Leslie Emi Kobayashi (born October 9, 1957) is a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

for the

United States District Court for the District of Hawaii The United States District Court for the District of Hawaii (in case citations, D. Haw.) is the principal trial court of the United States Federal Court System in the state of Hawaii. The court's territorial jurisdiction encompasses the sta ...

Early life and education

Kobayashi was born in 1957 in

Mount Holly Township, New Jersey Mount Holly is a township that is the county seat of Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia, the nation's sixth largest city as of 2020, As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population ...

. She received her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree from Wellesley College in 1979 and her Juris Doctor from the

Boston College Law School Boston College Law School (BC Law) is the law school of Boston College. It is situated on a wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts, about 1.5 miles from the university's main campus in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. With approximately 800 stud ...

in 1983.Senate Judiciary Committee Questionnaire: Leslie Emi Kobayashi
, (April 19, 2010).

Professional career

Kobayashi worked as a

trial attorney A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and managing partner of the law firm of Fujiyama, Duffy & Fujiyama in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

for a period of 17 years. She worked as a deputy prosecuting attorney in

before becoming a

United States magistrate judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduc ...

on August 2, 1999. In 2000 and 2001, she taught at the

William S. Richardson School of Law The William S. Richardson School of Law is the professional graduate law school of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Located in Honolulu, Hawaii, the school is named after its patriarch, former Hawaii State Supreme Court Chief Justice William ...

Federal judicial service

On April 21, 2010, Kobayashi was nominated to a seat as a

of the

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

. She was nominated to fill the seat vacated by

Helen Gillmor Helen W. Gillmor (born 1942) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. Early life and education Born in Syracuse, New York, Gillmor received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queens Col ...

who took

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

in 2009. The

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

confirmed the nomination on December 18, 2010. This makes her the first Japanese American federal judge confirmed during the Obama Administration. She received her commission on December 22, 2010.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kobayashi, Leslie Emi 1957 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges American jurists of Japanese descent Boston College Law School alumni Hawaii lawyers Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii People from Mount Holly, New Jersey United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama United States magistrate judges University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty Wellesley College alumni

Early life and education

Professional career

Federal judicial service

See also

References

External links