The Senate confirmed Leslie E. Kobayashi as a U.S. district judge in Hawaii, U.S. Sens, Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka announced yesterday.

Kobayashi will fill the vacancy created by Chief District Judge Helen Gillmor’s rise to senior status last year.

 “She has built an impeccable reputation as an attorney and magistrate-judge,” Inouye said.  “I am confident she will preside over the court with compassion and fairness.”

“I thank my colleagues for confirming Judge Kobayashi, an outstanding and well-respected jurist known for her judicial temperament and her compassion,” Akaka said. 

Kobayashi has served as a magistrate-judge in Hawaii since 1999.  Magistrate-judges handle misdemeanor criminal cases and assist district judges in pretrial criminal and civil matters.

She began her undergraduate degree at the University of Hawaii and finished at Wellesley College in 1979.  She earned her juris doctorate from the Boston College School of Law in 1981.

Kobayashi spent 17 years in public and private practice as a Honolulu deputy prosecuting attorney and at the law firm of Fujiyama Duffy & Fujiyama.

She has also been an adjunct professor at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.