Adrianne N. Heely Caires was appointed to the District Court of the Second Circuit on May 14, 2012. Prior to her appointment to the District Court, Judge Heely Caires served as a deputy corporation counsel for the County of Maui. She was also a former deputy public defender on both Maui and Oʻahu and a litigation associate at the law firms of Ashford & Wriston, Hisaka Goto Yoshida Cosgrove & Ching, and the Law Offices of Frank K. Goto Jr.

Judge Heely Caires received her law degree from the University of Hawaiʻi William S. Richardson School of Law in 1998. She sits on the Board of Examiners of the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court and is a past chair of the Hawaii State Bar Association’s Government Lawyer Section; past vice-president of the Maui County Bar Association; and former director of the Hawaii State Bar Association’s Young Lawyers’ Division.

She is a member of Association of Family & Conciliation Courts “AFCC” (2017-present); National Council of Juvenile & Family Court Judges “NCJFCJ” (2017-present); Judicial Engagement Network (“JEN”) Fellow (2020-present) and, a leadership and scholarship recipient.

She also serves on the following boards:

• • Board of Bar Examiners of the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court (2011‐present)
  • Appointed to: the Children in Family Courts Committee (2017‐present)
  • Hawaiʻi State Trial Judges’ Association‐Secretary (2017‐2019)
  • Judges Aware Working Group (Implicit Bias) (2013) 
  • Environmental Court’s Working Group establishing an environmental court in Hawaiʻi (2014) 
  • Access to Justice‐Task Force Subcommittee Re: Self Help Center and Establishing Court Navigator and Court Advocate (2016‐2020) 
  • She spearheaded the S.T.A.E. (Steps to Avoid Eviction) Program in Maui County (2016) 
  • Served as a panelist for UH‐Law Professionalism Course (Nuts & Bolts of Government Practice) (2008‐2014) 
  • P.A.C.E. Promoting Advancement to Civic Education Commission Member (2022-present) which planned and held the Inaugural Maui Nui Law & Justice Academy in October 2022
  • Volunteer speaker at various elementary, middle, and high schools across county & state
  • Volunteer judge for HSBA, YLD Mock Trial State competitions
  • Volunteer member of Family Court Bench Bar Planning Subcommittee (2017-present)
  • Received Humanitarian of the Year Award  in 2020 by the Maui Non-Profit Directors Board
  • In 2022, she was honored as Maui’s Mana Wahine Outstanding Member by the County of Maui’s Committee on the Status of Women