HONOLULU, HI – Chief Justice Mark E. Recktenwald has appointed Michael K. Soong to the District Court of the Fifth Circuit (Island of Kauaʻi). Soong will fill the upcoming vacancy due to the retirement of Judge Trudy K.T. Senda in December.

Soong served as Prosecuting Attorney for the County of Kauai from 1996-2004, and has been in private practice since then.

Previously, Soong was a Deputy Corporation Counsel for the County of Hawaiʻi from 1986-1987; a Deputy Public Defender from 1987-1989; a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for the County of Kauaʻi from 1991-1996; and an associate attorney with the Law Office of Walton D.Y. Hong, emphasizing in real estate transactions and land use. He also practiced criminal law and personal injury litigation as a partner in the law firm of Soong & Feldhacker, A.A.L. since 2004, and as a solo practitioner since 2009.

Soong serves as a Board member of the Friends of the Kauaʻi Drug Court, and is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Soong is a graduate of the Southwestern University School of Law and was admitted to the Hawaiʻi State Bar in 1986.

The Chief Justice appoints District Court judges from a list of not less than six nominees submitted by the Judicial Selection Commission. If confirmed by the State Senate, Soong will serve a term of six years.