007).

Judge Viola received his B.A. from Williams College (1984).  After graduating from Stanford Law School with distinction in 1991, Judge Viola worked as an associate attorney with a San Francisco law firm for two years before clerking for Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Paula Nakayama from 1993 to 1995.