Uploaded March 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Part of the Windward Community College Women's History Month series.
Associate Justice Sabrina Shizue McKenna has served on the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court since March 2011. She is the first openly LGBTQ+ Asian American justice to serve on a state court of last resort.
Sabrina grew up in Japan before graduating from the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa and its William S. Richardson School of Law (“WSRSL”), where she served as law review editor-in-chief. She was a civil litigator, general counsel to a Japan-based group of companies, and a WSRSL faculty member before serving as a Hawaiʻi state trial court judge from 1993 to 2011, presiding over civil, criminal, and family matters.
She has been involved in various Hawaiʻi initiatives as well as domestic and international lectures on women’s and civil rights issues. She serves on the board of the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges and co-chairs the American Judicature Society’s Judicial Diversity Committee. Her awards include the ABA’s Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement (2023) and Stonewall (2021) awards and NAPABA’s Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award (2015).
Part of the Windward Community College Women's History Month series.
Associate Justice Sabrina Shizue McKenna has served on the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court since March 2011. She is the first openly LGBTQ+ Asian American justice to serve on a state court of last resort.
Sabrina grew up in Japan before graduating from the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa and its William S. Richardson School of Law (“WSRSL”), where she served as law review editor-in-chief. She was a civil litigator, general counsel to a Japan-based group of companies, and a WSRSL faculty member before serving as a Hawaiʻi state trial court judge from 1993 to 2011, presiding over civil, criminal, and family matters.
She has been involved in various Hawaiʻi initiatives as well as domestic and international lectures on women’s and civil rights issues. She serves on the board of the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges and co-chairs the American Judicature Society’s Judicial Diversity Committee. Her awards include the ABA’s Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement (2023) and Stonewall (2021) awards and NAPABA’s Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award (2015).
