James S. Kawashima was appointed by Chief Justice Mark E. Recktenwald to serve as district court judge of the First Circuit (Island of Oahu).

Prior to his appointment, he served as a per diem judge of the District Court of the First Circuit, presiding over civil and criminal cases. He also maintained a private legal practice at James S. Kawashima, Attorney at Law, the firm he established in 2002.

Between 1992 and 1996 Kawashima served as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in the Special Prosecution Unit of the Honolulu Department of the Prosecuting Attorney. He went on to serve as a Deputy Attorney General in the State of Hawaii Department of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit from 2004 to 2006.

Kawashima worked at private law firms in both Hawaii and California for more than 12 years, handling litigation in construction, bankruptcy, and employment cases, as well as insurance defense.

Kawashima is a graduate of the University of Southern California Law Center and was admitted to the Hawaii State Bar in 1992. He also has federal court admissions in the Ninth Circuit Districts of Hawaii, Northern, Eastern, Western and Southern California.